Hi all!

I'm coming to Zurich (from NYC) for six days on January 9 and hoping to do a bit of road cycling in and around a conference I am attending Jan. 10-12. Will be completely free Jan 13-14. Though I know it will be cold, I was hoping to get out anyways and at least ride around the lake or on other (relatively) lowland routes. Does anyone know if there are mid-week rides going even in the winter? Is there a bike shop that you'd recommend for more info on what is happening ride-wise (if anything)? I'll be bringing my travel bike with me.

Many thanks for the helpful info already up on the site and thanks in advance for any help someone can provide.

With warm wishes from frigid New York city!

David C

You may just want to bump this the day before you want to ride....all these last minute planning Swiss expats...

Hi David,
it's currently -2 degrees Celsius (-9 with wind chill factor) here at Zurich, so I don't think you will get many takers. There's ice on the roads too. I have seen a few hardy riders out but I'm not one of them any more. Most road cyclist hibernate until the end of February or train indoors and/or cross country ski.
-Barry

Or go mountain biking!

True, depends on the weather, I did do around the lake rides in the decade of the 00's when global warming was still in existence and the temperature would occasionally hover around 10 degrees C on a sunny January days and the snow was crap in the mountains. I know you newbies don't believe that but it did happen.

This is certainly the worst winter for road cycling in our 5 years here. I would normally be one of those hardy soles who makes it out on the road bike anyway, but not at the moment. I could just about handle the cold temperatures, but the roads are a mess around here at the moment, I expect they are worse in Zurich. I'm therefore very pleased that it is our first winter with an indoor trainer - it's getting lots of use.

I am certainly not a hardy rider but I don't let that prevent me from getting a ride once a week.

I would recommend riding over Albis pass, either returning on the same route or making a loop around Uetliberg back to Zurich. Yesterday evening I rode over Albis pass, and the road was perfectly clean, but it is very surprising for this part of the year.

I wouldn't recommend Lake Zurich because when you ride alongside fast moving traffic in the lowlands, even slight veering to avoid the possible roadside snow can be dangerous.

I would wear lights and reflective clothing even during the day as visibility can be bad. And many many layers, in case it isn't obvious

When I first arrived in Switzerland (1980) I was able to get out for a four hour ride on Christmas Morning. Blue skies, sunshine, deep snow on the fields - and roads clear of ice and snow. I'll always remember that ride in the area north of Zurich near the Rhine.

During the winter months, a few years ago, I rode to work daily on spiked tyres. Great for added confidence on ice, but on slushy snow no help. On my current road bikes with race tyres I'll stay at home.

Let us know if you are coming over in the non-winter months

Cheers,
-Barry

Today wasn't too bad, yesterday was a bit testie testing with the fog and wind.

Should have been out on Thursday night. Snow covered Uetliberg trail in the dark.

I also made it out on the snow-covered forest trails in the dark last week. The lights performed great, and the 35mm-wide studded tires on the cyclocross bike performed exceptionally well - I was amazed by the amount of grip I had on the fresh snow. I had a blast

For tips on MTBing in the snow, see this recent article at BikeRadar.

Slight change of topic.... am looking to buy a new road bike, ideally would like to pick up a discounted model / colour from last year. Most of the sports shops have reduced stock or removed altogether, any clues on where to look now or is it better to wait until the Spring? One of the staff in an Ochsner store said they move most of the stock to Glattbrugg but don't want to make a wasted trip.....

Thanks in advance,

Broon - there are lots of bikes going unsold on Ricardo.ch right now. You could get a good deal without getting into any bidding wars because you may well be the only bidder. I've been picking up a lot of cheap parts lately to build up bikes for friends.

If you want a new bike then go into a dedicated bike store (i.e., not a sports department store) and they should still have a good range of bikes on display at the moment, and will be a lot more helpful than the people in Ochsner. Plus, they'll have lots of time to assist you because they are pretty quiet at the moment.

We normally do a lot of winter night riding, but not this year for various reasons.

If your interested i can check out at work what we have, just let me know, we're in Frauenfeld.