Velodrome Suisse

The Velodrome Suisse opened in June this year, and since then various groups of cyclists from Basel have been making the short 1 hour journey through the Jura to Grenchen. Today was the long awaited session organised by Klaus from Novartis. 17 of us, maybe only half from Novartis, had the track to ourselves for 3 hours. Firstly the track virgins (myself very much included here) circled around the flat area within the oval, we got used to the single fixed geared bikes while we waited for our instructors to arrive. Eventually one guy turned up speaking strong Swiss-German, I only managed to pick out a few important parts from his intro like "no brakes" and "no gear" but we knew that. Later a more skilled English speaker arrived and was able to answer more questions about the track riding.
Then onto the track, following closely behind our guide. We were travelling at a steady pace, but at first I felt like we weren't going fast enough and the bikes would slide down the steep incline. I was gripping the bars too tightly, it took a rest and another set of laps climbing higher and higher up the banks before I could relax and have faith that the wheels wouldn't slip down the bank.
Our final set of guidance was a team pursuit style practise, where after each lap the lead rider would ride to the right up the bank, then drop to last place in the line. This worked surprisingly well, and was the most fun part of the group riding.
We then mostly rode our own style for a while, and finished with a timed lap of the velodrome (250m) One lap to start rolling, one lap getting into position then the bell sounded and we had our own individual lap timed. Quite a luxury to have a velodrome to ourselves for individual racing I think, and all those whose were track virgins had come along way today.    
Great facilities, great rental bikes at only 25chf for the 3 hours (30chf) (though the restaurant closes at 4pm) would be nice to come back a few more times this winter.

Full Route des Crêtes

This is what autumn riding should be about - warm sunny skies, forests glowing autumnal colours, a final burst of beauty before the snow blankets the mountains and the ice prevents any kind of road bike riding at altitude (high or low).

Looking towards Grand Ballon, beyond descent to Col d'Amic

This ride had 3 distinct sections, making the 191km covered fly by. First was the exit from Basel along the Rhine then the canals to Mulhouse. If you take the Boulevard d'alsace, its virtually zero traffic beyond the very short distance from Huningue. Next the canal banks to Mulhouse have a quality asphalt surface, with none of the obstacles you find on some bike paths allowing for good speed up to the start of the route des cretes.
Already 60km done by this point, 2hours to the start of the climb, so a good warm up for the ascent to Grand Ballon. Much nicer going from Cernay as you climb to the war memorial at Hartmannswillerkopf then recover with a drop to the col d'amic, so you've had a good warmup and rest before the final steep 6km climb to the highest point on the route. Looking back, the Swiss alps were visible on the skyline, Schwarzwald to the east, and the Vosges all around. Very strong side winds today on the last few km of the climb.
Always good this time of year along the high route, I carried on to col du Bonhomme before stopping for a sandwich and coffee. Met a nice Swiss man there who was staying near Colmar for a week, cycling the Vosges.
Great descent down to Sainte-Marie, then over another climb to Ribeauville before picking up the route du vin as the 3rd segment of the ride. Still harvesting grapes, the leaves on the vines are all yellow now, but the high road which is just to the north of Ribeauville, Riquwihr is absolutely worth putting up with the steepest ramps of the day for the speedy roll down towards Colmar and the train home.

Biggest milestone ever! the half way marker

Ride of the Falling Leaves #2

This years ride of the falling leaves, organised by the stylish Obst & Gemuse cycle shop in Basel was a success despite bad weather. The promised sunshine never arrived and it stayed overcast all day, after the morning rain. On top of that, the summit of Belchen pass was thick fog, looking just like the col d'aubisque from a few weeks ago.
Obst & Gemuse is the only outlet for Rapha in Switzerland, so even though the Rapha van was not present this year (the driver is injured) there were many Rapha garments on display to look stylish through the falling rain and fog.
This year we split into two groups, and the route was more or less described to all so much safer and no ride of the falling bodies this time.

Nice way to end the season, hope there will be some better weather to enjoy the autumn before the winter arrives.

Haute Route Pyrenees

The inaugural Haute Route Pyrenees was a great success and the same week-long immersion into the cycling world as the Alps were last year. Again, this is too awesome an event to write down in a single blog entry, its more a life style for a week than a single day event which can be easily summarised.
The daily routine of early breakfast, packing, preparing, riding, eating, massage, recovery, briefing, more food and sleep all went smoothly, thanks to the help of the Haute Route staff, the many motorbike marshals, police and volunteers for the whole week.
Highlights include great scenery every day, climbing the Tourmalet in perfect weather, as opposed to the rain and cloud of the Etape du Tour 2001 which was hypothermically dangerous conditions for all. Due to flood damage to the western side of the Tourmalet the descent was neutralised so the stage finished at the top and we were able to rest and take in the awesome scenery, buy the yellow and white souvenir milestone, eat and drink at leisure. This however was still a knee breaker for me, my favourite climbs would have to be Pla de Beret, col d'Aspin and I could include Hautacam as I rode well on the time trial day. The climb up to Superbagneres was a tough finish to a stage, perhaps tougher than Alpe d'huez as its steep at the finish and has no easy sections in its entirety.
In general, the climbs were steeper in sections than the Alps. The comparable average gradients are misleading, all (except Aspin?) had uncomfortable steep sections where the lightest riders would continue upwards and I fell off the pace. This gave the whole event more of a punchy race style than the long long climbs of the alps. Maybe I was able to keep up with the leaders this year, or at least I was trying to stay in contact for as long as possible. With half the number of riders as last years Alps edition, the aim was to be in the top 50 this year, which I was able to achieve each day.
Another highlight was having Greg Lemond around for the event. He gave a nice blessing for the race at the welcome briefing in Barcelona, then we were happy to find we stayed in the same hotel so able to exchange a few words at breakfast before the first stage, which he rode (not sure if he rode all of it). We didn't see him until the final presentations in Anglet/Biarritz, but it was great to meet him he is such a friendly guy and never gets bored of posing for photos.

Overall, 34th out of 310 official finishers. Full Results

Biasca -> Brig Via Lukmanier, Oberalp and Furka

The warm summer continues, certainly making up for the extended winter in central Europe this year. So heading out again on the first train from Basel to Biasca, breakfast prepared in disposable cartons to be eaten once on the train after changing at Arth Goldau. Works for me like this, breaks up the journey and you get to eat 1-2hr before the ride starts.
Stepping out of the train, onto the road, and its obvious that the temperature is warmer than when I started from Biasca two years ago -  but looking back, it was October 1st when I rode Lukmanier and Oberalp - hope the summer lasts as long this year!

Uri -> Valais

The major difference today of course is that I'm set for a triple pass ride, a big stepup from a double. Today I climbed the never ending Lukmanier at a slow pace, and took the friendlier bike path sections in places, not a major divergence from the main road, but enough to make it a bit more interesting.
First time to tackle the Furka from the east, and its a different beast from here. Normally its a relatively short ride up from Gletsch, but today it would be over 1000m climb, so much more time to enjoy the scenery.

Hotel Belvedere, Furka Pass

Once off the major part of the descent of the Furka, its still 40km to Brig, but this is all downhill, with some minor undulations for small villages, down through Valais and certainly one of the best parts of this ride. Nice to be able to pedal at speed, passing through the small villages and finish on a high, descending to Brig is a recommended endpoint for these alpine passes, much nicer than starting there and heading upwards for 40km like I did last year.

Belchen / Blauen

This ride has to be worth a mention as its the first time to do Belchen and Blauen in a single ride. Each is a good distance and big ride out and back from Basel, and to get between the two would involve an additional 2 passes, so this was always going to be a big day.

Also first time to sample the Schwarzwald kirschtorte at the Belchen restaurant. This fuelled me all the way to Blauen, no need for power bars after this coffee and cake stop.

Basel -> Interlaken

Tested the Boardman CX Pro for the first time fully loaded with camping equipment on a trip from Basel to Interlaken. The bike coped well, apart from 2 punctures. One was unexpected pinch, could be a spoke, then the replacement tube went which I thought was new until I found it was a repaired patch which eventually melted in the heat and came unstuck. Is it worth repairing tubes? It might be in Switzerland, as 3 spare tubes cost me 30CHF in Steffisberg.

Next day was the Klein Scheidegg free from luggage which always feels good to shed early in the morning. Had to wait for a heavy thunderstorm to pass in Grindelwald, after which I had a free route up the Scheidegg. Pity the garmin ran out of juice here.

The route up is totally always too boring for a mountainbike, the CX bike was good but my gears are far too high generally so making this uncomfortably steep at times. Down to Wengen the path is smooth, some parts would benefit from suspension forks, but its the part down to Lauterbrunnen which is not so nice. Rideable, just on the brakes the whole time.

All done, back to Manor Farm campsite, showered and tent packed before checkout at 12noon!

Leaving the Jura behind

Lauterbrunnen

1st August - Swiss National Day

Susten - Grimsel - Furkka equivalent of AlpenBrevet silver, with additional run down to Flüelen.

Week in Trentino

Tremola, Sustenpass, Grosse Scheidegg

Back to the bumps on the Tremola

Sustenpass

Steingletscher

Grosse scheidegg

Descent to Grindelwald, with Eiger north face