Mountain bike coordination

Mandate, Goals, and Working Methods of the Mountain Bike Coordination

The Mountain Bike Coordination Austria is responsible for the process of developing a nationwide mountain bike strategy. It organizes the stakeholder dialogue, ensures methodology and transparency, and translates diverse interests into actionable recommendations applicable across Austria - within the existing legal framework.

Goals

• Create a shared understanding of the current situation, opportunities, and areas of conflict.
• Involve relevant actors across the entire ecosystem (habitat & destination).
• Develop a practical strategy and action logic that can be implemented within the legal framework.
• Consolidate knowledge: make legal framework, best practices, data & facts, and contacts centrally available.

Working Methods (Guiding Principles)

• Moderate neutrally and question-driven (“inquiring, not dictating”).
• Turn affected parties into participants - engage them in a differentiated manner.
• Use transparency as a lever for acceptance: ongoing documentation and traceable decision-making.
• Dual perspective: habitat (locals/recreation) and destination (tourism/value creation).

What the Mountain Bike Coordination is not

• Not an interest group / no lobbying.
• Not a legislative body or approval authority.

The strategy process is designed as a participatory development process. It combines an early activation phase (establishment of the coordination office) with a structured stakeholder process and clearly defined milestones.

Stakeholder Process Phases

• Analysis of the current situation (mapping, data, interviews)
• Definition of the target framework (vision, legal and structural conditions)
• Stakeholders & roles (responsibilities, interfaces)
• Clarification of goals and tasks (objectives, challenges, target model)
• Prioritization (fields of action, conflicts)
• Vision & strategy (consensus-based draft including implementation concept)

Timeline & Milestones (current plan)

• September–December 2025: Setup / go-live basis (organization, reporting, communication & collaboration structures)
• Q1 2026: Start of federal state stakeholder meetings (workshops, documentation, stakeholder matrix)
• May 2026: Discussion paper as consolidated interim status
• Mid-2026: First strategy draft to the steering group (review loops)
• End of 2026: Finalization & publication of the Mountain Bike Strategy Austria
• From 2027 onwards: Implementation coordination, monitoring, and further development with regions/partners

Mountain Bike Coordination Austria (Contractor & Implementation: KONNEKT GmbH)
Contact persons: Thorsten Schmitz & Karl Morgenbesser

Email: office@mountainbike-koordination.gv.at
Address: Unternberg 197, 2880 St. Corona am Wechsel, Austria

For appointment and participation requests, please use the email address provided.