Rheinfelden tri-berg-athlon

This blog was supposed to be mostly rad-sport, but over the past year its been almost totally rad-sport, so here's a glimpse of some triathletes doing that bit you have to do before getting on the bike in the Rheinfelden middle distance and Olympic distance triathlon. Until yesterday, it was unknown if the swim in the Rhine would go ahead as the water has been too cold. It has to be over 14 degrees. Plan-B was a swim in the pool, or duathlon. But due to the last 3 warm days, the water temperature had risen to a legal 14.4 degrees, just enough for the full swim to take place.
After a quick breakfast I had little time so had to pedal fast the short distance up the Rhine to Rheinfelden for the 8:15am start of the race.
I have to say this brought back memories of the plunge into Loch Tay for my Aberfeldy mid distance event, which was 13 degrees, and painfully cold. It didn't inspire me to plan for next years race. If it happened to be a month or two later, the water will be up to 23 degrees, so why not wait? I guess they have the slot booked in the triathlon calendar now.
However, the start was as impressive as any open water triathlon when all the competitors splash into the water and power away from the shore. Most likely many will take part in next months Swiss 70.3 in the lake of Zurich, at least that should be a few degrees warmer. Now I could be tempted by that next year...

After all the swimmers were little yellow dots in the flow of the Rhine I crossed the river and cycled north to Maulberg, Neuenweg up then down to Munstertal. The aim of this ride was to climb up to Schauinsland for the first time, its a long way out and a big climb so it needed good weather to be worth attempting. Did I say roads in the Black Forest were gentle? Not this one, its a real monster - there is a distinct warning sign at the start of the climb, which is immediately from the junction which would take you up to Wiedenereck. 18% and 5km, of course the steepest parts were on the bends but in general I was locked in bottom gear for the whole of this section and wishing I had more gears. A real test, its incredibly steep for the first 3km up to a small collection of buildings around a sharp hairpin bend. After that it levels off to a steeper than normal climb for the final 2km of this section. To get to the top its several km more either taking a direct route up or as I had decided to go with my original plan to follow the road downhill a short amount to the main road up from Freiburg and ascend to the top at a less painful gradient. On this road I passed below the cablecar that whisks visitors up to the top of Schauinsland.
At the top, there is a small ridge for 2 or 3km at altitude with good open views, but then one massive descent down to Todtnau and beyond. That was really good fun. After Todtnau, the familiar climb up from Präg, down to Todtmoos and down the fantastic gorge south towards Wehr.

I managed to get back to Rheinfelden in time to see some of the triathletes finishing their event, I wonder who spent the most calories in the past 6 hours?

Ascension day

Nice to have a day devoted to climbing hills:)
Yesterday saw some huge storm over Croatia, it dragged lots of cold air and huge thunderstorms across the continent with hailstones and lightning in Basel all afternoon. By 8pm it was a chilly 10 degrees, and dropped down to 2 degrees overnight, but today the storm had passed so blue sunny skies and the temperature was to climb back up to 17. However, the warm air rushing back in meant that it was going to be windy, so riding along the valleys was harder than usual today.
This was the first time I have climbed the full Passwang from the river in Zwingen, I normally join the climb just before the main part of the climb. Its a very nice long, steady 2-3% up the valley, it makes the climb seem much more like a big mountain pass with the full runup rather than a short steep climb. I caught up with a group of 6 Swiss riders on the runup, was happy to join and said Gruezi but they seemed to be moving so slowly that I had to push on ahead once the climb kicked in. Soon left them, but one of the pack was not having and Englishman humiliate their group, so 2/3 the way up he passed me and stayed a safe distance till the top.
My mission today was to go beyond Balstal, along the valley towards Moutier, and climb the final southern ridge of the Jura. I haven't made it up this ridge before, when I've climbed Brunnersberg I see the high Alps in the distance appearing once I've climbed high enough to see over this final ridge.
Schmiedermatt - this was a steep climb - down to the bottom cog which I've hardly been using in the Black Forest, these Jura climbs tend to be steeper. Lots of forest covering me with enough gaps in the trees to see the valley disappearing far below. Out of the forest, and theres a false plateau area with fine views north, and a very busy restaurant and possible hotel high up above the pastures. Thats where the road is steepest, it turns back into a final forest then up and up some more before a passing between a large rock gateway leads to the magnificent view southwards over the flatter area of Switzerland that lead up to the high Alps. Quite breathtaking, it is a serious traffic hazard when descending the narrow roads with the alps on the horizon and trying to watch the road at the same time.

Training Camp II

With May 1st being a holiday and 30th April a half day this past weekend was another opportunity to attempt a 4 day tour - without leaving home that is.
The good news is there won't be any more snowy bike photos on this blog till next winter, unless I'm up a high pass quite soon that is. Saturday was 28 degrees and sunny, so I made the most with a massive ride in the Black Forest, over to Munstertal then up Wiederner Eck, Badenwieler and to to the top of Hoch Blauen - but still the hotel is closed at the top, until mid May, so no coffee and cake on this day.

Hanami side trip to Kirschenland

Sundays ride was the classic Scheltenhaus, Endenberg, Zell, Riedichen loop, yesterday was a ride in the Jura and today a recovery ride along the international road to Lucelle.
In doing so the 461km, 11790(Strava)m of ascent took me up the Strava Classic Challenge, just making the top 100 in 94th place. Don't know how much to read into that, I have climbed more with the daily commutes, but in all the challenge has been added motivation over the past 4 days.

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)