Birthday Ride

Break during my birthday-ride. I wanted to go skiing, but even in the Swiss Alps there is not enough snow, as you can see in the background.

So this is what I did on my Scott CR1 2012: 49,6 km in 2:09:06
Climbing altitude: 365m
Maximum speed: 65,5 km
Average Speed 23,1km/h

Happy Birthday Latvia - My Dedication Ride to the Soul of Latvia

 My dedication ride brought me to the "Katzensee" (lake of cat) - not quite the Baltic Sea :-)

On November 18 1918 nationally minded politicians gathered in Second Riga City Theater (now known as National Theater)  and proclaimed the Republic of Latvia. Its a key date in Latvian history when finally after long years of foreign oppression Latvians took important steps to proclaim their country. Every year there is a military parade in Riga and other national celebrations.

With joy and gratitude I think back to my trip to Latvia in September. Therefore I wanted to use my 2 hour lunch break for a 27 km ride in 1:20 hours in honour of the Soul of Latvia.

Alpenbrevet 2014 photos by Alphaphoto

Climbing the Grimselpass 2164 m - 1500 m up over 26 km - which I did in exactly 2 hours.

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A short, but fast ride down to Gletsch. With a good bike it is really fun to drive through the wide turns, but surprisingly there were a few big holes in the street, which probably couldn't be fixed since winter.

Finishing in Meiringen after a ride 1500 m down from Sustenpass through 10 tunnels in fog
and strong rain; overall time 6 hours 49 min around 220nd place of 1000 riders.

My Third and Final Alpenbrevet 2014 with PB

Start was at 6:45 AM and the 2500 riders was a nice, sunny and warm day promised by the speaker...

But half-way up to Grimsel, we realised that mountains have always their own weather... as there was a cold and dense fog enveloping us riders. Still I managed to ride a PR of 2:00 for the 1500 climbing meter and 26 km. (2013 I had 2:09)

On the fast 400 ride down to Gletsch in 9 min the sun came out for a moment. At mid-way there was a red-light at a construction site and we lost 5 min. Still PR time for Grimsel 2:23:28 (2013: 2:29:40) for riding up and down.

 

And I started to climb Furkapass. Matthias from Germany, who I had teamed up for a training ride three weeks ago, was a little back. As I wasn't too sure about my fitness, I wanted to do the 2nd pass in my own rhythm. I did the climb of 700 m over 10 km in 56 min (2013 1hour 5 min).

 Then came for me the fun part. When I started cycling 10 years ago, there were chances that my pulse was going down almost as high as going up. But I learned over the years that my extra 10 lbs help me to riding down really fast without taking too much risks in the turns. So although there were lots of cars and motorbikes on the road (streets are not closed on race day) - I managed another PR.
By the way my average pulse was for the 6 hours 49 min 149 with a max of 163 at age 53 and 76 kg.

On the third and final pass (yes, this is only the small version of the race, as you can also ride 270 km and 7000 m up over five Swiss Alpine passes!) I was greated by my parents with some energy bars and a drink and pourring rain at 3 C (38 F). There was only one solution, going down as quickly as possible and with again very dense fog and the completely wet streets the 20 miles and 5000 ft down were not very funny. Again lots of cars and lots of riders going slowly. At midway down I realised that the feeling in my left hand was gone. And changing gears became difficult. Fortunately two fingers were still ok for breaking :-) !

 

As I had riden Susten pass twice this year I knew most of the turns by heart and although it was really strong rain and dense fog I managed to ride it just five minutes over my PR. Scarry were the 10 tunnels -  imagine going in you just saw a shadow from the other riders. In the tunnel you saw basically nothing! Luckily there were lots of cars and the rear lights gave you some direction where to go. So considering this, I am happy that I had to promise my Mom that this will be my last Alpenbrevet. But for sure I will ride a few more years and also the Alpine Passes Grimsel, Furka and Susten. Congrats also to Matthias who in his first Alpenbrevet came in just 17 min behind me!

Watching the European Championship Marathon 17 Aug 2014

In the last Marathon of his career Victor Röthlin ran on 5th place with a time of 2:13:07. It was his 27th Marathon.

We were watching the race at the highest point of the Marathon after a climb of 44 m with Olivier Bernhard and his son Mika. Right is my sister Narmada. Mika will be racing after the Kid's 10 km race.

First lap with the big group of the Marathoners. Victor with the glasses is in the lead.

Second lap, Polish runner leads by 1:10 min. He will drop out around 30 km.

Victor on his last km of his magnificant Marathon career: EC Gold, EC Silver and today Bronze with the Team. He has PB of 2:07 and won at the Worldchampionships in Osaka a Bronze Medal. At the Olympics in Bejing he was in 6th place the fastest white runner.

1 August 2014 National Holiday and Birthday of Switzerland

Today we are celebrating Switzerland National Holiday and Anniversary. So fitting to the occasion I am wearing the official Swiss cycling uniform.

Exactly one year ago I did the exactly same training and I was 24 min slower!

IT IS THE THOUGHT THAT COUNTS....
In today's training I am dedicating to my former boss from Soyana who is recovering from a serious operation the first pass Grimsel 2164 m with a climbing of 1540 m. And the 2nd pass Furka 2429 m with a climbing of 680 m I am dedicating to the father of one of my working collegues in my current work.

When you are ill, you can't imagine to be healthy and when you are healthy it is hard to imagine that you could be suffering. So I feel there should be a bridge between the down and high of the body. So I hope my little thinking will help the patients to recover soon and complete.

Halfway up to Grimselpass; about 800 m up and about 10 km to go.

On the top of Grimselpass (2164 m) : Climbing we had some little rain; but at the top the sun came out and gave some warmth.

Matthias with a flat tire after a fast downhill section down to Gletsch. We have met on the train to my starting point and talking we found out we had exactly the same goal today. So we joint forces.

With some sport drinks and Powerbar we also repaired our bodies so we could climb the 2nd pass "Furka". You can see in the distance the road winding up.

With Daniel (left) who climbed today 4000 m and with Matthias on the top of Furkapass (2436 m).
I am always amazed how sport brings people together. Neither of the two I had met before, but today we rode almost five hours together. Thanks guys and lets ride some other time!
@ Matthias, cu at the Alpenbrevet on 23rd August!

50 Days of Cycling From April 27 to June 15 2014

This week I ended the 50 Days of Cycling From April 27 to June 15, 2014 with a 200 km week-end and a record 430 km week, honoring the founder of the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team/ Cycling Team.

June 1980 at the Sri Chinmoy 10 km Race in Zurich; Olympian Emil Zatopek (left) with Sri Chinmoy, founder of the Marathon Team

Starting point in Brunnen

Along the Axenstreet - very narrow and lots of tunnel, the place where Switzerland was founded.

Now the climb will start - not bad over 23 km almost climbing 1500 m.

Riding through the valley of "Schächental" it is not yet very steep.

Now it gets steeper about 7 km to go. And about 10 C colder than at the start. It is mountain-weather!

After 60 km I reached the top - but then it is still 60 km to go to the finish, but it goes all down and flat from now on.

Klausenpass 1952 m

Today I planned to ride the Klausenpass 1952 m with a 1300 m climb over 21 km. My first stop was at the Mountain Airport Mollis, where I delivered some gifts for my sister, who lives in the Canton Glarus.

It was a beautiful day with temperatures up to 35 degrees and never lower than 32 degrees during my 6 1/2 hour ride over 130 km and 1,876 m up.

So I had a 2nd stop at Circus Mugg where my oldest niece lives and works. Unfortunately no one was around. Still I enjoyed some "Powerbar" and the nice view on the Tödi (3614 m) in the distance; the higest mountain of the canton Glaris.

The climb I managed just under 2 hours. Which is about 15 min slower than my best. No surprise as the temperatures were really hot. And I had before the climb already driven 50 km in the hot tempartures. My benchmark for the Klausen is 1:50 the time it took me to run up with Swiss national Marathon champion Köbi Marti at the 1989 Peace Run.

Pragelpass (1550 m)

After 5 km and the first climb of 340 m in 20 min.... "Klöntalersee"

This is the graphic of the Pragelpass that is with over 1000 m climbing middle difficult of all the Swiss Passes.

At 11 km and 900 m altitude I am almost half-way, but the tough part is still coming. So I have a nice look back on the lake and on the "Glärnisch" mountain-range of 2901 m.

On top of Pragelpass. For the 21 km and 1040 m up took me 1 hour and 25 min. Could be that it is a PB. So I am quite pleased that my first ride in the Alps went well.

So here is the result which puts me around in the middle on Strava.
I guess most riders are a little younger and a little lighter than me. My pulse was with 160 quite close to my max.
Surprisingly - although not a cyclist - going down I was on place 44!

New Loop "Purity - Goodness - Divinity"

Today I rode in 2014 for the first time to the Alps and climbed the two passes of "Sattel" and "Hirzel". They were rather small, but just fine, as it was with 95 km also the longest ride this year.

As I liked the loop a lot I gave its name "Purity" - while riding along lake of Zug; "Goodness" as I got while riding an email from the Tegla Loroupe Peace School by Eunice Hasango, telling nice stories about Kenyan orphans visiting the Peace school and learning well. Finaly while riding down from the 2nd pass Hirzel, I felt my body flooded with light and joy so I call the third part "Divinity."

I hope to make this loop a regular part of my training.

Albispass - Hirzelpass - Zoo - 1100 up and 65 km in 2:52

First training with some hills in it. 1100 m up - first Albis 791 m and then Hirzel 678 m...

View from riding down Hirzelpass.... at around 60 km/h. Not very steep and some really nice and wide turns. (In the evening the traffic is a little bit tricky - but when you ride over 50 km/h cars don't overtake you, so you are safe).

My First Bike Training in New York City

My choice for the tough New York roads was Greenedge Scott Foil 40......

My last ride was 50 miles with 600 m up - riding 50% with the Triangle Cyclists at 20 miles/hour.
And overall I rode in 8 days 360 km - mostly on Interstate "495" Service Road towards Longisland in New York State