Even COVID19 couldn’t stop bike freaks gathering in the Weinviertel to honour the golden era of cycling.
So i’ve had a rare day off from sunny setup and i’ve decided to come riding my bike in the vine fetal with my friends cooper and stefan but we’ve gone on old steel framed vintage bikes this is invalid veritas 2020 and this is what it looks like This vintage bike ride takes place every year in the vine fertile known for its relaxed vibe it’s about adventure rather than power data and friendship rather than competition at the rest stops instead of power gels you’ll find labor caser for many cycling freaks like me envelo veritas has become a staple of the
Austrian cycling calendar but this year because of covert 19 we were unsure whether it would even take place at all in the end it was delayed by eight weeks so when i meet the co-organizer wolfgang gaelic i ask what will be the same and what will be different this year
The same is that it’s such a unique and great combination of great people an amazing landscape vintage retro nostalgia bike objects that you just have to love when you see them and this combination of joy and fun with all of these things that’s the same and corona
Means that basically we just trying to um spread the whole event in the amount of time that we have so that people aren’t as much in contact as they would be usually but basically the concept of envelo veritas is quite resilient to corona and that’s the nice thing it’s it works perfectly
Because people are taking care and so we don’t feel much of a difference it is beautiful countryside for me a chance to get to know the vine fertile we go up and we go down we go past cornfields and through villages sometimes we are on smooth roads sometimes we are on small
Bumpy roads and sometimes we’re on gravel paths it’s unusual riding on these sturdy steel bikes with the gear levers on the frames we all have decent modern bikes at home so why are we doing this what you notice is how much fun you have on a very simple old steel bike with
You know compared which is very very heavy compared to the modern bikes and it’s breaking not as well but still you’re having so much fun on it so it’s a kind of minimalism back to the roots i like this idea from time to time i would not
Use it all the time to be honest we’re riding 143 kilometers today that’s the middle distance some cyclists today are riding 210 kilometers but i’ll admit that as well as finding it exhilarating i find it tough going it gives you an extra portion of respect for those
Heroes of the old days who rode these bikes in events such as the tour de france often i can imagine to go uphill with those bikes but going downhill with the shitty brakes especially in oh sorry in our sprinter sprinter class um this makes you think
Uh how to say you you you’re forced to to break much earlier before a curve or something because otherwise you just go to straight ahead and yeah i had one or two moments when i missed my modern bike with modern brakes today in the end however the effort
And the difficulties just fade into the background as we simply enjoy pedaling together through a majestic landscape in velo veritas always was the idea of just spending time relaxed on a bike in a great company in a great landscape with good food and good drinks so that’s basically one of the most
Important aspects of invalid veritas and vine fiddle is just the place to stage such an event in this combination of joyful things