From Andorra to the end of the world

Since June 2, Sigi Grabner has been on the road with his bike once more. The Austrian snowboard overall World Cup winner 2009 wants to cover between 2,500 and 3,000 kilometers by June 17 – as preparation for the upcoming Olympic year and above all for a good cause.

On June 2, at 7:30 a.m. on the dot the time had come: Sigi Grabner began his ‘Once to the end of the world – and back’ tour, which he wants to complete by June 17: with taut calves, new Spanish recipes and thousands of kilometers and euros for Wings for Life, a charity foundation for spinal cord research. From his adopted homeland Andorra straight across northern Spain, past Santiago de Compostela to the ‘end of the world’ to Finisterre. And back over the Cantabrian Mountains and the French Pyrenees to the starting place La Massana. This is the plan for the bike tour of the snowboard overall World Cup winner 2009 this year. GORE Bike Wear is paying the 34-year-old Austrian one euro per kilometer, which will be donated to Wings for Life.

Sigi Grabner undertakes trips like this to relax, to free up his head and soul, to discover new landscapes and to use it as training for the next winter season. ‘I’m doing it for myself, the self-chosen Andorran said shortly before his departure, ‘and I’m doing something good for myself. After last year I decided to do something good for others with the tour.’ Grabner found a partner in GORE Bike Wear, which, as well as providing a fitting outfit, is also taking care of the financial side of things.

‘For every kilometer I do on my bike I get one euro. At 2,500 to 3,000 kilometers that amounts to quite a nice sum. Additional motivation,’ Grabner said. That the money should go to supporting the Wings for Life foundation, was obvious to Sigi: ‘I’m healthy, I can pedal. But there are also people, athletes, who can’t do that any more. If at some point with the help of Wings for Life, quadriplegics can be cured and use their own strength to be mobile, that would be fantastic.’

As he did back in summer 2008, when he crossed the Alps from Austria and rode to Andorra in 14 days, 2,400 km and over 36,000 meters in altitude, Sigi Grabner prepared himself in the mountains of his adopted home, and did so despite the fact that the weather in the second half of May wasn’t that great. ‘When it was snowing or raining,’ Sigi said, ‘I preferred to stay at home and train on the bike machine.’