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
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