bike
Karen Eller
Home (City / Country) Garmisch Partenkirchen/Germany
Date of birth April
Career Highlights 3x Transalp Challenge Winner, Transrockies Winner, 2nd Worldcup Marathon Alpe d'Huez
Athlete talk
What is your all-time favourite riding destination?
Aosta Valley is for sure one of my favourites. The temperatures there are still good even in October and one can do amazing high alpine riding with the most beautiful Fall colours. And I have to admit I love the Italian bike culture and apres bike culture, the food, and the people a lot. I love Arosa, Lenzerheide a lot for the high alpine but still flowy trails. And in Trentino there is Dolomiti Paganella. Also there I prefer the singletrails away from the bikepark, the culture, the food, the people, and the lake.
What "No Shortcuts" means to you
No compromises, the real way.
What do you get up to when you’re not doing bikes?
In Winter I do a lot of ski touring, skiing and cross-country skiing. We live in Garmisch and there is usually snow and no season for biking. Then of course the preparation for the bike season, organization of camps and events, so a lot of office time as well. And then I try to support our ski racing kids in winter too. So it’s a lot of driving them to races or training.
Outside of cycling, where do you draw inspiration from?
The Winter season is good for inspiration. Hours of ski touring in the white snow, in the landscape I draw a lot of motivation for summer and biking. Social Media is mostly frustrating me. You always think others are always on the best places on earth only biking and skiing. It does not give me inspiration. Magazines and movies, that’s where I get inspiration from, and talking with others out on the way to the mountains or driving with others in the car and talking. On Insta, what you see there has already been done. I like more the new ideas. Own ideas. And they come when I let my thinking flow.
You’re stranded on a desert island. What three things would you want with you?
A t-shirt smelling of my boyfriend; my ukulele (because I’m trying to play it better); and honestly, my phone.
If you could put up a billboard to be seen by countless people every day, what would you put on it?
My best motivational smile - because maybe it would help to make others smile.