Johnny Cash tours central Switzerland

[Gothard]

Canton Bern, that is.
My wife and son (all 7 months of him) drove me to the Lötschberg train tunnel, where I boarded to cross to Kandersteg.
From there it was on the saddle for the next 6 hours, to cover about 120kms. Down to Spiez by the Thuner see, then up towards Zweisimmen, Saanen, and Gstaad. A short stretch to Gsteig to board a cable car, that scared me senseless (I have vertigo). It was this or another 60 miles...
Then down the Sanetsch back home.
The climb to Saanenmöser nearly did me in, but I managed to soldier on, only to be rewarded by 7 miles of headwind to Gsteig. Aaargh!
On top of the Sanetch, not all from this week's snowfall had melted yet.
Even though Johnny Cash is a remarkable descender, the last 15 miles are so steep that my finger, back and neck hurt from all the braking and the posotion.

Pics:

[mosca]

Great shots, thanks for sharing. It somehow eases the pain of having to come in to work on a Saturday. :)

[konstantkarma]

Such beauty! Each shot could be a postcard. Johnny Cash serves you well.

I will be at a conference at Les Diablerets outside of Geneva (?) in early October. Is this a good time for riding near there? Are there places to rent road bikes near these mountain resorts?

[Gothard]

Karma,
Les Diablerets is about 10 miles off the loop I did, close to Gstaad. For rentals...? Surely a MTB, but a road bike, I can not tell. Lots of beautiful roads there, of the same type as above. If you are lucky, October is a great time, provided it does not rain.
btw les Diablerets is about 60 miles east of Geneva.

[saab2000]

Nice

[merckx]

very,very nice. thank you and enjoy your health and machine!

[rounder]

nice bike...really beautiful scenery

[jsfoster]

beautiful, I am so envious. someday I'll get there to ride.
Thanks, Jon

[konstantkarma]

Karma,
Les Diablerets is about 10 miles off the loop I did, close to Gstaad. For rentals...? Surely a MTB, but a road bike, I can not tell. Lots of beautiful roads there, of the same type as above. If you are lucky, October is a great time, provided it does not rain.
btw les Diablerets is about 60 miles east of Geneva.

I see. Thanks for the information. I will check it out once I arrive. Mountain biking sounds good too.

[sbornia]

Les Diablerets is about 10 miles off the loop I did, close to Gstaad.

Funny, I haven't heard that name in a while. About 12 years ago, when I was living in Lugano, I did a 10-day bike tour through Switzerland. One leg started in Aigle and finished in Interlaken, going up Les Diablerets. I went over a number of big passes on that trip, but that climb really stood out b/c it was so **** steep! Or maybe it was just all the wine we drank the night before ;-) (I seem to remember there's an urban myth about the white wine in that area, that it drives the locals crazy??)

Anyway, there could be bike rental in Aigle, which was a decent sized town. Or maybe in Leysin nearby?

[Karin Kirk]

Gothard, I love your ride descriptions and photos - please keep doing them! (the rides as well as the posts.)
Much of that looks familiar and wonderful. Like the little brown train cars from that area. So cute! So - the 9th photo your posted, not counting the map -- is that Gsteig? It looks really familiar. We took a bus from Gstaad to Launen, hiked over the divide and ended up in Gsteig to take the bus back to Gstaad. What a spectacular area.
So, where does the cable car drop you off? How do you find your way back to pavement?
What an adventure!

-Karin

[Gothard]

Hi Karin,
Pictures 9 and 10 are from Gsteig indeed. In picture 10 you can make out the cables from the gondola that brings us to the Sanetsch. From there it is paved again down to Sion. This is where I was 2 weeks ago.
In the picture below you can see the path that bridges Sanetsch to Gsteig- not suitable for riding.

[MarleyMon]

of fabulous scenery. What a treat! Please keep posting your ride reports, they are a pleasure to see.

[Karin Kirk]

Very cool! That shot straight down from the cable car looks vertigo-inducing indeed. But how neat to use a cable car as part of your route for the day. Seems wonderfully Swiss to me. You're a lucky guy to be able to have such a lovely playground, as well as a wife who doesn't mind letting you go play all day! Nice going :)
Can't wait to hear about your next adventure!

[Gothard]

Karin- Vertigo no kidding!
It is a rather primitive contraption in which there is only one cable, holding and pulling (versus the more modern ones where there are holding cables -plural- and pulling cables). Plus, as we were leaving the guy from the cable car yelled at me "Did you make sure the front wheel is on tight?" as the whole bike was hanging by it.
Every pylon, the whole setup would shake like nuts...
That said I am indeed lucky to be where I am.
And the wife would have come with me (after an over-one year hiatus), had she not broken her 5th left toe last week.

Close to the top of the cable run:

[weisan]

Gothard-pal, any update on your next exploit? ;)

[Spinner]

made my day. Thanks for the posting.

[Gothard]

Weisan-pal,
The last rides were without camera, sadly. There was the St Gothard, the Oberalp, and a nice ride in the area with Chris (CPP) and Justin (Justinf). They left me for dead on the last climb that day, but I instructed them to, and the ride was great.
I'll "un-triple" Johnny Cash soon and try and take my camera next times.

[Karin Kirk]

What?! You rode without a camera? Weren't you thinking about all of us poor Americans who are living vicariously through your epic rides?

Well, I'm glad the lapse is due to lack of camera, not lack of riding. You did the Oberalp, wow.

Why would you un-triple that bike? Don't you pretty much need a triple to do those mega-climbs?

I have my next trip scheduled for this fall and I'm going to build up a bike to bring over and then leave there. That will be a cool project! :)

[CPP]

He is going to un-triple it because I have convinced him (well kind of) that he doesn't need it.
CPP

[justinf]

Of course, you borrow a bike from uber-CPP and you get closely acquainted with a 39x25 in the mountains. I had to grit my teeth a couple times. More on this soon- :rolleyes:

Switzerland is awesome.

[CPP]

Justin,
You know that gritting your teeth is what we love about cycling and that is why George is un tripling his bike. And, that is why I can't wait for you guys to come back over so we can grit some more and watch Sarah cook all of those damned green things.
CPP

[Gothard]

Karin,
The triple will go on another bike, that wil be quite a nice project. I rode 25 years without one, and still only have one triple (of 4 bikes).
BTW, whenever you are here in Switzerland, you *must* let us know. With my wife's salad, and Chris' barbecue and chalet, you'll be in Heidi Paradise.

Chris/Justin, chek on the Sarah cooking thing, and kudos for the 39-25. Whatever I do, I'll keep my 29 on back.

[Bill D]

Unbelievable scenery. Please continue to post your ride reports with pics. I'm in Phoenix, where it's 114*F today, and I haven't been in der Schweiz for years, so it's doubly great to see those pics and daydream of returning there. Very good stuff.

-bd

[Karin Kirk]

Karin,
The triple will go on another bike, that wil be quite a nice project. I rode 25 years without one, and still only have one triple (of 4 bikes).
BTW, whenever you are here in Switzerland, you *must* let us know. With my wife's salad, and Chris' barbecue and chalet, you'll be in Heidi Paradise.

Chris/Justin, chek on the Sarah cooking thing, and kudos for the 39-25. Whatever I do, I'll keep my 29 on back.

Nice - thanks for the offer! It will be mid-Oct. I'll email or PM you when the plans firm up.