By Ambassador Johannes Seehuber
2022 is a very special year for me. My life situation has changed completely. I have become a father. I have learned a lot about love, family cohesion, and life in general. And in between, riding bikes is still my favorite thing to do.
January
Bike wise the beginning of the year is of course a bit calm. I did some trail building, collected the first parts for a new bike build, and happily received some new sponsored bike parts.
FEBRUARY
My wifes belly is getting bigger and bigger <3 But first it was time to unbox something else 😉 My Kona Rove Ltd arrived and I already had the chance to did some test rides in the flat. The trails and the mountains where still covered in snow and my first MTB rides where mainly cold and icy.
MARCH
Snow is melting and I had the first proper group rides with some friends. My Process 134 is still running pretty well but I also wanted to use my Process X a bit more on the home trails this season. When the time was short for mountain biking I happily cruised around the lake on my new Gravel bike.
APRIL
April had some pretty nice and warm conditions already and in joyful expectation of the birth of my daughter, I tried to stay around the house and shorten my riding time a bit. I started commuting to work with the Rove more regularly than in the winter months before.
In the middle of April, we welcomed our sweet little daughter into the world and I started with my parental leave off work. Between diaper changes and helping my wife I snuck in some Gravel rides. Riding trails and doing sketchier stuff did not feel right especially in the first weeks of being a dad so I slowed down my Mtb activities a bit.
MAY
In May I finished the *Dream Build* of my Rove. After some months of testing, commuting, and tuning I spend way more time on it than I thought. Due to the lack of time I had with my new role, it quickly became my preferred solution to go on a quick gravel ride… so I wanted it to be completely customized according to my ideas.
To prove how fast it is I took advantage of a radar gun control outside my house and got a funny traffic control photo on it. Even the police officer was impressed. He did not give me a fine for that by the way.
Also, the obligatory bike park trip end of May to Wexltrails with a big crew of friends was a highlight. Where I rode the X on all the Jumplines and Enduro trails. Wexltrails in Austria is such a cool place to hang out! The parking area is perfect for staying overnight and the bike park offers everything you could ask for.
JUNE
With sunnier weather, the work commute on the Rove became close to a daily routine. Searching for new paths, different routes and unknown places in between home and work is now my guilty pleasure haha. I tried some bikepacking pack options, was stung by a wasp in the face, took the lead in the work intern commuter competition.
One of the biggest highlights of the season for sure was the Global Bike Festival in Saalbach where I finally met parts of the Kona Team in person. I had a warm welcome from Lacy, Nico, and all the others and felt like meeting friends I never saw before.
I could help to roll out all the demo bikes and prepare the booth for the day and then I had some laps around the bike park with Joonas and Tito. After shredding we hung out at the festival, and had some good chats with all the people around. For sure I will join the festival next year and try to be there for more than just a day!
Back at home I continued commuting and had some good summer shreds with my friends.
JULY
Happy Birthday to me 😊 half of the year is already over. I enjoyed riding bikes with my dad again after he struggled with illnesses for several months. He is my mentor, and trainer as a child and brought me to ride as a kid and always supported me no matter if I wanted to have kids roadbike or build jumps in the garden for my first dirt jump attempts as a teenager. Thanks, dad! We also raced a road race, a mountain time trial again together this summer like in the past.
After the end of my parenting time, I had to learn that everything is different with a baby. In the past, I never skipped an opportunity to ride after work. Now I need to plan and see if there is a possibility of getting away for some hours and sneaking in a ride. Leave work earlier to get enough time for the family as well. There is always a way and the hassle pays of. Every ride feels more special than ever and coming home to your newborn is the most joyful thing ever.
AUGUST
Commuted to work in the moonlight. Had the best trail conditions ever at home, maintained the fleet of bikes as usual, and bought a bicycle trailer for the kid!
That’s fun! The baby finds its way into the world better and better and we have some awesome summer days hanging out at the lake. Stroller rides to the ice cream shop are a daily routine 😉 When I find time to ride now, it is riding with groups to make sure I spent time with my friends as well.
SEPTEMBER
The commuter mornings get darker and darker. Tinkered a lot to find a good light setup. Maintained the bearings of my process 134 for the first time after 2500km and three seasons! Wow. Brought my wife some flowers because she is awesome! And right to start a little holiday the weather became worse for the first time in weeks so I took a little break from riding bikes.
OCTOBER
Traditionally October Is mostly a pretty nice and also the last month for good riding in my area. This was also the case this year.
Visited Schladming Bikepark with a good crew and spend a whole day lapping the jump line on my process X. Had some super cold and dark mornings while commuting to work and in exchange for this some golden sundown rides after office time. Did some back-to-back days on the home trails as long as the conditions were this good. Did the last ride in shorts and a short jersey and was mentally prepared for the offseason already.
NOVEMBER
Unexpectedly November showed up with pretty nice conditions again so I continued to ride to work. Also, the local bike park opened up on the weekends again after being officially closed already.
So I spend some time in golden light riding around on the gravel bike and had nice laps on the trail bike at the local park on weekends. Invested some money in good clothing for my commuting rides and already started servicing the Enduro bike because now all bike parks are closed. Baby Girl is doing great, she actually loves watching me work on bikes. A good sign when your kiddo already smiles when she hears a sound of a loud freehub haha.
With my sixtieth ride to work on the Rove Gravelbike (which are by the way around 2000 kms in total) and some home trail visits, I could look forward to winter months relaxed and satisfied.
December
My season recap deliberately ends here. By this point, I am writing all these things together the mountains and trails are already covered with snow. End of November I caught the bad flu and cold and had to stop riding. The temperatures in the morning are below zero and the streets and paths on the way to work may be covered with ice here and there so commuting is also a bit precarious.
I am not sure if there is some opportunity to ride bikes this month so here is a good point to stop and review my season and my year.
This year was pretty difficult for me to submit stories and projects for the blog and the Kona ambassador project in general.
Everything is time-consuming and is kinda hard to realize with having a baby and the main job but I am super thankful and loving life so much right now.
The feedback to the Kona Rove online was crazy. I got a lot of questions and comments about it. Wheel sizes tire choices and so on… and I never thought I would ride it so much, to be honest. Commuting to work is now my guilty pleasure sneaking in miles before going to the office of my main job … somedays I was up with the baby before 5am and head out immediately.
Had such lovely summer mornings riding through the fields around lake Chiemsee and towards the company.
And I also brought some MTB friends towards commuting and gravel riding by that which is super nice also!
This year, after the baby was born I didn’t do a single MTB ride on my own. I only took time out for mountain biking when I was sure I would meet friends along the way.
Mtb activities are cut shorter a bit, there are some ups and downs with trails getting closed or destroyed from the forestry here but I am the happiest guy when I step onto my trail bike still.
When I am done with taking photos of my baby (which will never be the case haha) I will sure try to bring the camera on rides:
There is always something in my head but just have a bit less time right now.
In the past, my decision for a bike ride was maybe only based on the weather or my body’s feeling no matter if I am on my own or if there is a big group to ride with.
This year I needed to find the balance between meeting friends and being as much with my little family as I can.
This year made me realize how much I love every aspect of cycling, not only Mtb, not only downhill laps, not only photo stuff.
Thank you Kona Bikes for the Support
Cheers
Johannes
