THE BIKER
Robert Kühnen, (42), 26 years road bike experience, 14 years mountain bike experience, four-time TOURTransalp finisher, 2007: 11th place in the Masters category
My expectation
Cross-country - that smells of woollen jerseys and the mustiness of the 70s. The images I associate with it are: cotton cap under the crash ring, rustling leaves in the city forest. Stumbling, mud-stained cyclists, the bike on its hump. The crosser's heart beats up to its neck, either from overexertion or from fright: museum-quality cantilever brakes, unsuitable gear ratios, no suspension - the cross bike is a time machine for the past, long since overtaken by the mountain bike, which can do everything better. So why cross?
THE CROSSER
Manuel Jekel, (41), 28 years of road cycling experience, five years of cyclo-cross experience, three-time Trondheim-Oslo finisher
My expectation
Mountain biking? Certainly a fascinating sport, but unattractive for me as a city dweller. While bikers are still stuck in traffic jams on the way to the mountains, I'm already enjoying the single trails of my training area close to the city centre on the Isar on my cross bike. Full suspension and a third chainring? Are superfluous there. I see the lack of such ballast as an advantage. Crossing is riding a road bike on difficult terrain. If you can control your cross bike off-road, you're also a better rider on tarmac.
Read the conclusion of the two drivers in the free PDF download.
(Photos: Markus Greber)
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