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84<br />
Rally raid biker, 33, AUT.<br />
<strong>The</strong> 2018 Dakar Rally winner has a motto:<br />
“Don’t play the hero. Try to be one.” For him,<br />
planning and attention to detail are key.<br />
Matthias<br />
Walkner<br />
<strong>The</strong> power<br />
of small things<br />
“Hurtling over dunes at full speed<br />
may look dangerous, but we train<br />
for it. What’s far deadlier is<br />
sloppy thinking, like not following<br />
the roadbook instructions, or<br />
getting lost, or failing to wash<br />
your hands, or showering in the<br />
bivouac with your mouth open<br />
(and swallowing contaminated<br />
water). That will throw you and<br />
your body off course. It’s the<br />
small, unremarkable things that<br />
can either screw the whole thing<br />
up or help you succeed.”<br />
85<br />
Climber, 34, AUT.<br />
A successful competitive climber before<br />
her retirement in 2013, Eiter was the first<br />
woman to conquer a 9b route (in 2017).<br />
Angy<br />
Eiter<br />
<strong>The</strong> joy of listening<br />
to your body<br />
Eiter in Kiparissi, Greece, in 2015. <strong>The</strong> climber christened<br />
this route “Gloom of Triumph.”<br />
“Food science wasn’t really<br />
part of my training at the start<br />
of my career. <strong>The</strong> wisdom at<br />
that time was: the lighter you<br />
are, the better you’ll climb.<br />
I wanted success, so I kept<br />
eating less and less. I halved<br />
my intake, and it got to the<br />
stage where I was hardly<br />
eating at all. I had slipped<br />
into anorexia.<br />
“When my trainer realized<br />
what was going on, he<br />
snapped and forbade me<br />
from any more climbing until<br />
I was eating normally again.<br />
I couldn’t understand his<br />
reaction—I had always had<br />
these skinny models paraded<br />
in front of me, and now I had<br />
to feed myself up.<br />
“I unraveled that knot<br />
when I realized that starving<br />
myself hadn’t made me a<br />
better climber. I was failing<br />
to build up the muscle mass<br />
that was required to perform<br />
complex climbing moves;<br />
I was no longer mentally<br />
resilient and couldn’t<br />
concentrate that well.<br />
“When I put a bit of weight<br />
back on and noticed I’d gotten<br />
stronger, my sense of selfworth<br />
improved, too. I was<br />
lucky my entourage reacted<br />
to my losing weight so early.<br />
“My message is: pay<br />
attention. Listen to the signals<br />
your body is sending—it’s<br />
trying to get through to you.<br />
If it rings, pick up.”<br />
PHILIPP CARL RIEDL/RED BULL CONTENT POOL, KFOTO-KOCO MONCADA/KTM,<br />
BERNHARD HÖRTNAGL/ASP/RED BULL CONTENT POOL, LUKA FONDA/RED BULL CONTENT POOL<br />
WERNER JESSNER, SIMON SCHREYER<br />
86 THE RED BULLETIN
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