The car is deregistered and he wants to give away the fancy flat-screen TV. He just doesn't want the bailiff to find anything valuable. Simon Tischhart (27) would be very disappointed if he didn't have to go to prison. "You can't just go to prison like that. You can only serve a fine if there's nothing to seize," says Tischhart, adding with a mixture of defiance and regret: "Unfortunately."
Tischhart doesn't know when he will have to serve his sentence. He also has no idea whether he will be placed in a solitary cell or locked up with a real criminal. He doesn't know much about the world of criminals. The prison thing is more of a protest action - the final escalation stage of what is probably the most absurd argument ever fought over driving on a gravel road. It's hard to say who's the good guy and who's the bad guy in this story. The whole thing is a bit complicated. This story is about tens of thousands of euros, the olfactory cells of deer noses, the shock effect of bikes, the fundamental right to freedom and the smell of off-road vehicles. Simon Tischhart rode his bike over a gravel track. Now he's probably going to jail for it. The case has caused a tremor in the Austrian mountain bike scene, but it is just the latest escalation of an age-old problem in the Alpine republic: biking is banned by law in Austria. But first things first.
Crime scene Muckenkogel near Lilienfeld
The Muckenkogel is a stately, but by no means gigantic mountain. An alpine dwarf that stretches out of the wooded summit ensemble with difficulty, at the foot of which the 3,000-strong community of Lilienfeld slumbers. The Muckenkogel became somewhat famous 110 years ago when the first goal race in skiing history was held on its flank. Today, forestry, hunting and tourism dominate the area. There are serviced huts, a cable car and a wide main path to the summit, which is very popular with hikers and commercial vehicles alike. The mountain belongs to the Lilienfeld Ecclesiastical Abbey, which has leased the land to a hunter from nearby Vienna for decades. Unsuspecting people might mistake the small sign halfway up the climb for the work of a prankster: No cycling. Nobody could have guessed that this sign would one day make it into the television news.
Simon Tischhart, also known as "The Turkish Tiger" among his mates, grew up in Lilienfeld. He knows the sign on the ascent to the Muckenkogel. Signs of this kind can be found on almost every forest road in Austria. They are based on the Forest Act of 1975, according to which the forest may only be entered on foot and only on designated main paths. Unless the landowner has expressly authorised otherwise.
"Everyone knows everyone in Lilienfeld. The basic feeling here has always been that biking on the Muckenkogel is tolerated by the monastery. Nobody gave it a second thought. Father Pius knew about it. That's just the way it was," says Tischhart. He sits on the tiny balcony of his compact granny flat. The Muckenkogel towers behind him. In front of him is a mountain of official letters, bank transfer forms and newspaper articles.
"You're getting really daft," Tischhart shakes his head, tired of arguing. The Muckenkogel matter has now taken over his life.
"There's hardly a tour where you're not shown that you're not wanted in the forest. That has to change. We will overturn the current forest law. We will fight until biking is legal in Austria. Everywhere." (Dietmar Gruber/founder of the Upmove organisation)
8 September 2013 was a glorious late summer Sunday. The day of the annual Alpine mass, which is always celebrated on this date on the Muckenkogel. Crowds made a pilgrimage up the mountain. Some even travelled up in off-road vehicles. For Tischhart, his girlfriend Nina and two mates, taking the bike was the most normal thing in the world. It is unclear whether this fact alone, or a dialogue that broke out on the summit, set the fateful chain in motion. Tischhart made fun of the many parked cars, he says.
he recounts. An elderly gentleman suddenly stood in front of him.
Sued by Dr Gürtler for 15,000 euros
"He asked if we thought we were better than him with our bikes," recalls Tischhart.
The older gentleman was Dr Rudolf Gürtler (73), the gamekeeper. A white-haired ex-lawyer who had once taken a biker to court after he had thundered into a cow. Gürtler is a friendly, thoroughly charming man. But when it comes to troublemakers in his beloved countryside, the "former expert in hunting, fishing and fish farming" reacts with an extremely lack of humour. It was a shock for Tischhart, his girlfriend and the two friends when they were sued by Gürtler for 15,000 euros a short time later - each.
After months of legal wrangling, Gürtler waived the sum, but in return demanded a signed cease-and-desist declaration that none of the four would cycle on the Muckenkogel again. He billed the bikers for their legal fees: 1629.89 euros.
The case sparked outrage in the bike scene. What's wrong with riding a bike on a mountain that is fully developed for tourism and where even off-road vehicles are allowed? How sensible is a forestry law that lumps bikers into the corner of environmental terrorists? The Muckenkogel case is not typical. There are numerous fabulous bike regions in Austria where route networks have been legalised as part of sophisticated tourism concepts. Nevertheless, the Muckenkogel is not an isolated case.
■ In Annaberg (Lower Austria), the police launched a large-scale dragnet after a biker "illegally" travelled along a forest road.
■ In Styria, the forestry office offered training to become a "forest sheriff" to (among other things) catch bikers in the act of breaking the law.
■ Near Herzogreith (Upper Austria), a group of Englishmen were brutally detained on a forest track in pouring rain after the bikers had to leave the original route during their week-long tour of the Alps due to a thunderstorm.
■ In 2014 alone, three cases were documented in the Vienna area in which bikers were set traps, some of them life-threatening, by hostile landowners.
It was only a matter of time before resistance would form. Dietmar Gruber is a wiry, alert guy with the physique of a triathlete. "Legal biking - even in Austria", it screams from the colourful banner at the entrance to his impressively large mechanical engineering company.
"Enough is enough," says Gruber, who, together with his mate Andreas Pfaffenbichler, is fighting the dusty forestry law. To unite the scene, the two have founded the Upmove network. There are already 26,000 members, and the app has a reach of 200,000 bikers. Each of them invests 60 to 70 hours in the project. Week after week, alongside their actual jobs.
"Many people say it's impossible to overturn the law. But we're going to see it through!" says Gruber. When he heard about the Muckenkogel case, he provided Tischhart with a lawyer. But that's when the farce really started.
"The individual biker thinks: I'm quiet, but the wild animal's most important sensory organ is the nose. Bikers are a bigger nuisance than cars: they smell like humans." (Dr Rudolf Gürtler/hunting guide)
Tischhart can no longer say exactly why he went back up the Muckenkogel despite having signed a cease-and-desist letter. "I knew that if I went there, I'd be fucked!" Tischhart thinks hard. Total silence. Then: "I think I wanted to make a statement."
Tischhart convicted by a wildlife camera
He didn't expect it to be a file number. The wildlife camera that the shrewd Dr Gürtler had installed next to the gravel path was triggered by an infrared signal. The image quality is not great, but anyone who has ever come face to face with Tischhart will recognise him immediately. The report was prompt.
"You have disturbed wildlife," Tischhart reads from the letter from the local court. The fine this time: 440 euros, plus 800 euros in court costs. Tischhart, who only worked sporadically anyway, registered as unemployed in order to recover the court costs from the state in the form of unemployment benefit. Upmove boss Dietmar Gruber called for a "defence party" on the Muckenkogel, during which more than 50 bikers demonstratively pushed their bikes up the mountain, as this is permitted under the forestry law. Members of the press made a pilgrimage to Lilienfeld and the story made the rounds on social media. When Tischhart announced that he wanted to serve the 440 euro fine in prison, a team from ORF television came by. He was now the poster child for an entire sport.
Hunting tenant Gürtler is fed up with the subject. But he answers politely. Only a few days ago he came out of hospital with a fatigue fracture. Gürtler is over seventy and no longer feels like arguing. To end the conflict, he has offered to convert the lease, which runs until 2019, into a pure shooting contract. This would allow the foundation to decide alone whether to open up the path. Gürtler makes it clear that he is not against cyclists in general. He is only concerned with the protection of nature. After all, the forest is the last refuge for wildlife. He could talk about this for hours. How humans are exploiting nature. How even the last corner of the forest is still being misused as a pleasure zone. His statement on the Muckenkogel fills eleven A4 pages. There is no doubt that he is not interested in causing a ruckus, but really cares about the animals. But if you ask him why bikers of all people are disturbing the wildlife, but not lift users, hikers, ski tourers, forestry workers, hunters and off-road vehicle drivers, then it gets curious. The vapours from bikers would be the problem, as they would ride downhill with "wind vanes". Pure stress for odour-sensitive deer, which have 300 million olfactory cells.
"Motorised vehicles don't smell directly of humans," argues Gürtler. He means that first.
Biking has become a mass sport. It is clear that not every mountain can mutate into a biker's playground. But conflicts like the one on the Muckenkogel don't help anyone either.
Biking off officially designated routes still illegal
With the "Mountain Bike Model 2.0", the state government of Tyrol has developed what is currently probably the best solution for legalising biking in certain areas despite the existing forestry law. Landowners receive compensation for the opening of MTB routes and single trails - up to 25 cents per year and metre. The trails are signposted, recorded and advertised according to centralised guidelines. This channels the flow of bikers. At the same time, tourism benefits from the growing number of trails. The model is a success and is also being practised in a similar form elsewhere in Austria. Regions such as Nauders, Saalbach Hinterglemm and Serfaus have developed into bike meccas on this basis. However, riding off the officially designated routes remains illegal. Bikers in areas that are less attractive to tourists are still left out in the cold. Which is why Upmove boss Dietmar Gruber wants to continue to fight for total legalisation. Biking only in fully commercialised fun arenas? A horror idea for Gruber.
According to a recent article in the local newspaper, the path up the Muckenkogel is to be opened to bikers from spring under strict conditions. Dr Gürtler, the foundation and the municipality had come to an agreement. Tischhart smiles as he picks the article out of his pile of documents. He still wants to go to prison. Two days. It's worth it to him.
Background to mountain biking in Austria
General The basis for the right of way in Austria is Section 33 of the Forest Act, which came into force in 1975. According to this, the forest may only be entered on foot and on main paths. Unless the landowner expressly authorises otherwise.
Legal routes Particularly in the tourist regions, true mountain bike paradises have been created on the basis of special agreements between landowners and municipalities. Serfaus, Saalbach Hinterglemm, Kirchberg, Nauders - the list is long. Tyrol is pushing ahead with the large-scale mountain bike model 2.0. However, it remains illegal to ride on all non-designated trails.
The campaign Dietmar Gruber was fed up with being constantly verbally abused and confronted on tours. Together with Andreas Pfaffenbichler, he founded the biker network Upmove in 2010. "Legal biking - also in Austria" is the name of the campaign with which Upmove is fighting for the legalisation of biking. You can find all the information you need on the website. If you want to support the campaign or find out more, click here: www.upmove-mtb.eu
The best hunting grounds Which are the top areas in Austria? Where is there guaranteed no trouble? On our website we have the best bike areas in Austria including photos for you.
