Richie's go fast racing haircut!
Although the race was the highlight last weekend we had lots of fun on route, starting with seeing loads of pro cycle vans in Vaduz as the Tour de Suisse started here on Saturday. We took a long train ride to Albstadt through beautiful countryside and some other interesting sights.
solar powered fan
We arrived in time for a good pre-ride on Saturday with chance to soak up the race atmosphere. We’ve turned in to real racing geeks, lots of analysing the best lines and planning race strategies and comparing heart rates! Then it was a short train ride to a nearby town where we’d booked a hostel. Unfortunately it was a few km and a big climb from the station so when we saw a guest house opposite the station we thought we’d try for space. Turns out there was loads of room and it was only 20 euro. Sorted!
Next step was to find and Italian for some pasta. We wandered through a pretty town looking for the centre but everything seemed to be deserted and there were no restaurants in sight. Eventually we found someone to ask and he insisted on driving us up the road to a perfect Italian with great views over rolling green countryside.
We thought we had the train for the next morning sorted but a lack of German and Sunday timetables meant it didn’t show up at the time we expected and we had to wait an hour. There was just about time for me to get sorted and warm up but we were cutting it fine. Turns out this was the start of our luck running out with my puncture and Richie having porridge issues in his race!
I had to be back for college on Monday morning but since Richie is living the life of luxury he decided to stay on a few days and soak up the sun in Albstadt. I headed for the train and had a bit of a nightmare journey home missing connections, getting delayed, not being allowed on with my bike and finally missing the last bus back to Liechtenstein. The thought of riding 15km in pitch dark, with a huge rucksack, after a race, in pissing rain was not nice. Luckily I managed to get a lift on an off duty bus arriving home at midnight, 4 trains, one bus and nearly 5 hours after setting off!
It’s all a big adventure though and I’m certainly not complaining. Travelling to new places, riding new trails meeting people from all over the world, its great fun! Now packing again, heading to the Racer Bikes Cup in Winterthur tomorrow followed by a weeks fieldtrip to Immenstadt in Germany with college (which I’ve also heard is a great mtb location!).