Well then to keep more in line with rides, maybe we should all bring our bikes and Tacx and hillseeker can arrangement a competition...

Don't blame you Heather, could be a little chilly

Oh oh, I need a vocab list!

This part I have covered.

Don't worry there are other things we talk about occasionally.

Heather, no one could ever get tired of you!! Maybe tired from just watching you and all your energy sometimes, but never tired of you

That's amazing you got in thru the Maratona lottery. We loved riding (most of) that route a few months ago - Such beautiful landscape, you will love it!

Oh, and love the biking dudes - Very appropriate!

It doesn't always have to be a competition. It's just more fun that way

Maybe we can come up with a different kind of competition....maybe pint-related? Could apply all that past "training" we did in college parties...

This is worrying. Most of us get tired thinking about the Hillseeker exploits. There is a higher level again?

Just had a look at that Maratona event. Looks amazing. I would be in the team car of course

Something to get you all in the mood for this evening - making beautiful music with bicycles:

That was amazing, Chris - Thanks for sharing! Possibly a good idea on ways to pass the time when it's too cold outside to ride... (in addition of course to skiing, sledding, snowman-making, cross-country skiing, etc etc etc - It's so tough living in Switzerland, too many choices!)

By the way, a big THANKS to all of you for sending payment for the food!! We are all set... Now get back to work so you can get outta there and not be late tonite! Else we might save you some food, if you're lucky...

Oh one more thing... It officially starts at 7 but in case you're coming straight from work and want to get there earlier, it's no problem... I might aim for 6:30 myself. They open at 4:30 so if you're having a real tough day then you can get quite a head start!

The restaurant is at Badenerstrasse 571 - It's just behind the front street entrance to that building. When you see the address number, walk a little around the left side and you'll see Turbinenhalle back there. (If even I found it, I know you can!)

We'll be standing at the tables on the left side after you walk in. Sans spandex, but still you can always spot a bunch of cycling addicts a mile away can't you, with their quads bulging thru their pants and the itty-bitty skinny arms barely able to hold up their drink... Ha ha, good thing we're actually all "normal" and not like that, right??

Here's a funny thing from the internet ("Metal Cowboy") that might help ya get in the mode for tonite as well...


Are You Addicted To Cycling? Check Off All Which Apply To You (bonus points for speed, deductions for drafting)

• You know every traffic light sequence in the tri-county area for stop free pedaling.
• Either it’s a Brooks saddle or I will stand and pedal the whole way, thank you.
• You wear more tights than a children’s theater group performing Peter Pan.
• You have eaten pasta directly out of your front bag, while pedaling.
• You have more up-to-date knowledge of bike specs, gear and camping equipment than the staff at your local shop, the reps in your community and the editors at national magazines.
• You have a killer set of bodybuilder quads and a pair of angel hair pasta thin arms. That ten year old boy called again. He wants his biceps back.
• You don’t hate drivers as much as pity them in their steel cages, surrounded my shock jock rhetoric and their vague anger over how it came to this.
• You think about each hill as a cyclist, even when you are driving in a car.
• You calculate distances between cities by how long it would take you by bike. ( 21 bike days from St. Petersburg to St. Louis)
• You know how many miles you rode last night, last week, last year.
• You don’t find it over sharing to tell people you just met how many miles you rode last night, last week, last year.
• You have a Biker’s Tan. (bottom 2 /3 of your legs, lower 1/2 your arms, and two little circles on the tops of your hands)
• You get sad when your Biker’s Tan fades.
• You have nothing good to say about logging trucks or RVs with living fossils behind the wheel, or anything sporting wide mirrors.
• You have lost feeling in your hands, neck and groin for substantial periods of time, but still you consider it the fair price of doing business on two wheels.
• You have far too many photos of yourself on or around your bicycle next to signs at the top of mountain passes, Welcome To So and So State, National Park entrances, starting lines of bike rides, historic sites, and in front of bicycle shops.
• You’ve lost sleep over the trailer vs pannier debate - of course you own both.
• You can’t bring yourself to recycle any magazine remotely related to cycling. (Bicycling, Adventure Cyclist, Dirt Rag Bike, even that issue of GQ where Al Gore was on a bike)
• You’ve given your bike a nickname.
• You’ve used that nickname out loud -- in mixed company -- and felt no shame or embarrassment. Some of us aren’t so brave.
• You lift your butt off the car seat as you go over potholes, railroad tracks and speed bumps.
• You turn the air vents of your car to blow directly into your face and imagine you are on a bike ride.
• You own a pile of lightweight stuff that has multiple uses, and you’ve tested all of them in real life situations.
• You have enough funny/scary animals chasing me stories to close a bar of rowdy Irishmen or outlast a windbag uncle at the family reunion. (note: No windbag uncle? Hmm, could be you)
• You’ve slept in a church, playground, cemetery, farm pasture, yurt and jail voluntarily?) beside your bicycle.
• You know the other definition of Critical Mass.
• You are an expert at spotting thunderstorms, tornados, windstorms, marauding cattle and ice cream stands from a distance.
• You have been caught in a thunderstorm while still in the saddle blinking away water and grinning all the way home.
• You check your helmet mirror for what’s behind you even when you are off the bike and not wearing it.
• You hate headwinds, hills and trucks parked on the shoulder of any descent.
• You secretly love headwinds and hills, but those trucks parked on the shoulder of any descent are still the work of an angry god.
• You forget, much like a woman after childbirth, all the pain, headwinds humidity and hills within days of a long ride, and start dreaming about the next.
• You have coachroached: bonking so badly that you have to lie on your back, pull your arms and legs tight and spasm your legs into the air to relive the cramps. Take a picture of that sometime.
• You can say "My bicycle has been stolen!" in six different languages.
• Your bike is more expensive than your car. (if you even own one)
• You never ask anyone in a car if the road you are on has "hills" or "climbs".
• You wave to drivers with bike racks.
• You have convinced yourself and others that protein bars are tasty. Here, try the coffee, banana, peanut butter Sundae ones, they’re the best.
• You have tested your hypothermic limits and found that they can be expanded with pedal speed, layering and hot cocoa.
• You agree with the statement; "If everything feels in control, you just aren’t going fast enough."

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Those are excellent! Here are some more:

You Know You're A Cyclist When...

• Calories are actually needed, not evil.
• You can eat 3 bowls of ice cream for dinner without ill effects.
• You use your helmet as a hair-styling device.
• You think nothing of walking into public places dressed in tights like a super hero.
• You can give instantaneous directions to any corner in the city, but only for those using bike paths and public transportation.
• All of your pants have frayed cuffs and chain-grease marks.
• You keep deodorant and baby wipes at the office.
• You are polite to most everyone, you blush at some rap songs, but you swear like a drunken sailor when a grandma in an SUV cuts you off.
• You've been asked if you're a tap dancer.
• Although you speak only English, you're perfectly capable of pronouncing several words in Italian.
• The friend who was so happy to see you on his morning drive wonders why you gave him the finger when he honked.
• When someone asks for advice on buying a bike, you either:

a) ask, "How many thousands do you want to spend?"
b) assail them with so many questions about intended use, riding style and the like, not to mention such personal questions as pubic bone height, that you make buying a bicycle sound like rocket science and unintentionally put them off the idea.

• When that same person reacts by saying, "It's only a bicycle," your jaw drops and your eyes bug out, and you're only half kidding.
• When you encounter rough pavement, you say to yourself, "Ah, pave," and daydream about leaving the peloton in your dust as you speed through Arenberg Forest.
• A car goes by with two (your preferred gender here) carrying two bikes. Later, you can't recall their hair color or what make car, but you can ID the bikes' make, model and color.
• You have 3 bikes and you absolutely need more.
• You sometimes wish you had a longer commute to work, just so you could ride more.
• You ride 50 miles, one way, with a twenty in your pocket and if you actually buy something, you consider leaving the change because of the weight.
• You select a restaurant because of its charming, outdoor dining. Your bike is 23 inches away. You lock it anyway. But you can't enjoy your meal because you can't take your eyes off your bike.
• You consider the color of the bikes hanging from your ceiling when selecting home decor.
• You missed more than two family events this summer due to scheduling conflicts with club rides.
• You and your friends can recreate the "Jaws" scene where Quint, Brody, and Hooper compare scars, each with an even better story behind it, except yours go something like "This is from a 1990 Buick station wagon that turned left in front of me and put me over the hood."
• Another cyclist asks you for the location of the nearest bike shop; you fix their bike on the spot.
• Your idea of surfing consists of drafting buses, minivans, and SUVs to keep up with the green wave.
• You practice track stands and bunny hops in your spare time.
• You can't think of the last time you saw any of your friends who don't bike.

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Out the door I go! I should be there by 8 if all goes well.

See you soon!

Thanks everyone for a great evening of cycling talk Great to see you all and many many thanks to Hillseeker for organizing.

Yup, thanks to Hillseeker for organising. Great to catch up and meet like-minded folks, and Woodsie. Getting the push to leave was probably a great thing in hindsight, for those of us working today

Kudos to the organiser(s) for making it happen: it was really nice to meet so many of you, in this relaxed atmosphere.
I am finally able to put some faces behind many of these nicknames (now I know that Nathu is actually NOT a green monster, for instance... ).

I hope to see plenty of you in the hills (on the roads, trails, tracks or slopes...),

Cheers,

Sylvain

I felt somewhat similar when the alarm clock went off at 6:45 this morning.

Thank you Hillseeker for organising and everybody for a good time.

Yes, it WAS a great time last night! Thanks to you all for coming!! It was great to see so many people we've biked with, this time in actual clothes... hardly recognized some of you without the helmet and chain grease marks

And too bad some of you couldn't make it... You were missed. But no worries, there will be another chance in the future - I'm sure of it

Thank you to all of you asking about payment for the drinks... I haven't gotten to do add it all up yet - and tonite we're leaving for a weekend trip to Vienna. So if it's ok with you, I'll let you know when I'm back Monday. No problem on my end since I haven't had to pay yet - They're sending the bill in the mail (gotta love the Swiss!). So just you don't go moving away or something...I will track you down...

Have a great weekend - and if you ride, ride some extra kilometers/hills for me... and I'll be sure to have some extra Wiener Schnitzel for you

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Thanks hillseeker for organizing, and to everyone else who came and made it such a fun time. I mentioned to several people who were there my idea to go to Mallorca in March for an early cycling trip, to get the legs warmed up at the start of the season just like the pros do . I'm glad that some of you were interested in joining, I put more details of the trip and summarized all of the other events that have already been discussed for next year over in this thread. Please add anything you'd like to say about it to that thread.
Road-cycling multi-day adventures in 2009: Ventoux, Mallorca, Graubunden, UK, ???

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Cycling in Switzerland | Photo blog (mostly travel pics from Switzerland)