Or frozen in time, that’s how today’s ride could be described. Snow fell all night, Bern recorded temperatures of minus twelve degrees during the night and the mercury here sat at minus six most of the day. Two pair of socks, a thermo pant, shorts, four layers protecting my upper body, two layers my arms, thick gloves and a cap under the helmet. I was ready for the cold, so I thought. I left Biel to climb to Magglingen first. Trail conditions were fantastic, the ground was frozen and only a few inches of snow. With every foot I climbed, that snow layer grew little by little. I decided to ride the popular hiking trail to the Twannberg, from where I dropped to Lamboing. The plateau up there was sitting in dense fog as I made my way around the Spitzberg. Trail conditions were getting more difficult but remained rideable. As I got around the mountain, the next half of the ride was going to be dictated by whatever trails were in a condition to ride. Fortunately, someone had driven a car on one of the fire roads leading to Les Prés d’Orvin. I reached the Métairie de Prêles, where I stopped for hot chocolate. I continued to the Place Centrale, which turned out to be a bad idea. There were about 12 inches of fresh snow up there and it was impossible to continue on two wheels. I made a U-turn and realized that it was now quite cold up there. The ride back down the mountain took about three times as long due to the difficult conditions and the wind chill that started penetrating through gloves, shoes and cap. I was looking forward to the next climb to warm up again. I was further slowed down by a tiny leak in the rear Foss tube. I had to stop occasionally to add more air to the tire. The last time I handled the pump shortly before Biel, I could barely get it off the valve with my cold hands. It was a good ride nonetheless.
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jenz29erzaboo reblogged this from 29inch and added:
“thats it” what i call...at wintertime its...you dont become...
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