Rain, cats and dogs. and did I mention rain?

The weather had been very un spring like last week, when this ride had been originally planned. As we didn't fancy snow, the ride was postponed for a week. Off we went in the train to Delemont. I started in Gelterkinden is the smallest possible S3. It arrived at the SBB and I felt like everyone, except me, got out, Once the train had emptied, I set my bike on one of the bike hooks. Before the Basel stop the bike hook space had been occupied by a man and his 2 small children and their massive push chair thing. There was lots of fruit being eaten and questions being asked  :) I just smiled inside, happy not to need to do that any more.

Back to the story, I had just set my bike on the hook when 2 people rushed to the outside of the train - my companions had arrived! There was really no need to rush as the train sits in the the station for about 10 minutes. They loaded their bikes on the other 2 hooks and we sat down. We were now all ready for the day ahead. The train filled up again, and we headed off again. At Laufen it ejected most of the people and we now in a very quiet train. We got out at Delemont. First topic - find the toilets - the ones in the station were closed/broken so we asked the kind people in the bakery across the road. One of us did buy what would later be called "toilet bread". so we sort of paid :).

The weather forecast predicted by Epic Ride a few days before expected light rain for about 1-2hrs, Meteo Swiss was more pessimistic. MeteoSwiss was right. Ir started after about an hours and drizzled most of the day. Epic Ride is a great app, its normally very accurate :).

After moving quickly along the Jura velowegs we soon reached Berlincourt, turned left onto a fairly small road and started on our first climb of the day. Going through the gorge was great. We stayed mostly together, me in front concentrating on just breathing, I could hear the others chatting away behind me. I dont quite understand how they could have enough breath!

We passed rushing water in huge streams, fantastic rock cliffs, the odd danger of oncoming traffic and a small tunnel. A small village led us past what seemed like a sculpture supermarket  - if you need something to liven up your garden, this is the place to buy bronze statues of cows, goats, bears or fantastic animals..

https://maps.app.goo.gl/7dUpAbLJCEx974Rh7

The rain continued steadily and we stopped Souboz and sheltered under a roof to have something to eat. We couldnt stop for long because we would cool down too much so off we set again. Next planned stop - the station at Cremines toilets!! But before that was reached we had a small amount of climbing to finish then a great fun swoooosh down to Moutier. Careful on the corner,  we all arrived safely.

A few km of actual traffic on a main road we quickly reached civilisation in the form of a covered bike stand, toilets and a radiator to huddle next to and warm up. We assume the train service is quite quiet as there was a cat sitting happily on the train tracks watching us.

After refreshments and the rain had sort of stopped, we set of again ready for the biggest climb of the day Scheltenpass! We reached the bottom of the pass with steady rain and we set off, each at their own pace. One scooted off into the distance, never to be seen again till the top, the other 2 plodded along at a steady pace. When the road really started to kick up we too separated. I tried to pace myself, not go too hard just keep going and enjoy the ride. I could see much, but what I could see was great. The hairpin bends meant it was steep again and the long shallow left hand bend I had only done before in the other direction didnt feel as scary going up, as it does going down. A few more corners and I too made it to the top. I wanted to post a sticker on the sign pole but it was too wet, so there is no public record of our achievement. 

Still a bit cold and wet, we rushed down the hill again towards Mumliswil and thanks to some local knowledge ignored the sign telling us we couldnt cycle on the main road and climbed up the last climb towards Langenbruck. We stopped at the restaurant on the other side, no need to find the Langenbruck toilets this time and warmed ourselves up with some hot chocolate. 

From there it was not long to get to Liestal where we parted, I went right towards Gelterkinden, the others left to Basel.

Total distance - 107km

Climbing - 1885m

Avg Speed - 18.5 km/h

Count of dogs out on their own - 3

Count of cats  - 3

Count of huge birds - loads

Count of times the brakes squealed - millions

Thanks to my 2 companions for joining,

March Ride with occasional sun

Off we went again, this time starting in Liestal at the station. I picked up Companion 1 and we cycled to  Sissach. After the station, the first short punchy climb took us towards Thürnen where we picked up Companion 2. With our small group now complete, we set off at a good pace towards Hauenstein. The weather forecast was promising after yesterdays "Scottish" weather - rain, sun, rain sun - repeat all day.

It started as predicted, temperature was cool and the sky was overcast.

At Hauenstein though, the view opened up and we could see to the mountains. I always find it magical every time I see the Alps.  We said goodbye to Companion 1 at Hauenstein as she took the road towards Ifenthal and made her way back to Liestal and Basel, while we continued on down the hill to Olten. My gears had been set up by my local genius bike mechanic (me)and I realised they skipped in the smallest cog. This meant I couldnt use it and had to pedal faster than normal to keep the speed up. The result was still just 3s slower than my fastest time so I was very pleased. I was in front going downhill and could tell Companion 2 was close behind by the noise from their freehub. It turned out that we had the same make of wheels and both sounded like a swarm of angry bees - buzzzzzzz zzzzzzzzz. 

Here they are resting against a bus stop on the road out of Olten on Soloturnerstrasse. There was some rain, but it soon stopped - phew!

Next stop Teufelsschlucht and up the hill to Langenbruck. A quick stop to put on a jacket against the cold, another to put a chain back on.... then push the biggest gear in the world ooef! on to the main road and wheech down to Balsthal. My wheels were working well, cadence was up up up and I had my fastest time on the downhill. We stopped at the station for refreshments and facilities :) before heading towards Mumliswil to see if the road back to Langenbruck really was closed.  Luckily for us, it wasn`t. We climbed the road parallel to the main road (which is closed), some of us may have walked..... and once we got the the sawmill, left turn on to the normal road and all was well again.

There was very little traffic, partly due to it being a Sunday afternoon but also, I`m sure, because there are lots of signs to tell everyone the road is closed.. hee hee hee. Great fun. As my companion 2 is smaller, younger and fitter than me - she sped off into the distance. I made sure to tell her to stop at the Welcome to BL sign and not the T-junction at the top - got to get the Strava segment. I managed to take a photo before she disappeared.

At the top, we ate some food, spoke to the calves and decided how to go home. There was no need to go back to Liestal as had been the plan as we both live in Gelterkinden, so we changed the route and would go all the way down to Hölstein. The main road was quite quiet but we still had one very close pass from a car. I rarely ride here, now I remember why. So right turn at Hölstein and conquered the last hill before left to the farm road again, avoiding Diegten and home.

Excellent fun with great company.

Distance - 93km

Climbing - 1320m

Avg speed - 20.8km/h

Post Script:

When cleaning my bike later, there was a loud POP! and hissing sound. My rear tyre lost all pressure. When I investigated I found there was a huge hole in the inner tube. The cause was that the wheel rim tape was damaged and no longer sealed one of the holes for the spokes. I think I had pumped the inner tube and it stretched into the hole. This weakened it and it simply stretched too far and burst. I consider my self very lucky that this didn`t happen when I was riding the bike. New rim tape is now on its way, thanks to Velofactory.ch.  

February ride, cool, dry and empty

I finally found a back road I had been on years ago with my old cycling club and had not been able to find. When I went out cycling with the club, I never knew where I was going, I just followed along. I didn't have maps, and when I bought my first head unit, it didn't have any maps. I had been looking for ages, then eventually checked my very old rides on Veloviewer and there it was! So, last week I checked it and this week I included it on the planned route. The ride started at the back of Sissach Bahnhof which was buzzing with Fasnacht preparations.

I was there for about 10 minutes and must have seen a hundred people dressed up scraping around with their clogs on getting off the trains and going to the main street. I had seen a few as I left Gelterkinden too, all of them in different costumes.

I knew it wasn't going to be many with me today as its holiday time. Around here it seems you either do Fasnacht, or you go to the snow. I had a single taker still there in the Strava event on Saturday evening but when I check Sunday morning, she had de registered, so it was just me. I went to Sissach in case anyone decided to join without registering, but nope, just me. I set off!

Going through Itingen, Lausen and finally around Liestal, being directed by the traffic people. Clearly, despite the festivities not starting till later that day, the town had been cleared. Once I had navigated out to Frenkendorf, there was very little sign other than a stray piece of confetti.

Onwards to Rheinfelden past the brewery and I stopped near the river for the first toilet stop. My heart rate strap battery had died and I had taken a spare (always prepared) so stopped to replace it. Horror of horrors I didnt have the right torx bit to unscrew the sensor. I must find it, it will have been tidied up somewhere in my house.....

Nevermind, I then found the road to Möhlin I had found last week and in Mumph turned left to get on to the farm roads that are so popular with cyclists. I met quite a large group coming the other way,  there was some shouting to get out the road and we just missed each other in the narrow lane. 

The road out of Rheinfelden looks like a bit of gravel but never fear, its not.

Then at the top of the hill towards Mumph

When in Mumph, the view along the river always takes my breath away with its serenity.

No time to stop for long so off I went again. There is a small section of mad main road before the relief of the right turn towards Münchwilen. I was pleased I remembered the weird hard right, down the slope, under the road and back up which I had missed last week and had to turn round. The farm road again parallel to the train tracks took me to Eiken, keeping on the narrow roads end up just before Frick and neatly avoid all of the main road. Now in Frick, I headed to Wittnau for official stop number 2 where evidence of the festivities was still to be seen, confetti was still in the water trough and the horse still had his friend to scare the wits out of anyone passing who wasn't paying much attention - not me you understand!

I had been here last week and instead of the planned climb over the top towards Rothenfluh I turned left and went via Kiensberg and right towards home. At Anwil I had the genius idea of avoiding the main road incase of Fasnacht and went to Oltingen, Wenslingen, Tecknau and Gelterkinden. For those who may have missed the fun of the Anwil - Oltingen road this is it. It starts with a good downhill but just as I was coming to the corner ,someone was in the middle of the road coming towards me so I had to keep to the right and the steep part. This, combined with my heavier than normal wheels (aluminium and a dynamo hub), meant I just about popped getting to the top. Luckily I dont know what my HR was because, as we know, the sensor had no battery.

So that was it, a fun ride, not too cold and no rain. Success.

Distance : 70km

Avg Speed : 20kph

Climbing : 714m

New Year, new plans

I hope you have all had a fun festive time off and are all relaxed waiting for the weather to get a bit warmer and the daylight to be there for a bit longer. 

I wanted to share my plans for the year. I plan to keep the third Sunday of the month ride in the local area, there are some great roads and climbs. The point for me to do all the climbing is to be fit enough to cycle in the mountains. Last year I managed 3 trips. Klausenpass and some extra climbing, Nufenen & Grimsel and Susten, Furka & Grimsel (phew!). The photo at the top of the blog is nearly the top of Sustenpass.

For these longs days I typically go on a weekday (Monday or Friday) for less traffic and I will take a train and do train, ride, train.

I'll be posting placeholder days in the Strava Club for 3 days in the mountains if anyone wants to come and join the fun. There are lots to choose from. I find Quaeldich helpful to find routes and climbs. https://www.quaeldich.de/lebensziele/schweizer-monumente/ I have climbed 24 of the 61, so loads more to have a look at.

And as well as the mountains, there are come fun organised events around too.

https://www.vckaisten.ch/informationen-schwarzwald-rundfahrt

https://rversigen.ch/emmental-rundfahrt-1/

All suggestions welcome, so join the Strava Club, share your ideas and lets see what we can come up with.

Hope to see you on a bike soon!

Boxing Day sunshine

 After a few days of cold and wet, there was some sunshine forecast for the 26th December. I had posted a ride last week and at one point had a max of 2 others signed up, by the time the day arrived, only me and 1 companion went out to admire Baselland in all its glory. The blue sky was a welcome change and the clouds were admired by all.

Starting at Sissach Bahnhof, we headed to Liestal and on towards Seewen. A diversion up the hill to Nuglar took us off the main road and high enough to admire the views. It really is beautiful here.

Once we had admired the view enough we continued on to Reigoldswil with an excellent descent from the top in the recently resurfaced road and stopped for coffee and cake. The coffee was a Ferrero Coffee Sweetie and some Christmas cake as all the shops were shut :). Very civilised in the middle of the village at the table/bench at the water fountain, bus stop and toilets.....

Suitably revived we had 2 more climbs to go. The route took us to Titterten then Lampenberg on more new tarmac which meant great fun swooping downhill. The Arxhof climb is a cracker! with a max gradient of over 20% at the end (real feel 100%). I managed to take more than 30s of my previous best time so that was fun, my HR has now calmed down.

Further on we stopped again to admire the views, it gets better and better and then even more new tarmac.

Then the whoosh down towards Liestal on the veloweg, pinging our bells to avoid shocking tiny children on bikes and dogs with our speed. Once on the main road we turned right back to Sissach. 

Great fun, with perfect weather and wonderful scenery.

Distance - 50km

Climbing - 880m

Avg Speed - 18km/h

Thanks to my companion for the encouragement and virtual push up that bloody hill.

Now planning the mid January 2024 route, where will we go??

3 go in hunt of some sunshine.... find it, then lose it again

Todays ride was a bit adventurous, the planned route had 5 climbs, numbers 2 and 3 being hard :). The weather forecast was for sunshine and climb 3 (Brunnersberg from Balsthal) is in full sun, so I thought we could warm up there.  Ha ha ha, for that to happen, there needs to be sun. But, lets not get ahead of ourselves.

We start in Sissach Bahnhof at 10:00 and welcome a new rider to the group. Off we go towards Thurnen for the first leg breaker just to get over the hill to the main road. Onwards all the way to Hauenstein. It was a bit chilly, but we were in good spirits - I think we were, because i can't hear that much with my winter hat on over my ears...

The top was foggy and cold and the metal wire fence had icicles shaped by the wind, this should have made me think, it didn't. Once in Olten we turned right and after a few kms and a pre climb refreshment stop started to climb the Teufelschlucht. I was here one Wednesday evening in the summer and was deafened by the shooting practice, no noise today, too cold and nothing visible after about 10 meters. You will notice the lack of images, none were taken, too piggin cold and foggy. At the top, a short discussion re possibility if taking a shortcut was dismissed because we would be fine. Famous last words. We descended to Balsthal and stopped at the Bahnhof for warm drinks and a toilet stop, getting us ready for the main event. The Brunnersberg webcam insisted there would be sun at the top, so with this bait we set off again. I start the Brunnersberg climb on the outskirts of the village to avoid the really stupidly steep lower part, but it kicks up soon enough. The cloud was still thick around us and we could see little ahead. On and on we climbed until finally there it was... sunshine and looking down we could see the sea of cloud in the valley. We stopped to admire the view - it is magical.

The road here is quite narrow but helpfully, normally, not much traffic although today I felt there was more than usual. I think many people wanted to get up out of the fog and into the sunshine. We would meet them again at the top.

Looking out towards Balsthal and the sea of cloud

The road ahead, narrow with no shade, soak up the sunshine. After a short photo shoot, off we went again for the last section where the trees stopped and we were left with grass. The higher we went, the stronger the sun and at the very top, there is the panorama of the Alps to admire and try to name that mountain with the information board.

With our Vitamin D all replenished, now it was time for the run down the north side. This side is always in shade and the further we went the colder and scarier it became (for me anyway). My gloves, that had been taken off on the climb up, were working hard to keep my fingers from freezing enough to still be able to break. By the time we got to Mumliswil my fingers felt like solid ice. Blowing onto my gloves helped a bit... 

Climb 4 to Langenbruck from Mumliswil started with us pushing the bikes up the very steep street that was still passable while the normal road has been in the middle of roadworks for weeks. Riding to the top and still hoping the sunshine would return I warmed up a little bit. The top arrived surprisingly soon and I could again admire the Welcome to Baselland sign, but not the normal view.

The grass at the top with tiny icicles, just like the fence at Hauenstein earlier today.

After a short stop to admire the non existent view we continued on, carefully to Langenbruck and then a decent whoooooosh all the way to Hölstein on the new road from Waldenburg. After all of the road works that seemed to be taking forever, its now finished and its great fun. 

We were now on the last leg, just one more small climb that felt like a wall (to me at least, oeff my legs) we arrived back safe and sound in Sissach. 

Thanks to my companions for the company and hope to see you on a future ride!

Distance: 85km

Climbing: 1744m

Avg Speed: 16km/h

Mid November damp ride

 Rain, rain and a bit more rain, this is what the last few weeks have been like. Not to forget the stormy wind. The Strava event had been posted weeks ago so that people had time to see it and plan around it, as needed. At one point there were about 9 people who had signed up for it, but by Sunday morning there were only 3 of us left. I imagine the others looked out of the window and went....nope! So it was a pleasant surprise, when we finally connected in Sissach Bahnhof, there were actually 5 of us! The weather forecast was showers, the fun was wondering when these would start.

The rain started just as we started the first climb from Liestal towards Arisdorf. Jackets that had just been removed were needed agian but noone bothered to stop to put it back on, we got to the top a bit damp and while we chatted, the rain got heavier and heavier. Jackets were back and we spent a few minutes sheltering in a bus stop before we saw some blue sky, took it as a good sign and swooshed down the hill.

 Speeding through the village, hoping the rain would really stop before onwards to Giebenach and Olsberg - no horses today. We stopped to admire the view at the top before the mad dash down to Magden and the official toilet stop.

The view over to the BlackForest was not exciting as we couldnt see much - but onwards and downward to Magden

Olsberg Top

View at Olsberg top

After the Magden stop we cycled on and when we reached Buus just had to stop to admire the ducks in the water....

The weather was warmer than normal for mid November and damp all the time but there was some blue sky and we were in good spirits.  The final climb to Rünenberg via Tecknau and Kilchberg was easier than some expected and was topped off by what seemed like giant rabbits bouncing away from the long grass into the trees - they were deer but giant rabbits sounds better :)

Another wheech down the hill, navigating to the veloweg before ending up back at Sissach Bahnhof just in time to catch the S3 to the SBB.

Great fun, thanks to my companions and hope to see you on the next one in December.

Distance - 53km

Avg Speed - 18.3kph

Climbing - 900m