Arrival at the small village of Eisenerz, a small town lost in the middle of the Austrian mountains and overlooked by the Iron Giant, this immense open-air quarry, difficult to discern its limits as it is present everywhere.
After 3 trains, a bus and almost as many conversations of the deaf with the controllers not understanding my itinerary, I walk in the street which will know as every year the joyous bazaar of the parade. Loaded like a mule I stop an SSV which seems to be part of the organization.
The pilot, finding it too complicated to explain to me where the entrance to the quarry is, invites me to get into his RZR 1000.
There followed a few nice slides to the front door of the famous giant. The manager refusing me access, the media is only from Thursday and here it is Wednesday Mr Radiopaddock.
No problem, I go back downstairs, find a bar with cold beer, send various emails and Stéphane Parchet picks me up. Hidden like a renegade in the back of his truck, I pass the security check without incident, doors open, bright sunshine and there I discover the joyful mess that welcomes us with open arms for 5 days.
A monstrous paddock, fanatics armed with motorized tools, burn board, sound system, no room for silence here, a tasty mix between rave party and Le Mans paddock, dust and earth to boot.
This year, in addition to all the tops, some UFOs are there, like Andrea Verona and his 350 4T, Antoine Méo on the Ducati, Xavier de Soultrait and Pol Tarrès, the latter being the only fanatic to start the real race on Sunday with an "oversized" motorcycle.
The gîte reserved by Stéphane is ideally placed less than 10 minutes from the quarry, the only solution to sleep properly, with us my former protege, Fabien Poirot, Luc Courty boss of the Sport Camp France team and his young recruit, Hugo Crozet .
This cheerful French troupe represents almost our only nationals present here.
The next day, it's already time for the Rocket Ride for our Criquou National. He too arrived yesterday evening with a loss and a crash, his master's alternator having failed him at the Austrian border. The only solution was to run his generator, door open at the back, recharging two batteries in advance, stopping every two hours to reverse his electrical assembly, arrival at 11 p.m. Happy Sir Antoine.
The Rocket Ride, a fun and fictitious race giving no points for the rest, comprising 5 climbs, soft dirt and pretty cobblestones, enough to warm up the public for the rest of the weekend. After 2 qualifiers, Antoine will win his quarter-final and semi-final heats, a failed start in the final will offer him a regular distribution of stones, by the no less famous Antoine Méo, armed with his Ducati, shameless scrubbing and blockpassing, Méo remains Meo. 6th final place for Criq.
The Erzberg Rodeo is almost more made for partying than racing, the next two days, only one time trial in the morning a day and nothing the rest of the day.
That's why after the good first run of the prologue of Antoine, the mafia media composed of Jed Etchells, Hamish Macdonald, his brother Angus, Tom Buxton and Ben Dando, sassy English-speaking team, we went with them to the Egger Tent, understand organization tent, sponsored by the beer brand Egger.
Followed by a festival of sliding, after a briefing that heralded the evening more than the rest of the race, where the main watchword was: "listen a little, read the email a lot and have the most fun possible". Message completely received by the assembly, barely finished, it was off to the fair of the ventriglisse with beer and redbull sauce.
A concentrate of geniuses where we stayed until 3am, the next day Antoine went back to do his second time and despite his still alcoholic hemoglobin, he kept his good ranking from the day before, 21st time and first in France. That won't stop him from asking me for water lying in the back of his truck.
Rest, siesta and departure for the big day the next day.
This time we are there, at the very bottom of this quarry, 500 riders divided into 10 lines, the helicopters echoing in this immense precipice, the announcer tearing his vocal cords, raising the tension, the exit of this first level being already dangerous at will, even Billy paid the price.
Here I am not allowed to travel alone as a media, as usual I sneak in but face Austrian rigor, the rules are the rules even if they sometimes have neither head nor tail.
Example: some spots are accessible to everyone, on foot, by bike, but on a motorbike it's forbidden, even if it's 100m of well-groomed paths. The media vest in some situations here serves more to keep an eye on you than to allow you to access the right spots to work.
So I booked a "guide" offered by the organization but like all the other media, we quickly noticed the inexperience of this one, not knowing the show points nor the way to get us there.
So it was a war on the slopes to get to the right places in time, have the lead and wait (a bit) to get Antoine.
Luckily for us, we were able to quickly escape from our handicapping tutelage and spin full throttle on the main tracks of the quarry, lying on my DR in 5, that's also the Erzberg Rodeo.
Thanks to his choices, I arrive right in time at Carl's Dinner to see Billy then Letti go back there, difficult to transcribe even with the images the depth of the holes between the rocky blocks, the length of this scree, when Billy throws the bike and comes out of this round trip in 40min you tell yourself that behind it will be a complete site.
Even on foot you have to be careful not to get a good one in the middle of the stones, aim with the camera or run, you have to choose or have spotted your track.
The first Frenchman to attend was unsurprisingly Fabien, more experienced and having much more crossing ability, he did not find Carl's Dinner to be a formality, however, he will sign a nice 24th place final.
A little further on in 40th place the young Crozet who confirms his promising status in the junior category, just behind a certain Andrea Verona.
the reigning E1 world champion had a hard time with his 350 GasGas, he confided under the red arbor at the finish: ''if I come back next year it will be with a 2-stroke and a real preparation , I've never shit so much.
Billy took the lead in front of me, followed closely by Mani, but on the Motorex Highway Billy completely crushed his exhaust manifold, preventing him from using the power of his almost stuck engine everywhere, from his mouth on arrival: "I destroyed my pot, when Mani passed me I knew it was over for the win, very happy to finish second! What a mess but it was good my guy!< /p>
Manuel Lettenbichler therefore won alone, 10 minutes ahead of Sir Bolt, second victory in a row for the KTM official here, the great class as always for Letti, from the welcome he gave me. reserved here, for advice and his communion with the public won over to his cause, we can never say it enough but here it is the KTM kingdom which must triumph no matter what, we will explain certain details to you in the live with Antoine, and besides, what about the wandering friend?
At the end of 3H26 of racing, it was the end for my Criquou not having managed to leave Carl's Dinner in time, but what a crazy race, wildlings launched to attack this mountain, not respecting any priority, from the first line the battle is daunting.
Even for my DR and I, it was a race to arrive in time, film the first and wait for the Criquosaurus, the gaps widening and the difficulties becoming more and more numerous.
Fortunately there is no problem with Gopro, federation, ecologists or certification, Antoine has reserved a montage of the best moments for you.
This race made me want to come back and try it, story to follow next year!
After that, life led us to find a spot to sleep, quickly joined by Matthew Green and Billy Bolt, the van life is nice, shower in the river and sharing provisions. Not complicated life with such animals.
The second part of this adventure in the Tyrol, can be found very soon live with the interested party and on Youtube.
See you on Tuesday, July 18 on Instagram, Youtube, on your deckchair or on your sofa.
Your operetta reporter
RP
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