The Ride to Wacken – a wacky idea, for a great cause!
What is more emotional than Music and Outdoor Sports? The two go straight to our souls and also go perfect together. When we ride, we feel the rhythms of life, and when we here music, our heart dances.
Sometimes you ride your bicycle and your favourite song just plays in your head while you’re in the middle of nature; and you breathe in that fresh air on an amazing gravel, MTB or road bike descent, and the world feels alive, as you hum that song and increase the pace. Yes, music and cycling together, it’s like the best drugs ever. Hey, it’s the only drugs we need – music and adventure in the mountains!
Christoph von Freydorf, lead-singer of the German Metal-Band, Emil Bulls, and my wife Nina Keetman-Strobel, who is a Guitar teacher and musician as well – know each other now since almost 20 years and always had a positive and respectful friendship. They share that love for music, life and free-thinking, and it’s developed into a great friendship.
Sharing the good times – a great cycling and skiing 😉
I met Christoph the first time in 2018, on one of the Emil Bulls gigs; and we’ve had a lot of amazing conversations and great times together since then. Ultimately, we both love cycling, a great glass of wine, snowboarding and music – Now, that’s definitely a great combination, let me tell you! Over the past years Christoph’s passion for Gravel cycling got more and more intense, and I followed his posts on Instagram when he was traveling with his bike to the next gig, from Munich to Dresden or Vienna. It was awesome to see this guy, bringing these aspects of his life into balance and living in a way that suited him and not society. In truth, I guess that’s what gravel biking is all about – the adventurer in us, escaping to a different place, replenishing our soul on each and every ride!
The wacky plan for a Wacken ride!
A few months ago, Christoph and I had been talking after one of his gigs; and he told me about his plan about “The ride to Wacken”. For those who don’t know the Wacken Open Air Festival – it’s the biggest Metal Festival and one of the biggest Rock and Metal Festivals worldwide, with around 90.000 sold tickets, and a lineup of more than 145 bands, such as Amon Amarth, Scorpions, KoRn, Alligathoa, Architects, Behemoth, Flogging Molly and the EMIL BULLS. It’s a truly epic festival, and one that is on every rock fans list of must-go-to events.
The best brands make every ride an adventure worth taking
Thinking about my own career and roles, at the time I knew could help support him with some kit for the ride: bicycle helmets, sunglasses and maybe some parts around it. However, then in February with all our changes of brands and a new setup on our end, everything changed suddenly and I started to organize options for Christop’s Ride to Wacken. Working with many of the world’s leading cycling industry brands in terms of quality and performance, such as 3T, Bivo, Spektrum Sports and Lake Cycling, I was able to arrange for them all to support Christoph’s journey. And, at Eurobike Christoph and I also managed to get SQLab and Tatze as supporters too; with SQ Lab ensuring that Christoph will be sitting comfortably all the way!
Christoph has had Evoc Sports in the loop already for the Gravel bags, and just a few days ago SRAM made contact in social media with him. With that amazing lineup of supporters Christoph is now going into the final weeks of training on a 3T Racemax Italia Bianco 54cm,fitted with Sram Rival AXS 2×12, which he named Fuchur. He will be starting his epic final Ride to Wacken on the 23rd or 24th of July – so quite soon. The Ride to Wacken is a charity ride for the Wacken Foundation, which is supporting newcomers, young band projects, and bands who need support for their tours, CD -productions and more –>
WE SUPPORT METAL
The Wacken Foundation also organizes the Wacken Camp which is a “Metal Camp” for youth bands. Everyone who wants to support Metal and Hard Rock Music can donate to the Wacken Foundation directly via this link:
https://www.wacken-foundation.com/unterstuetzen-spenden
Christoph is an enthusiast in cycling and music, and he’s a perfectionist and just loves what he does. That fits perfectly with our brands, such as 3T, Lake, Evoc, SQ Lab and others; all of whom operate at the highest level of performance. With his support for the Wacken Foundation he will also give new bands and young people the chance to live their passion for music. He also shows how deeply outdoor sports and music are connected to each other.
Join Christoph and enjoy Christoph’s Ride to Wacken, and follow him and the Wacken Festival on social media. Music is the food for life, and gravel biking adds life to each and every day spent on 2-wheels – music to my ears!
