As I hopped off to push my rental Corratec X-Vert Motion up yet another hill, I quickly came to realize that mountain biking in Southern Germany is not exactly the same as mountain biking in San Francisco. Located in the heart of the Bavarian Alps, the small metropolis of Garmisch-Partenkirchen sits beneath the Zugspitze Massif, the highest mountain in Germany at 2962 m or 9718 ft above sea level. Most trails rise quickly and steeply out of the valley, and with a less than ideal bike to match the conditions, I needed to veer my expectations towards maximum fun factor not maximum distance or vert.