Moves in the High Mountains

A Spanish sunset fills the screen, complete with distant, hazy peaks, all gold and red, promising switchbacks, sweeping descents and the magic of Andalusia. Where do I get that Zoom background? "Ah, it's not a background," laughs Sarto ambassador Marc Mähler or 'Moves' as he is known online. "I'm sitting on our rooftop terrace with my laptop." That's a relief. Or perhaps not. It turns out that Marc is in southern Spain for a winter cycling break, soaking up a middling sun in Almuñécar, a coastal town in the 'Costa Tropical' about an hour's car journey east of Malaga. "It's still a lot warmer than Germany, that's for sure," he adds, laughing again.

A basic but functional road bike got Marc off the starting blocks, and he began to notch up the miles with zeal, demonstrating a passion for sport that traced a line back to his early years practicing Taekwondo, later American Football and even downhill longboarding. "I guess you could say I like to be active!" he says.  

Before long, Marc's fever for two wheels and his penchant for riding a little too fast downhill went beyond the limits of his now ‘slightly better’ second bike, and he started looking for a more capable machine. "It was while riding the Alps in 2021 for the first time that I realised I needed to upgrade my bike," he says. "We rode the Gotthard, Furka and Nufenen Passes in one go, a distance of 100km with 3000m of climbing. On one descent, I braked hard, and my wheel started disintegrating. Between hanging on for dear life, braking and using my foot against the outer railing of the road to slow down, I managed to come to a stop, but it could have been really bad."

Marc is, of course, referring to our custom, 'handmade' everything approach. "I love that Sarto is an Italian brand that makes its bikes in Italy," he says. "And when I visited the factory and saw the production process, I could not believe that every tube was made by hand and tuned to the rider's needs. Who does that?" he laughs. "Maybe because of the visit and meeting the people, but the bikes have the same passion when you ride them. My bike is stiff, of course, but it's incredibly stable at speed - and I like to descend at and sometimes over my limit. And on rough tarmac, it absorbs bumps, which is uncanny given it is such a high-performance machine." 

Marc is the first to admit that he hasn't ridden many high-end bikes, but given his colossal riding stats and the sheer gusto he gives to every turn of the cranks, his experience rings true. Good is good.

In 2023, Marc returned to the high mountains, this time on his Sarto Raso, cresting the Col de la Croix de Fer, Col du Galibier and Alpe d'Huez in France, Italy's Stelvio Pass three times and several smaller ones in the Dolomites, like Sella Ronda. "It was a very different trip. I could push as hard as I wanted. Everything was superb," he recalls and makes special mention of his experience with disc brakes as an example of the confidence his Sarto gave him at speed. "I remember when I transitioned from rim to disc brakes on my first proper road bike," he says. "The discs felt very binary; either on or off, with little feel. My Sarto has disc brakes, but the difference is night and day. They allow me to feel the road and how close the tyres might be to sliding, to modulate my speed and to measure my efforts. The perfect Italian symbiosis of Sarto and Campagnolo!"

"When the world closed down, there were few options for exercise," he recalls. "The bike became my means of escape, in a very literal sense, from the bounds of home and the fear I think we all felt at that time. I rode 6000 km from May to November of 2020. That's a lot of escape," he adds dryly. "I think I've carried that feeling of freedom to my post-lockdown riding. Being on the bike is like a religious experience for me. I can't imagine not doing this."