Wine & Cheese Ride

Miles from Home - 5242.7
Firsts / Highlights - First flat tire (in my hotel room), first ride in Switzerland, walked my bike down a 22% grade cobblestone street, rode to tiny ski area Les Paccots.
Miles Ridden - 49 miles
Vertical Feet - 3,800 ft.
Route - Lost by Garmin again.
People - Just me.

This post is from July 8, 2009.



I got back on the bike today for the first time after 11 days off. It felt great, but it was noticeable that I had lost a bit of fitness over that time.

I started the day riding along the shore of Lake Geneva. I actually saw my GPS read 0% grade for a couple of miles. That has not happened much on this trip. The lakeshore was flat, but to my left, an 800-year-old terraced vineyards climbed steeply up a hillside. This wine region is called Lavaux, and is a UNESCO World Heritage site. The monks who built these vineyards did not have a thought of maintaining the vines with mechanized equipment. With such a steep slopes, a lot of labor must go into every bottle of wine.



After a nice warm-up along the lakeshore, I decided to head inland to see what this part of Switzerland looks like. Immediately, the GPS went from 0% to 14% and stayed there for a while. The views quickly got better with each switchback.

At one point during the ride, there was a closed road due to construction and the alternate route took me up the steepest paved road I have ever seen, much less ridden. It was 27% according to the GPS. Not very long, but it was a battle for each pedal stroke. The interesting thing about climbing a hill that steep is that you have to decide whether you can make it before you start. If you get bogged down half way up, you may or may not be able to get your foot down to stop yourself. I now know that I can ride 27% for a little while, but there has to be a limit to what they will pave around here. I also encountered a 22% descent on cobblestones. I lost my nerve on that one and walked down. That was a first.



The first part of the ride was dedicated to winemaking, but once I got away from the lake, I was in cheese country. I headed up in the direction of the town of Gruyeres, but didn’t get that far today. Obviously with that town as a seat, you know the region produces a good amount of cheese. I saw some dairy cows and production plants, but I suspect that if I get deeper into that region tomorrow I will see more.

A funny thing about Gruyere cheese. Swiss Gruyere is a solid cheese, while the same style in France must have holes. What we commonly call “Swiss Cheese” is actually French. I have not seen any type of cheese in Switzerland that has holes.



I ended today’s ride by going over to Montreux to see what the Jazz Festival scene looked like during the day. It was a fun festival atmosphere and the town was beautiful, but not as electric as my first visit at night. I think Montreux is best seen at night during the weeks of Jazz Festival.



I started to ride back to Lausanne along the lake, but some really ominous clouds rolled in. The great thing about riding along the lake is that the rail line also follows the lake. I just went to the next town with a stop and caught a train back to Lausanne before the rain started. That train saved me an hour of bike cleaning when I got back. It was nice of them to place it there for me.

Here is another addition to the WYLTBRTR collection.