More for l'etape

Today was mostly the same as last week, except the loop of Brunnersberg was clockwise, starting from Balstahl and was a much tougher climb, a continuous ascent of almost 600m ascent. The anti clockwise route is not so steep and has many recovery points, so this was better training today. Also I managed to tag on one extra climb at the end, which was tough to do as it was back up the hill from Grellingen - following the cycle path back along the river is the natural way to go home.
But with that extra climb, I managed to get over 2500m ascent into the ride, just what the etape doctor ordered. I wonder if he will sign and stamp my medical certificate now, the final item I need to prepare.
Good to get some sun and heat training as well, today was mostly 25 degrees, later in the day is much hotter at 28 but I'd finished by that time.
Very clear today, on the summit of Brunnersberg I could see across to the real Swiss alps in the far distance, all still snow capped of course.

http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/38918706  124km, 5hr 27

Etape training

 Its 10 years since I first cycled the big mountains of the Pyrenees in l'etape du tour, Tarbes to the ski resort of Luz Ardiden. Back then, I had never seen a mountain pass outside the UK, or else not appreciated one having been over in a car or other vehicle. My training for that event was laps of Arthurs Seat in Edinburgh! I used to go 5-6 times around the hill, as many times a week as possible and do some longer rides towards Peebles at the weekend. I managed to complete the distance, not walking any of the final climb, but it was crazy to attempt such a ride on such a poor bike and with inappropriate training.
This time I know what I've let myself in for, so I can not complain about the mountains I shall face on 11th July!
OK, so not much to say about todays ride as its really just for my own training log so I can remember the times, distance and ascent for later. Basically, steep start (20% one section up to Gempel) then out over Passwang, very nice big loop up and down to Balstal, then back over Passwang. Its really nice to be able to do such a quality ride, I appreciate living in such a bike friendly location.
Still liking the mapmyride.com interface, the summary of climbs is neat. I believe the total ascent as well, ridewithgps had me well over 3000m of climbing today, it doesn't seem to iron out all the bumps as well.
I measured 4hr59 112km. I can only increase the ascent gained on this ride by another 400m or so, beyond that I'll need to take the train to Biel and cycle back via some big passes.

Tour de Suisse

Still in the holiday mood, and after coughing and annoying everyone at work with my runny nose all day yesterday I took the day off to clear my lungs of virus particles and cycle to see the Tour de Suisse pass close to Basel, at the top of a cat 3 climb out of Aarau called the Staffelegg. I met up with Piotr in Liestal, and follow the bike trails to Aarau.
The 1:60,000 series of waterproof cycle maps of Switzerland are excellent. They highlight the official long distance routes red and all small, quiet country lanes are coloured green. All these routes are clearly and comprehensively sign posted at all junctions, its really easy to get around. In the countryside the routes are normal roads, but they really pick good quality, low traffic routes.
On the front of the Basel map is a picture of cyclists passing past cherry trees in blossom, and we are constantly passing honesty stalls at the side of the road with cherries by the kilo (5-6F), cherry jam, cherry wine and other foods I couldnt make out. 

We make good progress to Aarau, a really colourful town with brightly patterned window shutters, and very colourful areas underneath overhanging roof canopies, see the picture as I dont know how to describe this!
From Aarau it was easy to follow the route, by Tour de Suisse signs, marshalls, and by now many people out waving their flags and shouting encouragement to us as we ascended. Always the best part of going to see a bike race by bike, but often I get carried away and start riding faster and faster until its obvious I'm over the aerobic threshold and collapse back to push mode.
We get there in good time, but not quite good enough to see the caravan of advertising vehicles an hour before the riders. The hats, flags and water bottles have all  been handed out but its not difficult to pick up a few spares. We find a grassy open area on the hillside 250m from the summit to watch, an old German speaking couple give us their water bottles so thats one souvenir at least. A few are drinking beer or wine, and basically picnicking on the hillside, but its generally quiet atmosphere for this small climb.
A small leading breakaway of 4 riders were 9 minutes clear at this point, after only 47km and as the peloton rumbled by slowly you could tell they weren't bothered about this lead at this stage. Still another 157km for them to go! (The breakaway lasted until 14km to the finish)
You can just make out Cavendish in this photo, he is not enjoying the Tour de Suisse this year as its not a good course for the sprinters. Todays stage had another uphill section towards the finish which left the main sprinter stranded. But Hushovd got his win yesterday, so Cavendish will just have to wait for the flat plains in the Tour de France for his next victory.

For us, we pedalled north to Frick where Piotr got the train back. I carried on to the Rhine, and visited several very impressive towns en route. Stein was the first with its 700 year old bridge crossing the Rhine to Bad Sackingen in Germany, and Rhinefelden was another notable scenic stop this time for ice cream and coke. Watch out for the bike section between Mumpf and Rheinfelden though, this was unsurfaced gravel through the forest. Very nice, but not so good for my race lite tyres.

Grindelwald

Whit Monday was a holiday in Switzerland (and other European countries) and with the Tour de Suisse making a stop in Grindelwald, it seemed a great opportunity to head for the big hills for a long weekend.
Despite tales of overbooked trains, no room for bikes etc we had no trouble getting 2 mountain bikes from Basel to Interlaken, then up to Grindelwald. Probably different in July and August, but I thought more would have been on board this weekend. On top of the normal fare, bikes cost 12SF. If you can wrap it up and put it in a bag then theres no cost. I'll have to try out the old rinko bag from Japan to see if it can recover its cost.
The train hugs the edge of Thunersee, and even on a cloudy day like Saturday the scenery was outstanding. I wont try to describe the scenery anymore, I'll just add more photos to this entry.
The first information center you see after leaving the train station in Grindelwald is the Japanese help center, this has to be one of the highest concentration of 日本人outside of Japan. I even got to use a few sumimasens when cycling through the crowds at times.
From the tourist info, you can pick up a list of 10 best mountain bike routes in Grindelwald. After cycling a couple, I can can only assume these routes are for the masses and the best single track routes are kept secret for the locals.
Saturday afternoon was spent following the shortest recommended route to Marmorbruch. The scenery was great, past the incredibly deep gorge formed by the meltwater from the glacier, views across the mountains and up to the bungee jump platform above the gorge. But from a biking perspective it was a steep road climb with no hint of singletrack. The only way we could find a more technical route was to leave the mountain bike signs and follow the footpath signs, but these often have steep steps and walkers so not advisable.
On Sunday, the skies cleared and we had magnificent views of the Eiger all day. We cycled up to Kleine Schiedegg, a long long climb up to 2061m. Most of this is tarmac as well, and a constant gradient so not even an interesting climb. Recently, as Ive been doing more road riding, this kind of climb would be a good challenge but it would be over in a relatively short time. But on the mtb, you sit there in the granny ring and spin away for hours - not a fun climb!
It was the top for us, but for many the start of the train to Jungfraujoch - still 112 francs from this point! We have a half price train ticket, but still today is not perfect conditions so its not worth going any higher today.
Instead, we have ice cream and coffee then put on the windproofs for the descent. The first section is great, looping away from the route we ascended and down to Alpiglen below the Eiger. Here were fields of cows clanging their bells loudly as we wheeled past. Once past Alpiglen, theres a sequence of hairpin bends then its tarmac again to the bottom as we scanned the hillside for possible footpaths and alternatives to the official route.
Must find a guide next time we bike here!
Monday was wet and cool, and though I could have biked around in the clouds, we decided to leave early and explore the lakes and Interlaken. It would have been nice to see the pros flash past at 70kph through town, but not worth spending all day shivering in the rain for. But good for them, the roads dried up before 4pm so they were able to descend the Grosse Shiedegg in relative safety.
I will definitely come back to this town though, the route of the race looks amazing, hiking potential is of course massive and then theres the snowy season...

Feldberg - Freiburg

This looked good on the map, especially the tourist map of the area. The ski resort of Feldberg, round lake Titisee, the gorge towards Freiburg and visit the medieval center of Freiburg itself before a fast flat ride beside the vineyards back to Basel.
All sounds nice, except this was quite an epic ride of 176km finishing in temperatures around 28 degrees (not too bad) and generally a very scenic route, but this loop will never be repeated. The climb over Feldberg to over 1200m is a very busy route, although very wide and safe enough I'm still not used to vehicles passing from the left hand side. The ski center looks to be a great place for mountain biking, so for sure it would be better to drive up here and continue to explore by mountain bike.
Down to Lake Titisee, this felt like Windermere on a warm sunny day. Bus load of tourists wandering about eating ice cream, it felt too busy to enjoy a rest and lunch break here, so I ate more mini marathon bars (alliteration sounds better than mini snickers) and continued on the road to Freiburg. Despite most roads generally having good access for cyclists, this is one road which is not recommended for non motorised 2 wheelers! Theres no alternative road here to the 31, and although its all downhill this means the heavy trucks and traffic are sitting right on your tail, the speed limit signs gradually increase to 100km and the German cars like to use the full limit and more. Theres a narrow gorge which would be a scenic place to stop, and I do stop just to relieve the tension in my hands from the fear of the rumbing trucks hitting the brakes behind me.
As I take a breath, I see one other road cyclist hurtling down amongst the traffic at great speed, he seems to be enjoying it, but it looks like pure madness.
Not far beyond the pass I do find a bike path which I am very relieved to join and follow this down through some much more enjoyable roads, stopping for a very tasty quiche, carrot cake and coffee about 10km from central Freiburg. This hits the spot, and I quickly tighten the front brake which had become loose on the descent of 31.
After this energy boost I descend to make a brief visit at the market place and Freiburg Munster, but theres just too many people here today to make wandering around with a bike practical.
Originally I was planning to take the train back from Freiburg, but its relatively early and although the thunder clouds are gathering they are forming from the north and I won't be passing through the mountains again on the ride back to Basel, so its a case of find route 3 and follow it as closely as possible via bike paths, or on the road iteslf.

Ascension day

The Jura mountains south west of Basel start from the close suburbs. This allows short rides of 40km or so of hilly riding amongst vineyards, open fields, open views from the center of town on a week day evening after work.
On this ride, I was attempting to climb my first 1000m+ pass in Switzerland. I had tried a week earlier, reaching the top of Passwang to discover the road took a tunnel for the final stretch, so the altitude was limited to 943m. This pass is popular with motorbikers and other traffic, especially at the weekend and with good weather, but the views, challenge of the climb and of course descent make it worthwhile.
As Thursday was Ascension day holiday in Switzerland it made sense to climb higher and make it to the next higher pass in the Jura mountains. This means Col de la Scheulte / Scheltenpass, very close to Passwang in fact the eastern end of the road starts on a bend of the descent of Passwang. The top is 1,151m so passing the 1000m mark with ease. The route of Scheltenpass means the ride is extended out to Delemont adding a 25km detour or so to the south west. It was a very cool day compared to recent rides, down to 11 degrees in the hills from 28 in town a day or so before. Also, heavy mist in the mountains meant I was concerned about getting wet and cold on the descent, but luckily the weather improved during the ride and there was no need for wind breaker or waterproofs.
Delemont was clearly a French speaking area of Switzerland, all signs such as Toutes Directions in French and the western slopes directing me to Col de la Scheulte. It could have been the poor weather, but this pass had almost zero traffic. Only a few other cyclists heading the opposite direction, none yodelling as I had heard the previous week, just concentrating on descending through the mist.
The descent is long and gradual, but only to around 700m so the climb back up Passwang from the south is over quickly.