Well, we finally seem to have Autumn at long last. The problem with that is that yesterday it still felt sort of late summer and then this morning clothes had to be selected... What to do. The forecast had been obtained from the Epic Ride app and it was predicted to be cool - 9 -12 Deg max with 7% chance of rain.
We met at Gelterkinden Dorfbrunnen to start. Welcome freebies, some gifted from FAF SUI Swiss Cycling, were shared then off we set. A last minute change of plans meant one of those who had registered couldn't make it, so we were 3. We headed east through Ormalingen and on to Rothenfluh on the veloweg. We were obviously out very early and were unexpected, 2 walkers jumped when we descended upon them. I had been pinging my bell and had also set off the free hub wasps but apparently the chatting was too engrossing, so when I got close enough and shouted they actually jumped. We turned left at Rothenfluh to go down the main road then took a fast right turn towards Asphof for the first real climb of the day. This warmed us up! A short regroup at the top before on towards Wegenstetten, Schupfahrt and Eiken. The road flattened out and we made our way to Kaisten through the trees. The amount of leaves, nuts and twigs made we wonder if perhaps a gravel bike would have been better....cycling along, crunch, crunch ping!
At Kaisten we took a short diversion to Laufenburg Bahnhof for the toilets before heading up the Sulzerberg climb. My planned route headed off into the real gravel so that wasn't going to work and in the excitement of deciding to follow the main road, one of us managed to end up on the ground. After recovering gracefully, we continued up the hill. Reaching the top and having stopped for a breather I realised we were only 2. We had just passed a large group of walkers out for the Sunday morning constitutional and that was where our 3rd had gone. She had noticed that friend was in the group and had gone to say hello.
Once she had returned, eaten a snack, we had more confusion about the route before finally deciding on the right road and swooshed down to Sulz. I have ridden this exact route in June... you would think I would remember..... It was 32Deg then, so I put it all down to the heat!
Next came climb "4 of 6" although its really "4 and 4.5 of 6" as there is a tiny descent before the last part and downhill on the fast straight road into Elfingen. Once back on the real main road and having found the veloweg, we were on our way to Frick and dinosaur country. Next and last stop was the toilets in Wittnau. Refreshed with some Scottish Tablet, transport to CH by my sister, we started climb "6 of 6". This last climb was really lovely, the sun came out, we were protected from much of the headwind and the roads were quiet.
Back at Gelterkinden again after 66km we said our cheerios and while I went straight home, my 2 companions still had another 10kms or so to go.
Good ride, lots of fun and we always seemed to arrive about 30 mins after the rain, so great weather.
Total Distance - 66km
Climbing - 1056m
Avg Speed - 19.1km/hr
