29in·CH+

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)

★ collideous

I thought about heading to the Lac de Joux on Sunday, but changed my mind knowing that I’d be spending two and a half hours in the car just to visit a frozen lake. It quite often happens like that. There are many cool places to ride in Switzerland, but as soon as I’m looking at the prospect of driving several hours, more often than not I forget about the whole idea and just hop on a local loop. Sunday was no different. After freezing to my bones Saturday, I decided to take a late start in the early afternoon Sunday. On Saturday I passed by the Rondchâtel Climb and noticed that it had been frequently used leaving a snow-covered, rideable fire road. This time, I arrived on my Niner and turned into that climb. The trail was good until the Sesselin du Haut from where I had to follow the tracks of two snowshoers. Quickly, I realized that hiking through the deep snow was easier than to step into the semi-hard tracks left by the two folks who had passed through the area before me. I was hoping to get back onto a rideable trail at Les Coperies, but I didn’t get that luck and now faced an even longer stretch through deep snow to reach La Ragie. It was quite an effort that cost a lot of time. My right shoulder thanked me for having a light singlespeed, though. The small farm of La Ragie is inhabited and the trail to reach it had been cleaned. I was back on the bike and now took the only rideable way out to Les Près d’Orvin. My shoulder thanked me one more time. I jumped into the Spaghetti Trail and carved down the mountain. Ah, now that’s how snow’s supposed to be! A last, short effort up to Evilard and another descent which included a tiny, secret trail took me back into town and straight to a hot cappuccino.

Distance:	30.5 km (19.0 miles)
Elevation:	1’199 m (3’934 feet)
Time:	03:09:40
Speed (avg/max):	9.6/48.2 kph (6.0/30.0 mph)

★ collideous

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

While January started with some awesome weekends to ride, the second half of January was lousy and offered not a single pleasant day. My bikes were screaming for some dearly needed maintenance and were happy to stay home. February arrived and with it a blast of Siberian air that dropped the mercury below minus ten and more degrees. I got up with the sunrise and looked at a blue sky while zipping my morning cappuccino. Sun? Sun means bike time. The thermometer stood at minus thirteen degrees when I got dressed to head out. 2 pairs of socks, Defeet knickers, thick winter tights by Sugoi and on top of that a regular bib. The upper body got an undershirt, a thick long sleeve running jersey and my white Specialized jacket. The hands were protected with full-finger summer gloves and a thick pair of winter gloves. The head got a thin cap to cover my ears and the helmet. That kept me comfortably warm for the majority of the ride. Only when I turned east facing the wind and dropping downhill, my toes started to feel the freezing temperatures.

I crossed two other bikers today. As I was hiking my way up a narrow trail, they were coming down. They both opted for full-face helmets, probably to stay warm and cozy. What amazed me though, was how hard a time these guys had to keep a straight line. Their full-suspension 26ers were all over the trail, their front wheels constantly sliding left to right and back. My Niner, with 3 inches more wheel, rolls with a lot more stability in such conditions. Today’s snow really asked for a fat tire bike with gears though, not an Air 9 Carbon with a 34x19 transmission. Hence once I was up, I opted to take a shortcut to reach the Hohmatt and then tried my luck to find some good trails back into town. Funny thing about the descent - the steeper it got the more controllable it got. In the end, I was out for close to two hours, covered 22 kilometers and climbed 720 meters. A short day on the bike, but a good one.

★ collideous

After Friday’s reconaissance mission to the Métairie du Milieu de Bienne with the cyclocrosser, I knew that we had some very favorable snow conditions to conquer the Chasseral. Saturday morning, I left early armed with digital and video cameras to do just that. Well, I spent one of the most amazing days on the bike riding miles and miles of tracks that snow-shoers had stomped into the snow. A hobby of others serving mine. Without them, this ride would not have been possible and I totally appreciate that.

Distance:	55.0km (34.2 miles)
Elevation:	1’634m (5’361 feet)
Time:	05:13:18
Speed (avg/max):	10.5/43.5 kph (6.5/27.0 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

Living at about 440 meters above sea level everything outside is currently green and brown. A few snow flakes managed to travel all the way to us, but they pretty much melted on impact. It rained a lot the past few days. Trails are wet and muddy up to an altitude of about 900 meters. Rain down here though meant loads of snow higher up and I was itching to check it out. I easily climbed to Evilard where the ground was only barely covered with snow. I rode through the Jorat then took the Charriere Trail to reach Les Près d’Orvin. Here, I had to push the bike for the first time. I was back in the saddle once I hopped on the road and for the lower section of the climb that followed through the Bois des Ràpes. Midway into that climb, I had to shoulder the bike and find my way to the top hiking through more than knee-deep snow. What’s usually a rather speedy climb on the singlespeed turned into a hike at a pace of about 3.4 kph on average.

I was hoping to find groomed cross-country ski runs at the top. To my disappointment there were none, so I hiked several miles west until I crossed path with a snowcat who was putting down a cross-country ski run. I used it to reach the Place Centrale quicker but kept walking. I would have caused too much damage trying to ride it. It’s a cross-country ski run and not a bike trail after all. The descent into Les Près d’Orvin went trough deep snow, was fun, treacherous and not without several crashes. Each of them was a result of the front wheel diving deeply into the snow. Other than losing my Vincero water bottle those crashes had soft landings. To get home, I turned into the Spaghetti Trail, which always seems rather easy in the snow. I rode all the rocky sections; actually benefitting from the snow holding the bike in a steady trajectory. I’m looking forward to more such excursions and hope for lower temperatures and firmer snow surfaces.

Distance:	34.8km (21.6 miles)
Elevation:	1’214m (3’983 feet)
Time:	03:45:17
Speed (avg/max):	9.3/57.0 kph (5.8/35.4 mph)

★ collideous

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Saturday morning, Hickerklicker and I left Biel for a bike tour through the local Jura mountains. Temperatures were above zero and the sun was out. We rode out of town on fairly dry trails that only got wetter as we gained altitude. Above 900 meters, areas that didn’t get much sun were still covered in snow. Despite the warmer weather, we rode through cooler places where things remained deeply frozen. Our route for the day was Biel, Vingelzberg, Nidauwald to reach the hiking trail between Magglingen and the Twannberg. We pedaled across the Twannberg and shot down to Lamboing for a loop around the Spitzberg. West of the Spitzberg, we headed towards the outskirts of Nods, rode a few hundred meters on the Chasseral road, and left the pavement at the first sharp lefthand turn. Now we were on a easy climb to the Colisses du Haut, a gentle fire road but on Saturday it was covered in snow pretty much from the get-go. We had to walk the last couple of hundred meters. Still plenty of snow above 1300 meters. We stayed on the crest to reach the Place Centrale, riding and hiking across the remaining snow patches. We continued to the Cabane du Jura and the Metairie d’Evilard, where we rested quickly and sipped on a hot coffee. From there we made our way on single-track to reach the Spaghetti Trail. Jorat and a last climb to Evilard was our way back into town. Fun day, terrific weather and two guys covered in mud worse than pigs.

★ collideous

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.

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★ collideous

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.

★ collideous