29in·CH+

Today’s ride was another far below zero cyclocross ride. While it’s lovely to climb at those temperatures they come to haunt you on the descent. For one it gets really uncomfortable to brake over an extended period of time wearing thick gloves and the clothes that have been keeping you warm ultimately capitulate to the cold. Today’s ride was fun going up, even while hiking a long stretch of snowmobile tracks, but the descent against the biting bise almost left me permanently deep-frozen to the bike. I’ll keep today’s post short, I’m still in the process of defrosting.

Distance:	37.4km (23.2 miles)
Elevation:	1’156m (3’793 feet)
Time:	02:46:26
Speed (avg/max):	13.5/59.3 kph (8.4/36.8 mph)

★ collideous

Our server at the office seems to mirror the business as a whole. It runs pretty darn crappy to say the least. Today, as many times before, one of its vital organs failed. As that single black box is our only hub to the whole universe and beyond, I shut down my now utterly useless desktop client and armed myself with pencil and paper. But there just wasn’t anything to do other than drawing stick figure cartoons. Rather than sit on my butt at the office doing nothing, I could sit somewhere else and enjoy the second half of unlucky Friday the 13th. Might as well make it my lucky day, right? I called it a day, jumped on my Litespeed and speedily pedaled home. Without a pause for grub, I slipped into cold weather gear and told my Focus that we had some work to get done. I climbed out of Biel on my usual route with the silly idea to hop up and over the Chasseral. With all the snow up there, chances were nil that I’d actually get there, but that should stop no one to try. I rode to Cortébert on the road, first in thick fog, then under an occasional sun. The climb up to the Milieu de la Montagne (the middle of the mountain) was on wet roads under a now cloudy sky. I took it easy. Pushing hard was not today’s goal. It was all about getting a few miles in and enjoy an early start into the weekend. As I reached Les Goguelisses Dessous, the road started to turn white and beyond the Goguelisses it completely vanished. Luckily for me, a snowcat had paved a path to the Petite Douanne and the Métairie du Milieu de Bienne. I shifted into small gear and stayed on it. The snowcat driver must have had a wee bit too much fun in the snow. He neither stuck to the road nor did he take the shortest way. Right before the Métairie he further tested the uphill capabilities of his snowcat and steered it up the steepest pitch. I duly followed, now pushing the cross bike. At the Métairie I was greeted by the restaurant’s dog. He seemed as excited as myself to be in snow wonder-world. I jumped from snowcat tracks onto cross-country ski run and headed east. The skate skiing path was nicely groomed and hard enough to be ridden on my 35C tires. I wouldn’t recommend being up there on a bike on a sunny weekend day, but on this Friday afternoon I only greeted two cross-country skiers. I made it to the Place Centrale and could only find a foot wide path heading downhill. Mountain bike? Null problemo. Cross bike? Ooh la la, mucho problemo! Patience and low speed got me and the bike through in one piece. More patience was needed to pass by the small ski resort of Les Près d’Orvin. Moms, dads, kids and cars all blocked the road and impeded a quick fly-by. The subsequent downhill into Orvin offered a bit more speed but zero adrenaline. Too much up and downhill traffic. As I shot down into town the sun now sat low and blinded the view. It had nicely cleared up. Our office server can die every Friday!

Distance:	52.5km (32.6 miles)
Elevation:	1’477m (4’845 feet)
Time:	03:13:52
Speed (avg/max):	16.3/65.5 kph (10.1/40.7 mph)

★ collideous

This week I ordered a new microSDHC with the huge capacity of 32GB for my ReplayXD1080 action cam. If I think back at my first home PC, a Gateway desktop PC running Windows 95 on a dinky 6GB hard-drive, it’s pretty amazing to see the progress that has been made. This tiny Kingston microSD fits on top of a fingernail and is less than a millimeter thick. Pretty soon a cellphone will be no bigger than that, implantable into one’s cheek and voice-controlled. Sorry, back to the cam. The new microSD needed to be formatted. The cam did the job and I additionally edited the config file to match the settings I had on the old card. I thought the cam was all good to go. I mounted it to my helmet and activated it during today’s ride whenever I wanted a recording. Back home I hooked it up to my MacBook and big surprise. Instead of finding video files, the card’s media folder was filled with close to 800 JPGs. Rats! Instead of dropping the photos into trash, I figured I might as well handpick a few dozen and make a photo album out of it. Et voilà!

Song:	Dead Can Dance - Spirit
Distance:	44.5km (27.7 miles)
Elevation:	2’076m (6’811 feet)
Time:	02:24:24
Speed (avg/max):	18.5/64.0 kph (11.5/39.8 mph)

★ collideous

Well, not losing many words about today’s ride other than it’s been another several hours of spectacular cyclocrossing. Truly blessed to live in such a wonderful country, have enough disposable income to afford two new bikes in one year, a wife that lets me buy them and ultimately have good legs to go climb some of the finest trails. Thanks!

Distance:	78.6km (48.8 miles)
Elevation:	2’747m (9’012 feet)
Time:	04:13:21
Speed (avg/max):	18.6/67.7 kph (11.6/42.0 mph)

★ collideous

The sun was already poking through the hazy sky when I left for a cyclocross ride to the Chasseral. I spent the first half of the ride under blue skies, rode mostly dry gravel roads and passed some frosty spots on the shaded slopes that don’t get much if any sun this time of the year. The last pitch to the Chasseral antenna was as icy as last weekend and provided no conditions to beat my Strava segment record. Once at the top of the mountain the weather was changing. Clouds were rolling in from west creating a spectacualar scenery. Instead of dropping down to Nods, I spontaneously decided to add a loop around lake Biel. I needed to stop by my mom’s and the lake loop added some more miles to get there. I stayed on the mountain ridge and rode towards the Chaumont above Neuchâtel. At the Grand Chaumont I turned left to reach Enges, continued to Lignières then descended into La Neuveville. Now, I tried to follow the lakeshore as closely as possible to get around the southern side of the lake. I haven’t done this in years and was surprised to see a lot of changes, especially a lot of luxury homes for the wealthy few that have popped up in areas that used to be nothing more than small pastures or orchards.

Distance:	84.4km (52.4 miles)
Elevation:	2’286m (7’500 feet)
Time:	04:01:16
Speed (avg/max):	21.0/75.7 kph (13.0/47.0 mph)

★ collideous

First thing on my todo list this morning was a visit to the post office to send some goodies to the friendly Ebayers who bid and won. Three items, two buyers, both won and paid yesterday so now it was my turn to deliver. A front and rear Ultegra 6700 derailleur go to Italy, a set of Ultegra Dual Control levers travel all the way to Folsom, California.

After that was out of the way, I left home to escape the thick fog that will now often block the sun from us lowlanders. I rolled out of Biel on the Mares taking one of my regular escape routes. Within only a week, the trees have dropped a lot of their leaves. Combine those with the high humidity on the ground and you find some challenging trail conditions. The trail down into Frinvillier was already borderline on skinny cross tires, though it provided a first trail-side test of the new TRP CX8.4 brakes. And man, do they stop. The rear wheel was skidding all the way downhill and I had to be watchful not to pull the front one too hard else it blocked as well. Back to one finger braking and I’m sure glad about that.

In Rondchâtel, I started to gain altitude on the fire-road I’ve previously done a lot on the Niner. The cyclo-crosser definitely climbs faster, or at least it feels that way. Strava will tell. On the Sesselin du Haut crossover a lone lumberman blocked the way handling some heavy machinery pulling trees out of the forest. He sat high up on a vehicle with huge wheels facing away from the direction I had come from. With no rear-view mirror I had to keep my distance and wait. No way I was going to walk up to a machine swirling huge trees through the air. I waited a few minutes until the guy turned around and saw me. He stopped what he was doing and waved me through. I passed with a thumb up.

I crossed some nice pastures to Les Coperies, continued to La Ragie, then hiked a good way to Jobert. Once there it was all fast gravel to the Métairie de Morat. The Petit Chasseral was climbed at an easy pace out of the saddle. I shot down to La Neuve with over 60 kph then approached the last painful climb to the Chasseral antenna. I launched into the climb fast, then wondered why two hikers coming down were walking left and right of the pavement. I soon found out. As I was motoring up “en danseuse” my rear wheel suddenly lost all traction. This black pavement wasn’t wet, it was frozen. I steered to the left to ride at the edge of the road and had to drop my weight into the saddle. I made it.

Just like last weekend lots of folks were up there enjoying the sun and the splendid view of the Alps. A few travelled on a mountain bike, another few were in hiking shoes, but the majority had reached the peak in a car. Slaloming around people is probably the most accident-prone activity of the whole ride. Today, no pins were knocked over! Following last week’s traces, I descended down the road to Nods passing a couple of cars and bikes along the way. In Nods I enjoyed the last few rays of sun, then dove deep into heavy fog. Diesse and Lamboing were barely visible. I steered towards the Twannberg, gravel-grinded to Gaicht and raced down to Tüscherz on badly damaged pavement. Super way to get back into Biel quickly, but a total wheel killer if you make the slightest mistake.

Wheels I didn’t kill, but the minute I turned into the Rebenweg my rear tire lost all air in a sudden “pfffffff”. I stopped as fast as I could, rotated the wheel to find a 3-inch long nail. Someone must have nailed it into the road because it went through my tire head first. I pulled it out, then changed tubes. I wasn’t all that far from Biel, but fixing a flat wasn’t exactly what I wanted to do. Maybe my insurance company knows that. Just last week they sent me a flier about road-side assistance for bicycles. Yes, you read that right - there’s such a thing as road-side assistance for bicyclists. The example they gave in the colorful brochure was an older couple riding their e-bikes. The husband crashes, bends his front wheel and is now stranded in the middle of nowhere with a not man-portable e-bike. Assisted mobility through electric dead weight and if it’s dead you call road-side assistance. Won’t be long and your bike dealer will be your insurance agent as well. I’ll stick to fixing flats, even if I swear doing it.

Distance:	60.4km (37.5 miles)
Elevation:	2’474m (8’117 feet)
Time:	03:20:54
Speed (avg/max):	18.1/73.9 kph (11.2/45.9 mph)

★ collideous

After a couple of long rides with lots of climbing and descending the Avid Shorty 4 cantilever brakes quickly reached their power limits. The Shorty 4 is a decent, low cost cantilever brake that stops sufficiently well on flat land, but alas I’m a mountain goat. The best to cyclo-cross the Swiss Jura would disc brakes, but as long as Shimano or SRAM don’t have hydraulic road brake levers, rim brakes will remain my preference. Current disc brake cyclo-cross bikes either run mechanical brakes or attach a hydraulic adapter, most often below the stem. Pretty it ain’t. Anyone seeking the biggest stopping power with rim brakes will inevitably be looking at TRP. My SRAM Red levers are best paired with the CX8.4. For quite some time TRP and any online shop were out of stock on these. I monitored a couple of shops with the help of the aging, but still invaluable WatchThatPage service and sure enough, in mid October Bikeman had them stock. I received my pair this week, put in a late night shift to get them dialed on the Mares and spun around the block to test them this evening. Pad clearance is a lot tighter than with cantilevers, so wheels will need to be true and the brakes well adjusted to avoid rubbing. First impression - they feel good on the lever, a little squishy but I like that and lots of power. And oh, they looking freaking cool!

★ collideous

After I’ve only found the way to bed past 2AM last night, I wasn’t feeling all that fresh for a long ride this morning. It was a bit hazy, but the sun was already busy slicing a clear message into the haze that a great day lay ahead. A bit tired, I pulled the Focus out of the basement and decided to take an easy spin up to the Chasseral. I climbed the Psycho to Magglingen, then turned off to the left to reach Lamboing. I looped around the Mont Sujet and stopped at the Métairie de Prêles. My mom was working there and she offered me a half liter of Coke. That sugar bomb was super welcome. Right when I saddled up to continue the ride, a biker with a familiar face climbed up the mountain road. I was going the same way, quickly caught up and sure enough - it was an old cycling buddy from the days I was in the local bike club in the early 90ies. Neither he nor I remained members. He was riding a rigid MTB from exactly those days - a steel Ferraroli with all original Deore XT parts from the early days of Swiss mountain biking. We rode to the Chasseral together at an easy pace and chatted about bikes and the world. We stopped at the Chasseral restaurant for a drink, then descended to Nods on the road, where we each went different ways. He continued to the nearby paragliding landing spot to meet up with a couple of friends that were enjoying a day in the air and I headed east to Lamboing to return home. Perfect day that turned even better sharing it with someone who’s been riding just about as long as myself.

Distance:	68.4km (42.5 miles)
Elevation:	2’402m (7’880 feet)
Time:	03:54:43
Speed (avg/max):	17.5/80.1 kph (10.9/49.8 mph)

★ collideous

I picked up Niner Air 9 Carbon #3 on Saturday but left it untouched and unassembled today. Instead, I rolled out of the house on the Focus Mares for another long Sunday ride through the Jura hills. I rode pretty much the identical route from last Sunday up to the Montoz and down to the Col de Pierre Pertuis. But instead of dropping into the valley, I crossed the Col and climbed to the Jeanbrenin. Past that point, I had to pull out my map occasionally to stay on the right track heading towards the Col du Mont Crosin. This is a nice crossover the Montagne du Droit which cannot be accomplished on a road bike. Pavement, gravel and grass - a marvelous terrain for a cross bike. Before reaching the Col du Mont Crosin though, I turned left at the Chalet Neuf and hit a fast descent to Courtelary. Just before reaching the village, I stopped for a short snack (Banana Passa as usual).

Right after I crossed the main street and passed by the train station, I stood at the foot of today’s next long climb to the Petite Douanne. As the narrow paved road pointed upwards, my legs signaled that they were tired. Luckily, the ascent to the Métairie du Prince was pretty mellow. It took a while but it never turned steep. The trail from the Métairie dropped to Le Grabe creek and went up a steep pitch to Le Pletz. I walked the bottom section until the trail turned left and headed into the forest. Back on the bike I reached the Petite Douanne within minutes.

From here one could gain some more elevation by heading west and climb the Chasseral. During my short snack stop, I iphoned home and realized that I had been out riding for some time. Without including the Chasseral, I turned east to pass the Place Centrale and head home taking the shortest way. When I arrived in Orvin, I deliberately missed the turn and shot down a gravel road to Frinvillier. At first, it was a newly graveled trail - wide, smooth and seriously fast. Closer to Frinvillier, it got bumpy and rocky and therefore not very fast on the Mares. The last couple of miles were spent on the road with a last short gravel section along the Suze creek, where I almost ran over an old lady with her dog as I shot through a tight turn. What did she say? “Jesus Christ”, neither in German nor French but in plain American English. Note to self: be more careful on that trail on a Sunday afternoon.

After I’ve had 200 fun kilometers on the Focus Mares CX 2.0 I need to bring it back to the shop. Just like my previous two Niners, it’s got a BB issue. Last week I noticed that the BB would release a popping sound when I turned it backwards by hand. Always at the same crank position. Pedaling forward there was no such sound until today. In the climb out of Courtelary the bottom bracket all of a sudden started creaking horribly. It creaked for several miles regardless if I was sitting or climbing out of the saddle. Then as suddenly as it started it ceased. It remained quiet all the way to Frinvillier, where it started again and continued all the way home. Could be a damaged or contaminated bearing occasionally preventing the balls from spinning freely. Won’t know until I’ll let the shop have a look at it. Sure strange. What’s up with oversized bottom brackets? Can modern BB designs not handle my singlespeed-optimized leg power?

Distance:	79.7km (49.5 miles)
Elevation:	3’330m (10’925 feet)
Time:	04:30:34
Speed (avg/max):	17.7/78.1 kph (11.0/48.5 mph)
GPS Track:	GPSies.com

★ collideous

Today I jumped out of bed as if it was a weekday. Breakfast and I took off into a cold foggy morning. The plan was to cyclocross up a climb out of Péry that I have never done before. I kept an eye out for the church in town, then saw a road named “Rue du Montoz”. That was the one! The climb out of the village started steep, first on pavement and after the first sharp righthand turn it turned to gravel. It climbed along the mountain side to the Pré la Patte, always at a pretty tough grade. The Mares climbed like a mountain goat. Whether sitting or out of the saddle it never lost traction on this gravel road. I’d probably be happy for a 28T cog if my legs were tired, but with fresh legs the 25T was just fine.

It didn’t take too long to get out of the fog. Past the Pré la Patte the trail got too steep and rocky to ride, but the hike wasn’t horribly long. As I got closer to the Montagne de Sorvilier, the trail occasionally turned white. Up here, it had already snowed. I turned left following the red biking signs pointing to the Métairie de Werdt. The trail stays at about 1300 meters above sea level for several miles and offers spectacular views in every direction. Trail conditions today, dry, wet, muddy and once in a while icy. We’re definitely heading into winter.

The first downhill of the day quickly brought me back into the fog and into the cold. The steep descent required a lot of hard pulling on the brakes. Welcome back to the world of cantilevers. Plenty of power on the flats, but once you need them for long better start working out your hand muscles. The freezing cold added to the suffering. By the time I reached Sonceboz, I shook my hand, while waiting at a red light, to get some blood flowing again. They slowly woke up and when I entered the second ascent they were happy to grab the hoods again.

Today’s second climb was a first as well. The lower section was mellow. After the first turn, the trail picked up a couple of percentage points but remained rideable. Soon after the second switchback, the trail was suddenly buried under the mountain that had come down. Shortly before, I noticed a small hiking trail going up. Should I climb over the rocks and hope the trail would be clear further up? Or should I shoulder the bike and take the narrow hiking trail? I opted for the hike. It was steep but it wasn’t all that long. Soon, I was on green pastures climbing fences and looking for a trail. My map said there had to be one. I found it and rode towards the Anabaptist Bridge.

Right around there, I noticed that my front tire had barely any air left in it. I pumped it a little and continued for a few miles. That wasn’t going to work. Before reaching the bridge, I pulled off the side of the road and replaced the front tube. First long ride on the Mares, first flat. Gotta be more careful going down rough trails. While riding I thought about going all the way up to a snow covered Chasseral, but after fixing the flat, I decided to shorten the ride. I continued to Pierrefeu, then made a U-turn to reach the Place Centrale.

Heck, was this a busy place. People escaping the cold fog, but too darn lazy to work a little to reach the sun, all parked their cars at the end of the paved road. There’s no official parking up there, but neither is it officially prohibited. Well, I think it should be. Dozens and dozens of cars wildly parked on every free square foot; it wasn’t a pretty picture. I left the place behind quickly and shot down to the Métairie d’Evilard. Holy cow, can that bike be fast. I rode down to Orvin, first on the grassy trail, then on the paved road. A last short climb took me to Evilard, and I returned home hitting a few more miles of fire road.

A few words to the bike: the Focus Mares CX 2.0 is hugely fun to ride. Not since first getting on a 29er have I had so much fun on a bike. Where a road bike is the Formula 1 car of bicycles, the mountain bike is the SUV. A cyclocrosser like the Mares, to use the car analogy, is a freaking Rally car. I’m hooked!

Distance:	65.1km (40.5 miles)
Elevation:	2’600m (8’530 feet)
Time:	04:00:57
Speed (avg/max):	16.2/63.3 kph (10.1/39.3 mph)
GPS Track:	GPSies.com

★ collideous