Saturday, July 10, 2010
Ryan Guettler in Zwanzig Zoll magazine
Life isn't always what it seems to be. Being on top level you do get invitations to ride at several events, some are even abroad. But how fun is it to take your bike apart, arrange a ride to the airport, sit there for a few hours, deal with checking in your bike and then sit on that seat for hours and hours straight to get to the event. With a bit of luck your bike arrives and you hope you'll find your driver who will take you to the hotel which does not seem to have air conditioning and very slow internet that you have to pay for. You're tired, but practice starts in 2 hours. You still have to put your bike together but all you want to do is sleep. When the shuttle picks you up you start feeling like a zombie. You don't know where you are, you don't know what day it is and you keep checking on your watch what time it is and then try to figure out the time difference. Let's not start about the food. It's too different from your own fridge or favourite restaurants at home. But you got to get through this, because the organiser or sponsor paid for your trip and you don't want to let them down.
But friends show up and the session kicks off. You're forgetting about all the trouble and are having fun all over a sudden, your bike gets you through this. In the end you do the tricks you wanted to do, you make finals, and you pick up a check. You party the night away before taking apart that bike and put it in the bag to do the same again from start to finish. Shuttle to the airport, wait in line, long flight, changing planes, finding your ride home and get to bed.
Ryan Guettler flew over to Germany for a weekend and had to go through all this to make it happen. He picked up the second place check and got a full page picture in Zwanzig Zollmag as well. Thanks to all the Mirraco riders for putting their work in promoting the brand. We understand it isn't as easy as it sounds.
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