It would have been the Swiss bike fair kick-off at the end of March, but as is generally known, things are currently looking bad for events. But there are rays of hope: on the weekend of May 16 and 17, 2020, Urban Bike Festival will present the live Urban Bike Festival Digital: festival visitors will be informed, advised and interactively entertained at home on the topics of cycling in urban traffic, sport and leisure. Top-class guests have been invited to the show for sporting competitions and expert talks - including Fabio Wibmer and Danny MacAskill - the latter via broadcast.

For the live broadcasts, the organizer is building a bike world on 300 square meters on different levels and in several rooms. The live broadcasts will be produced on Saturday from 4pm to 8pm and on Sunday from 10am to 2pm and streamed live on facebook.com/urbanbikefestival/ and urbanbikefestival.ch. Swiss Sport TV and other partners will also broadcast the format. The production complies with the legal and health requirements and recommendations of the Federal Council.

Product news, tips & tricks

On Saturday, the live broadcast will focus on "Bicycles in urban traffic" and on Sunday on "Sport and leisure". Product innovations and services will be presented and explained by Radio 24 presenter Nick Läderach and the two bike experts Nathalie Schneitter, Urban Bike Festival Expo Director and first E-MTB World Champion, and bike editor Fridolin Engler. Wernher Brucks, Head of Road Safety Zurich, will provide tips on riding safety. The Veloklinik will reveal tricks for bike maintenance and SRF 3 producer Stefan Flury will refresh viewers' bike knowledge with entertaining questions in the Züri Velo Quiz.

The Urban Bike Festival Digital also invites you to join in and interact physically. On Sunday, anyone with the right equipment can take part in the Urban Cycling Digital Race from home against well-known professional cyclists. In the virtual race, all competitors are connected via the Zwift app and pedal on the indoor trainer. Olympic champion and multiple world champion Fabian Cancellara will be in the saddle live in the studio alongside multiple world champion Emma Pooley and freeski athlete Fabian Bösch. Florian Vogel, who will be competing in the Zwift race from home, will also be joining the show.

Street trial world stars Danny MacAskill and Fabio Wibmer in conversation

In conversation with street trial world stars and web video producers Danny MacAskill from Scotland and Fabio Wibmer from Austria, for once it's not about the drop and roll show or their YouTube achievements. Instead, they discuss their favorite stunts and tell the background stories behind them, as well as their special friendship. Fabio Wibmer, whose videos are internationally renowned for their unimaginably difficult bike action, will gradually introduce the audience to tricks that are definitely doable and point out tricks. If you want to join in right away, you still have time to clear out your living room.

Sporting explosiveness with Sina Frei, Kevin Kuhn and Lars Forster

Those who prefer to stay on the sofa can watch the EKZ Cyclocross Challenge, the sporting highlight on Sunday. The best Swiss cyclocross riders will compete against each other in teams of two in a newly developed format. Sina Frei, Kevin Kuhn, Lars Forster and Co have to overcome a total of four different challenges over stairs, through sand and water. This new, extremely attractive and visually effective discipline will combine a sporting challenge with a show. U23 vice world champion Kevin Kuhn will be competing together with Nicole Koller. Swiss cyclo-cross champion Lars Forster and U23 MTB world champion Sina Frei form a powerful duo. While siblings Timon and Noemi Rüegg rely on family power, Lukas Flückiger and Zina Barhoumi want to prove that the Bernese are anything but slow. Christian Rocha, the cyclo-cross specialist and organizer of the EKZ CrossTour, will act as moderator to spur them on.

In the expert talks and interviews, Peter Röthlisberger, the former editor-in-chief of Blick, challenges his top-class discussion partners from the fields of safety, urban space, e-mobility and sport. The list of invited talk guests is impressive, including the athletes already mentioned: Markus Bacher (CEO PubliBike), Thomas Binggeli (founder and co-owner My Stromer AG), Wernher Brucks (Head of Traffic Safety Zurich, Service Department Traffic City of Zurich), Torgny Fjeldskaar (Industrial Designer and Design Strategist), Ruedi Häfliger (Metron and ZHAW), Fabienne Perret (Head of Business Unit Traffic, EBP), Hardy Schröder (electric mobility specialist EKZ), Stefan Siegrist (Director of the Swiss Council for Accident Prevention bfu), Rupert Wimmer (Head of Traffic and Urban Space, Civil Engineering Office, City of Zurich) and the organizers of the festival, Thomas Eberle, Erwin Flury and Donald Nader.

Question, vote, win and ride

Even if the audience is at home, interaction is possible and encouraged in many ways at the "Spring Get-together": For example, questions about the products presented can be asked via the Facebook chat feed at facebook.com/urbanbikefestival. These will be taken up in the show if possible, but will certainly be answered in the chat. In the Züri Velo Quiz, you can guess from home and, with a bit of luck, compete against the studio guests. In addition, everyone is welcome to fan the EKZ Cyclocross Challenge online for their favorite team and take part in the Urban Bike Digital Race from home. Registration information will be available from May 12 at urbanbikefestival.ch. More information about the program content can be found at urbanbikefestival.ch.

About the Urban Bike Festival public event

The public event Urban Bike Festival had to be canceled due to the ban on events on the occasion of the federal ordinance to contain the spread of Covid-19. It had been planned for the weekend of March 27-29, 2020, with over 20,000 visitors and a new record number of exhibitors in Zurich West. The next Urban Bike Festival will take place in spring 2021 at the Schiffbau and Turbinenplatz site in Zurich-West.

www.urbanbikefestival.ch