Down Day in Soelden

July 29, 2023

Who needs brakes anyway

I got up this morning around 7:00, and tried to figure out what I was going to do today. After looking at the weather, I decided it would be best to spend the day in Soelden downhill mountain biking at the Bike Republic. I got ready, and went downstairs to the bike shop attacked to the hotel. There I was able to rent a mountain bike. I got fitted, headed out the door, and down the street to the local grocery store. I picked up some breakfast and snacks for later. A salamibroetchen, birnensaft, and some other goodies. I then rode to the goldola lift, bought my 52 Euro day ticket, and headed up the mountain. My first ride down went well, I noticed my front break was a little soft, but nothing horrible. I figured they probably just needed to bleed the brakes soon. I then took another gondola to the highest point in the bike park. About 1/2 mile down the trail, my braking power suddenly started fading. Pretty soon I could pull the front brake level all the way to the handlebar with no resistance. On closer inspection, part of the brake lever had cracked, and hydraullic fluid was leaking everywhere. I turned off the main trail, and onto a gravel road, thinking I could cruise to the bottom with only my back break. How wrong I was. The road went from gravel fire road, to double track, to what appeared to be a cattle trail straight down the mountain. The grade was steep, and I was leaned back over my rear tire, riding my rear brake. Suddenly, I felt the braking power on the rear brake lessen. I skidded to a stop and looked at my rear brakes. They were visibly smoking. I had to stop every 2 minutes or so and let my brakes cool off, but I made it to the top of a gondola where I took a ride down to the bike shop. The mechanic was able to replace the brake lever in about 20 minutes.

The rest of the day at the bike park was great, no mechanical failures. The trails weren't super intense, mostly flow trails. I would liken it to Loon Mountain bike park in New Hampshire. What made this bike park so special was the sheer amount of vertical drop on each run. Each run was about 4000 feet of vertical, and took almost 45 minutes. That was incredibly fun.

I headed back to my hotel room once it started to rain around 5:00pm. I turned in my bike and relaxed for the evening.

Today's ride: 35 miles (56 km)
Total: 1,735 miles (2,792 km)

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Cordula SoggeI'm finally caught up on your blog. I can't believe all of the obstacles and setbacks you've had to overcome: closed roads, crazy drivers, bad weather, language barriers, and no brakes— Ach du lieber! But you still manage to keep going...and not only that, you manage to have enough energy to wake board (geez, I hardly do anything all day, and by 5:00 p.m. I'm ready to veg in front of the TV). Wishing more beautiful scenery and zero bikes troubles for the rest of your journey.
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9 months ago

Stephanie GreeneAny refund on the mountain bike rental or at least a discount?!? Reminded me of coming down the volcano with smoking breaks and having to stop to let them cool off before we careened off the island! Maybe that experience helped :) Another wonderful day and adventure. Love the blogs!!
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9 months ago

Margie ThompsonAgain so lucky you were able to fix the brakes, I would of been terrified if they were smoking when going downhill in those mountains. The windy paths with the cows looks nice but I wouldn't of been able to handle any cliffs.
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9 months ago