As some of us have discussed at the cyclists meet up a few weeks back, we will start a regular EF mountain bike meet at the start of April.

I propose to meet at 18:30 April 1st as the first date. For the first few weeks, we should try to meet at 18:30 to take advantage of the light and then move it back to 19:00 once the evenings stretch a little more.

I suggest we do Zuriberg for the first few weeks as it is slightly less technical then Uetliberg and not as badly effected by rain.

If you are interested then post here and if there is enough interest I will post it as an event.

Small Print: We will be riding on singletrails, so minimum requirements are a reasonable mountain bike with knobbly tires.

Anyone participating in the EF rides are doing so at their own risk.

I'm in. 18:30 will be challenging but where there's a will there's a way. Thanks for organising.

Cheers Jekyll

Sounds good assuming work allows that day, will be good to get back on the mtb

This sounds great, Eire.
It will be a few weeks before I can join you, since I have visitors plus my broken ankle hasn't fully healed yet

But I'm looking forward to it (at least to try, the roadie that I admit I am). Always nice to have something fun to look forward to every Tuesday!

I would love to go except for the fact that my MTB has no suspension and I am a pretty crap mountain biker. How restrictive are these two conditions to my ability to enjoy?

The Zuriberg trails are easier then the Uetliberg trails. I would say they are possible to do on a rigid bike providing you are using off-road tyres and have decent enough wheels that will take a few hits. I think trekking bikes might be a bit out of their league, but any mountain bike should be OK.

In terms of biking ability, you just need to take a sense of adventure. You might decide to walk one or two sections, but the trails are not too challenging mostly, and difficulty is controlled by how hast you chose to ride the trail.

anyone noticining anything peculiar about the date

Good point! Only April fools would miss this ride

Don't worry the date is just a coincidence!!!

We may be the fools for trying to ride in the swamp that is left by the recent snow and upcoming rain....maybe we can get some warm dry weather to dry the trails by then

This is part of the reason why I suggested the Zuriberg side of town. The trails seem to dry up a little quicker there then Uetliberg. I was thinking the same thing this morning though. Hopefully the weather improves towards the weekend and gives the trails a chance to dry out and be all they should be!

I would love to do this, I'm currently searching for a bike in the duebendorf area, so maybe when I find one ill be in touch!

would love to but flying back to Zurich that night and won't make it in time, I'll join in next time - good idea

Normally April Fools pranks are meant to end by midday.

Sounds tempting, if I don't make it this week, hope to make it another time.

No April Fool's Day report.... the Uetliberg was soggy and nasty and foggy and rainy this morning. On the other hand I passed two other mountain bikers between 6 and 7 am so it couldn't have been that bad.

If there are other early morning cyclists out there let me know.

I'm afraid I won't be there this week - it's forecast to clear up this afternoon but it's still going to be very sticky.... Let's hope it dries up a little before next week.

I'm going to go anyway providing it stops raining. I was on Zuriberg on Saturday and it was fairly good, so I don't think it will be too bad this evening. (Ever the optimist). It should be quite a bit better then Uetliberg anyway.

So anyone on for coming?

this is one reason that road biking is much better, roads dry out quickly.

if the roads dry out and I can get out of the office at a reasonable time I will probably be doing a short road ride today if anyone is interested.

Its nothing that a washing machine and a shower won't fix!!!

You can use the same excuse for staying inside on the couch.

I'll join you guys (gender nonspecific guys of course) in May when I get back from Australia.