Fresh coffee is on the breakfast table and the morning programme is on the radio. It is 8 am and the city is waking up. The new day is off to a slow start. Christian Grasmann flips the visor down on his helmet. It’s time to enter the fray. Under his fixed-gear bike, the asphalt rushes by. He goes with the flow of the traffic. Without any stress. Without a care in the world. The Maloja Pushbiker’s first destination: the Theresienwiese fairground in Bavaria. The bronze statue depicts the patron saint of Bavaria. We are in Munich. Cycling on the Theresienwiese is out of the question here in late September. Instead, six million visitors swarm to the annual Oktoberfest, to check out the marquees, rides and food stalls. Today, though, the fairground is an oasis of peace in the heart of the city. No traffic - just cyclists and pedestrians. Here, Christian Grasmann practises some fixie tricks, including skidding (i.e. braking without using the brakes), and does a quick lap of the site.

Then it's on to Viehof – the butchers’ quarter. Through the rows of shipping containers, past the graffiti. Christian Grasmann loves culture just as much as his sport. While drum ‘n’ base music booms out from the Bahnwärter Thiel nightclub, which has occupied a former slaughterhouse in Munich since 2015 and has gained cult status in the area surrounding the River Isar, Grasi hops on his bike to enjoy the euphoric atmosphere of the district, and to be inspired by it. The professional athlete can often be found here, albeit without his bike, for theatrical performances, concerts and public readings. He does not usually attend club nights, though.

Ludwigstrasse, Siegestor, Leopoldstrasse. The route is the destination, but Grasi’s route also has an end – the L’Osteria restaurant on Elisabethstrasse. As he and his friends tuck into pizza and pasta and drink espressos and grappa, they talk about their latest races, tours and success stories. Sport is also culture.