I just arrived from the US to my new home--Zurich.

I am considering riding to Bern to visit a friend in a week or two. after some time on the cycling in switzerland site, and navigating the interactive map, it seems that some combination of the 84 and 94 regional routes will get me there, but I can't figure out how i'd get a useful (i.e. to take with me while i'm riding) map for an entire regional route. are there just maps of areas and do i need to get a few of the maps to patch together an entire route or am i missing some link? is there a store recommended where I can look at these maps?

any alternative/additional recommendations on planning a road ride from Zurich to Bern?

are there any current group rides, or anybody interested in company from a newbie zuricher roadie around saturday? I'm hoping for ~3 hrs easy/moderate road riding from zurich.

thanks! see you around the roads (and trails, once the mountain bike arrives via container)!

Welcome to the forum and to Switzerland!

Welcome
You can browse the EF calendar and sports section, there is a ton of useful info and bike-talk.

I did Berne-Zurich once in April. Started from berne after sightseeing, just before noon, and reached Zurich around 8 pm I think. I had used the inter-city main road instead of bike routes. Bike routes are safe, but on the flip side they can get too meandering, large sections are trails and can be hard on roadbike. If I were to do this route again (but I certainly won't), I would use bike routes for the first half of Zrh-Brn, because this is where traffic was heavy/dangerous; in particular there is a town about 40 km from Zrh that is a Swiss Post Logistics hub and huge truck movement there and not wide enough road. For the second half the main road should be fine.

Remember that daylight is very short nowadays; start early, and still carry adequate lights/reflectors/rainproofs to be on the safer side.

As for maps, I personally liked the CH map that you can pick up for free from the Youth Hostel in Zrh; it is not too detailed, but easy to keep referring to while riding. You cab buy the CH cycling route map from Post offices for about 20-30 chf; I found it a bit unweildy for a ride.

And remember to do a test ride on google maps

Have a nice and safe trip

Hey,

I sent you a PM about going for a ride on saturday. Let me know if you're up for it