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

Good Friday outing with the neighbours - and head wind

As its a holiday weekend, I had arranged 2 ride options. One Friday and the identical route on Monday. On Thursday evening there were 3 signed up for Friday. Companion 1 got the train out to Gelterkinden which arrived at 09:04 and we set off together into Eglisee and the other 2. Along the way, not a clue how, we managed to be late.... and a frantic "We are coming" text message was sent just as we got to the edge of the river at Birsfelden. Perhaps we had been chatting too much..... :) 

All was fine and we gathered at the tram stop - initial introductions to Companion 3 - a new joiner - before we set off.  We caught a lovely draft on this initial ride through the trees from 2 riders in front but they left us behind after a few kms. Now we had to navigate the shared path along the Wiese with people and their children and dogs. This didnt seem to slow us down much though as, according to Strava, I had some PBs - clinging on for dear life at the back.... It wasnt very long till we reached the start of the climb at Schopfheim. After a short stop to eat after we finished negotiating some roadworks we set off. Once on the real climb we settled in all at our own pace. The weather was cool but sunny so my factor 50 was needed.

At this point everything was green and very springlike, that would change later. 

Companion 1 and I are member of a cycling community that collects approved climbs - collect just means cycle under your own power and add them to your list -  and today we had the opportunity to collect 3. The first of these meant we needed to go a bit off road and a short diversion over some gravelly/mud tracks. Col 1 successfully collected, we continued up the hill towards Gersbach.

The road had been quiet so far with very little traffic which was great. Once back on the tarmac, we made our way up again and the traffic was still very light. As we climbed steadily upwards we began to see small patches of snow. To start with, this was a tiny snowball size clump in the shade of a tree but the higher we went, the bigger these clumps became. 

This is col 2

After a tiny detour to make sure we had successfully collected Col 2, we started the last part of the climbing and arrived in Gersbach to even deeper snow. I have been here once before and I knew there was a toilet. When I was last here it was 20 Eurocent and today it was 50.  Its been a while.... We had a proper stop here and were concerned about Companion 2s front brake lever which appeared to do nothing when pressed. This lack of braking meant the rest of the adventure was going to be a bit concerning. All ended fine though and the bike is now booked in for a service and root cause analysis :). 

After Gersbach its all downhill to home. First we had to collect Col 3. This led us on a narrow empty road at the top of the hill with brilliant views all around.

What a beautiful bike I hear you say!

Now it was time to go back down the hill. This was just brilliant, once down the steep part into the gorge we descended all the way to Wehr where we had planned a coffee stop. Before that, we had a wonderful run down the valley, the trees and steep sides flying past and still hardly any cars so we had a great time. The photos dont do it justice.

Now the coffee stop, which officially took ages. But we were refreshed with soup or chips or simply a really warm hot chocolate. Setting off again for the last run downhill before we turned west towards home through the Naturschutzgebiet Wehramündung avoiding people and dogs again and a teeny tiny bit of gravel. This is where the wind started... jings.

The next section of the ride was perhaps not as fast as the initial flat section but this one had head wind, in abundance.

We ploughed through the headwind and finally ended up at Wyhlen where we said goodbye to Companion 2 - going home and to arrange the bike service. The rest of us found the river crossing and the very new cycle path that used to be a road and Companion 1 continued on back to Basel while me and Companion 3 cycled back to Gelterkinden.

Altogether a great ride - the weather was good - except the head wind - there wasnt much traffic and the scenery was wonderful. 

I am doing it all again tomorrow - Monday 6th April.

Total distance - 132km

Climbing : 1072m

Avg speed: 22km/h

March ride east of Gelterkinden

After the February ride was cancelled I wanted to be sure that this one went to plan. I had ridden the route during the week as a "Reccy Ride" and tweaked it a little. I discovered a new roundabout, which fixed a dangerous junction, but in Frick we still had to rush across the main road to get on to the Veloweg. 

So with the preparation done, I arrived at the meeting point at the back of the Bahnhof early in case others got there early too. First to arrive was companion 1 with the dragon on the stem, she is training it.  She has an issue with one her brake levers and was concerned it wasnt very safe. We had been fiddling with it a bit when a friendly man appeared wearing a Tudor Pro Cycling  team jacket - he offered his advice. Thanks to him for his concern :)

This chat continued as trains arrived bringing people out from the city and I picked up our new joiner from the front of the station. We were nearly all set to go but were still missing one person who had registered for the ride. A quick Signal chat later, not coming, made a mistake, apologies were given. Not a problem, all good -  we set off only a few minutes later than originally planned.

First order of business was to Tecknau to warmup then left turn up the climb to Wenslingen. Traffic here in a Sunday morning is normally very quiet and so it was today. We made our way up, some faster than others. Once in the village, we turned sharp left to get to the fields and the view. I had seen lambs here a few days ago in bright sunshine, today was cold, cloudy and there was lying snow as the weather had changed. 

I short stop to put on another layer before going down to Oltingen and up again towards Anwil. Here, I was passed up the short steep section and followed on behind. The route had been shared via Strava on the event and everyone had it on their headunit, they still managed to go off track which meant I got to the front again :) 

Here they are rejoining my route.

Once over the top the rush down to Kienberg is always great before the left turn at the junction and another mega ride down to Wittnau for the marvellous toilet stop at the church!

You will see that we were all in bright colours. What is it with some cyclists that decide that black is just the best thing on a cloudy day? You will see from the back of my jacket that Assos decided that only the front and arms needed colour, the back is black with 2 tiny reflector stripes.  Once suitably refreshed, we continued to Frick where we waved cheerio to companion 1 and her dodgy brake lever. She went home to get it fixed not wanting to chance the last descent to a single brake, wise choice.

Through Frick, past the dinosaurs and out of the town, safely on the veloweg before right turn to a roundabout and off on the side road to Zeihen. Again the roads here are typically quiet with only the odd bus to worry about. After Zeihen, last week on my reccy mission, I went on a dirt road to pick up a Col from the Club des Cent Col list, no need to do that today. The road joins the main road in Effingen at a new roundabout which is brilliant. This used to be a challenge to see round corners and cars were going pretty fast as its sort of a bypass road. Glad to see the new roundabout. Over we went and through the village ending up on the veloweg back to Frick. 

Back in Frick at the petrol station it was the rush across the road and we made our way back to Wittnau for final refreshements before the last climb. This is always a good one. Its steep in places and winds up through the trees. 

Two went ahead and me and companion 2 plodded along, here we are just out of the first hairpin bend, the others ahead are getting to the next one. We all got to the top OK, putting on a bit of a mad sprint to the sign at the top - phew!! this isnt good for me. Once I had recovered my breath I learned that one of two fast companions had fallen! when standing still - so this is a novel one. Damage seems to be light - so all OK. Lets hope she still feels OK tomorrow.

Jackets back on and then the last mega downhill to Rothenfluh and back to Gelterkinden. All arrived safe and sound. The weather seemed to have cleared a teeny bit.

Great fun, as ever. Thanks to all for joining.

Distance: 62km

Climbing: 820m

Avg Speed: 20.3km/hr

Helpful bike mechanics - 1 - Thanks Tudor Pro Cycling!

Cute childrens bikes spotted - 2

Happy New Year! and where did the sun go?

First BLVF ride of the year had 10 people registered to come out and admire the BL scenery. On the day itself,  1 was unfortunatly ill so we were a group of 9 who met at the back of Sissach bahnhof. This was the largest group ever so I was delighted. One problem was the weather, it was cold and the sun that had been promised was nowhere to be seen.

I arrived first, on my trusty new "go anywhere" bike with its big tyres. These tyres would make me slow.... that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it! Over the next 15 minutes, the others trickled in arriving either by bike from Basel or by train. We had to set off quickly given the ccccold. The forecast had been temperature of low single figures but with sun - the sun never arrived.

We set off east through Gelterkinden, avoiding the main road, then Ormalingen before getting on to the veloweg at the end of the village and stopped to take stock in Rothenfluh. Here, one of us had frozen fingers, others were also cold - so we tried not to stay still for long. Left turn on the main road back down the hill and turn right at the sawmill. We all went up the only real climb of the day at our own pace and planned to regroup at the top. When I got to the top, 2 had gone on ahead and I was a bit concerned as I had changed the route to avoid the forest and what I expected to be icy, but thankfully they hadnt gone far. Yappy dogs were shouting at each other at the farm - the farm dog making itself know to those out for a walk.

On we went, staying on the main road to Wegenstetten where it was not frozen and left agian at the roundabout at the other side of the village. Soon we were on the veloweg again and after navigating some bends, avoiding the barbeque sausages we were speeding on a shallow downhill north towards Zeiningen. It was fun to chat and catchup but sometimes I needed to concentrate on not being too dropped by speedy bike at the front :).  We regouped again and once under the motorway kept on the veloweg to weave our way back. Here we said goodbye to 2 of the group, one with non functioning gears and the other who was really really cold.  I hope you got home OK.

From here we rode next to the motorway avoiding the main road and had the chance to meet the deer.

Next stop, Augusta Raurica for shelter and the toilets! It was easy going and we soon arrived, propping out bikes against the wall. 

It had been difficult to keep eating and drinking for me as I needed to stop to drink the tea and eating with gloves on is impossible so by this time I was starving and feeling like I had left it too late. We recovered, chatted and agreed to all go back to Sissach where we started and not for some to go directly back to Basel. Off we went again back towards the motorway, over it and we were soon back on very familiar roads. It wasnt long till we made our way back through the outskirts of Liestal and got slightly split up at Itingen but as we were 3kms from the start it was OK. One person nearly went the gravely path but was retrieved OK. We arrived back at the start via the newly widened road with a better bike lane from the end of Sissach.

Cold but pleased we had been out for the day. The train took most people back to Basel, I went back to Gelterkinden and one mad soul decided that 50km wasnt enough so did another 50 on the way back.

Thanks to all who joined the ride. Hope to see you on a bike again soon!

Distance: 50km

Climbing: 450m

Avg Speed: 20km/h

Animals spotted: Deer, everything else was inside keeping warm