The Schelten loop

Its been a long time since the last proper road ride. Last week I attempted to cycle to Delemont and back, but could only get 25km before my fingers were so painfully cold I had to stop to heat up in Laufen with some very nice cake and coffee.
I realise now that just the fact of wearing 3 sets of gloves is enough to constrict the arteries in my hands, so the bloodflow would have been restricted even before the maximum temps of -8 last week.
Today I set out with the same idea to do the flat out and back to Delemont along the Birs valley, avoiding the snowy hills and frostbite descents. But now the mercury is above zero and it feels like spring. Its not spring of course, it just feels so warm compared to previous weeks.
Once in Delemont, the sun was shining, temperature several degrees, and of course I had to see just how far up the Scheltenpass I could get before having to turn back. I passed a French mountain biker, and when I found out the pass was open and no snow on the road, there were no thoughts of turning back now.
The pass will be used in this years Tour de Suisse, not a steep climb but its long enough to allow for some  attacks before the finish of the stage with the loop around Olten. Its just over 1050m, so the snow will be here for a while longer.
The descent was fine, in places there were small dumps of snow from the treetops but no ice on the road. Further down in a steep section of the road I pass a dump truck hurriedly shifting snow and soil. I didnt think twice till I passed it, but looking back I could see there had been a sizeable avalanche which must have covered the road, probably would have buried a car. Just beyond there are signs saying road closed, so I would have been the first to make it passed this hazard this afternoon.
Feels nice to be able to ride a decent distance with hills on the 531c, and there are still several weeks of winter biking left. Glad to have mudguards on my bike today, kept the snow melt water off my feet and legs which would have been painfully cold on the way down.

Slight aching knee the next morning though, that mountain bike crash in November might yet prove to be more than a flesh wound....
 

Achtung! Sledgers

The temperature has been dropping the past week in Basel, last night down to -19! Brass Basilisks beware. I managed a night ride in the powder snow with 2 others on Thursday night in the woods around Alschwil, but too cold to take any photographic evidence and also no time as it was a fast ride trying to keep up with those experienced Swiss cyclo-cross guys.

However, the skies are blue after the snow and during the day the temperature soared up to -7 so I set out up the snowy trails to Gempen. Today there is no mud zone at all, its snow all the way from the back door to the top. Its been so cold that the snow is still powdery, and somehow I found the grip to be more than sufficient to power upwards and onwards.
Lots of walkers today, one snowboarder and one or two mountain bikers as well, but the preferred mode of transport was by sledge.

Breathtaking views from the summit, it was worth braving the cold for the views over the frozen land. But as I took the gloves off to take a few photos  almost immediately my fingers lost all heat. There was no way they would recover, so I had to head home without riding the ridge trails beyond Gempen village this time. My feet were fine, I wore walking socks, normal neoprene overshoes and then another set of waterproof overshoes did enough to keep my toes warm. I wore legwarmers, then normal leggings and shorts on top which were more than enough and despite only 3 thin layers with a waterproof layer my body never felt cold. But the double gloves were no match for this Siberian blast. I was beginning to wonder how quickly frostbite can take hold, I should fit some hand warmers inside the gloves if the temp stays this low much longer.

The descent was much more fun and faster than expected, again the snow holding fast beneath the tyres.
By the end of the descent, I join the trail (still completely snow covered) beside the Birs river. Its now that I find the fork suspension is extremely slow almost as if they are locked in the bottomed out position. Is there a temperature range for Fox Float forks? I shall have to investigate. Could be that cold air in the forks no longer create enough pressure to rebound the forks.

Strava Cycling App

Discovery of the day was testing out Strava cycling application on my phone. Its free for Android and iPhone, and the results were better than expected. At first attempt, the record ride function refused to work as there was no GPS signal as I was inside the flat - this is slightly annoying as I can't press the start ride button and just let it find the signal when I'm on the road. If you can see the phone, then you would see current speed, distance etc but I kept it in my back pocket the whole route. This is how I will always use the device, its far too big to even think of mounting it on the handlebars, and the batteries will last many hours just recording GPS data.
After saving the distance, time, elevation, route etc are presented on the app itself and the website has a nice design with more detailed charts. I've seen enough folks Garmin pages by now (with its nasty bing maps), but the surprising bonus with this system was that it had automatically picked out my climb given me a time from  start to finish, I assume it will do this automatically for all climbs in the future. On top of that, it found other riders who had done the same climb and so you instantly get a hall of fame for your local climb!
Very nice.

http://app.strava.com/rides/3620048

die Umleitung

There have been some murmurings in the blogosphere regarding the complete lack of posts in 2012 on this here blog, and even suggestions that the recent theme has been overly cyclo-cross focused. Well, the lack of posts is certainly true, and as the end of January rapidly approaches I'd better make at least one entry for the month. I don't mind the accusation of a tendency for off road activities, but for what its worth lets get things back on the road for 2012.
I've been using the old (~23yrs?) Ribble 531c as a winter bike, but only last week got around to fitting a pannier frame to it. Don't care for spending buckets of swiss francs on a piece of metal, but the shop Velo Klybeck has an excellent stock of second hand and vintage parts - my first purchase from here was new hoods for my original 105 brakes - but like many shops here, is closed on Mondays and only open 2-6 the rest of the week, and when you turn up on the wrong day or at the wrong time it does become very annoying.

Light snow at the top of the climb

Anyway, now the winter bike is set up I finally started my intended detour on the ride to work. The heavy Militarvelo is fine for getting from A to B across town, and carries a heavy load well, but its not real exercise at all. As I cross the Birsfelden damn across the Rhine maybe 1km from home, I look left to the center of the city, its only a 15min ride to work if I turn left here, but the hills are calling and so I turn right and cross the border into Germany.  The considerable detour takes me further into BadenWurtemburg, up a deserted road to to the top of Ruhrberg, down surprisingly quiet roads to Inzlingen then Riehen and eventually back to Basel via the cycle path along Lange Erlen.
I know from last year that daily commutes add a lot to fitness, but if I can manage to complete this quality ride with a decent hill in the middle everyday then I should be in good health for the summer mountains.  Its much more strenuous than last years commute, I'd need a change of clothes if I were to cycle home again, so for now this is once a day, until its lighter in the evenings.
For the record, the minor and very steep side road took 15min 21sec. Today the main road ascent was slightly faster, but I think I will stick with the minor road as its totally traffic free. I think I will get to know the dog walkers on this hill very quickly.

Snow arrives

After an almighty final battle between the cold air and warm air on Friday across Europe, the cold air won on points and now it seems any precipitation will fall as snow for the next few months. The storm blew down many large trees all over the forest, obstructing the paths and bridleways in may places.
The restaurant at Gempen turm had taken a beating, many of its large roof tiles had slid off and the restaurant itself looked closed amidst the several cm of snow.
Once up high, I stayed in the whiteout for as long as possible, exploring new lanes south and getting completely lost. The snow was light and dry, no ice, so it was possible to ride at speed - though eventually my front derailleur had so much snow and ice it wouldn't shift down to the small ring.
Really felt strange descending back to the snow free St Jakobs park after being in the snow for several hours, just like being skiing all day then getting the train back to Tokyo in the evening. Not that getting back to Basel feels like getting back to Tokyo, thats a different matter.

Haute Route - more stage details

Some more detail for each stage of the Haute Route...

Scheltenpass

Still warm for this time of year, you can see the tiny patches of snow near the Scheltenpass (1050m) in this photo.

Expected to be cold and tired by the time I got to Liestal, instead it was warm enough to climb up through the clouds to Gempen.

http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/60590154