CURVES AND TURNS
Nowadays everything is getting faster and faster. This project was an experiment to slow down life, or rather, to find a way to go slow and enjoy travelling to the fullest.
"We need to stop and catch up with our spirit every now and then."
Cycling from the southern part of Austria to the Mediterranean Sea in Liguria and Sardinia was the first part of this adventure. Another important goal was to get into conversation with the locals, to dive deeper into the local culture and to find waves in a country that is not exactly known for surfing.
The idea: At first glance, it is not obvious that Austrians practice a sport like surfing. To reach the next reasonable and consistent surf spot, you have to drive at least 700 kilometres by car. Despite this fact, there is quite a large number of surfers in Austria. Most of them came to surfing via other sports like snowboarding or skateboarding. Once hooked, they spend a large part of their free time pursuing their new passion.
Journeys are becoming longer and more exotic. People are covering thousands of kilometres by plane and car to get to their desired destinations. On closer inspection, however, it becomes clear that the costs and the ecological footprint are far too great. So people try to justify their long-distance travel with arguments such as getting to know other cultures in order to understand and respect them. In reality, one is on paths and places that are shaped by tourism and do not represent the local culture at all. The real contact with the local culture is mostly limited to a few random situations.
What can a journey look like if you leave these prefabricated paths, where not only the start and the destination are known, but also everything in between? Is it really necessary to travel the whole world just to satisfy the highly individual need for clean waves in easy conditions that suit surfers from a landlocked country like Austria?
In search of answers to these questions, we set out on an adventure by bike from Austria to Sardinia. Surely the journey will be much more lengthy and exhausting than by car, but it is also very exciting when a trip to Sardinia suddenly becomes a real journey. Somehow we have forgotten what a journey is. These days we just change places. We get on a plane and a few hours later we leave it in a different world with a different culture, but we don't experience the change on the way. Native American wisdom says that if you are travelling at high speed, you need to stop and reflect from time to time so that your soul can catch up with you. Perhaps there is a grain of truth in this. In any case, a journey by bicycle opens up new paths and possibilities far from crowded motorways. We will find ourselves on lonely roads and paths with fewer but perhaps much more interesting people and where nature can surprise us at any moment.
Without a car or a plane, on foot or by bike, you get a new perspective on many things and discover the world in a different way.we embark on a journey to meet many fascinating people, experience adventures and of course hope for many unforgettable surf sessions.
