Blue Silence at the Lake "Pfäffikon" (Zurich)

Today on my 4 mile run, I stopped after 20 min for a 5 min meditation-break and I shot this beautiful scene of blue. It was a short stop, as I had to run back to work. But my favourite colour is blue, so I love to meditate on this picture.

First Snow in November

The 16 miles from Wetzikon to Zurich by bike are usually fun. But today after 1 mile I gave up and took the train. My Scott CR1 Pro is not made for snow above 2 inches.

Bike Training 2013 until Sept

Overview about my monthly hours of bike training. January until mid-June was in Switzerland very cold and my trainings happened in about 40% cold and rainy weather.

Fall in Switzerland

Morning Fog on the way to work 8 AM

 Sunset at Lake "Greifensee" 10 km from Zurich at 8 PM

Alpenbrevet 2013 31. August (with pulse measurements in each section)

	km	altitude
Meiringen, Start	0.0	595
Innertkirchen	6.3	630
è First 6 km to Innertkirchen in the field of 2440 riders from 30 nations.
Grimselpass	32.8	2160
è 1530 m climb 2 hours 9 min 164/153 pulse
Gletsch	38.5	1768
è400 m and 7 km down to Gletsch in 8:49 pulse 122
Furkapass	49.0	2434
è 666 m climb in 1 hour 2min 160/148
Wassen	78.6	926
è1508 m down 54 min 151/124 Sustenpass	97.1	2282
è1306 m climb in 1 hour 54 min 163/153 è 1687 m down in 52 min
Finish Meiringen	132.0	595

Alpenbrevet 2013

This photo is taken 15 min before the Alpenbrevet Cycling Race 2013 with 2480 participlants from 20 countries and 5 continents, where I placed 186nd from 640 participants in the Silver Tour (3 Passes).

Below is my first analysing of the race.
Interesting the descend from 2nd Pass "Furka" I managed for the distance of 12 km (7.5 miles) in 19:17 which brought me in the all time statistic of Strava.com on this descend on 34th place from 296 riders with an average speed of 37.5 km/h or 23.4 miles.
In the days statistic on Strava.com I was 10th out of 30 with 5 min behind the fastest downhill rider, who rode the tour in almost 5 hours and therefore was 2 hours faster.
Means: I still can improve a lot on the uphill sections, I guess :-)
Thanks for cheering me up inwardly and outwardly!

Alpen-Brevet

131 Kilometer / 3875 climbing altitude

2011

Time: 07:17:41

km/h-pace: 17.96

Sectiontimes:

Grimsel: 38.5 km = 02:26:23

Furka: 31.4 km = 01:56:24 = km/h pace: 16.26

Susten: 61.4 km = 02:54:56 = km/h pace: 21.0

2013

Time: 06:57:22

Km/h-Schnitt:18.83

Sectiontimes:

Grimsel: 38.5 km = 2:29.40 == + 3.17 min slower than 2011 = Km/h pace: 15.52

Furka: 31.4 km 1:35:10 ==    - 21.14 min faster than 2011 !!! = Km/h pace: 21.2

Susten: 02:29:49 (in about same time as 2011, as the dangerous route through about 5 tunnels with lots of traffic on both lines is neutralized

FINAL TRAINING BEFORE ALPEN-BREVET & THE YEAR’S STATS SO FAR

• 270 Hours
• 4,772 kilometers

• 119 Personal Records
• 176 Trainings 

Times of different Segments on Pragelpass

(clicking on the underlined times will bring you to the GPS map of Strava.com )

1) First climb 129th / 176 My Best Time 11:00 Ridden 225 times by 176 people Men 00:07:19 Philippe A. Women 00:08:29 Fiola Foley My Best Effort 00:11:00	Distance 2.0km Avg Grade 7.8% Elev Difference 153m Elev Gain 153m   Elapsed Time 00:11:00 Resting Time 00:00:00 Average Speed 10.8km/h VAM 837 Power 197W
130th / 184 2) 2nd climb My Best Time 54:09 Ridden 246 times by 184 people Men 00:31:26 Nicola Rohrbach Women 00:41:30 Fiola Foley My Best Effort 00:54:09	Distance 9.9km Avg Grade 6.9% Elev Difference 679m Elev Gain 681m   Elapsed Time 00:54:09 Resting Time 00:00:00 Average Speed 11.0km/h VAM 752 Power 175W
39th / 96 3) Downhill first part My Best Time 14:17 Ridden 115 times by 96 people Men 00:10:42 Patrick Bieler Women 00:13:30 Maria L. My Best Effort 00:14:17	Distance 9.9km Avg Grade -6.7% Elev Difference 660m Elev Gain 2m   Elapsed Time 00:14:17 Resting Time 00:00:00 Average Speed 41.5km/h Power 45W

Celebrating 1st August by riding Grimsel and Furka pass

Start was at 11 AM in Meiringen, the start-place of the Alpen-Brevet on 31st August.
There is a moderate climb to Innertkirchen of 6 km; then the Grimselpass begins and climbs 1540 m over 26 km (16 miles).

Last year I did the same ride, amazingly times are quite consistant:

Innertkirchen: 2012 18:44 2013 18:35
Climb to Grimselpass: 2012 2:13:00 2013 2:16:00

At the top of Grimselpass.

Downhill to Gletsch: 2012 10:20 2013 7:43 100th place out of 283 riders 
max speed 73 km/h average 42 km/h
Climb to Furkapass: 2012 1:05 hours 2013: 1:05 hours

At the top of Furkapass

Downhill to Realp: 2012: no time recorded 2013: 133^rd  of 236 riders18:57 37,1 km average.
But I was blocked by lot of traffic.
Transfer to Wassen: 2012 32:52 min 2013 33:22

3 Pässe Tour im Kanton Glarus und Kanton Schwyz

Im Training für das Alpen-Brevet am 31. August 2013 stand heute eine Tour mit drei mittleren Pässe auf dem Programm. Hier bin ich im Aufstieg zur Schwammhöchi (1050 m) mit meinem Schwager (ehem. Trans-Swiss Triathlonsieger) mit vier seiner sechs Kids.

Auf dem zweiten Pass, dem Pragel (1550 m) waren dann nur noch Schwager Tomi und Dorian dabei. Die anderen sind im Klöntalersee am "Bädeli".

Tomi mit nur 300 km Rad-Kilometer war schon - wie Nino Schurter pflegt zu sagen - am Pragel "explodiert". Mir wiederfuhr das gleiche Schicksal im Aufstieg zur Ibergeregg. Hatte ich doch auf der Fahrt vom Pragel und durch das Muotatal nochmals ordentlich Gas gegeben. Und so musste ich dann die letzten 800 Höhenmeter meiner beinahe 2000 Höhenmeter auf 110 km, tief auf den Lenker gebeugt, hochkriechen.

My Training in 2013 until Mid-Year (18th June)

-->

My training in 2013 until mid-year (18th June)

• 177 Hours
• 2,777  kilometers
• 65 Personal Records
• 111  Activities

Celebrating one year with Strava!

Gratitude for your ongoing inspiration!

My favorite Swiss Valley....

Today I rode through my favorite Swiss valley where I was raised. 

And climbed Pragelpass and Klausenpass (6404 ft) 71 miles with 8000ft  climbing altitude.

Up to age 17 I spent all my vacations and many week-ends in this valley called Klöntal.

My first crash on Scott Addict

Watching the professional cyclists crashing from time to time and then just getting back on the bike again, I thought how could they do it.

Well today I also had a crash in the rain, falling on my head (thanks to my helmet nothing broke), but the knees and the hips got a little bit bloody.

And…I got back on the bike to ride another 20 km back home.

(Telling my coach he said, that is nothing, when professionals crash it is not 20 km/h but 50 km/h). Oh, I see!

Ride to the Kyburg Castle

Switzerland is celebrating International Workers' Day as more than 80 other countries do.“ The “May Day” is a celebration of the international labour movement.

I used this national public holiday, for a ride around Winterthur, the 6^th biggest City of Switzerland. By mistake I saw a sign with the name “Kyburg Castle”.  After a 30 min climb up from the river Töss, I arrived at this every feudal castle that is now a museum.

Also a Rainy Day Has its Beauty

Pic: Taken shortly before Vorder-Pfannenstiel (el. 853 metres, 2,799 ft) a wooded mountain that I rode up today coming from Zurich. 

Weekly report: Week 16 = 220 km
Today new training route over 55 km with 727 m climbing altitude in 2:34:19 over Forch pass (el. 682 metres (2,238 ft))  and Pfannenstiel (853 m).

Albispass - Hirzelpass - Hönggerberg at Full Moon Night

 I left work at 6 PM and rode to Albispass (800 m) with a nice downhill ride in to the Reppischtal.

On my way to the 2nd mountain pass - Hirzel (672 mm 2,205 ft) I am fascinated by the beautiful panorama of the Swiss Alps about 20 miles away from Zurich.

After two hours on the bike I decided to have a short meditation break at the lake of Zurich,
which has helped, as I rode the next 10 km around 35 km/h. Finally I arrived home after another little pass where I saw the full moon. (I guess that's where I got the energy from).

Ueli Steck & Simone Moro Attempt Different Route on Mt Everest

Video report from 2 days ago on YouTube by Mountain Hardware.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=6qg0yEW8wEQ

Finally Spring Has Come

Finally spring has come...with temperatures rising today in Switzerland close to 20 C with partly blue sky. This picture was taken on my way home on the race-bike with about 13 miles to go into Zurich City at 7:30 PM.

On the way from work into Zurich-City....

Back from New York I am inspired training for the AlpenBrevet:

Tuesday 16th April	Wednesday 17th April	Thursday Morning	Thursday Evening
36.6km Distance 445m Elevation 1:29:09 Moving Time 950 Calories	29.6km Distance 247m Elevation 1:20:06 Moving Time 566 Calories	  24.9km Distance   178m Elevation   1:04:58 Moving Time   535 Calories	29.0km Distance 162m Elevation 1:13:33 Moving Time 569 Calories

But today after three days of training, riding from work back home, my speed was only 23-24 km/h instead of 28-30 km/h - was it the west-wind or was I tired?

So I was really happy to see on the last mile into the City these beautiful yello flowers that gave me some freshness.

Skiing in Arosa

Although down in Arosa the weather was foggy and even some snow falling, I decided to go skiing. My father had promised me a blue sky. And yes on the Hörnli (2496 m) we had for two hours a deep blue sky.