Small groups, great experiences!

On September 2, 2020, the project partner BOKU-ITS organized an Awareness Raising Event at the Viennese Trailcenter Hohe Wand Wiese. In accordance with corona rules and the format of a guided tour, a relatively small number of people was invited to participate in the event. In the end, a total of ten people attended the event. Participants came from the target groups tourists, ecotourism beneficiaries, tourism development coordinators and EuroVelo coordinating entities. The event started with an informal gathering at noon followed by three brief presentations (Figure 1). First, Paul Pfaffenbichler gave a general introduction into the project EcoVeloTour. This was followed by a more detailed presentation of Michael Meschik about the EcoVeloTour Guideline for Sustainable Cycling Tourism (Figure 2). Finally, the presentation part of the event concluded by Alice Wanner from the Institute of Landscape Development, Recreation and Conservation Planning, talking about ecotourism and ecosystem services.

The second part of the event started at about 14:00 h with the preparation of the participants, take over of the rented mountain bikes and e-mountain bikes. Four participants were using conventional bicycles while four participants used bicycles with electrical assistance. The total length of the tour was 20 kilometres and the total ascent amounted to 550 metres. An overview of the route and the elevation profile of the guided tour could be found on Bikemap (Link).

The tour started with the trail “Family Uphill”. At the top of the former skiing slope our guide Patrick Huber, a former researcher in the field of forestry, gave an overview about the history and the status of the trailcenter and mountain biking within the biosphere reserve Wienerwald (Figure 3). He emphasised topics like conflicts of usage between leisure uses in general, hiking, hunting, forestry, ecology and mountain biking. The trailcenter is working hard on different concepts to avoid, mitigate and moderate conflicts. Research commissioned by the trailcenter has shown that the use of illegal routs by mountain bikers ca be drastically reduced when official and legal offers are available. The trailcenter does not allow or propagate night rides to give wildlife their necessary resting phases. A concept of shared trails and mountain bike only trails is followed to reduce conflicts with hikers. After this break we followed the trails “Uphill line” (Figure 4 and Figure 5) and “Wiesn trail”, passing the tavern “Mostalm” (Figure 6). The next stop was made at a viewpoint called “Franz Karl Fernsicht” (Figure 7). There we had a brilliant view over the city of Vienna. With good visibility even the Leithagebirge in the province Burgenland was visible on this day. Patrick Huber told us about various experimental projects of the forestry administration Bundesforste dealing with effects of dead wood on biodiversity and the reintroduction of birds of prey.

We continued on a shared trail towards Sophienalpe (Figure 8). After passing the restaurant Sophienalpe we turned right towards the directional radio station Exelberg. From there we turned into a trail downwards towards Neuwaldegg. Due to recent heavy rainfall and thunderstorms large parts of the trail were blocked by uprooted trees. Patrick Huber used this fact to illustrate the difficulties of path and trail management. After heavy rain the clay soil prevents the water from seeping into the ground. The result are large puddles which mountain bikers try to avoid by cycling on the edges of the trails (Figure 9 and Figure 10). This triggers erosion and the width of the paths is increasing. This effect could be avoided or mitigated by installing wooden overpasses at critical points. While the forestry laws allow such construction for hiking paths, these are forbidden for mountain bike trails. After a downhill passage to the road Amundsenstraße (Figure 11), we turned into Schwarzenbergpark (Figure 12). Patrick Huber informed us that Schwarzenberpark is a very popular leisure area, easily accessible by car and with good gastronomic offer. On weekends when the weather is nice, the park is quite crowded. Mountain bikers have to share the path with dog walkers, families with children, hikers, runners and other leisure seeker. He emphasized that with reducing speed, being polite and greeting other people nearly all conflicts can be avoided. Schwarzenbergallee was followed by a trail named “Wurzel Trail” with a sharp ascent of about one kilometre length which ended at a small clearing at Hameau (Figure 13). There we took a longer break with some snacks and discussions about our personal experiences so far.

After the break we followed the trail going slightly upwards towards Exelberg. We passed Sophienalpe and Mostalm again. Briefly stopping for instructions at the starting point of the downhill trail “Drahdiwaberl”. At the end of the trail we took the connecting path to the downhill trail “Flow line”. From here we descended back to the trailcenter.

What Alice Wanner stated in her presentation about a principle of ecotourism was fully true for our guided mountain bike tour:

“Small group, great experiences”