At the Red Bull X-Alps Challenger hike-and-fly competition in Austria this summer, X-Alps legend Chrigel Maurer delivered a two-hour talk to aspiring athlete-pilots. While offering up two decades of invaluable experience, it became clear that champions really do think differently.
Halfway through his packed talk in Mayrhofen, he explained that at one point in his training he was trying to find the best way to aid his recovery at the end of a long day in the mountains. Massage was a crucial part of that process, but he wanted to know how much difference it really made. So one day he told his physical therapist to massage only one leg. “The next day, both legs hurt, so I knew it wasn’t working.” The massage balls were binned.
It’s the kind of efficient logic we have come to expect from the eight-time Red Bull X-Alps champion and gives...
