Intense job, intense hobby

For Michaela Osl, it's vital to be physically fit. That's why the trained nurse spends every free second on her mountain bike on the trails around the Kitzbühel Alps. "Because I have always found my answers to pressing questions in nature, in the mountains of Tyrol."

Working as a nurse in the intensive care unit in the Tyrolean hospital in St. Johann, often demands the maximum from the staff. Here, the line between life and death is a thin one, often decided by just a few seconds. The medical and nursing effort is enormous, the psychological pressure high. And yet Michaela Osl chose precisely this profession. Her training at the health and nursing school in Zell am See lasted three years, immediately after which she began her career, first in the casualty ward and shortly afterwards moved to the intensive care unit. "Of course, there are always stressful situations that are hard to let go of. I try to leave those thoughts in the hospital, talk about them with colleagues and give my mind the time it needs to process what I've experienced."

Michaela finds the best balance to her work in mountain biking. Only when she can pedal intensively, climbing the mountains of the Kitzbühel Alps metre by metre, does she find peace in her thoughts. "I need this exertion when I get my heart rate up. That way I can switch off, feel good and strong again for the next working day." Born in Kirchberg, Michaela began cycling as a child, discovering her passion for it through her father. Quite quickly she increased her skills and rose in the professional league to the Junior World Cup. "Then I realised that I had to make a decision: do I want to go into high-performance sport or do I want to learn a down-to-earth profession?" She decided on the latter and the mountain bike became her constant leisure partner.

Numerous trails around the Kitzbühel Alps, challenge Michaela to prove her skills over and over again. Her favourite trail is the Fleckalm Trail in Kirchberg, which is practically right on her doorstep and, at 7.1 kilometres, is one of the longest single trails in Tyrol. "The varied route has everything I could want from a trail at an altitude of 1,100 metres. Root passages, larger and smaller jumps, various steps and bridges." In order not to be thrown off the trail here, you need a high level of concentration, stamina and technique. "There's no time for other thoughts, I can't overlook a stone, I have to look for my line, be complete with myself and my bike." The perfect balance for Michaela from the intensive work. When she's not on her mountain bike, she grabs her climbing harness and climbs new vertical routes: "I've only recently discovered climbing for myself. It's a great complement to cycling because you can really train your body awareness and do a lot for your upper body strength. The mountains are simply my thing, they always have been."

#KitzbühelerAlpen | #LebenswegeTirol