schwiiz.org

Google Maps is amazing. You’ve likely seen the feature that lets you retrieve driving directions by simply typing in a start and end location. It got better. Sometime last year a feature was added that allows you to drag the route around to force it through particular locations. The map is instantly updated as you do this. Amazing! Even better, Google Maps has an “avoid highways” feature, which is perfect for us cyclists. This works great with the GMapToGPX bookmarklet, which quickly converts a Google map to a GPX file that can be imported into a GPS. Too easy!

My New Ride

Last summer I realized my mountain bike is too big for me. How did it took eight years to realize this? I don’t know. I got the bike in 1999 after receiving a nice tax return while studying in Edmonton. The bike has been all over with me: the Rockies, along Lake Ontario, all over Switzerland, parts of South Africa, and on my Switzerland to Sweden bike tour.  But is it normal to hold the handlebars with your fingertips with your arms stretched out? I guess not. I test rode a few bikes last September, and knew I had to make a change.

Last weekend I made that change and bought a 2008 Gary Fisher Big Sur. It’s similar to my old bike, but it’s a 17.5″ frame instead of 19″. This pathetic winter has had the upside of making biking in January possible. I’ve taken the bike out on a few rides and am very happy with it. It’s going to be a fun summer.

Here are some photos from my ride to Waldegg yesterday.

Snowshoeing to the Stockberg

Despite this pathetic weather, a group of us found snow in the Alpstein today. It was a mix of hiking and snowshoeing from Lutertannen (1027m) to the Stockberg (1781m) with a glorious view over the Alpstein and Churfirsten mountains. I had to laugh when my friend almost drove off with his coffee on the roof of his car. It was rather juvenile of me, but he did get the last laugh when later I did the same thing with my gloves and camera. Oops!

Here are some photos from the hike. The weather was good for hiking, but not ideal for taking photos.

Tour de Schwiiz 2008

Planning is underway for the 2008 Tour de Schwiiz. The group has agreed on a route, but we’re still trying to settle dates. The year we plan to cycle half of the #2 Rhein-Route and all of the #1 Rhone-Route. We estimate six days to complete the 522km from St. Gallen to Geneva. I’m excited and nervous about the Oberalppass (2046m) and the Furapass (2436m) mountain passes, but it shouldn’t be any more difficult than last year. A rough outline of the route can be found in this Google Map.