Should I Be Worried About Riding In Switzerland?

Got asked about riding in Switzerland and the Alps in general by an American guy who was worried he'd be overwhelmed by the Alpine experience and swarmed by faster riders as he putters along enjoying the scenery. Here's what I told him:

There’s nothing about the tightness of the roads, the sharpness of the curves or the mountain altitudes that makes riding here a recipe for disaster. Just go ahead and ride slowly – lots of people do – and enjoy the vistas. Set realistic goals for a day’s ride, with lots of time budgeted for photos stops – you’ll want to take one approximately every seven meters. 

Add time for long coffee and meal breaks and you’ll be lucky to ride 200 km per day. A good way to calculate riding times here is that one mile of riding in the States = one km in the Alps. Overall, you’ll be lucky to average 50 km/h in Switzerland. The maximum permissible speed on the backroads is 80 km/h, and the Swiss take speed enforcement to a spectacular level of efficiency, complete with hidden speed cameras and LIDAR armed personnel, all coupled with exorbitant fines. (In extreme cases they may charge one-third of an offender’s annual income. Yes, really.) One must be vigilant for speed limit signs everywhere, as the limit may change for noise abatement in a nature preserve or any other reason, so it’s not always intuitive what the limit of any stretch of road might be as it tends to be here in Germany, or in Austria. 

Anyway, you generally won’t find crazy knee-down riders destroying your confidence while you putter along; instead you’ll find well-disciplined riders sharing the road with you who are also trying to follow the rules while enjoying the scenery. Slightly faster riders will pass you politely, with a wave or a foot stuck out to say hi. And yeah, once in a great while a crazy knee-down rider will pass you. No big. Let it go. 

And speaking of waving, you’ll see a thousand bikes on the roads, and they all wave to each other. And, just like in the States, they pump their hand in a downward motion when they mean for you to ride with caution due to speed enforcement or an accident around the next bend. 

In all, the feeling of solidarity among riders here is very high. You’ll always have the feeling you are among friends. And you are.

Favorite Padfoot picture to date

Padfoot among the Dandilions

Flowers flowers everywhere...oh, wait, nevermind. They're just weeds.

Please say hello to 'Padfoot'

Sadly, despite nine lovely years together and many adventures, Ol' Blue's time had come. He was due for more maintenance than I wanted to invest in, and given the chance to make a quick cash sale, I had to let him go. I'd been shopping for a Camhead 12GS for some weeks, and when I stumbled upon this beauty being offered for a very enticing price, I knew it was time to act. So long Ol' Blue, hello Padfoot. 

Padfoot is a 2011 30th Anniversary Edition, which means it came with black spoked wheels, tinted screen, cylinder guards, and white plastic parts with '30 Years GS' stickers, and a red saddle.. The original owner swapped out the stock white plastic parts for OEM 'Sapphire Black' plastic parts, and took a black saddle instead of red. Had only 10,522 km on the day of sale.

For some reason, used bikes here in the south run about 20% more than bikes in the northern 3/4 of Germany, and this was no exception. A similar year/km unit here in the south would've cost me around 14,000 euros with no boxes or goodies. Price of this one was 12,300 Euros and included the TT Zega Pro boxes and a BMW tankbag, The round trip to pick it up near Muenster in NW Germany cost me about 300 euros, but not only was I still saving a ton of money but it turned into a great road trip with my friend Alex. We drove the six hours to pick up the bike, then three hours south where we stopped overnight on the way home to drink beer and play darts with our old darts buddy Sepp who moved away last December. So the trip was a blast, forget the expense!

I added the GSA black & tan saddle, I think it's much more comfortable and I like the extra height for my long legs. Wish I'd had it for the 7-hour trip home.

The license plate says ICE 9 the best I could with the limitations of the German DMV: IC3 9.

Couple of nice shots of Ol' Blue

I want this bike -- or at least the paint job

Why I Ride

No, that's not why - that's just a sign seen on part of a trip with riding buddy Manfred to the Bavarian Forest and Czech Republic. Well, we were in CZ for lunch at least. Sorry, but we never slowed down long enough to take a single picture of the fantastic roads and scenery we found all the way there and back. You'll have to come visit to see those for yourself. Then you'll know Why I Ride! And here's another reason I ride, summed up in this pic of me and 'Mamfie' sharing a laugh and a brew at our hotel stop in Marktl, Bavaria after the third of three consecutive 500 km days. Big smiles all around for the great riding. (Plus, ya shoulda seen the waitress --Yow!)