Surviving Winter

Winter turned out to be fairly short but pretty hardcore. For two months all the trails around Zürich were covered in snow with sub zero temperatures. Having survived a couple of winters here I’ve learnt its better to embrace the weather rather than fight it. No more long freezing roadie rides or mind numbing roller sessions. This year I did a big mixture of things – xc skiing (fitness), dh skiing (adrenaline), bouldering, weight training, trail running, and of course lots of sliding around in the snow on mountain bikes.

After a while darkness, grey skies, millions of layers of clothing, rides where meter deep snow meant more time spent going over the bars than going forward, and the novelty of variety began to wear off and all I wanted to do was ride a bike properly. So at the end of February we drove 5 hours south to Finale Ligure for a weekend to ride in the dust, swim in the sea and eat icecream. A solution that solves all problems. Since then the benefit of a few years Swiss riding experience has paid off and learning to hunt out the south facing slopes has meant getting a good bit of riding done on real trails, sometimes even up in the Alps.

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