Tour de Suisse ITT adventures in tropical heat

We met at Sissach station, one of our usual start points and were expected to be a small, but perfectly formed, group of 4.  On my way there I got a message to let me know that one of the group had bike issues so would catch us up. By the time other others had arrived, this had turned into -  meet you in Langenbruck. We set off on time, weaving our way through the outskirts of Sissach and along the veloweg saying hello to the dog walkers. It wasnt long before we were on the main road and I decided to adjust the route slightly to avoid the main road so turned right onto the farm roads. The sun was out but it was still a good temperature. 

We rode at a good pace, chatting as we went, heading towards Langenbruck. As we passed through Waldenburg, there was some surprise at the amount of artworks dotted along around the village. Clearly we need to pay more attention to https://www.villedesarts.ch. There is always art here , I had no idea why though - guided tours - check the link :).

In Langenbruck we visited the worlds biggest toilets and waited for our missing companion in the shade. We could admire the bikes on the opposite wall - Mine is huge compared to the others.

She arrived soon enough, with tales of punctures, tubeless tyres,  inner tubes and ugly tyres. All caught up we continued over to Bärenwil then the steep descent to Egerkingen, navigated road works and ended up on my old cycle to work route. We arrived at the race route with only a few riders having passed and set ourselves up under a tree on the outside of a corner. We shared our spot with Police, a route controller, small boys all set for the day with tiny chairs with their snacks and a few adults.

The riders flew past, impressive in both speed and style.

After a while, we moved to viewing spot 2 just at the top of a short climb and watched the riders again. We crossed the route here so had to make sure we kept out of the way. There were no permanent route controllers here but we were whistled at by passing motorbike police in front of the riders to make sure we were aware to be alert.

Now on the inside of the loop we made our way to the last planned viewing spot along some fairly smooth gravel roads. We landed at the sharp corner and had a great view of oncoming riders when far away, then were up close as they turned the sharp bend. the corner was decorated with both Swiss and Belgian flags and there were spectators already here who looked like they had been here for a while. We had great views of the riders as the negotiated the sharp bend and swooshed off down the hill. A team car arrived, the same road that we had come and squeezed past as it waited for its rider to pass before quickly chasing after her.

The arrival of the helicopter meant we were about to have the front riders

This was my favourite viewing spot, and we were lucky to be able to watch about 15 riders pass here. The last 15 so that meant we saw World Champion Marlen Reusser as well as the current leader Elisa Longo Borghini. Once they had passed, the roads were reopened meaning we could cycle along this to get to Aarburg and the finish of the race. It was great fun rushing along the road, hardly any traffic other than confused spectators and for the last 3kms it was closed as the route was coned off to use in both directions.

We arrived in Aarburg just in time for the ceremony and duly cheered and shouted for the winner of the day (Reusser), overall leader (Reusser) who shared the stage with the Fox mascot, Points leader (Zoe Bäckstedt) presented by the Lidl giant banana - who knew?, Best young rider Cédrine Kerboal and Femke de Vries, the Queen of the Mountains. It was a great atmosphere. It was also baking hot. We bumped into another FAF group from Basel who had come a different way and who were off back to Basel via Rohr. Thats too steep for my legs.

Now we needed to find some shelter and ideally something to eat/drink. It wasnt entirely clear where the event village was, I hadnt seen this info on the website, but have now found it - TdS comms is confusing as the race itself has a different website to the stage information. I know Aarburg fairly well and I had expected the event village to be along the water as I know this is used for other events in the village - I was wrong. It was in the old town main street. We finally found it and at the first restaurant with outside seating in the shade, we were getting settled in when a smiley man appeared to inform us that the kitchen was closed. They had sold all of their food - so the hunt continued. The street was very busy with loads of cyclists and bikes clipping along, all of us trying to find water, food and a place to store our bike. We were gifted some fresh fruit by Lidl - excellent! and we finally managed to get a seat at a tiny table near the main water fountain. I was really hungry by this time and it seemed like forever before our food arrive - but the staff appeared run off their little feet with the amount of people. It was really good and kept me going for the rest of the day.

We finished our food and one decided that, as it was about 36Deg C, she had killed her legs in the mountains the day before, she would get the train home from Aarburg and we said our goodbyes. That left 3 of us. One more went to meet up with others and make her own way home, so me and the late arriver decided that despite the heat, yes! it was a good idea to cycle home....

We left on the veloweg to Olten just as the mens competition started and saw the line of motorbikes patiently waiting for their time to go, hiding in the shade just at the junction.

This route to Olten is the only one you should ever use as the main road is awful - lorries, cars, busses, yuk. The river road is great, there is shade and no traffic for most of it. Once in Olten, we continued to Trimbach and started the last climb. This is a favourite road for motorbikes, but the cafe they congregate at was not very busy and there were hardly any on the road either. I was cooking by this time and my companion and me went at our own pace. I stopped twice to rest and recover a bit under a shady tree and she continued on. She went on ahead so by the time I got to the top, I was on my own. The downhill run back to Sissach was brilliant, I refilled with water at one point, poured lots over myself and evapo-cooled all the way home.

A great day out watching the pros in excellent company. 

Video of the day: 

Mountains, Marmots and Mist!

Our first mountain adventure of the 2026 season,  postponed from Tuesday to Friday due to poor weather forecast.  Friday forecast was cool but dry... hardy har har. We met in Meiringen, getting there on different trains. I travelled via Luzern as I live in BL and my companion came from Basel via Bern. In Luzern I had a chat with a helpful SBB assistant woman who made sure that the millions of cases a group of tourists needed to transport were not in the bike spaces so I had space for my bike. She did a great job.  As I was waiting for my connection I spotted a baby train on the next platform. I have no idea what it is  - cute though :).

We met as agreed, set off, soon out of the village on the main road to Innertkirchen. This is the worst part of the entire route - lots of cars, lorries and the occasional bus. It doesnt last long though and we were soon in Innertkirchen at the junction - turn right to go to Grimselpass, straight ahead for Susten. A group of fast cars approached, and we let them go first - and noticed that they suddenly stopped. We watched them chat to each other, look at a map then about turn, come back and go towards Grimsel. When we started the pass road we saw the sign indicated that the road was closed after Steingletcher so it wasnt possible to go through to Wassen on the other side. I assume this was the reason they stopped. As we made our way up the first few kms of the pass road, practically the only traffic we saw were UK cars on some sort of rally event. They were not impacted by the pass closure, but other than them, there was nothing - so very good. Turning left at the sign for Engstelenalp, we had our first proper stop. Food was eaten and rain jackets off - we had warmed up by this time. Now for the first proper climb to the car park at the road barrier where the private road starts. More information about the road at https://wgme.ch/

A narrow road, weaving up through the trees, quite steep most of the time making vehicles passing a careful experience. There was very little traffic though, so all was well. It opens out after a  few kms as you turn a corner and see a windsock which indicates the Restaurant at the start of the private road. It was still cool at this point, dry and cloudy so perfect weather for my Scottish condition.

Here we met our first animals - the goats were very keen to see us and climbed up the slope to talk to us, their bells ringing as the approached. In the background there was a louder clang clang that turned out to be cows. Bigger animals, bigger bells.

From here we entered the animal zone. All the way up to the top of the climb there were cattle grids and most were active meaning the animals were roaming about with no fence to keep them off the road. That meant the road was covered in  - lets call it "stuff". We needed to cycle through so we had 1km of stuff on the road, 1or 2km of clean road, then more stuff. My bike has now been deep cleaned :).

Below is after the cows, looking back where we had come from

On our way up we were on the look out for Marmots, we thought we heard some squeals but couldn't be sure. When I was last here, we had seen them so I was keen to find them this time. We were not disappointed! We saw some quite high up, too far to really see then I noticed 2 quite close to the road and even more playing on rocks nearby. Its great to see them, just running about.

As we stood watching them and taking photos, 3 cyclists appeared behind us so we pointed them out and they were soon watching and taking photos.

After this excitement, we were at the end of the flat section and now the climbing started again and with it, the rain. It wasnt long before my jacket was back on and at one point the cows came back. They were not impressed by the 3 cyclists that had passed us and a car - just standing in the middle of the road. We walked past them,  and now i needed to get back on my bike - im useless at this, so I walked more to get to a slightly flatter section.

 From now on it was just steep and wet and grey and misty, marvellous :). It stayed like this all the way to the top where the rain stopped for a short while. We walked over to the water. There were 2 other people there, and us. I loved it, it was so quiet and peaceful. There are plenty of the tables and benches as well as fire pits and lots of wood to burn. Today was idilic - thanks to the rain I expect.

We were now pretty hungry and went to the newly refurbished Alphütte Rossboden  - soup and sausage - delicious!

Outside seating - when its not pouring with rain

It was at this point that the rain decided to come on heavier and we made the decision to go back down to Innertkirchen and over to Meiringen, not go further as had been originally planned. We were cold on the descent but the lower we got, the warmer and dryer it became. Downhill in the wet on near constant 10% or more gradient is not really fun so I am glad we took it easy. My feet were soaked by half way down and I had puddles in my shoes.

Once back in Meiringen it wasnt long before we were in our respective trains, warming up and admiring the photos.

An excellent day out, despite the weather, wet but not windy. Thanks to my companion for joining and company.  Watch for more mountain plans over the next 2 months on the Strava group page, come and join us!

Distance: 50km

Climbing: 1510m

Avg speed -  hahahahahaha

Marmots seen - loads

Cows  - millions

Tour de Suisse ITT ride to enjoy the action

 The 2026 Tour de Suisse ITT - stage 4 of this years event

https://etappenorte.tourdesuisse.ch/aarburg/

Its a fairly! flat stage so expect fast times.

We start from Sissach station and cycle to Langenbruck then continue climbing a little more to the top!! before a fun descent down the other side to Egerkingen. We will need to navigate the roads and will be at the side of the ITT route to cheer the riders on - we have choices where to stand before we can make our way to Aarburg and the event village itself.

Below is a map of both routes - the group ride is orange and the competition route is red.

The timetable for the Womens competition starts with training at 09:30-10:30 with the first competitor starting their timed ride at 10:45 in Aarburg.  That means we can expect then to be on the course between 11:00-12:30 for us to cheer them along.

My plan is to start in Sissach at 09:00 and it should take up between 2 and 2.5hrs to get to the ITT route. Once we arrive we can decide exactly where we want to position ourselves - it will be possible to watch from one point, go to another section and watch more from there, before we continue to Aarburg itself.

The timetables are below for Women,  the Men are in the afternoon.

WOMEN - https://www.tourdesuisse.ch/wp-content/uploads/4Etappe_Women_Marschtabelle_Original_EN_2026.pdf

Our route GPX is HERE 

If you sign up to the event on Strava, I will make sure the route we are riding is the route on the event too.

If you have any questions, please either email me on basellandvelofrauen@gmail.com, send me a message via Strava or comment on this blog.

Remember we start in Sissach on the side of the station with the bike racks and no busses!! 

I look forward to it - lets keep our fingers crossed for the weather.

May ride with unexpected joiner

Thankfully when I woke up this morning, the forecast I had made a few days ago looked like it would be right!! Yipee- no rain! It was still cool so I wrapped up warm enough and set off to arrive at the meeting point with about 15 minutes to wait.  We met up at the back of Sissach Bahnhof as described in the Strava Event - Strava itself allows you to set a meeting point and I put in the station - but the map provided always  shows the front with the busses and we are at the back - with the bikes.

No matter, we all arrived on time began our introduction as we had 4! new joiners today. We had the 2 who were with us for the first time last month back for more fun and another bunch of new people. I am really pleased to see the word is getting out and people see what we do and want to come and join the fun. I handed out some business cards and stickers - please stick them to interesting places you go. The QR code brings you to this blog.

One of my companions had invited another person - not signed in to the Strava event - and we would pick them up just as we were leaving Sissach. We set off towards Gelterkinden and as we turned the corner to cross the road and join the veloweg on the pavement, a man on a road bike waved to us. I was confused so stopped. This was where we were going to pick the new invitee - and it turned out to be him! After a brief discussion, we accepted the guest rider for today - he had to promise not to go too fast up hills! Off we set again. It was a quiet Sunday morning, quickly through Gelterkinden then Tecknau before left turn up the hill towards Wenslingen. A short stop at the bottom to remove a layer as it was warming up. We all climbed at our own pace through trees and after the hairpin bend turned left at the edge of the village. I think this will have pleased the few cars that were behind me waiting for a place to pass. 

After a brief stop we continued down the other side of the hill to Oltingen and climbed again towards Anwil. We took the side road at the farm to avoid the steep parts and the view at the top is always great.

From Anwil to Kienberg is a good road then the best descent towards Wittnau and the first official and planned stop - toilets at the church. All refreshed, we continued towards Gipf-Oberfrick on the main road. At the end of the village there is a junction and right turn towards Benkerjoch pass. As we approached, a group of cyclist were coming towards us on the veloweg and turned sort of left towards the pass. There was some confusion and cars and one of them did an absolute classic "cant clip out!" panic! crash and landed on his back, legs in the air in the middle of the traffic island. They shouted all was OK, so we left them to sort it out.

Not long after was our second real test, again we settled in to our own pace and regrouped at the top.  This is a great little climb, dense trees make is quite dark but its very pretty. At the top we could admire the fruit trees and the local children rushing about on their various wheeled devices - we didnt stop long and were soon turning left down the fast road towards Herznach. Its steep and straight, My top speed was 62kph :).  Once in the village a few turns led us on to another backroad/veloweg to Ueken and the artistic village sign. Lets all hope the ladybird is not real.

We stayed on the veloweg all the way back to Frick where we passed the station before another brief stop to prepare for another climb.

I had made marshmallow krispie cakes last week and shared some. There are only so many a person can eat of these.

Next stop - the top! We arrived and I realised that I had been chatting too much and not paid enough attention to the person at the back of the line so went back to pick her up. All good! Short stop and we agreed we would "meet at the toilets at the church in Schupfahrt". On we went in 2 smaller groups, I was at the back and didnt see where group 1 went, we got into the village and I shouted to alert those not paying attention to the route - that we needed to turn left. So in the end two of us managed to find the toilets, the others seemed to have found a ToiToi. That was a surprise as I had no idea it was there.

We found each other again and continued on the nearly last climb. Once in Wegenstetten we said goodbye to one companion then promptly lost 2 more. We turned right and used the farm road, 2 others continued on the main road. We rejoined near the top and I made an executive decision to avoid the main road so we climbed up towards Hemmiken. I tried my best at this point and landed at the top a smidge puffed out - folded over my handlebars.

The view of Farnsburg from here is good - we will go past in on another ride I am certain. Its worth a visit for the view over to the Schwarzwald  from the top alone. It has recently been refurbished and looks great.

https://farnsburg.ch/pages/ruine-farnsburg-1

Now on the last leg it wasnt long before we were back in Gelterkinden, through the village and on to Sissach where we said goodbye to another. Our smaller group ended up at the station.

From here, some continued over Hauenstein again to Olten, others took the train and I cycled back to Gelterkinden.

A great day out, thanks to all who joined for your company. A special thanks to our guest rider for not being too fast up the hills. Hope to see you all on another ride.

Distance: 69km

Avg Speed: 19.4km/h

Climbing: 1000m

April avoiding showers

The weather forecast for todays ride was monitored closely all week. Panic nearly set in on Thursday given the predicted showers, but we stuck to the plan and todays ride had excellent weather.... apart from the head wind, but more of that later.

We were initially expecting a group of 7 with 3 new joiners, but one realised this morning that prior obligations meant she was unable to join so we would be 6. I arrived at the back of the station at 9:45, my normal stupidly early time because killing time in the house is just boring. I was surprised to see companion 1 sitting in the early morning sunshine. As Strava often decides that Gelterkinden station as the meet up point means the front of the station, I went for a look. When I came empty handed, companion 2 had appeared, excellent. Now we waited for the others. After a few minutes I looked at the front of the station again and found companion 3 and after a few more minutes companion 4 arrived speeding along the road, as she was late. We missed the 6th person who had signed up, when we started the ride at least 10:10,  she hadnt arrived. So after all that, we would be 5.

The village was full of hikers today - and the station had lots of signs to show them the way.I had passed millions of them at the Turnhalle on my way to the station.

Our route weaved through the centre of the village, out towards Tecknau. Companion 4 and I were scooting along then suddenly realised we had been chatting too much and had dropped the others.. oops - so we slowed down and regrouped. First order of business was toilets and Tecknau station provided - for 1CHF. 

Onward into the countryside we went, getting to know the new joiners and enjoying the spring weather. We passed the famous waterfall just before Kilchberg then turned left to Zeglingen. We stopped to get set  for the climb. Drinks, snacks and layer removal to prepare for the climb through the trees along Schafmattstrasse and the top. This is an excellent road, guaranteed to be quiet and much better than the normal road up from Oltingen. In summer its cool, in winter its magical when the snow falls from the trees. Today we had some wind and petals flying everywhere just before we entered the trees. In the valley its a lovely,  steady climb with a few hundred meters of easy gravel before the T junction. We had split up for the climb and regrouped before the last part to the very top.

The view here is always fun and today we could see all the way to Pilatus - if you squinted a bit.

Now we had the quite steep run down to Rohr - good fun but can be spooky with cars coming up the hill towards you in the middle of the narrow road. We all got down safely and headed towards Olten. Its a short section of main road and as we arrived in the city we were passed by a mad man on a bike with aero socks - which is clearly the reason he flew past us. We rode quickly along the river and got caught out when we left the cycle path up a sharp ramp to cross the river. I was in the big ring - wrong - and my legs didnt manage to keep going so I stopped and the rest needed too. sorry :) We soon arrived outside the Ratskeller and the toilets. More snacks were eaten and drank refreshments and I tried to explain the plan for the next climb. We set off again, turned left at light when we shouldnt have.... onto the main road which is quiet on a Sunday morning. It wasnt long before we reached Rickenbach and started the second main climb of the day Teufelschlucht. Its a good one. Not too long but long enough.

We split up here with each going at a pace that was suitable to regroup at the junction to Allerheiligenberg. The wind was quite strong at this point. It would calm down in the tightest part of the gorge but returned at the top.

Its a great climb and very quiet only the occasional car or, if really unlucky, bus. Once regrouped we decided to split up and for Companion 1 and 4 to go for the last part to the top and we would continue to Bärenwil.

Allerheiligenberg photo:

I have been once before, in the fog so this view was new!

We regouped again and Companion 3 had to leave us early and we hope she got home safely. The remainder had the fun descent to Langenbruck and the "worlds biggest public toilet". We then started the last part of the ride back down the valley to Liestal where we would part. 2 going towards Basel and 2 towards Gelterkinden.

The ride down the valley was great, except the headwind. I felt I was getting blown away some of the time. 

Once in Liestal, we said goodbye to half of the group and enjoyed our tail wind back towards Gelterkinden.

Thanks for all for joining, I look forward to the next adventure.

Distance: 71km

Climbing: 1000m

Avg Speed: 19Kph