End of winter

It really must be the end of snowy rides now, its been too long and I have far too many snowy bike photos on this blog. At least next week the forecast is 25 degrees and sunshine.
Did I attempt to climb Blauen because of a water bottle, or because of Haute Route Training? Whatever the motivation, it was freezing cold descending to Badenweiler in the wet, a brief wait inside a restaurant which had just closed was enough to warm me up and persuade me the only way to warm up was to do some climbing. It worked, and when I looked behind and saw light clouds below I thought the sun was breaking through - only it was a full on blizzard! 
At the top of the pass on L131 (pass doesnt seem to have a name?) it really felt like this was finally the last blast of winter, as the skies cleared and the view was spectacular, fresh snow on the top of Belchen.

But really, this must be the final weekend of gloves, hat, leggings, arm warmers....

Progress Ride

I rode the familiar 7 climb assessment loop today, which needs a better name. Good progress, now down to 5hr 10min, 20min faster than March and it looks like the 5hr target is possible in better weather and with a little more speed on Brunnersberg and the return hills.
Was happy to make 2nd best time on Dornach-Gempen on the Strava KOM table, but not so pleased that the GPS signal was lost after 86km so the final ascent was missing.
Nice clear views of the Swiss Alps from Brunnersberg, and for the first time I could see the Alps from Passwang near the restaurant.
http://app.strava.com/rides/7096313

Bicycle Day - The original LSD ride

Its "Bicycle Day" - The original LSD ride! This has nothing to do with Long, Slow Distance training favoured by endurance athletes, but lysergic acid diethylamide which was discovered in Basel. On this day 1943 Albert Hoffman took the first trip in the surrounding hills, and it is a minor custom to cycle the route and recreate the journey. But its difficult to know the exact path, if he even knew it himself.

Easter training camp

Didn't leave home, but the idea was to ride a decent distance with maximum hills for 4 days in a row. It was cooler over Easter, the Friday I was climbing up into the clouds and on Sunday snow flakes were falling. 2 days in the Jura, 2 days in the Schwarzwald with many new routes and some old favourites made up for 398km and 9904 hohenmeters. (Strava that is)