Biking

I can't believe it is already the middle of July! Sadly the days keep slipping into weeks. Before I know it I will have to leave Lausanne. Well, before that happens I am trying to make sure I see a good chunk of Switzerland.

To accomplish this, I bought a bike. It is an entry level road bike. Buying the bike and the adventures it has taken me on since make for interesting stories which I will share here.

I knew I wanted to have a bike during my time in Switzerland. I figured I would buy one on one of the craigslist type sites here like anibis.ch. Well, the used road bikes that were in my price range were very, old... like from the 70's old. The new ones were well beyond my budget. My next strategy was to go to a local store and buy an entry level bike. After going to two stores in Lausanne and finding road bikes for as little as 900 CHF my asperations of buying a bike were dashed.

After a day of mourning I was re-inspired by the wonders of the internet. I figured I would just buy a bike online and ship it to Switzerland. I of course started at amazon.com and after finding a bike for only 250 Euro I went to buy it and have it shipped to Switzerland. But it turns out this product could not be shipped across the border! I know there are many reasons why Switzerland has chosen not to be part of the EU, but this is one definite negative for not joining. Again my asperations were dashed.

After another day of mourning I was again re-inspired, this time by the central proximaty of Switzerland in Europe. I found a new road bike in Annecy, France for only 200 Euro! This was on a Friday. On Saturday I took the train to Annecy, went to the store and bought the bike. I left the store and said to myself, "time to bike home." Annecy is about 45 km from Geneva, and Geneva is 55 km from Lausanne.

After an hour and a half I was already in Thones. I stopped to eat and get directions. To my dismay Thones is not in the direction of Geneva. So I biked back the Annecy. I eventually found the right path and continued on my way to Geneva. Upon arriving in Geneva each pedal rotation was very unpleasant. I threw in the towel and grabbed a train back to Lausanne. But now I had a bike!

The next weekend a friend from Lausanne and I went for a bike trip. We went up through the vineyards to the East of Lausanne overlooking the lake. It was georgous. I was in amazement. I kept thinking "I wonder what the guy who first started this vineyard on the side of a mountain was thinking." After a while we headed north and did a large loop around to Moudon and then back to Lausanne. Although these were the foothills to the alps (if even that) they wore me out. This was about a 100 km trip.

This past weekend I did a tour by myself. I started heading east towards Montreux, which is one of the more beautiful towns I have ever seen. I was feeling good and decided to make a day of it and go around Lake Leman (Geneva)! It was a beautiful ride. In total it took about 9 hours and was 180 - 200 km. Although I couldn't walk the next day, I would gladly do it again.

Those are my bike adventures to date. I hope to do a few more big trips while I am here. I will keep you up to date. For now though, I should get back to research.

JB