10-year old Schiffman twins take on the Alps

“It’s a tradition to bike up Logan Pass at Glacier every year for our birthday,” 10-year old Sawyer Schiffman said. He and his twin brother Darien have been doing the Sun Road on their own bikes since they were seven years old.  

The Bigfork bikers have been touring since before they could pedal their own bikes; their parents, Risa and Jared Schiffman, have taken them on trips to Cuba, Couer’d Alene, Banff to Jasper, and the Beartooth Mountain Range. Until this summer, the twins’ biggest self-propelled trip was through the Black Hills in South Dakota, about 110 miles. Now they can add over 600 miles of the Alps to their list of accomplishments.  

In mid-June, the Schiffman family started their trip from Austria, to Italy, to Slovenia, to Germany, then back to Austria.  

“I always wanted to do this when I retired, but I thought, ‘I don’t know what the world’s going to be like when I retire so I might as well do it now,’” Risa said.  

“They were definitely pushed to their limits a lot, but they kept at it. It was interesting to see the ebbs and flows, when one was having a hard time, the other would help them out. I think it was really good to teach them that they can do anything they want if they really try, you have to work for it and nothing is easy.” 

Each of the boys carried 45 pounds of equipment, a big accomplishment for someone weighing only 60 pounds themself. The family travelled around 40 miles a day, camping whenever the weather permitted. They ate a lot of chocolate croissants for breakfast, with a lunch of cheese, salami, crackers and apple. The twins described it as “amazing.” 

“It’s like being in Glacier all the time, that’s what Slovenia is,” Sawyer said.  

Gelato was a big highlight of the trip, Darien found the best mango ice cream ever along the way from Grado to Venice. They were also especially fond of the water park in Italy; the twins weren’t able to ride Captain Spacemaker, the tallest waterslide in Europe at 42 meters, but they were able to capture photos of their parents shooting off the slide.  

Jared wanted to hike the tallest peak in Slovenia, Mt. Triglav, 9,396 feet. So, on one of their break days, the family headed up.  

“If I set my mind to it, I can do it and it’s not that hard if I have what I need; strength and food and rest,” Darien said.  

Jared returned to work about a week through the month-long trip, the twins and Risa continued. Going back down the Alps, they found that Sawyer’s brake was paper-thin. Risa got to work building him a new one out of duct tape at a kebab shop. The shop owner’s husband came out and asked if they needed help, it turned out he was a mechanic.  

 “He made my brake work a little too well, but I guess that’s better than having no brake at all going downhill,” Sawyer said.  

They stopped to stay overnight with a local who frequently allowed bikers to rest at his house, and he gave Sawyer the brake from his bike for the rest of their journey.  

“It’s nice to know that when we needed help, there are actually good people out there,” Sawyer said.  

Among the other characters they met on the road were an older Italian man who biked with an oxygen tank and an Austrian boy who biked up a section of the Alps to school each day – a route steeper than Big Mountain, Risa said.  

“I wish I could just bike from here to school... and just around Bigfork,” Sawyer said. The twins will be attending Swan River School for fifth grade this year. Their home, located off Highway 35 down a hidden driveway, has no real shoulder for bike riders along the roadway.  

Risa recalled several movements to get more bike connectivity in Bigfork since they moved there 15 years ago, but none truly came to fruition. She expressed disappointment that the newly done Highway 83 didn’t include a wider shoulder, even though it’s a popular route for Mexico to Canada bikers. Europe, the Schiffmans said, was far more inclusive to bikers. 

“It’s like biking the entire Flathead and just going to Creston and Columbia Falls and Whitefish and never worrying about dying,” Risa said.  

Their bike tour has inspired a love for travel in the Schiffman boys. Sawyer hopes to visit Antarctica and see the penguins, his favorite animal. Darien is a big fan of theme parks and hopes to visit Disneyland and Disneyworld, then maybe rest in a hammock in Hawaii. He wants to go to Australia and Asia, to see giraffes, tigers and walruses.  

“I am witnessing newness through their eyes, although they are following my dreams right now and have yet to find their own,” Risa wrote in a blog post about their trip. “I just hope that the lessons they learn on this trip, the struggles and successes, stay with them at their young age and their highlights don’t only revolve around the copious amounts of ice cream and playgrounds. But if they do, at least it’s hard-earned Gelato.” 

    The Schiffman family on Mt. Triglav. (Courtesy photo)