After deciding to buy two e-bikes at the same time, they realise on a trip together into the Tyrolean mountains that the problems on two wheels are similar to those they have to deal with in everyday life: His battery runs out prematurely and her brakes don't work. He complains about his sore bum and she once again has to take care of everything herself. In the end, they get lost because he knew a good shortcut that might lead to Narnia, but certainly not to the mountain pasture.
Sweat is the biggest enemy of a sporty Instagram account. The selfie biker has therefore bought an e-bike so that he can at least show off a healthy face colour and a dry outfit for the summit picture. Under #foodporn, he bites into an apple for the camera and a picture of his "hot dog legs" in his too-tight cycling shorts is also a must. The mirror-smooth mountain lake makes for a mirror selfie, #nofilter. With his e-bike, which he doesn't really like to show in the photos, he at least manages monster tours that the analogue mountain bikers don't easily imitate.
In his private life, the high-tech pensioner only drives an E-Class, buys consistently overpriced premium products in the supermarket and tips the cloakroom staff at the opera as unobtrusively as Don Draper in Mad Men. His e-bike is difficult to distinguish from a 25 kW electric motorbike, even for connoisseurs. This may be due to the built-in on-board computer, which speaks to him with the voice of a British butler, or the juicer cleverly built into the frame, which transforms wild strawberries found along the way into a low-carb isotonic drink.
The last time he travelled on two wheels, Kreisky was in office and the current chancellor had not even been born yet. Back then, in his mid-20s, cycling was child's play. With the new e-bike, it should only be easier, he thinks. The mountain bike trail up to the top of the mountain is actually shockingly relaxed in turbo mode, almost like a Sunday stroll around Lake Achensee. On the descent, the broken pilot wonders where the front and rear brakes are again. Ouch.
Cycling for the sake of cycling - that's only for masochists, says the pleasure cyclist. Her cycling guide is a tattered Falstaff guide, the sweat towel thrown over the handlebars is a napkin and the small tool set under the saddle is actually a set of silver cutlery. The pleasure cyclist gets on her e-bike and heads up the mountain, because a good view and cheese dumplings await her up there. The sporting activity that comes with electric mountain biking is more of a (pleasant) means to an end.
