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Riding big wheels in Switzerland Frankly, because bigger is better

After two visits to the Chasseral I was looking for something a little different today. So I followed the Dinosaur Traces from last year, but then continued straight to Sonceboz where I started the climb of the Pierre Pertuis pass. The wide trail up to the top of the pass was easy, all on hardpack and not very steep. But things changed from there. The marked mountain bike route #44 follows a steep forest trail. On a geared bike you would drop into a small gear and start patiently spinning until the trail spits you out onto a small paved road 200 meters higher. On my singlespeed it was an exercise in turning the cranks in slow motion trying the best not to stall. Back on the road the legs went back to pushing the cranks faster. I was worried about the next section of trail, though. A rough uphill trail with loose gravel waited around the next turn. Well, it turned out to be a lot easier than I thought. Soon I reached the Métairie de Werdt from where the trail stayed pretty much at the same elevation for the journey across the Montoz. It’s quite nice up there; awesome views in every direction and lots of mountain restaurants if one feels a little hungry. As far as mountain biking it’s a rather boring adventure. It’s all gravel. No singletrack far and wide. The Montoz’s really a better destination for a cyclocross bike. I continued eastwards until I got to the Obere Bürenberg, where I started looking for the entrance to the so-called “Schmugglerwägli” - the Smuggler’s Trail. I had no trouble finding it and dropped into this narrow, technical trail. It’s nice, has a bunch of steep, rooty and rocky sections and a few places where you’re better off walking. Is it worth heading out there? For a “seen it - done it” sort of trip - yes. To do on a regular basis - not really. Next I climbed from the Wäsmeli along the Stützliweg to the Montagne de Romont. This trail’s fun. It climbs on forest ground spiked with lots of the typical Jura limestone. On a singlespeed there are two sections you need to power through if you don’t want to get tossed off the bike. A grassy trail brought me to the Montagne de Romont where I had to look hard for the trail down to Vauffelin. No trail in sight, I rode through tall grass until I spotted a yellow trail marker. The trail to Vauffelin is steep, narrow and too darn straight. Leaves cover loose rocks and broken branches, so forget about going fast. In short: a trail that kills elevation fast without being overly exciting. I crossed the small village of Vauffelin to climb the north side of the Bözingenberg. The first half of the climb is a typical forest service road. But it leads to a fun uphill singletrack that’s always a joy to take. Once at the top, I headed to the so-so downhill that ends just above the Tierpark. I walked through this one, then crossed the bridge across the Taubenlochschlucht to head back home. A fun day out on the bike, but not a loop I need to repeat on my Niner. The Montoz is cyclocross material.

Distance:49.7 km (30.9 miles)
Elevation:2’122 m (6’962 feet)
Time:03:49:39
Speed (avg/max):13.0/55.0 kph (8.0/34.2 mph)
★

Looking for a longer loop to the Chasseral with a nice amount of climbing? Look no further! Today’s loop across the Twannberg adds a couple more miles to yesterday’s loop while requiring about the same 6600 feet of climbing. I left a little late this morning because the needed attention. On yesterday’s loop in creaked badly. No surprise there. The Niner BB’s famous for that. I took it apart, cleaned it and then reassembled it before heading out. It creaked at the beginning, then went silent for the first climb only to start creaking again for the remainder of the ride. I think if you own a Niner with an EBB you just have to try to live with it. It’s not great, but there’s no proven fix. I tuned it out and had a good ride. On my way back, I passed two groups of bikers. When I passed the second, someone greeted me saying: “The forum is out on the trails”. Nice that folks know the forum and recognize you out on the trail. I need to apologize though, I didn’t stay with the group for long as I was on a mission to get home.

Distance:65.6 km (40.8 miles)
Elevation:2’017 m (6’617 feet)
Time:04:57:37
Speed (avg/max):13.2/53.2 kph (8.2/33.0 mph)
★

After yesterday’s cycling break on Fivefingers, it was time to roll out the bike again and hit a loop in the local hills. I followed the same trails as on Wednesday only this time under a sunny sky. The Bise was blowing and kept temperatures in check; perfect riding conditions that a lot of other two-wheeled folks enjoyed as well. Three days ago I missed a really great spot - an overlook at 1352 meters with a fantastic view of the Combe Grède. With the dense fog that day I wouldn’t have seen anything. Today on the other hand was spectacular. The vista point makes an ideal place for a short break before hitting the last climbs to reach the Chasseral and that’s just what I did. Once at the antenna, I followed the crest and took the mandatory Spaghetti Trail to head home. Interesting observation: On my way up to the Chasseral, I did neither pass nor cross a single cyclist. On the way from the antenna eastwards along the crest I passed more than thirty bikers. Where did they come from and how did they get there?

Distance:58.4 km (36.3 miles)
Elevation:2’036 m (6’680 feet)
Time:04:38:13
Speed (avg/max):12.6/54.3 kph (7.8/33.7 mph)
GPS Track:GPSies.com
★

Once in a while you ride a new trail and you come home saying you won’t need to do that one again. Today I picked two such trails. I started with heading up the Rondchâtel climb, then popped into a downhill I often passed by. It looked interesting on the map. It killed a lot of altitude, had a few switchbacks, but turned out to be a rather boring narrow hiking trail. Neither technical nor fast. A trail not worth bothering. The trail dropped me into La Heutte, where I crossed the main street to climb up the other side. I wanted to reach the Métairie de Werdt and knew that I’d be hiking the upper part of the way. To my surprise, I had to push the bike quite a bit to reach Le Van in the lower section of the ascent. The middle and longest section was an easy, gradual fire-road. Once the fire-road ended, a yellow sign pointed to the left, straight uphill. I put the bike on my shoulder and started climbing. Somewhere in the forest I lost sight of the trail and just went uphill the best I could. The bike often catching branches in that steep terrain, this was no easy adventure. At some point, I found the hiking trail again and made it to the Métairie. My initial plan was to head east to reach the Pré Richard from where I would have crossed over to the Stierenberg, but the large amount of snow still up there forced me to abandon that plan halfway. I rode by the Pré Ménori and then recognized the trail to the Pré la Patte. I hit the shortest way into Péry, then followed the hiking trail back to Frinvillier. A last climb to the Lysserbrunne took me back into town. While the Van and the Montoz are quite scenic places, I have yet to find a climb that is both rideable and fun to do. The ascent through the Van isn’t. Taking the hiking trail, it might be an interesting descent, though. 44 kilometers, 2200 climbing meters, sun and a bunch of spring flowers made it worthwhile despite the so-so trails.

Distance:44.3 km (27.5 mi)
Elevation:2’191 m (7’188 ft)
Time:04:00:17
Speed (avg/max):11.1/50.5 kph (6.9/31.4 mph)
★

Saturday morning I pedaled out of town with the idea of riding a long loop on that early spring like day. The mercury had jumped up a notch, the snow was wet and falling off the trees. Things were dripping and melting. I chose an easy ascent above the lake thinking I would have a good chance to find rideable trails, but little did I know that I’d spend most of the six hour adventure hiking with the bike dangling around my shoulder. After a long hike through the forest to reach the Twannberg, I found some snowmobile tracks leading into Lamboing. Once on the main road, I stayed on it to save time and reach Nods. Despite a sign in Nods indicating that the Chasseral pass was closed, I thought I could ride up far enough and hike the rest of it to the top. Well, that idea got killed as soon as I passed the last row of homes and the street ended under three feet of snow. I turned around to head to the snowshoe trail and rode the first mile of it. My rear tire failed to find enough grip for more. I shouldered my bike one more time for the long, arduous climb to the Chasseral. Exhausted I reached the top. When I dropped my bike into the snow, my whole right side was numb. It took a few minutes to regain control of my right arm. I rode to the antenna for a few photos and then made a huge mistake by taking the crest trail going east. I was able to ride at first, but then ended up hiking all the rest. The snow was too deep and too soft for the narrow 2.3 inch tires. A fat-bike would have handled it, I’m pretty sure. If I want to enjoy and actually ride such snow adventures, I should consider building such a monster with 4 inch tires and gears. Once at the Place Centrale I descended to the Jorat on the bike. The normally easy stretch to Evilard however, popped me off the bike one last time. These were six good hours outside on a splendid day, but the little I rode, I won’t repeat this any time soon. This was a day for a fat-bike, snowshoes or skis.

I ran into a couple of strangers, most were fun conversations, one wasn’t. A mentally blinkered lady on skis was upset that I had the audacity to ride a bike on her mountain. It amazes me that some people go outside to do something fun, but instead of finding enjoyment, they to their thing with a grumpy face. Oh well. At the top of the Chasseral I had a nice chat with a guy on skis who noticed my 29 inch wheels. Later on the crest trail, I crossed an old runner who came up the trail in shorts - freaking shorts. He pulled out his camera to take a picture of me hiking with the bike. I should have done the same and shot a photo of a crazy old dude in shorts.

Distance:50.5 km (31.4 mi)
Elevation:1’594 m (5’230 ft)
Time:05:56:22
Speed (avg/max):8.5/64.1 kph (5.3/39.8 mph)
★

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)
★

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)
★

Exactly a month ago, I posted my last ride report. I have been ninerless since as I’m waiting for a replacement for my second Air 9 Carbon frame. So, I missed out mountain biking one of the warmest and sunniest September months in recent history. But that wasn’t a bad thing, actually. Being without a big-wheeled bike got me to ride my Neilpryde Alize road bike more, making September a record month as far as total mileage ridden. I was able to collect a whopping 560 kilometers and climb an impressive yet inaccurate 20’000 meters. All in all, I spent over 25 hours biking during a September without the Niner.

Yesterday, I got up to a sunny, blue sky an opted to cover a nice distance with lots of steep climbing on foot. While sipping coffee I checked the train schedule, then hiked through town to the train station to travel a short distance to La Heutte. Train fare, full price, one way - 4.20 francs. From La Heutte’s tiny train stop (I wouldn’t even call it a station), I hiked westwards to go through Hell’s Gate. Shortly after, I left the fire road and hiked a narrow trail through the valley. I was looking for a small trail to the right, that would bring me into the very steep and rocky side of the mountain. Marked only with a few rocks stacked on each other, I quickly found it.

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★

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
★

I left in the late morning with the idea that I’d climb up to the Chasseral if I felt okay. I opted for an easier approach of the mountain by passing through Evilard and the Jorat where I turned right to reach the Charriere Trail halfway from where I climbed to the edge of Les Pres d’Orvin. A right turn lead me into the next climb towards La Ragie. Reaching the crest, I went off to the left for the always awesome single-track to the Cabane du Jura. About two-thirds into the single-track, it started to rain a bit. The few raindrops quickly made the narrow, rocky trail a whole lot more difficult to ride. As I exited the cover of the forest the rain ceased but the sky turned threateningly dark. It was already raining in the direction of the Chasseral and it was rapidly approaching. I no longer had to decide whether to hit that mountain today. The rain had decided. As I rolled passed the area covered with wild garlic this spring, I noticed a bunch of raspberries along the trail. I stopped, took a couple of gulps from my water bottle, then emptied the whole thing to drop a bunch of raspberries into it instead. After the bottle was almost half full I continued to the Cabane du Jura and hit the grassy downhill. A few meters into the downhill, the sky all of a sudden dropped buckets on me. Within a minute all my clothes were soaking wet. No big deal. I was riding away from the rain, it was warm and I was hoping to dry up on the bike by the time I get home. I shot down the rocky trail leading to Les Pres d’Orvin. Due to the heavy rain though, I rode more carefully and with a little less speed. The Bronson tire up front didn’t disappoint. Next up was the Spaghetti Trail descent. Surprisingly, this one was bone dry and as always a fun one to ride. I stopped twice to snap a photo, then crossed the Jorat where I was navigating to my last ride destination of the day - a blackberry bush. A little surprise when I reached it and opened my water bottle - the raspberries had turned into raspberry juice making room for more blackberries. It didn’t take long and my bottle was topped of with Jura’s own blackberries. Another descent from Evilard to Biel still ahead, I didn’t want to make more juice so I stashed the water bottle into my jersey pocket. Looking forward to cereal with organic blackberries or maybe some ice cream with berries after dinner tonight. Yum!

★

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