Switzerland

The last few weeks have been a bit hectic relocating to Switzerland and adapting to a new job and a new life – exciting times but there is also a lot of hassle involved so its lucky October is the off-season and I haven’t been trying to train. I now have a place to live, a residence permit, a Swiss bank account, compulsory health insurance, a Swiss phone number, a few people to go biking with, a few more people to go partying with, and a few words of Swiss German.

Zurich seems to be quite an eclectic city. Super rich, sharply dressed bankers with horrible slicked back hair driving fast sports cars. Trendy graphic designers, artists and architects posing in cool cafes. Adventurous types taking the opportunity to do every adventurous sport you can think of in the surrounding mountains.

A few general observations:
Switzerland is THE most expensive place I have ever been in my life but you always get good quality for your money.
Shops are never open when you need them, EVERYTHING is shut on Sundays.
Supermarkets have a bigger selection of chocolate, cheese and yoghurt than you could ever think possible.
Swiss German sounds like gobbledegook and is entirely incomprehensible.
Rules are there to be followed, everything is accurate, it is not acceptable to be fashionably late.
The hills here can be steeper than you would think possible, biking down such hills in the wet with summer race tyres can be scary.

Riding to work along the edge of woods full of trails looking at views of the Alps is a bit of a killer but the weekends are good. Paragliding, lakeside running and chasing freeride mountain bikers down hills have counteracted all the Swiss cheese and chocolate – so far the weather has been great but I’m starting to get scared about winter. Weeks of pedalling on a turbo in the basement could be looming…