Cyclotour du Leman
term1te
Posts: 1,462
I see there are over 150 people from the UK registered for the Cyclotour du Leman on May 18th. Thats heading towards 10% of the total registered so far. Anyone on here coming over for it? Its a great flat course 180km around lake Geneva with a rolling road block (if you are near the front). If you've got your head up, there are lovely views as you cycle through vineyards and past, but not over, mountains, the majority of the way next to the lake.
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My dad did it in the 80s...
left the forum March 20230 -
I did this a couple of years back and thought it was madness! Bunches of 100 plus racing along at over 40 km/hr (even I averaged over 37 km/hr for the event) with people sitting on tri-bars in the middle of the bunch, lots of crappy long, straight main roads and Swiss drivers (who often seem as bad as the average Brit) forcing their way past. In one village a '4x4' kept forcing riders into the gutter each time they met an oncoming car and in the end one guy (who admittedly was down on his tri bars) was unable respond in time and went into a parked car! Plus the Swiss like to maximise their profits by charging way over the top for entry (88 Swiss Francs or 98 for late entry) which includes a really crappy jersey that you are supposed to wear to take part. Don't think that I will be risking it again even if does almost go past my front door, given my real targets for the year are now about to come around. (Challenge Vercours, 3 Ballons, Morzine, Marmotte etc...)"an original thinker… the intellectual heir of Galileo and Einstein… suspicious of orthodoxy - any orthodoxy… He relishes all forms of ontological argument": jane90.0
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Not for me I'm afraid. I'd rather ride in the hills on quieter roads.0
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must agree with the comment about traffic and bunch riding and towns on this one: I did it three years ago and while I managed a shade over 4 hours and 20 minutes it was horrifically stressful for all the above reasons. And I was in a group of about 25; further back were enormous groups strung out for hundreds of metres. The organisers make it very clear that it must not be treated as a race.
The best way to ride round the lake is to start off in a small group at 6am on a sunny Sunday morning and make sure you go clockwise (for ease at junctions) and there's no "grand vent" forecast!0 -
I agree with some of the comments about bunch riding and people on their tri-bars, I even saw a couple of recumbants trying to get into the train one year. I'm not so sure about the comments on Swiss and French drivers, they are probably more considerate than those in the UK. That said, if you are going for a 4.20 time I can see it would be stressful.
I rode the 2014 edition yesterday, lovely weather, great views, yes there was some poor buch riding, and a lot of passengers in the train. At one point I got sworn at by a very irate American (passenger) and I'm still not sure why. I went off with the first group and it was fast, but there wasn't too much traffic around at 6.15 am, didn't quite make 4 hours 20, but only 5 minutes off. Generally the marshalling was good, the organisation was very Swiss and efficient and a massive bowl of pasta at the end. So I'm up for it again next year.0 -
robbo2011 wrote:Not for me I'm afraid. I'd rather ride in the hills on quieter roads.
Probably the same hills as me around Basel?0 -
Term1te wrote:I'm not so sure about the comments on Swiss and French drivers...
I didn't mention French drivers, just the Swiss. In my experience, if a Swiss driver thinks that they can squeeze past with a few cm to spare, they will. Conversely, you need to wave many French drivers past you. As ever, exceptions apply.
To be honest, I see a lot of parallels between the UK and Switzerland, both being 'right wing', hierarchical, inequitable, parochial, authoritarian and obsessed with cars. Unfortunately, the Swiss also seem to lack the British sense of humour...
The differences in car ownership preferences between Switzerland and here in France are certainly very marked, as even Tim Moore noted in his book French revolutions: cycling the Tour de France. Here it is all bog standard Renaults and Peugeots, in Switzerland it is all big Audis, those huge BMW and Porsche '4x4' things, with the youths preferring customised 'hot hatches'. Plenty of Maseratis and so on as well. No wonder Switzerland is Jeremy Clarkson's favourite country! I would tend to agree more with a friend who lives in Montreux, who calls it 'Hell in a Prada handbag'.
"an original thinker… the intellectual heir of Galileo and Einstein… suspicious of orthodoxy - any orthodoxy… He relishes all forms of ontological argument": jane90.0 -
BenderRodriguez wrote:Term1te wrote:I'm not so sure about the comments on Swiss and French drivers...
I didn't mention French drivers, just the Swiss. In my experience, if a Swiss driver thinks that they can squeeze past with a few cm to spare, they will. Conversely, you need to wave many French drivers past you. As ever, exceptions apply.
To be honest, I see a lot of parallels between the UK and Switzerland, both being 'right wing', hierarchical, inequitable, parochial, authoritarian and obsessed with cars. Unfortunately, the Swiss also seem to lack the British sense of humour...
The differences in car ownership preferences between Switzerland and here in France are certainly very marked, as even Tim Moore noted in his book French revolutions: cycling the Tour de France. Here it is all bog standard Renaults and Peugeots, in Switzerland it is all big Audis, those huge BMW and Porsche '4x4' things, with the youths preferring customised 'hot hatches'. Plenty of Maseratis and so on as well. No wonder Switzerland is Jeremy Clarkson's favourite country! I would tend to agree more with a friend who lives in Montreux, who calls it 'Hell in a Prada handbag'.
Very true :?
I've often wondered why in Montreux they built the Chateau Chillon under that massive flyover, I guess with the Swiss love of cars it makes sense.0 -
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robbo2011 wrote:
Can't beat Gantrisch for me (though the hills around Basel are very nice!).0
