A walk on the wild side in the Austrian Alps

"Go on. Go on. Go on. Keep pedalling. Faster! Pedal faster! Go!” Fifteen of us are on a hiking and cycling trip to Salzburg and St Johann in the Austrian Tirol. A combination of massive exertion-induced breathlessness and the sheerest, steepest incline I’d ever encountered on two wheels, has pulled me and the €3,500 rented E-bike on which I was precariously perched, asunder.
Remembering the wisdom of getting back on the horse after a fall, I’d done just that. But the torturous gravity-inducing ascent caused me to wobble unsteadily. This in turn prompted the Corkonian taskmaster who had been pedalling behind me to take a Michael Flatley-style leap off his bike, grab hold of the back carrier on mine and break into an uphill run designed to push me uphill.