Things We Learned in Switzerland

1. The Swiss DO have a sense of humor, sort of. But they have only one known comedian and he lives in NYC.

2. Switzerland is an endless panorama of postcard photos stitched together. It gets tiresome trying to capture it in word or photos--you have to see it for yourself.

3. Cannondale owns Sugoi.

4. Swiss restaurants may be run by the same conglomerate that runs airport concessions in the US. That is to say, in general, the food is expensive and has the imagination and flavor of airport food. Which is to say, it isn't necessarily BAD, most people just don't drive to the airport to eat.

5. $25/hour is the minimum wage for housekeepers in Switzerland. EVERYTHING is expensive in Switzerland!

6. 12 guys can stay on the topic of cycling at least 80% of the time for a week.

7. Rich is a stud cyclist and helluva Ride Commish. Among other things, when I'd be ready to lay my head on my handlebars and moan at the top of a mountain, Rich would come up with his big grin and say, "Wasn't that GREAT?!!"

8. There is a REALLY good doctor in Zermatt, CH.

9. Don't follow too closely over wet, acutely-angled train tracks (unless you like an intimate relationship with the road.)

10. Never pass up a good rope swing into a lake.

Can you add to the list?

The Swiss Cows

We shopped at a bike store along the route for commemorative jerseys. Those of us who exhibited especially fine taste in jersey design dubbed ourselves, "The Swiss Cows."

Markham Meets Heidi

Just as we were to begin the final 7 km up Glaubenbuelen Pass, we stopped to admire a view and, lo and behold, Heidi appeared again!

She wasn't as pretty, tall or animated as the first Heidi, but we knew it was fortuitous that she would show up on our final day and we made sure not to pass up this encounter. Her grandfather and a woodchopper were hanging out with her, as well as a white goat.

Splashdown

Our final cruise down a Swiss mountain was relaxed as we savored the experience of breathtaking vistas, speed, turns and tired legs. Charles, Markham, Jim and I followed the edge of the lake below Glaubenbuelen, then another lake's edge, lingering to absorb our final hours on a bike in Switzerland. We reached Lake Lucerne at 1 PM and turned onto a winding, one-lane road pressed hard into the sheer rock wall that formed the side of the lake. The lake lay 12' below the road.

Someone spotted a rope swing hung from a tree rooted into the rock cliff. We stopped to have a look. A steel ladder was pitoned into the cliff about 80' away, extending from the road down into the water. We had an hour to ride the final 2 km to the ferry.

"I'm doing it!" announced Jim. He stripped down to his cycling shorts, jumped off the edge and surfaced in the lake below. "Come on! It's fantastic!" he shouted up. Todd R., Rick and Rich soon arrived, and one by one we stripped and joined Jim in a terrific splash, a fitting exclamation point to our final day of the Swiss Challenge.

Mano a Mano

Glaubenbuelen Pass was Day 7's profiled climb, and it promised to be fairly easy, 15.6 km at an average of 4.6% although the last 5 km showed 7 - 9%. It wasn't easy. Once again, the on-the-ground experience didn't match the profile as the Garmins kept registering 10% and 12% ramps. To a man, our legs were tired, effectively adding another 2% to the climbing impression.

Markham and Charles, though, were undeterred-- when they hit the upturn at km 10 they were abreast in an unspoken duel up the last 5 km. It was mano a mano. Both had a point to make. Charles had taken considerable ribbing for his off-day before the KOM race up Susten Pass; Markham had consistently been the strongest rider up every climb except Susten and Furka. Glaubenbuelen was turning into a tie-breaker of sorts.

They quickly dropped Rick and I as they surged up some switchbacks. After 4.5 of the 5 km they were still even, then Charles amped it up to 325 watts and held it there for the final .5 km to lead Markham into a view overlook near the top. It was a bravura performance and indisputable validation of Charles' KOM title on Susten. I assume they exchanged a fist-bump of mutual respect, although truth be told, I didn't arrive in time to see it. Rick followed them into the overlook a couple minutes later.

The only problem was--the view overlook wasn't the summit of Glaubenbuelen. They had blown each other up and stopped 0.5 km short! This, conveniently, allowed me to channel my hero, Howie, and steadily pedal past them on my way to the top, where, arriving first, I raised my thumb and index finger to shoot the summit sign in triumph.

Day 7: Crash

Our weather luck appeared to run out on the final day as we arose to fog and light rain. We left Luderenalp, an inn atop a low mountain, early because we had to meet the Lake Lucerne ferry at 2:18 PM and we were aware that trains, planes and ferries in Switzerland run on time. We were also by now aware that bikes under our guidance didn't necessarily run on time, Switzerland or not. We had 60 miles to go and a mountain to climb.

We started as a group descending the mountain carefully, then headed up the valley in the rain. 5 km on a railroad track crossed the road at an obtuse angle and the lead rider lost his front wheel on the slippery metal and hit the deck. By the time the yelling and clatter of bikes was over, 5 riders were down. It took us 20 min. to evaluate bikes, bones and bruises. Our weather luck had seemingly run out but our riding luck held as everyone was able to mount and pedal, albeit with more care and less cheer. Another hour on and the rain subsided and blue sky tugged at the edges of the cloud cover. By the time we started our last profiled climb of the trip, the sun was shining again.

Day 6- Lost in Interlaken

It dawned cool and bright, another beautiful day. This promised to be an easy-paced 55 miles with only 2 profiled climbs, neither very difficult compared to what we had recently done. We detoured up a valley to a bike shop in a small town where we bought them out of Swiss cow bike jerseys and other memorabilia. Some of our group went to see a waterfall inside a mountain, others explored further up the valley. Everything was leisurely--we had the illusion of plenty of time.

We split into smaller groups based on our puttering around, and Howie, Chris, Steve and I eventually set off down the valley for Interlaken, the town, where we promptly got lost. Directions were sketchy at best. We asked 4 different people and got no answers that clearly corroborated each other. We didn't speak SwissGerman and apparently our English wasn't too clear either. After an hour delay, Howie navigated us through the town and along the north side of Interlaken, the lake. We had pizza alongside the river in Thun, with 6 more of our gang arriving just as we left to head cross country to Luderenalp, our final destination. Once again, directions were sketchy and we soon found ourselves on the wrong road. In this case, it turned out to be fortuitous as we found out later we apparently circumvented the first profiled climb of the day.

Somehow, we turned 55 mi. into 79 miles and lots of map study before arriving at Luderenalp at 6 PM. And we were the first to arrive. The other six arrived 45 min. later, and Markham and Charles arrived last, pulling up at 7:45 PM in the Lanterne Rouge, also known as the broomwagon, earning a DNF for the day.

Grosse Scheidigg

The descent from Susten Pass was breathtakingly beautiful and endless--over 5,000 vert. ft. in 12 miles. The grace of the bicycle cutting neatly through the curves and accelerating through the straightaways made me feel like a dancer on top of his art. OK, I'm not a great descender--Rick, Bill, Markham and any number of cycling buddies are faster, more fearless--but I'll claim the feeling anyway. And the podium visit may have had something to do with the dancer thing :-)

All too soon, we arrived at Grosse Scheidigg, the hardest climb of the week. 4,000 ft. vert. in 10 miles, it features a number of sustained grades between 12 & 17 %. The race was over so now the approach was, "just finish, baby!" The initial ascent is steadily steep for a couple miles before the road enters a open mountain meadow and follows a small river. Here the slope moderates, and we wound our way through small farms, still climbing at 4% or so. At the end of the meadow, we stopped for lunch at a picturesque inn with a cafe and outdoor seating area. Relaxing under shade trees, we enjoyed the best lunch of our Switz. visit with homemade soup, large sandwiches, bratwurst and fresh fruit. We enjoyed it so much we stayed for 2 hours!

We returned to the Scheidigg as it turned up in earnest--the next km often hit 14% and higher slope according to the Garmins. Cars are not permitted from here to the top, only bikes, hikers and a special bus--the "ExtraFarht" bus! We're still trying to figure out what it means exactly, but there's evidence it's related to the bratwurst several teammates had at lunch. The narrow road wound higher, generally maintaining at least 7% slope and more often 10-12. It was brutal and I slipped into a zen of climbing, blank mind, push, breath, push, breath. Maybe that's Lamaze, not zen? Whatever, it got my compadres and me to the summit, a place that happens to be a stone's throw from the Eiger Glacier.

We celebrated the summit with a beer before heading down a steep, hairpin descent toward the town of Grindewald. Once again an animal emergency arose as a herd of milk cows sauntered down the road toward their home barn. Skidding to a stop, we handled it the only way we knew how: taking photos. The cows were amiable enough as long as we got out of their way.

We finished our day in a whirlpool at the Belvedere Hotel, before moving on to the terrace for a beer. High mountains with glaciers and impossible tram cabling rose all around us.

Susten--The Race

We left Andermatt at 9 AM with temps around 60 deg. and the promise of a clear blue sky. After a chilly 12 km descent, we regrouped, shed our excess clothing and turned up the Susten. Charles immediately bolted out ahead of the group as we searched for a sustainable pace. Soon, 5 of us--Rick, Markham, Rich, Bill and I--separated from the rest, while Charles continued push ahead hard and open a gap of nearly .5 km on us at the 4 km mark. We weren't particularly concerned--he was going out fast and 13 km of steady 6 - 9 deg. slopes lay ahead. We had the advantage of numbers and time. We hammered upward, our legs and lungs at their sustainable limit.

My reluctance to racing faded as we pushed past 6 km, then 8 km: my legs would be toast regardless now--I had, de facto, committed to pay the price. The scenery was probably spectacular, but who noticed? We were locked into our inner pain, eardrums pounding like the diaphragms of woofers, legs groaning, out of the saddle, back down in the saddle, keep the bike pointed upward, wheels turning.

The short version is, despite our numbers and effort, we never caught Charles. He churned up the mountain maintaining a 262 watt ave. for 11 miles. In the last 5 km, Markham closed the gap to 1 minute, meaning the finish still wasn't close. I came in .5 min. later, with Rick finishing 1 min. behind me.

It was a podium sweep for the Atlantans! Rich finished strong and came in 5th, meaning 4 of the top 5 places for the East team. Charles accepted purple streamers for his handlebars in the official awards ceremony. Then we took pictures, refueled, and admired the view, elated at our "exploit" and oblivious to any tired legs.

Day 5: Race Day

On Day 4, Rich (Ride Commish) and Charles took a 3 hr. train ride to Zermatt, a little town under the Matterhorn, in lieu of climbing the Gotthard. At supper that night, Nel, our tour leader, made a surprise announcement: the Ride Commish had phoned in and asked her to declare tomorrow would be Race Day. The first climb of the day, up Susten Pass, would determine the official Swiss Challenge 2009 KOM (King of the Mountain). Rich and Charles didn`t return until 9:30 PM, and they seemed particularly high-spirited, with Rich joking how much better he felt after seeing the doctor. There were whispers among the rest of us about Aspen blood bags and the rumored presence of Dr. Michele Ferrari in Switzerland.

I didn't sleep well that night. My legs were achy from the past 2 days and didn't seem to be recovering well. Mostly, though, I didn't relish the concept of a race up mountain climbs that were long and hard enough without the pressure of speed. And tomorrow's climbs were "The Red Climbs." Markham and Rick had proven themselves the strongest of us over the first few days, with Charles and Howie showing promise, so it seemed the perfect setup for shredded legs and little success.

My heart pumped hard at the thought and I struggled to turn off a hereditary competitiveness that, at age 56, no longer seemed to serve me well. Did I need to torture my legs and redline my heart for 1.5 hours to prove.....exactly what? Some things may be primordial, deeply embedded in our chemistry so as to defy one's rational brain, because my heart pumped hard anyway, and I never really seemed to fall asleep.