Basel to Balsthal

August 12, 2016

Well, if you can't be Swiss, at least you can be an American in Switzerland. And we are very much that! We are bad. We don't even try to speak the language. But we seem to get by.

Today, after a great meal last night, we were ready to go. Not too early, of course; that is not our style. But by 11:00, Mark was testing out his new cleats and pedals on a hill near the hotel while I checked us out. Mark had a little difficulty yesterday, and after reading the instructions, we lubricated the critical parts of the cleats. We wanted to make sure they worked! Apparently they did, so we loaded up the bikes and were off (although if they didn't work, we would have been off regardless, just not sure where!).

Today's ride to Balsthal.

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The hotel was almost at the river's edge, so it was all uphill through the old town for about 1/2 mile. Steep but minor. The hard part was avoiding being hit by a tram and trying not to hit pedestrians walking down the old town streets. It's hard to pedal up a steep hill at the pace of a pedestrian! But we finally cleared that and were in a sort of modern part of the city with a speckling of industry.

A family unit, seen on the way out of Basel.

Eventually, as I had promised Mark, we picked up a bike trail along the river Birs. And a very nice trail at that. Mostly paved but with some natural terrain sections. But by now I am used to that (sorry, Mark), and we continued on our way, eventually entering a valley with a slight incline as we followed the river and adjacent railroad.

The river valley we joined had several bike trails running through it.

An old railroad bridge, now carrying the tram.

And a covered bridge, my first in Europe!

Biking along the river on a natural surface trail.

Both are good to bike along as they both require slight grades! But at some point the river disappears, and the railroad takes a more favorable route, and you are left to climb a "mountain" pass (or a "hill" pass, depending on where you come from).

So our first big climb started near Grellingen at MP 11. Actually, it was still pretty mild at that point but took a notable incline at MP 12. And then we climbed at 7-9% for several miles. It's hard to say how far when looking back at the data. For that, I need a desktop! But regardless, it was up and relatively steep. Not granny gear steep but begging for it. But I knew I had a bigger climb ahead, so I decided to save it. Just my style.

At the top, we were in a mountain valley! Rolling flat with cute villages along the way. Still some climbing here and there, but nothing to get too excited about. We stopped for eats in Bretzwil at MP 17 or so and got fueled for the big climb over the Jura Mountains.

The mountain valley on our way to the Jura Mountains.

OK, we could have taken the easy way on Swiss Route 12, but that's a busy road and a little too easy. We need to keep up the challenge, and the upcoming climb was good training.

It started after the left turn in Büsserach. Slow climbing to start but always uphill. It started out at a low grade but picked up as we progressed up the valley. Like most mountain roads, it followed a stream/creek/river, so the grade was predictable. And I could follow it on my Garmin, the stream to the right of us. When it disappeared, I knew the grade was going to jump.

Of course, the 13% grade warning sign early in the climb did not bode particularly well. I wondered, "Is this just an exaggeration, or is it real?" Only time would tell!

At the time (stupid me), I thought "passwang" meant tunnel in German. Wrong. Actually, it's the name of the pass through the Jura Mountains that we were about to conquer. Nice to know that now. Something notable with its own article on Wikipedia. At the time, however, I was mostly thinking about the 13%.

But this climb was beguiling. It just sucked you in slowly, up the valley, only mildly increasing the grade as you pedaled on. Enticing in its own way, beautiful and very engaging. But you do have to pay the piper eventually. A little before MP 30, it took a significant tick up, and I down-geared, still on my second chainring. But that did not last long. I could see the cars assaulting the switchbacks ahead of me. Granny time!

Looking back. The tough parts were not the switchbacks but the straight sections in between.

And that worked. Thankfully, without a problem. I had had some problems getting into my smallest chainring prior to the trip, but it eased in very nicely, giving me all the gear inches I needed to make the climb. And while these things are always debatable, I think we came very close to the 13% grade advertised earlier in the valley. RWGPS reported a maximum grade of 13.8% for me and 14.2% for Mark. So I say we did it!

In some respects, today was the real start of the tour. We didn't climb as much as we thought we would, but at the top of the climb we did pass through our first tunnel. And this was after climbing through a one-lane construction zone! About halfway through the closed section, traffic started coming the other way. No one seemed phased by it . . . we were probably climbing at 12% at that point, and they were coming downhill. Amazing stuff.

In the traffic queue. This was on about the steepest part of the climb, right before the tunnel. Halfway through the construction zone, traffic was reversed, and we had to deal with oncoming vehicles!

But we made it through! Note how fast the tunnel lights drop off due to the grade!

After passing through the (short) tunnel, it was all downhill. Wikipedia reports the elevation as 3950 feet. Balsthal is at 1604. It was a nice descent. And as beautiful as the climb!

We arrived at the hotel around 4:30 and were out having a beer by 6:30 or so after cleaning up and taking a stroll around town. Beautiful weather to sit outside in and enjoy life as it is, for me at least.

The rough life in Balsthal, Switzerland. Cycling, beer, food, repeat. I could get very used to this.

Today's ride: 52 miles (84 km)
Total: 556 miles (895 km)

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