TSG saved my life
Rider Down
Hannes’ story
Mountain bike team rider Hannes Klausner had a crash that could have easily ended his career. In his TSG saved my life story he tells you why he wasn’t knocked out totally.
story by HANNES KLAUSNER – photos by ROMAN KLOTZ
A Day like any other
Entrance check. Get ready. Focus. Go. A Day like any other. Been out riding and shooting. Aggressive and fast trail riding as I love it.
Ritual. Last check of the trail entrance. Line choice is crucial.
Hannes loves to find and use natural berms. Extremely good support in loose and slippery trail conditions and a lot of fun to gain propulsion from the counterpressure. Aggressive riding the way he likes it best.
Out on trails I know very well. Trails I know every single root, every single rock and every single hole on.
Trails I really know my lines on. Trails I feel comfortable on going fast.
Full Speed. When you fly over bumps like roots or stones and get support and control again when the front tyre touches down. That’s where flow comes in!
A good day
A good day spending time in my comfort zone doing what I love most. A day feeling super well on my bike and being happy with my riding.
What a mood of light. Hannes loves being in the forest. Absolute happy place.
Concentrated look back at a tricky part of the trail and the question in him if another line is possible there. It’s definitely worth a try. Let’s go!
Good fun. Good times. Good day. Pretty much all perfect.
Trail mode. Fully in preparation for the approaching next section.
Set high to be early enough for the rest of the section and take the speed with you. This is the only way to maintain the flow. You sometimes have to accept that you have to cross higher roots.
All of a sudden everything changed
But then. All of a sudden everything changed.
I went down hard on a very fast section right in between the trees and it felt like one of the hardest impacts I ever had.
Not rolling down the hill after going over the bars. Not loosing my front tire and sliding down the trail. Just a very hard impact that stopped me on point and felt really painful.
A tough one.
Rider Down. The moment shortly after everything has taken a different course than originally planned. That’s when you have to lie still for a while. But everything was going really well.
After staying on the ground for quite some time to even realize what just happened, I got checked in hospital and luckily walked away with no major injuries. Scratches and bruises all over and a sore body like never before, but no broken bones and no major inner damages.
A crash that could have easily ended my career, but also a crash that left me extremely thankful to be alive and be able to come back to do what I love most.
Such a privilege.
TSG saved my life
Looking back, I’m also super thankful for the high-quality pads and helmet that helped a lot to protect me from bigger injuries on this one and for every single gym session to keep my body fit and be able to take slams like this without being fully knocked out.
A day that ended a lot different than planned, but happy and thankful to be alive after a crash that could have ended a lot worse.
After a crash that could have changed the rest of my life pretty much. Make sure to keep your body fit and use high quality protection if you’re keen to get out there and ride bikes properly. It’s an amazing sport that we have and so much fun to shred bikes down the hill and through the woods, but it’s also a dangerous one.
Get out, enjoy the ride but make sure to stay safe and protect yourself.
CHEERS & RIDE ON, Hannes
Check out Hannes riding gear:
I still don’t exactly know what happened.