Dreiländerlauf

Its now 3 years of living in Basel, and 3 years since I last ran the Dreiländerlauf - the three country run. The course remains largely the same, with four crossings of the Rhine, quiet parks and the run along Lange Erlen back to Basel.
I was faster this time, 1hr 29 11s on my watch though the official time is slower as they didn't time us on the start line, everyone was given the same start time.
So that was a good result, but in the days since I found I sustained muscle damage to my left calf. There are several short descents, and especially the finish drops down from the Munsterplatz to Marktplatz at a time when you want to sprint to the finish line and also when the muscles are most tired.
Not ideal as now its sit and recover until Sunday and the Suisse 70.3 in Rapperswill...

Valiants Half Marathon

For the record, 1hr 29min 17s - this was my best effort at a half marathon in a long time. So good not to have to do twice the distance, 21km is the distance for me! It was the inaugural Valiants half marathon, a super flat course on the Fylde plain in Lancashire.

2014 Results

KM	Pace	GAP	Elev (m)
1	3:53	3:54	-2
2	3:56	3:57	-2
3	4:01	4:00	0
4	4:06	4:03	2
5	4:04	4:04	0
6	4:10	4:10	0
7	4:10	4:07	2
8	4:14	4:15	-2
9	4:18	4:14	4
10	4:27	4:26	0
11	4:25	4:20	3
12	4:17	4:19	-3
13	4:16	4:14	2
14	4:19	4:15	4
15	4:20	4:22	-2
16	4:33	4:29	4
17	4:23	4:24	-2
18	4:21	4:29	-9
19	4:22	4:22	0
20	4:17	4:14	-6
21	4:13	3:41	7

Paris Marathon

After Tokyo marathon at the end of February, I certainly arrived at the start line for Paris Marathon with fear of the damage I could be  about to unleash on my body. Mainly with that thought, I decided to stay with the 3hr 30m pace setter for the majority of the race - I stuck close by up till 25km, when I made a brief attempt to escape ahead up the road, but inevitably tired and he came back to me about 35km. At the 40km point I had to stop for refreshments, and after that I just couldnt get back on the pace. Not rapidly disappearing in the distance, but clearly I was tired and could not longer keep the 5min pace which at the start had felt so easy and a gentle jog. But thats what the marathon is about, a cruel grind beyond what I ever do in training, so the finish was tough but not in pain and suffering like Tokyo.
A slower time, but as 3.5hours is my target its good enough for me. More importantly it felt much more satisfying to be able to walk up and down stairs in the metro on Sunday and even Monday, so with that it was a great success. Nice weather, classic scenery and apart from narrow and crowded in several sections this is one of my favourite marathons.

5km 24:22
10km 50:04
15km 1:15:11
20km 1:39:43
21,1km 1:45:2
25km 2:04:27
30km 2:29:04
35km 2:54:17
40km 3:19:09
42km 3:30:45

Season Opener

Season operner? But where are all the snowy bike photos? Winter has passed by, with not one snowy

bike ride of note. My road bike has been out of service more due to the idea that winter is for cross and mountain bikes more than making any effort to put the pedals back on the bike.

Today was a great day heading out up the Wiesental to Neuenweg, up and over to Munstertal then Wiedernereck, and climbing up to the best Kirschtorte of them all at the Auerhähn at the top of Hockopf. All the better as the whole journey seemed to be virtually motorbike free, the biker groups must still think theres snow up there.

Also new today - tri bars! I got a pair of Profile T1+ last week and this was the first day. OK, of course they give you aero dynamic position that was known, but what I noticed was that resting the arms on the pads and bars is a much more relaxed and comfortable position to be in, and it felt like I could breathe easier and found myself using the bars on some climbs. Quite annoyed the pads get in the way of my hands when climbing, and can bump the knees, so some adjustments have been made for the next trial. Also feels odd having the bars guiding you down the descents, as my line of sight seemed to be guided by the direction of the bars, which is misleading, just like when you are riding at night and the lights points forwards, but you want to turn to the left or right.

@Hochkopfhaus zum Auerhähn

New section of the day, or at least a new direction was Todtmoos to Gersbach - normally I'd drop down the fast, beautiful gorge of Wehrtal, but the short climb up to Gersbach is well worth it for the super smooth roads down to Schopfheim - could this be the smoothest, slickest climb and descent in the black forest?

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.