Events

Professional Cycling
There are two major professional cycling events in Switzerland each year that are part of the UCI_ProTour race series and so attract some of the best riders in the world. The Tour de Suisse is held over 9 days in the middle of June and covers most parts of the country. The Tour de Romandie is held over 6 days at the end of May in the French-speaking part of Switzerland. Both the Tour de France and the Giro_d'Italia sometimes pass through Swiss territory briefly, and always pass through the Alps reasonably nearby.

The international body that controls professional cycling, the UCI, is based in Aigle, Switzerland, see this website about their headquarters. It is located on the east bank of the Rhone river, and anyone can have a meal in their restaurant, look at the BMX track outside and the velodrome inside. The national Swiss organization is “Swiss Cycling”.

Good sources of news about what is happening in professional cycling are Eurosport and cyclingnews.

Mass-Participation Rides
Although most of us are not interested in riding like the pro's, it can still be a lot of fun to take part in a cycling event. There are many “Cyclosportifs” organized around the country, which are becoming very popular. These are mass-participation rides, some with over 1,000 riders, where for most people it is the taking part that counts, not how quickly you finish. Each event has a variety of distances to choose from so that you should be able to find something that suits you. Some are very mountainous, some completely flat; some are on roads, and some on trails. There is a separate thread devoted to these events in Switzerland: "Bicycling: long-distance, mass-participation rides", and hillseeker and I made an index of the main events in Switzerland and the surrounding countries that you can see here, there's also some discussion in the thread cyclosportives Swiss, France, Germany, Italy. Probably the biggest events in Switzerland, which each attract over 1,000 cyclists, are the Cyclotour of Lake Geneva in early June (start/finish in Lausanne), the Engadin Radmarathon in early July (in Graubunden), the Alpenbrevet in early August (in central Switzerland), the Gruyere Cycling Tour in late August (in western Switzerland), and the Zurich Metzgete in September.

The slowUp events mentioned in the Cycling Advocacy section above also fit into this category, but those are family or group cycling events with no racing or timing involved.

Other Types of Cycling

Bike Couriers
See the thread Salary of a bicycle courier in Zurich.

Cycling with Children
See the threads Cycling with kids -- trail-a-bikes and trailer bikes and wanted - swiss kid bike with no pedals.

Winter Biking
See these threads: snowy commute [biking in the snow] and
Mountain Biking at Ski resorts.

Discussion

If you think that there is some information that is missing here (I'm sure that there is) or that some of the information is incorrect (also quite possible) then please post a reply to this thread, and I will attempt to correct any mistakes. If you would like to discuss a specific aspect of what is posted here (e.g., where to go mountain biking near Zurich) and a thread already exists then please don't reply to this thread, instead reply to the appropriate thread that is linked to here. If you would like to discuss something for which a thread does not already exist (e.g., road cycling around Geneva) then it would probably be best to start a new thread. However, if you have useful info or a link about cycling in Switzerland more generally then please post it here.

I took some time to decide which section of EnglishForum this thread should be in and also asked some of the moderators for their opinions. I originally considered either the Transportation/Driving section or the Travel/Day Trips/Free Time section, because those are the main purposes that cycling serves for me. However, I decided to go with a democrat approach and see where other people had posted threads about cycling, and the Sports/Fitness section was a clear winner there. I've therefore opted for that section although I certainly agree that there are good reasons why it also belongs elsewhere.