Weather appears suitable to stretch the legs for 2-3 hours on the road bike this Sunday. PM or reply with interest, and if enough interest we can post an event.

I'm planning to go skiing to profit at max the end of the winter.

But if I don't go skiing on sunday then I'd be up for it.

That should be funny. You might need an engine for your bike Salsa!

Hey, you're right - the weather is looking nice and warm for this weekend (well especially considering the time of year). But we already have plans in the mountains... So enjoy, and ride some extra km's for us!

I dusted off my bike Friday and went down to Ticino on Saturday -- great weekend to do some cycling! Hope you had a good ride today, I really should have gone out again.

So, when can we start squeezing in some evening rides?

Hillseeker, Advntr and I were talking about this on Saturday. We reckon we might try to get some evening rides going from April.

Hi,
Was just wondering if the weather is now good enough for evening rides and/or weekends rides.

Anything for this week? I am looking for company for something like 2-4 hour rides but am flexible. I am on a sturdy touring bike and think I can handle 20-25 kph if its a flat route (I was thinking I am a good cyclist until I read the statistics of veterans here)

Last year I organized a few English forum weekend rides leaving from Oerlikon, but as I will be leaving Switzerland at the end of May, am not planning on doing so this year. I definitely encourage you to start something up. There are also the Thursday evening rides which we will hopefully do again this year (organized by Hillseeker). Daylight savings time begins in 11 days (I believe) which should help.

This Saturday morning (weather pending) I am planning a 30.3 mile ride leaving from Oerlikon, which should take me just over 2 hours; includes a couple 400ft climbs (average pace 14-15 mile/hr). Will be similar to the rides I hosted last year. Others definitely welcome to join, send me a PM if interested. Route will look like this:

To be honest its a little early to safely organise evening rides, but this will happen probably from about mid April on.

As Patrick has already mentioned there are a few different groups who go out on the bikes.

Usually
Tuesday evenings are Mountain bike rides on Zuriberg or Uetliberg, organised by me.
Thursday evenings are Road bike rides organised by Hillseeker (and Dakman when he was here last year).
Sometimes we have weekend rides too which in the past have been organised by Patrick who posted previously.

Salsa Lover has talked about organising a more relaxed ride on either evenings or weekends for those who do not want to either Mountain bike or ride longer hilly rides which the Thursday rides normally are. I would imagine that he will try to organise some of these again once the evenings get longer. You can always post here yourself and see if you can get more people who want to go ride.

Hillseeker envisioned an environment where we would have about 2 groups or more riding at different paces and who could meet up for a beer afterwards. If we have enough people this might get off the ground this year.

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This message is a natural product. The variations in spelling and grammar enhance it's individual character. (Ski/Snowboard/Mountain Bike in CH)

I like this idea, then I have a slower group to ride with if I am over in Zurich for work on any Thursday evenings....

Hi, I am too rookie to start something...but let me try. I have been thinking of a Zurich-Lucerne-Zurich full day relaxed pace, with an hour or two to relax/look around in Lucerne. Tentative date: 28 March (Saturday). I have tried about 2/3rds of that route in Jan and felt that with company the full route can be managed. It will be stretching my limits, though. Will start a thread for it once I am better informed.

Patrick, I join you for the ride leaving from Oerlikon on Sat. Am writing an open response, just to let other not-so-confident cyclists know they will have company in case we need to break into two groups for pace reasons

Eire, dakman:
Thanks for the info. Anything for this Wed or Thu? Or are there threads I have missed? Anyway I wouldn't work too hard on Thu, since I have "my" big ride coming up on Sat, but pl post if there is something I can join.

Ah, it feels so nice that we are talking of cycling...my first cycling season in Swiss and I look forward to meeting you guys in person soon

There is a skiday in the calendar for 28th of March, I'm sure a few of the people who would be interested in cycling would be going to that so it may not be the best day for your Lucern cycle.

Also as I have said already it is too early to safely plan any evening rides. It is dark at 6:30 so there is no way we can get a ride in before dark. The time changes in two weeks so the middle of April will be the earliest that any group rides can be organised in the evenings. Because of this there will be no planned rides this week, during the week.

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This message is a natural product. The variations in spelling and grammar enhance it's individual character. (Ski/Snowboard/Mountain Bike in CH)

you need to get an voter initiative to move the clocks ahead a little earlier in the Spring. We moved two weekends ago already....now if I could just move some of those Zuri hills over here

I'll join up to the slower group on thursdays or any week day.
great

Hey, who was that addressed to? I am planning this for myself, and would love to have company.
Date: 18 March 2009
Time: 1600 hrs
Meeting point: The start point of the classical Lake Zurich (clockwise route).
Bike type: Any regular bike with no known mechanical problems.

One posssible route is the complete Lake Zurich (66.5 Km); takes me around 3 hours; could better it with company.
Alternatively, if people know shorter routes, we decide on the spot...The idea is to just kick off with a 1-3 hour trip anywhere. Wed/Thu are the best days according to weather forecasts...weekend might snow.

Thanks Dakman, Eire; I look forward to regular events from April.

I know of an earlier thread where someone recommended a "2-hr Lake Zurich" for a "relaxed ride with the Mrs." I hope you don't mean that slow

I try to talk with some figures thrown in; the words "slower" and "faster" don't convey much.

3 hours, is shall we say a comfortable pace.

You can go comfortably on a racing bike at ~28-30 kph on the flats and do the roundtrip of the lake in around 2 hours

3 hours is a touring pace of ~20kmh so that'd fit a "biking with the Mrs" approach.

now if you go with mblume or Eire you could do it in 1 hour as I heard ....

If you can hold mblumes wheel you might make it in that time... I'm more the 3 hour brigade... Especially at the moment.