Cyclotour du Léman

The cold weather certainly persists this year, amending and cancelling stages of the Giro so no surprise to see fresh snow on the hills from the train from just beyond Friborg and on the hills surrounding Lake Geneva, or Lac Leman as its known in French.
Staying at Lausanne Youth Hostel was a great choice, for cost and location as its only a couple of

If only I knew how many times this event has been staged

minutes by bike to the start/finish area. Today, a couple of minutes from the finish was the most important issue as I was beginning to shiver once outside the massage and food tents after a cold loop of the lake. We got a soaking twice, just after Montreux, then dried off by Geneva and almost feeling warm by the time we zipped through Nyon and even Morges, so close to the finish yet we got one more soaking. And it was heavy, cold rain.
After passing Villeneuve and back to the lakeside there was a real pileup of riders, maybe 12 or so at a level crossing which ran diagonally across the road. Riders slowed down, but as they may have had to turn to avoid the crash, more slipped on the tracks. This might have taken out several of the faster riders, as it was just ahead of me and I had to avoid the fallen in an almost Peter Sagan style. After the crash, real splits appeared at the front, and here I had to put in a real effort for 10-15mins to catch up, eventually managed to gain the help of 2 others to make contact. Here my calves really began to cramp up. I'd gone without leggings as a choice, due to the latest weather forecast saying it would be dry, with bright spells, so even with the cold the race should keep my legs warm. Alas, today I would be fighting cramp at any stage the pace was increased, yet luckily for me the pace dropped for much of the southern leg of the loop, allowing me to stick with the lead group all day.
Not so many were driving this train along, certainly no teams of riders trying to keep the pace high, so without this very few were willing to put a turn in at the front. That includes me, I was nursing my cramping calves all the way, but did find myself at the front after perhaps the only long climb of the circuit.
So more of a tour than a race today. At times I found myself sandwiched between tandems, following recumbants but mostly enjoying watching the kms fly by, often cruising along at 40kph.
I reckon the length of the course is 174km, others on Strava agree as does my Cateye computer so the 180km is a slight overestimate.
A nice idea, and sounds romantic when registering, but the reality of racing in cold rain chasing between cars etc meant this was more pain than enjoyment, but on a normally fine sunny day at the end of May, this must be a more enjoyable event.

Training in Ticino

With Thursday and Friday being holidays it made sense to take the full week off and pretend to have a training week based in Locarno, on the shore of Lake Maggiore in southern Switzerland.
The training each day turned out to be a hard ride up some ridiculous hairpinned ascent before breakfast, then go for a relaxed longer ride up the more gentle valleys with Satoko for the rest of the day. It was clear early on that the roads here are either up up and away from the lake, relentlessly steep which made for good ascents, but terrible descents. On top of that, the roads around the lake are narrow in places and mostly busy, fast roads with mostly Italian commuters speeding along so not relaxing or enjoyable riding to start with.
The dead end valleys leading north from Locarno are worth riding, Valle Verzasca with its distinctive bridge, colourful water and the dam made famous by James Bond bungee jump in Goldeneye. Valle Maggia is a much easier and longer journey with several options. We took it as far as Peccia where there is a fantastic polenta restaurant by an idyllic lagoon, the owner grinds the polenta every day which is served with local sausage and cheeses, not to be missed.
The cycling highlight for me would have to be the loop to Cannobrio, over the passo de Marco Pantani then follow Centovalli back to Locarno. Marco Pantani has ridden the pass in the 2003 Giro which started from Cannobio, but otherwise the pass seems to be named so by a local bike club, who have placed a stone at the top of the pass.

Corippa, a typical village in Valle Verzasca

Polenta will be ready soon

Pass de Marco Pantani

After riding to Luino via Lugano, its nice to take the boat home