Cycling through the Jura

The fifth (and what turned out to be the last) day of cycling was also the best day. I was sufficiently depleted to not want to race the last 80k. Initially, Barbara and I had decided to take a slightly more complicated route from Yverdon-les-Bains to Nyon than the prescribed 52km along flat land, but we were taken by surprise when we ended up doing 83.6km and gaining 966m elevation. We were pretty tired when we arrived in Nyon after 4 hours 42 minutes of cycling. The ride itself was incredible.

Unfortunately, I am writing this final post rather late, so I do not remember the finer details, but I do recall riding through tiny villages, past farms and fields, on convenient stretches of paved but narrow road. There were beautiful descents, paved all the way without those dangerous, unpleasant curves. Towards the end, traffic increased slightly, but the road widened to allow for more or less carefree riding.

Once again, when we arrived we were surprised to find a lovely AirBnB with a fantastically accommodating family. 

On the last day, we decided to skip the final 24km of our trip. We realised the weather wasn't going to hold, and it was not going to be the most interesting stretch of land. 

On the whole, I have to say that this was an insanely rewarding experience. I got to know what it feels like to plan a trip from cover to cover, and then I learnt not to freak out when some things go wrong. Sure, there were hiccoughs here and there, but, in total, we were still able to cover 207km (instead of the planned 318km), and we had a total elevation gain of almost 3000m (based on Strava). We rode for a sum of 12 hours and 40 minutes. This is definitely a route that I would recommend, and I would love to try it again some day, but this time without leaving anything out.

The plan for today was to take the bikes and cycle through Neuchatel to Yverdon-les-Bains. Still unsure of how far her leg would take her, Barbara decided to take the car for a stretch up the hill on ride two. Our host was wonderful and offered her a ride up. I decided that I wanted to do a bit of intense cycling and left about an hour earlier. The route up to Vue des Alpes was wonderful. Most cars usually take the tunnel through the mountain, so traffic was scarce. The road wound up the hill in confusing steep bursts, and I couldn't decide whether I was really tired or not. But I had a gel after the first steep stretch and the rest was not a problem. It took me exactly one hour to cycle past the little farms and hamlets, and I arrived at the top eager for more. 

When Barbara arrived, we found that the official route took us along a narrow, winding, steep road down past Neuchâtel. We followed the route, and although we expected it to take us into the city, it took us over the hills surrounding it. Scenically speaking, this route was incredible. For the Véloklub Wehntal, it was a little too slow. 

The downhill ride was scattered with cattle grids that forced us to dismount, and there were plenty of gravel roads and thorny plants. To compensate for this, we were led through wine country. All in all, it was a nice ride, but it was mentally draining and I was happy when we arrived at the hostel in Yverdon-les-Bains. Elevation: 780m; max height: 1300m 

Following the chaos and panic of our commencing ride, we were forced to leave out day two of our cycling trip. My friend needed some time to recover, so we decided to spend a relaxed day looking at the Jura by train. We started the day with an awesome breakfast on the porch, complete with home made jam and freshly picked plums. Then, we took the train up to the tiny village of St Ursanne. We realised that this ride would have been near impossible with our luggage, with an average elevation of 12%. So in the end it was a relief.

After our brief stay in Courgenay and trip to St Ursanne, we packed our things and headed for La Chaux-de-Fonds, which we both expected to be a gorgeous little Swiss town in the mountains.

It was not. The first thing our host told us was that there was nothing to do there. The famous clock museum is closed on Mondays, and zoos are not really my thing. It wasn't a completely wasted trip, though. I found the city quite charming and would have liked to discover the richer corners. There were two bars just around the corner, and our place was a ten minute walk from the train station.

So on the third day, we decided to go and see the charming little city of Neuchâtel. It was gorgeous! We spent the day wandering around the old town, eating lunch in a park with a view over the lake. Then, it was back to the hostel to get ready for ride two!

Our first day on the bikes took us both by surprise. We had a bit of a rough day. Lying in bed in a safe AirBnB, looking back on the events of the day, I find myself thinking that it was a real adventure, and that's exactly how it felt. We took the train from Zurich to Rheinfelden at 8:36. After a considerable struggle to find a place for our bikes on the train, a friendly passenger took his bike down because he was only going one stop anyway. Then, we had one hour of anticipating and waiting before we arrived. Of course, my calculations of being able to leave by 10am were not accurate. We needed to adjust our luggage, make sure our shoes clicked in properly, put in our lenses and were finally ready to leave shortly after 11. Right away, we were hit by the second challenge. Our route had taken us over onto the German side of the border, which meant that I wasn't able to check google street view for gravel. We hadn't been riding more than ten minutes when we had to change our route for exactly that reason.

After riding back across the border, we found that it was hard to create a new route. We were forced to turn around multiple times, partly because there was gravel, and partly because there was too much traffic on the roads. But we did eventually, after more than an hour, manage to finally leave Rheinfelden. We decided we did not want to repeat the same mistake of driving through a city, so we outskirted Basel, and headed straight for Reinach. On the way there, there was a lovely cycling path through the forest and a slight rise. Our first mishap occurred on the descent. I was excited to see a road that led down so nicely, with no cars or curves, so I sped up and tried switching gears, which resulted in my chain springing loose. So we stopped at the bottom of the hill and put it back in. Just as we tried to leave, I spotted some glass in the floor, so I yelled back at my friend, and she panicked and tried to step down, forgetting that she was still clicked in. Thus, we had the first fall of the day.

After all that drama, we finally managed to get to Reinach. It was 1:30, we were ready for lunch. We were way behind schedule, as I had told our AirBnB in Courgenay that we would be there at 5pm. We had an adequate portion of Spaghetti Napoli, and were ready to finally hit the road. We euphorically grabbed our bikes, only to realise that my front tire was completely flat! I decided, since we were in town, that we should save our fixing equipment and find a mechanic. I made a few calls and managed to catch one who had actually just closed his shop, and he agreed to fix the bike quickly. Luckily it was close by, and we could head off 30 minutes later. Finally, we could really leave the town and head out into nature as we had planned!  

The first climb came not long after we had left the towns. The real fun could begin! This was a climb of 5% elevation, with a gain of 410 meters, this all with an additional 10kg on the backs of our bikes. The effort was rewarded by the beautiful view, and by the incredible descent to Röschenz that followed. The road down was paved, and there were no sharp curves, and no insane drops, so I was able to test my bike's speed without worrying too much. Of course, some caution was necessary because of the additional weight, but all in all, the descent was very enjoyable. Following Röschenz, we continued along a long road that led us down into a valley. It was an enchanting route, with trees on all sides. We lost all orientation of height and location, and just followed the road through the trees.

We followed this road for a long time, with no idea of where it would take us. Amazingly, we snaked across the border to France and back, passing villages and hotels hidden among the trees, and we were even able to latch on the some other bikers for a few kilometers. It was around this point, however, that Barbara started to notice a twinge in her leg, and that she couldn't cycle much longer. It was a pulled muscle. We decided that we would ride to the next village and take a bus up the hill from there.

When we had almost agreed on taking up one of these offers, I let our hosts know the situation, and they called and told us they would come and get us. We were elated, of course. We wouldn't have to sleep in a thoroughly overpriced village in a valley in France, and we wouldn't have to leave our bikes here either! After about 30 minutes, Joseph was here to get us!

As soon as Joseph came to get us, everything went smoothly. The bikes and myself were loaded in the back of the car, and the car finished the last 14km for us. It was a shame to miss the last bit of the ride, but if we had continued, Barbara would probably have injured herself seriously. Our little appartment was so cosy after that long day. We got there at 9 and were able to drop by Courgenay's village festival before going to bed.

I have been on a few rides since I got my new bike three weeks ago. It has taken me to Einsiedeln and back, to Aarau, over the Etzel, the Albispass and the Raten, and over Buchenegg. My Cube and I have had some good runs so far.

But now it's time for a real challenge. A few months ago, a friend Barbara and I started talking about potentially doing a cycling trip with our city bikes, taking a tent along and camping out in France (or similar). Then, we slowly started developing the idea of buying new road bikes, and of course, it would make no sense at all to go on the aforementioned trip with our old bikes anymore. So we both bought our bikes and altered our trip to match the new requirements.

We took the picturesque Jura Route, or route number 7, as the basis for our trip. We made a few changes, though, squashing together some stages and adding bits here and there. So, here is our final plan:

We decided that we will take the train from Zurich to Rheinfelden on Saturday morning. We arrive there at around 9:30, and will start our journey in the direction of Basel, hopefully riding on the German side of the border. Once there, we head Southwest and cycle to our first stop, Courgenay. There, we'll stay at a cute AirBnB, before heading off over St Ursanne towards La Chaux-de-Fonds on day 2, a total of 72km with 1500m elevation. We'll stay in La Chaux-de-Fonds for 2 night and try to discover the sites in the area. Then, it's another 88km through Fleurier to Vallorbe. After a short stop in Vallorbe, it's 62km to Nyon, the last nocturnal stop on our trip. Finally, it's all along the lake to Geneva. 

This means that we are going to be cycling for a total distance of 318kmwith an elevation gain of 6000m(although, we all know that Strava exaggerates), and our total cycling time should be around 15 hours.

I'll try and keep you updated with photos here on a daily basis.

Wish us luck!