I started very late (got a flat tire between car park and start line ), so most of the peloton's were already on the other side of the lake at this point. So no cool pictures of big groups flying down the road.

As you can see from this pic, it was really hard to concentrate on riding fast when all I wanted to do was enjoy the scenery. Brought my camera with me, but this is the only one that was in focus . Need a new camera I think...way too much weight to carry for one good pic.

We got a few good shots two years ago. This is the best one, taken from around the same place yours was. Hopefully we'll have nice weather for the ride in September.

I have a posted a description of my ride here
Road Cycling Routes (route discussions are on another thread)
for future reference, for the mountain course of this great event. It was great meeting the Lausanne EF crew and thanks for making it a great cycling weekend. I would encourage every keen cyclist to take part. Congratulations to all who participated.

http://www.cycling-challenge.com/cyc...a-montagnarde/

Here was another review of the mountain course which was funny with maps etc.

I was there, not sure if anyone saw me, was out for a run along the lakeshore, just before Geneve, early morning-ish, waving and hopp hopp, alez, allez-ing any orange clad cyclists I saw. Most people seemed to think i was quite mad.

Got first ride out on new stead today, and i can fly! well sort of, probably still a bit of a slowpoke, but way faster than on my old tourer. So could well make the race next year. Do we have any other dates for EF rides/races later in the year, for when i've done more than a handful of rides and have found some cycling muscles?

Hi Kate,

It's great that you were out watching the 'race' and cheering everybody on. A few of us observed independently that there were quite a few supporters out on the Geneva-Morges route, and trust me, after 120 km of riding full-out, it was much appreciated. Thank you!!!!

As I briefly mentioned in this post, later on this year we're planning on doing an organized lap of the lake (180 km) at a very leisurely pace, with the goal being just to get back to Lausanne before sundown for some well-earned greasy food and beer. Estimated speed: around 25km/h (with a bunch us from the lycra crowd taking turns at the front pulling the 'peloton' to keep the speed up!). This is geared towards the recreational riders as opposed to the serious roadies, and riders of all abilities are welcome to join in. I've not mentioned it in the forum yet (I think) but the date for this is the first weekend of September, so mark your calendar! We'll post it in the forum as an official event closer to the date, so keep your eyes peeled.

If you're looking for something a bit before that, dakman is planning on climbing the Klausen Pass the day the Tour de Suisse time trial passes through. I'm not yet sure that I can commit to this, but it looks like an awesome way to spend a day out on the bike. Also, now that I know you're in the neighbourhood, feel free to drop me a line and we can go for a ride sometime. I'm terrible on the hills, and could certainly do with a climbing buddy.

And by the way, congrats on the new wheels. I'm sure you'll grow to love them (if you haven't already!)

Cheers,

HeatherM

I see from your location you are in Zürich

dakman is organising the Thursday Road meetings, but it involves a lot of climbing.

Second Thursday Night Road Bike Ride (Zuri Oberland)

If you wish you could come with me one of this afternoons for an easy and flat ride Zürich-Horgen-Zürich we could do in 1 hour, and maybe we could also organise some easier meetings on the flat.

A tour of the zürisee could be interesting, almost 70 Km that could be done in 2h30 for example.

Anyway my "easy" means ~30 Kmh average speed, but we could go slower and enjoy the view.

Weather permitting, I go on mondays and fridays after the work to do Züri-Horgen-Züri (7:00-8:00) or Züri-Richti-Züri ( 7:00-8:30 )

Don't worry, I don't think the pace or the climbing will be a problem for Kate.

But why not come and show your new wheels off on Thursday evening Kate, or for that matter, show your slightly older wheels off on Tuesday evenings!

There are randomly long Sunday rides posted(4 to 5 hours), this usually isn't organized until fairly late though.

I'll stop by and ask when I'm next passing through.

September you say? Great, looking forward to it. I've only just started cycling so I've got some miles to do before then.

would love to and just might, sadly am working v. long days at the moment and am also trying to squash in some big runs whenever the opportunity arises. There's just never enough time!

I emailed NewBike and didn't get a reply. I also emailed this shop in Prilly, Lausanne who say they do have road bikes to rent:
http://www.rolandsports.ch/
Prilly is a bit far for me to drop by. Maybe some kind EFer who lives nearby could check them out to verify that promises match reality. I'll call in at New Bike when I'm passing that way.

Anyone notice if there was a photographer at the finish this year (a friend who participated is asking)?

I didn't see one directly at the finishline, and the Datasport Datapixx shop isn't showing anything for this year. There was a professional photographer less than 1km from the finish one for sure, but I don't know if these photos will end up online.

Heather

Stopped by and asked. Mountain bikes only for hire.

Do I see correcty that there is no La Montagne version this year? Wimps.

It is true, there is no mountain version of the CycloTour this year. However, there is an unofficial version of it happening. I noticed on the website of "The Bike", a bike shop in Pully near Lausanne, that they have an announcement of a ride on Sunday that sounds like it will use the exact route of last year's mountain version, and start at the same time and place as last year's did.

I can understand why they don't want to organize the official mountain version because it must be a lot of work and require a lot of people just to organize the main lake tour route. Adding in another event with an almost entirely different route on the same day must have been a bit of a challenge for them, and it was not hugely popular. There are plenty of other mountainous events during the year, so I think it is a good call to focus their resource on the main ride.

BTW, I wish everyone who is doing the ride this Sunday all the best. We'll be there on our bright red Co-Motion tandem, so say Hi if you see us. We'll probably be hanging around the finish area for some time after we're done, we have a lot of friends doing the event and we want to be there when they come in.

it is completely understandable, other than the food stands, there is not much for them to do on the Mountain route. have fun with the tandem.

Lauren and friends, i tried to read the website for the cyclotour but my french/swiss is really bad. it seems like it is in late May though. I am traveling to Geneva during the month of July (15-18th)2010 and will be around the area of Vesenaz close to the city. i am looking into renting a road bike 56cm and maybe doing the around the lake ride. it seems very nice ride for all day long. i understand it is about 100 miles long. can you guys recommend a place to rent the bike? is there a group that ride that route on the weekends? any information is welcome. thanks so much.