Return to the Vosges

I felt like I had unfinished business in the Vosges mountains after my first visit last week, the roads leading up to the route des cretes meeting at Markstein looking interesting, I had to squeeze in one more visit before the winter.
Today I took the direct route from Basel to Altkirch to Thann, an obvious route and very little traffic, but still the road was too long and straight to be interesting, it felt more like a highway in places despite the lack of traffic. Not a bad route though, and the distance would be covered very quickly by a small grupetto.
There was one small climb which popped up on the mapmyride profile, it was lined with trees planted by Napolean III, not far from Altkirch.
Once I was in Thann, it feels like you're back in some magical wine kingdom, which in fact you are. All the villages here are so well kept its a joy to cycle through them. Definitely must do the Colmar to Strasbourg section when its warm again next year.

Today the main climb started from the almost completely dry lake beyond Kruth. Theres a very generous 14km climb up 600m to Markstein from here. No downhill or flat, but it really is nice to climb upwards at speed and so I really liked this ascent. Towards the top there was heavy frost across the road and my rear wheel was slipping. As I climbed higher, I could see snow on the Grand Ballon, and soon enough I was in areas with small amounts of snow sitting in shaded areas by the roadside. Much colder than last week, but the autumn colours of the forest were more intense so it was for sure a good day to be on the hill.
Theres still more climbing beyond Markstein, and there I joined up with a local mountainbiker. Hes retired, and cycled over 14000km this year! Too cold for the road bike today for him. We made a pact to meet up at the Trois Ballons next year, an event he has cycled 10 times before. The finish of this event is La Planche des Belles Filles, a 12% climb at the end of a ride over 200km. As the Tour de France will be finishing at the same resort in 2012, it will be nice to get to know the climb before the masses of Germans, Dutch and English, let alone the French, paint the road all colours and names next summer.

The descent to Munster is much steeper and faster today, though I need to take it easy at the top in case theres anymore ice on the road. Florian at work told me about the famous smelly Munster cheese, so I make an effort to locate a fromagerie (not difficult at all). It really is quite strong, but there are worse smelling cheeses than this one. Wish the town would do something about its massive cobblestoned roads, they really are painful.
Also made a stop in Turkheim wine cave, my first visit to a cave. Its busy, several languages being spoken all sampling the wine from a very long tasting bar. Outside, cars are filling up with crates of fine wine. Would be very nice, but I dont have any suitable pockets to carry a wine bottle, but I'll be back for sure. Turkheim really is on the outskirts of Colmar, so depending on train times it would be worth finishing a ride here and having a meal with wine before a few km down the the station.
But then theres plenty more options in Colmar for enjoying the food and wine and architecture of Alsace.

 Route on mapmyride

Le Grand Ballon, Route des Crêtes

After a decent mountain bike ride yesterday discovering new tracks below Gempen and sliding down one uber steep valley resulting in slight road rash (shouldn't that be mud rash?) I was feeling a little bruised and tired today but still determined to venture into the Vosges mountains for the first time.
I wanted to ride out from Basel to test the roads and get a feel for the distance, it turned out to be fast and very little traffic all the way to Mulhouse. Would be easy to hop on a train next time to save 40km or so, or head out to Altkirch and avoid Mulhouse altogether - theres not much to see here.
Today was the first day in leggings and long gloves, chilly start but by the time I was Wittelsheim the low cloud evaporated and blue skies remained for the rest of the day. Still, it would be chilly on the higher ground.
At the top of the first col at 906m is Hartmannsweilerkopf, on which is a cemetery and national monument for those killed in the first world war. Worth a brief stop.
After this point the road is known as the "Route des Crêtes" - the route of peaks. Well theres one main peak, Le Grand Ballon at 1325m after which I followed the the route for an amazing 22km undulating at around 1200m before dropping down to Munster and the road down to Colmar. Its quite rare to find a road which continues at altitude after a major climb, so this route is a real gem.  The climb up to Le Grand Ballon really seemed to go on forever and on the lower parts I came across the familiar cobblestones as first encountered on the slopes of La Tremola, Gotthard pass. Thankfully it was only 3 very short sections, I was worried I would have another 8-9km of these cobbles all the way to the top! What was really cool is there really is a Grand Ballon at the top of the mountain, but you'd have to hike up from the road to get to it. Another day perhaps. Also its nice the French like to mark all their climbs every kilometer. Here the climbs were not marked with a gradient like in the Alps, but at least they marked how far from the top and the altitude every km, its always nice to know how much further there is to go.
The first ski slope of the day was at the top of the Grand Ballon, then at Markstein, and a few smaller slopes before the end of my ridge ride at Col de la Schlecht.
It really was a nice ride in the cool air, the forests all coloured for autumn it all reminded me of the ride I did last autumn in Nagano, along the Venus line from Chino to Bessho onsen.
Its a great route, and once you're off the main ridge you can soon be down amongst the vineyards of Alsace. The harvest was a couple of weeks ago now, but the leaves still remain on the vines so it all still looks very attractive. The whole "route du vin" from Mulhouse to Strasbourg is dotted with picturesque villages, wine caves and acre after acre of vineyard as far as the eye can see. I made a brief stop in Turkheim to take some photos, and of course the center of Colmar which is a must visit if you're in the area.
When planning this route I had though I might continue on beyond Colmar and see a few more of the villages on the way to Selestat, but all thoughts of this evaporated on the slopes up to the first col when I realised how far and really how big these climbs are. 150km for the day and I feel really tired now after another weekend on the roads and trails around Basel.
I'll definitely be heading back to the Vosges again, seem to be a thousand different routes here and with all the routes du vin villages to finish a ride, it could make for the perfect day.

Route on Mapmyride

Biasca - Luzern

Did I say Summer had ended? Not quite yet, its been a great week weatherwise and today was an excellent forecast for 1st October. So another opportunity to head to the big mountain passes!

This was an optimistic ride, 2 high passes then a loop of Lake Luzern. Again I took the early 6:03 train and this time got off 2 stops after Airolo, down the valley in Biasca. Early thoughts of getting off in Airolo then descending to Biasca would have been a waste of time, better to start as soon as possible with the long ascent of Lukmanier pass, or Lucomagna as all the signs are in Italian here. Even the train announcements switch solely to Italian in Ticino, no German translation here.
It was chilly starting off, but as its uphill for 42km from the station, I soon warmed up. Lots of vineries here, up houses, covering garden areas and even covering private car parking areas.
The whole climb was outstanding, lower down was incredibly green and I pass through several picturesque villages all with Italian architecture. As to be expected, the churches are highly decorated in these parts.

The mountains grew steeper around me, but this climb stayed a very friendly gradient and several km before the summit relaxed down to around 3-4% I guess so it was easy to speed through the scenery and really enjoy it. This was the first pass to have a non-obvious summit. Theres a parking area, restaurant and sign before the lake, but the road still rises to a summit within a tunnel by the lake, so not a place to stop for photos. The descent was outstanding, as gentle a gradient as the way up so no need to use the brakes much all the way to Disentis. Really enjoyed this pass, scenic, very little traffic, gentle gradient both sides.

Biggest cheesy fondue so far

In Disentis I turn right towards Andermat over the Oberalp pass. The Glacier express train is just leaving when I pass through, it twists away to the right then we meet again further up the road. At the ski station of Sedrun, I catch up with the train again, it is moving a glacial pace. It is waiting for a train to pass in the opposite direction, so must have been waiting in Sedrun several minutes. Must be the best way to get to these ski stations, travelling from Zermatt to St Moritz stopping at ski stations along the way sounds like a great idea to me.

Again, this pass is outstandingly beautiful. Theres an incredibly scenic golf course below Tcshamat, and near here is a small lake which is the source of the river Rhine. But its a short walk from the road, I'm not interested in seeing this this time. Might return to the source another day.

The road becomes the usual series of hairpin loops towards the top, but up to this point again the gradient has been forgiving. A more significant summit here, then its another fantastic descent down to Andermat, then the heavy traffic section down to Wassen.

Old and new Devils bridg

But today theres far less traffic than the day of AlpenBrevet, so I can freewheel down at ease. This time I make a stop at the Teufelsbrücke, the Devils Bridge, apparently built by the devil himself. Must have taken timeout from chasing the tour de France, so thanks to him for creating this wonderful cycle route.

The descent takes me to the start of Sustenpass, today I have no intention of turning left here and continue down, and down and down to Altdorf and then Fluela by Lake Luzern.

It would take a couple of energy gels to power me round what I originally thought would be 40km became just over 50 for the next leg of the journey to Luzern. Of course its mostly flat, but there are sections where the road climbs up 200m or so above the lake for a spectaular view. Cycle track all the way to Brunnen (apart from the narrow pavement sections that is) so nice to be out of the traffic here. Beyond Brunnen you can enjoy quiet(ish) roads again, really close to the blue water and enjoy the lakeside views all the way to Luzern.

There are many impressive places along the lake here, several marinas, several places to catch the ferries or boats across the lake and I imagine incredibly expensive houses and hotels. The water looked so amazing, I saw several swimmers, but I didnt have time to stop here and managed to get the help of one local rider up to Kussnacht, my sole riding partner for the day.

In the end, quite a monster ride of 188km at 24.4km/h with the 2 high passes and fantastic lakeside ride. I've now cycled over the 5 passes in the platinum category of AlpenBrevet, over 4 rides, and I'm more convinced than before that this is beyond my capabilities to ride the 5 passes in a day!
Another scenic ride from start to finish, I can't believe this is my Saturday ride, I really am lucky to live here and be able to cycle in scenery like this so easily.

Route on Mapmyride