The 36-year-old woman at the center of this story wasn’t riding on singletrack trails; she isn’t a wild gravity biker. However, she rode the 20-kilometer climb from the parking lot to the starting point of her mountain hike on an e-mountain bike, hid it behind a tree, and set off toward her hiking destination.

Back at the bike, she wanted to coast down to her car at a leisurely pace. Fortunately, she noticed that her brakes weren’t working anymore before she had really picked up speed. At first, she thought she’d broken something, she later told Merkur. Upon closer inspection, she discovered that the brake lines had been cut; furthermore, a brake caliper and even a lever were missing. That can’t be done without tools. So the saboteurs were well-equipped.

This was followed by a three-hour walk with the heavy e-mountain bike, after the woman had tried to ride it and brake with one foot. She told the Merkur that she “fell off two or three times” during the walk. 

No riding ban and no similar cases known

There is no cell phone reception in the area. So her husband wouldn’t worry, she sent him a message via her GPS messenger saying that she was okay.

The bike-and-hike tour took place in the Karwendel Mountains, on the Austrian-German border. The hiker told the Merkur that she was not aware of any cycling ban there, and representatives from two different police stations in the region also reported nothing of the sort. One officer would not confirm the sabotage, as he had not seen the bicycle. He was not aware of any similar cases in the area. The other police officer recommends always reporting such incidents. Only then can the police identify a pattern.

The woman concludes by saying she’s had enough of long bike rides to get to her hikes for now. If mountain bike haters were indeed responsible for the act of sabotage, they would have actually achieved their goal. This makes it all the more important for mountain bikers who leave their bikes unattended to test the brakes before riding off again.