Summer is here and to make the most of the long evenings I thought about trying to arrange some evening Mountain Bike Tours in and around the Zurich area. The idea is that these tours would be sociable and aimed at encouraging people to get out and enjoy the summer evenings rather then be a sufferfest or a training ride. Anyone can take part, but a reasonable Mountain Bike with knobbly tyres and at least front suspension is advisable. Helmets are obligatory and gloves are recommended.
From Zurich there is an amazing infrastructure for exploring the surrounding countryside by bike. There are nice tours that can be done on Zuriberg and Uetliberg and in past summers we have had a regular Tuesday evening rides on Uetliberg. This year I propose that we go exploring a little more. I’ll give a few examples of what is possible below but it would be great if other people came along with ideas too. The format would be to meet at between 18:00 and 19:00 depending on what is being planned then ride for a couple of hours and at the end go for a pizza and a drink.
The S-Bahn trains do not allow bikes to be carried between 16:00 and 19:00 in the evenings, but the IR and RE trains do. This means that rides in or near Baden, Pfaffikon SZ, Lachen, Biberbrugg, Einsiedeln and a few other places are all easily accessible from Zurich HB for an evening ride. This allows a regular change in scenery so that nobody gets too bored with doing the same loop all the time, encourages people to discover areas that they might not normally ride and will hopefully be a bit of a motivation to get out of the city mid week. Most of the routes in the area can easily be adapted to suit varying standards of riders and hopefully provide some enjoyment for everyone who wants to take part.
Carrying a bike on the train: SBB allows us to carry our bikes on the train for a small fee. This is usually a second ticket for the route (half price ticket if you have a halbtax card) or a 15CHF (10CHF with halbtax) day card for your bike (whichever is cheaper). You can also get a bike GA which allows you to carry your bike on the train for a year. This costs 195CHF. The last option is to get a Transa Bag for about 80-90CHF which will fit your bike in with the front wheel off. Your bike is then considered luggage and can be carried for free. The lighter Transa Bags can be packed up small enough to fit in your back pack.
A few ride ideas:
Lachen to Rapperswil: We can get the Glarner Sprinter to Lachen (arriving at 18:08) or Pfaffikon SZ (arriving at 18:39) and ride around the Top of Lake Zurich (Obersee). On a nice evening there is a possibility to stop for a swim in the lake and then have a bite to eat overlooking the lake in Rapperswil before getting the train back to Zurich. This route is relatively flat and not too technical.
Biberbrugg: We can get there with bikes in 38 minutes from Zurich HB by IR and S-Bahn. There are a couple of different routes of various degrees of technical difficulty near Biberbrugg.
Baden: Only 15mins from Zurich HB. There are a few routes near Baden that I have heard of but don’t know personally. Maybe someone who knows these routes could show us around.
Altberg: Directly accessible from Zurich with no train access needed.
Zurich – Pfannensteil – Rapperswil (or Meilen): Directly accessible from Zurich and a train back from Rapperswil.
Zurich – Sihlbrugg: A ride over Uetliberg out towards the Albis ridge and dropping down to Sihlbrugg. A train back from either Sihlbrugg or Zug is possible.
Anyone taking part does so at their own risk!
If interested leave a comment below.
