At Getzen Rodeo Prolog - the skills and carnage all at once from the riders

We arrived to Getzen around 2pm for the prolog and were directed to a parking area on a field with all the other cars.

When you exit the car park and walk down there is a big area set up with all of the race tents and food stands to get your wristbands/ tickets and then you walk through the forest down a trail to get to the event.

The first thing I noticed was how muddy it was, like slushy muddy but hey we were at a race event so I should have bought some gum boots with me, by the end of the weekend my white sneakers were covered in mud and Jessys were absolutely destroyed but they are now race shoes.

As we made our way to the main stage where the red bull finish balloons were there was pumping music playing, bikes revving, people laughing and talking and a really fun atmosphere. It was cold too so we were rugged up with gloves, jackets and beanies but really we needed thermals too as it was around 5 degrees.

We walked around to check out the obstacles and the courses and then realised they closed off the section to get up the hill where the best vantage point was.

We all wanted to get up the top so off we went and climbed up the hill stumbling over tree roots and wet leaves and sliding around until we got to the top - it was quite steep so it gave me more of a perspective at the hill climb the riders were going to have to do. We got a great spot up the hill of a birds eye view of the event.

Ben spotted Billy Bolt in the crowd and we got a photo before he raced.

Jessy and Ben were thoroughly enthralled by the riders and the mishaps getting up the courses and the skill flying over the top of logs and riding over the top of other bikes that had come off and were on the track. Daniel on the other hand was cold and bored 2 hours in and spent the time selecting sticks and hitting them against trees and running around. He had hurt his hand the day prior at school sport and had a cast on it so I was worried he was going to fall on it and hurt it again but he didn’t.

I enjoyed watching the skill of the riders too and just hearing the chatter of the German language all around us and the event itself.

There was one accident which was horrific! A rider was going through a obstacle where you land on a wooden stand and then need to hit the gas and jump off it from a height and land on the grass on the other side but instead of jumping his tyre got slipped on the wet timber and he went down tyre first the bike went straight into the dirt and the rider came off over the top of his bike and landed on his head, from what I saw it looked like he snapped his neck. The bike went flying over the top of him and I’m so glad it didn’t hit him, what a horrible stack. The race was stopped and the paramedics came over initially only 2 then a whole crew came over with the stretcher and it took 8 of them to get him in the ambulance. They were extremely careful with him and it took a good 15 minutes for them to assess him and then move him. I have checked online to see what rider it was and how he was but there is no information yet.

The standout riders for the prolog were Manuel Lettenbichler and Billy Bolt and we enjoyed watching Graham Jervis too. Ben even got a photo with Graham as well.

Everything wrapped up around 5pm and we left and went to our hotel for dinner and they had a sweet, cinammon tasting glu wine (hot spiced wine) which is our new favourite. It tastes like Christmas pudding and spices and warms your belly. The dinner was fabulous and Ben tried deer which was quite sweet and not to my flavour - (poor bamby) and I had a traditional beef roast “Sachsischer Sauebraten” which was very good, it had a side of apple and sauerkraut and potatoe dumplings with a really tasty gravy.