LAURA ZEITSCHEL
Laura Zeitschel is a mountain bike Enduro rider based near Hanover, in Germany. She works as an officer in the German Army and shares an apartment with her Chocolate Labrador, Anton.
Photo courtesy of Hanna Retz
I only started riding 5 years ago. Hamburg doesn’t have many hills, but there’s a great area nearby called Deister, which has a ton of trails. Lots of people from Hamburg and Bremen come here to ride them.
Photo courtesy of Hanna Retz
My first race was horrible. It was only 3 months after I started riding, and I was on an XC bike, with no dropper post and less travel, but I thought I could ride an Enduro race (why not)! I gave up after the first day, because it was too difficult for me. But I persevered, and two years ago I raced my first EWS 100 in Canazei in Italy. I had a place to race the EWS 100 in Whistler, in Canada, but that was cancelled thanks to Covid.
It’s not all about racing, though. I like the racing, of course, but I love riding with my friends, and my dog Anton. He’s so fast! I took him to the Trail Trophy event in Harz last year. I trained with him and of course he showed me the best lines!
Anton’s not a typical labrador. I took him for the first ride when I moved from Hamburg to the Deister, about 3 years ago. He’s so fast - a lot of Labradors are bred for short bursts, but he really loves running with me. He’s so excited when I set off, and he shoots off at about 45kph! I have to be careful though, and I look after him properly. Every three months I take him to get his joints checked and make sure that he has no problems. When it’s too warm outside I don’t take him for a ride and instead take him to a pond because he loves also to swim.
I ride in all weathers. I really like it to ride in good weather, but Anton doesn’t care about the weather - he’s got 4 paw drive! The colder the better for him. I admit, though, that in the winter I’ll sometimes use an ebike. You can ride 5 or 6 trails in an hour with one, so you are faster getting home and it’s not quite so cold.
I ride a lot with other people. I’ve got a few girl friends I hit the trails with but I also work with the Deisterfreunde, which is an association with their own guiding and technical skills school. I love helping people improve their riding and nattering about bike stuff.
I originally got into mountain biking as a way to get into motocross. My friend had some pretty bad ‘cross injuries, so advised me to take up mountain biking instead and built me one up- and I fell in love with it. I’ve got a motocross bike too now, though!
Riding a motocross bike is great cross training. It uses lots of upper body strength; it’s a totally different feeling to riding a mountain bike. You have to coordinate everything totally differently which is challenging but it’s so much fun.
I like loamy trails the most. Loamy and steep, for preference, perhaps with some rocky features. Finale Ligure and Dolomiti Paganella are pretty good examples. I’m not too fond of trails that are too pedally. When it’s not steep enough, and there are too many tight corners, it's hard for me to find the flow. So I like race stages which are decent and long - the 1 minute ones don’t do much for me.
I think Finale Ligure is the most fun place I’ve ridden. But I also really like here - Deister. There are several trails here I really like riding, some of them are steep and difficult. Nauders in Tyrol is pretty amazing, too. And Dolomiti Paganella in Italy- there are so many great places to ride!
I was sold on Deviate because of the high pivot design. I saw it and thought, “oooh, nice looking bike!” The progressive suspension travel really appealed too. I’m sponsored by EXT in Germany - they only do coil shocks at present, so I needed a good progressive suspension curve. The Highlander with this shock has an amazing nimble feel. And it’s such a compact and capable frame. I really love to ride it.
Photo courtesy of Hanna Retz
Produced by Impact Media
I’m driven by a need to explore. My own limits as well as new trails. I’d like to keep on travelling and experiencing new places - not just Germany. Sometimes the impetus to race for me is simply to ride somewhere new. I’ve got two EWS 100 entries this year, in Canazei and La Thuile, and I’m registered for the Enduro 2 pairs race in Switzerland.
I’d like to make another video with Anton. We made one a little while ago which went really well, and I’d love to do another. Riding with Anton is such a great experience. I don’t know how much more I can do with him as he gets older, but hopefully there’s plenty of life in the old dog yet! Keep an eye out for more from Anton and me!
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