About me
Age: 31 years
Grew up in Hollabrunn, Lower Austria
Place of residence: Inzing, Tyrol
Profession: Marketing & Project Management
Hobbies: Traveling, reading, writing, mountain & ski tours
HOW IT ALL BEGAN
Growing up in Lower Austria, specifically in the beautiful Weinviertel region, I ended up in Tyrol about five years ago. I got into ultracycling more or less by chance...
Even as a child, I was always active and tried many different sports: tennis, horseback riding, vaulting, volleyball, etc., until I settled on running and took part in smaller fun runs and half marathons for fun.
In 2014, I bought my first used road bike. It wasn't exactly love at first sight, though, and until 2017, I only managed a maximum of 300-400km per year.
WITH THE MOUNTAINS CAME THE PASSION FOR CYCLING
In 2016, I moved from Lower Austria to Innsbruck, and with it the fantastic sporting opportunities with the mountains on my doorstep. At the end of 2017, the crazy idea of finishing the Ötztal Cycle Marathon was born in my head. Me and the Ötzi – Mission Impossible? My boyfriend probably felt the same way, and it took two months of persuasion before I could convince him to try this crazy undertaking together. No sooner said than done: we started preparing for the Ötzi in February 2018 at the beginning of September. It was those six months before the first Ötzi that truly ignited my great passion for cycling: a constant mix of a big dream, uncertainty, effort, self-doubt – but above all, a lot of fun, new experiences, and an incredible feeling of freedom.
ÖTZTAL CYCLING MARATHON – MISSION (IM)POSSIBLE?
After these intensive months, including a few initial preparatory races and a bikepacking tour through Italy, we finally reached the starting line in Sölden. Despite constant rain, fog, and icy temperatures with a few snowflakes, we managed to finish in a time of 10:39 hours – we were overjoyed, and at the same time, our ambition was awakened to achieve even more. So, this wasn't going to be a one-off adventure... 😉 In 2019, we went to Mallorca for our first training camp in the spring, and the summer was filled with various cycling marathons. The Ötzi was once again the highlight of the season this year. In absolute perfect weather, we actually managed to improve our previous year's time by an hour.
THE PATH TO ULTRA DISTANCE
Actually, I “slipped into” long-distance running quite by chance…
In May 2019, a somewhat different adventure began – this time not with racing in mind, but for a completely different reason: Long car rides aren't exactly my favorite pastime. Since family and friends live 500km away, my boyfriend and I cycle the route from Tyrol to Lower Austria quite often. So another crazy idea was born: Why not cycle the route for a change? Time wasn't tight for several stages, so our first 24-hour tour was spontaneously conceived. By this point, my boyfriend had already given up hope of being spared my crazy ideas and only protested briefly :D. The experience of cycling through the night, dealing with the tiredness, and enjoying the long time in the saddle was brilliant and really whetted my appetite for more!
Around the same time, I read about an ultra-race called "Race Around Lower Austria" on Xandi Meixner's Facebook page. I was fascinated that my role model had won the first edition of the race and that the route circles my home state. "Sometime in the very distant future, that could be something for me too..." I thought to myself at the time. It didn't last that long, though, because then Corona came along 😉 When races were canceled one after the other in 2020, I just cycled whenever the mood took me, without any real structure. Due to the lockdown, cancellations, and restrictions, my thirst for adventure was unquenchable – which meant that my cycling routes were often longer, allowing me to explore new areas.
2020: EMOTIONAL CHEERING AT THE RAA & REGISTRATION FOR THE RAN
Das erste Rennen, das 2020 wieder stattfinden durfte, war das Race Around Austria. Ich war ganz unspektakulär irgendwo im Weinviertel zum Anfeuern an der Strecke. Dort waren meine Emotionen hoch und Freudentränen schossen mir ins Gesicht, obwohl ich die meisten Athleten gar nicht kannte. Auf einmal wusste ich: „Ich will so etwas auch erleben, und zwar am liebsten jetzt gleich.“ Eine schnelle Google-Suche ergab, dass 2020 noch ein Ultrarennen stattfindet: das Race Around Niederösterreich. Die Anmeldefrist dafür endete allerdings 2 Tage später. Kurzerhand rief ich ein paar Freunde an, ob sie mich in ein paar Wochen bei einem verrückten Projekt unterstützen möchten – von dem ich absolut keine Ahnung hatte, ob ich es überhaupt realistischerweise schaffen könnte. Zum Glück waren alle so spontan und haben sich auf das Abenteuer eingelassen. Das Anmeldeformular war schnell ausgefüllt und so gab´s kein Zurück mehr – das Abenteuer Ultrarennen konnte kommen! Das Tolle an dieser Spontanaktion war: mein Bauchgefühl hat gesiegt und der Kopf hatte zum Glück nicht zu lange Zeit, um eine lange Liste an rationalen Gründen gegen eine Teilnahme anzubringen - so entstand die Leidenschaft zum Ultracycling...
