When I looked out the window this morning, the fog was sitting high and I could see the Jura mountain ridges. Temperatures were pretty mild at around zero degrees. A perfect day for a bike ride. I wasn’t planning on staying out as long as last weekend, but I wanted to get some good climbing in. I rushed out of town and headed westwards. The ground was frozen and there wasn’t any snow left. As such, my Mountain Kings were transferring every pedal push into forward motion without any losses. After lots of snow rides, I appreciated moving with more speed and less effort.
Temperatures were hovering around minus three degrees throughout the day, probably some degrees lower at higher elevations. The Bise that blew across the mountains made sure that things didn’t get any warmer. Well, in the winter, weekends are pretty much the only days I can get some saddle time, so I headed out for what turned into a five hour adventure in the snow. There’s nothing in particular to report other than that I’m really digging the snow and the cold. About three hours into the ride, I called my wife to let her know that I was still alive. My lips being number than after dental surgery, she barely understood the message. Above a few impressions from the day. There are a few more on Flickr - as always.
After I grabbed the “wrong” horse yesterday, I took advantage of that reconnaissance ride and headed back up there again today. This time with the “right” horse. Much of the ascent presented itself wet and muddy, but my 2.4 Continental Mountain Kings never let me down. Those knobby pieces of rubber just bite into the ground like there’s no tomorrow. All the serious climbing happened on southern slopes and those were practically snow free. As I crossed the crest, I entered another world. Winter was fiercely defending the northern slopes to make sure we know he’s still here. Just as yesterday, I found lots of deep snow fields. Being carefully shielded from an already powerful sun, the snow was as hard as rock. My Mountain Kings barely left marks as they rolled across the sparkling snow crust. I spent a good amount of time up there, tossing my toy across anything I could find. As the afternoon neared its end, I stopped at the Métairie de Prêles for a half liter of Coke. Re-hydrated, I hit the Spaghetti Trail down to the Jorat and returned to Biel.
There are days that are perfect to go snow-shoeing or cross-country skiing, but if your pockets are only deep enough for a few lousy bicycles, you toss the bike out of the basement for a spin in the new snow the recent storm has piled up over the past days. So, after I had my cups of joe and was granted permission from my better half, I jumped into battle gear and headed out and up to my regular trail head. Dangit, loose snow galore! I hadn’t even begun my ride and already had to walk. Little did I know, I was going to walk a lot today. The snow conditions were the most challenging I’ve found in recent years. It was impossible to follow on the footsteps of hikers. If no car had taken a fire road, today’s best option was to let the bike slice through the deep, fresh snow. This worked okay going down, so so going flat and not at all going up. In the end, I spent an eternity to just cover a few miles. But who wants to come back from such an eternity?
Today’s bike ride was one thing, cold! I bundled up more that usual and felt super comfortable climbing as long as I was able to ride. As soon as I had to hike, my feet were getting awfully cold. The snow still sits pretty lose on the ground and is extremely treacherous, so walking was necessary at times. I made it up to the Place Centrale, where I spent a couple of minutes just enjoying the snow world. Had there not been a cold wind howling across the mountain, I would have just relaxed in the sparkling snow for a while. A few hikers had made their way up there as well, but other than them this usually busy spot was deserted. The ride down to Les Prés d’Orvin was freezing to the point where it hurt. My fingers got numb, so did my toes and I lost any type of smoothness on the bike as I stiffened up entirely. I needed to warm up so I threw in another short climb and decided to hit a slow, technical descent. In Orvin, I merged onto the road climbing to Evilard. Temperatures were a few degrees higher so I added another fun loop through the snow. The funny thing about riding this time of the year is that people always ask whether I’m riding a special snow bike. Ha, the Air 9 Carbon is a “special” bike and a fun one to ride in the snow. The one thing I consider changing is my front tire, a WTB Weirwolf. It’s voluminous and generally rides well, but it lacks some big side knobs. For the remainder of the winter, a Continental Mountain King 2.4 will be called to active duty. Come January, WTB’s new Bronson should become available. This will be another tire hopefully joining my rubber arsenal soon.
After my sense of time froze up during yesterday’s ride, I promised myself and my wife that I’d be keeping today’s ride short. The night had brought more snow and the sun managed to poke through the clouds once in a while. The temperatures had risen from yesterday so the day offered another great opportunity to go play in the snow. In the morning I went to Le Panetier to get a loaf of sourdough, a bunch of croissants and a few other baked goodies. After a late breakfast I took off and headed out the same way as yesterday.
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.
Biel is at the beginning winter season where everything and everyone is stuck under a thick layer of fog that lasts 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Okay, I’m exaggerating a bit. There will be a few winter days where the sun will come out, but for the most part we’ll be freezing in dense fog. Today was just such a day, when I jumped on the A9C to climb my local hills in search of the sun. The awesome thing about this time of the year is that I basically have the trails to myself.
