From September 22 to 24, Klosters hosted the Vintage Bike Masters, the first festival for vintage mountain bikes. A world premiere. Only bikes that were at least 25 years old were allowed to take part. The program included a downhill race on Friday, pleasure rides on the original route of the legendary Swiss Bike Masters on Saturday and a beauty concours for collector's bikes and a cross-country race on Sunday.

A good 200 participants took part in the individual events, almost half of them from abroad and some from very far away, for example from Hungary, Belgium, Holland, northern and eastern Germany and Italy. Some of the big names from the pioneering days of mountain biking were also in attendance, including downhill legend Giovanna Bonazzi, UCI World Champion and showman Mike "the bike" Kluge, top Swiss athletes Silvia Fürst (World Champion 1992) and Chantal Daucourt (European Champion 1993 in Klosters) and superstar Christoph Sauser, who showed everyone on Sunday as winner of the cross-country race that he is still in top form even on his old bike. What they all had in common was their great enthusiasm for the new event, which will be held annually in Klosters in future: in 2024 from 20 to 22 September.

vintagebikemasters.com