My original plan for Saturday was to head out to Friedrichshafen for Eurobike, but I could not pass up a wonderful fall ride. Had it rained, I would have gone and walked the show, but with good weather it just wasn’t worth it. I’ve pretty much seen everything there’s to see online already, so I don’t think I really missed anything. Instead I jumped on the Niner for an awesome new loop. You might wonder what the title of this post is all about. Well, I like to name my bike rides and each time I do something new, the loop will get a name. Usually, I choose a landmark or geographical location and today’s loop is no different. I took a trail called the “Traces of the Dinosaurs” and this trail happened to bring me to Hell’s Gate, or “La Porte des Enfers” how it’s called here locally. The trails were easy rolling fire-roads or groomed single-track. Nothing difficult at first, but they curved their way through some spectacular places, especially the fire-road with views across to “Le Schilt”. If hell looks like that, sign me up! The Schilt is on my list of todo hikes and after looking at those rock formations today, I’m excited to climb up that way soon. The trail from Hell’s Gate to the Métairie de Gléresse required a bit of hiking; it was too steep and too wet. From the Métairie I cut straight across to the Métairie du Bois Raiguel at which I continued on a muddy, yet incredible single-track. The remaining stretch to the top of the Chasseral was ridden on one of my usual ascents. The return to Biel followed my preferred route on top of the mountain crest and into Les Près d’Orvin. I dropped down to the Jorat, where I stopped to indulge on blackberries. At the fountain in Evilard, I gobbled down a full water bottle and hit the last descent into Biel. My GPS says (rest assured that I never reached 101 kph):
| Distance: | 53km (33 miles) |
| Total Climb: | 1668m (5472 feet) |
| Time: | 04:07:39 |
| Speed (avg/max): | 13.0/101.6 kph (8.0/63.1 mph) |
| GPS Track: | GPSies.com |
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