Innsbruck, a picturesque city with a large university in the middle of the Alps. If you include the suburbs, around 300,000 people live here. The population is above-averagely sporty, as recent studies show. When it comes to life expectancy, Tyrolean women are the leaders in Austria, while men are a close second. According to experts, this is partly due to the fact that the population in the Alpine Tyrol is more active than in other federal states. In Innsbruck, the university drew up the so-called sport development plan on behalf of the city from 2020 to 2023 and found that 32 percent of respondents in the greater area "regular and active" Mountain biking. In absolute terms, that equates to 99,000 people. 

A considerable number of cyclists. Unfortunately, however, the availability of legal infrastructure for practicing this sport, which is now the second most popular summer mountain sport in Austria after hiking, is lagging far behind. Especially for those who like to ride on trails. From the end of May to October, the Bikepark Innsbruck is available in the neighboring municipality of Mutters. Those who prefer to be out in nature without a lift can enjoy a whole 7.4 kilometers of legal trails in Innsbruck between the beginning of April and the end of October. A quick calculation is enough to realize that supply and demand are out of proportion here.

The endless battle for trails

Implementing legal trails in Innsbruck is a Herculean task. This is because politicians, especially those parties to the right of center, see cycling as something of a threat. Nevertheless, the local mountain bike initiative, MTB Innsbruck, has dedicated itself to this goal and has been working for years with a great deal of commitment and even more sensitivity to defuse conflicts and legalize trails. The Arzler Alm Trail is a project that could only be realized thanks to this valuable work. On spring days, over 1,000 rides are counted there, making it probably the most frequented trail in Austria. However, riding is also prohibited here from November to April, as stated in the 1975 Forest Act, which generally prohibits mountain biking in Austria. The background to this outdated law can be read here.

In 2022, Innsbruck's trail network was set to receive a 3-kilometre addition. The Hofwaldtrail in the northwest of the city. After years of negotiations, all stakeholders were convinced, all permits were obtained and the necessary 120,000 euro budget was approved by the city. However, just one week after the trail was opened, most of it was closed again. This was because a local councillor, who was represented in the city parliament with a kind of angry citizen one-man show, knew how to exploit the resentment towards mountain bikers, who were often dismissed as "German students" who had nothing to say here, and launched a campaign against "the cycling savages" (sic!) via social media.

Mountain biking as a political plaything

As background to this, it is important to know that Innsbruck's city politics were hopelessly divided at the time. The four-party coalition that actually governed had broken down. The so-called free play of forces prevailed. In practice, this meant everyone against everyone else. In the case of the trail, it was a Green mayor at the time who had made it possible. Reason enough for political opponents to oppose it. And so several political groups jumped on the outrage bandwagon. A special municipal council was even convened in the middle of August, when there are no other meetings, to decide to close and dismantle a large part of the new trail. In times of the coronavirus crisis, when life was becoming increasingly expensive, politicians were concerned with a 3-kilometre trail.

The arguments put forward against the trail in the course of this political dispute were sometimes hair-raising. For example, a local parish council even got involved with a petition because the trail ran too close to a forest path and crossed it once, which was also used by pilgrims hiking to a small pilgrimage church. Of course, as is usual in trail construction, the crossing point was designed in such a way that cyclists had to stop before crossing the path. But facts only disturbed the outraged. The propaganda went so far as to criticize a wooden bridge that was supposedly not barrier-free for hikers. The fact that this bridge merely provided access to a very steep, blocked and completely inaccessible hiking trail went unmentioned.

The outraged disappear, the damage remains

But in the post-factual age, it is enough to simply shout loud enough to be heard. And so the outraged celebrated a dubious victory at the aforementioned special meeting of the local council. The majority decided to dismantle the trail, i.e. tear it down, after it had been open for a whole week. However, the disappointed mountain bikers were also promised an alternative route, the construction of which would be tackled immediately.

The excitement soon died down and the outraged people once again turned their attention to the preservation of threatened parking spaces in the city center and railed against 30 km/h zones in front of schools. Meanwhile, the lower part of the Hofwald Trail remained in place, while the upper two thirds were dredged up again on political orders. That cost another 6,200 euros, just to destroy it. However, nothing came of the promised alternative route, as an expert opinion prohibited the construction of a trail there due to rare bird species. A new local council was then elected in Innsbruck at the beginning of 2024. The "Wutbürger" mandate no longer received enough votes and disappeared into political oblivion. A new city government was formed and the hatchet buried. And last fall, the Hofwaldtrail was suddenly built again. And it was built where it used to be.

Happy ending with a bitter aftertaste

You could say that the story finally has a happy ending for mountain bikers. But it is a success with a bitter aftertaste. Because the reconstruction of the destroyed trail has now cost another 65,000 euros, which is being paid for with taxpayers' money. What is particularly bizarre is that the trail largely corresponds to the original route. What is new, however, are now two intersections with the forest trail supposedly used by pilgrims, instead of just one as before. Of course, the two new crossings have also been built in such a way that they enable safe crossing for all forest users and cyclists have to come to a virtual standstill before they can cross the path.

And so, thanks to the Hofwaldtrail, Innsbruck's legal route network will grow to a whopping 10.4 kilometers from April 2025. A real benchmark for the capital of the Alps. If things continue like this, Rechnitz in southern Burgenland will eventually catch up. The municipality of 3,000 inhabitants has exactly one mountain with an altitude of almost 900 meters and has created more than 42 kilometers of legal single trails that can be ridden all year round. In Tyrol, however, where excavators are easily driven onto glaciers to enable the start of the winter season in October, there is political opposition to every meter of mountain bike trail.