The final member of our team arrived last evening. Chris arrival was delayed until last evening. His mother was celebrating her 102nd birthday. So he arrived yesterday morning at CDG airport and after issues with his baggage, he took a train from Paris to Colmar. Jan picked him up and they arrived last night in Rheinfelden just in time for dinner.
This morning we departed in very chilly temperatures under blue skies. It was going to be the longest day of the tour (120 km) and the most climbing so far (3,795 ft / 1157 m). After an 8 AM breakfast, we were on the road shortly after 9AM. We crossed the Rhine and took a group photo.
A bunch of happy cyclists off on our next adventure!
Left to Right: Eduard, Chuck, Brian, Jan, Doug and Chris
Crossing the Rhine, we left Germany behind and reentered Switzerland. Shortly after crossing the Rhine we encountered a challenging gravel road within view of the Rhine that required us to shift into our lowest gears and we climbed the short steep climbs occasionally kicking up gravel on the way. We then worked our way through industrial sections and then found the Rhine again and started to follow the river.
We found our coffee stop at about 27 km into the ride when Jan spotted it just as we were zipping by. We were off again in about 30 minutes, crossing the Rhine into a fairy tail town with breathtaking views of the river. Exiting the town, we encountered some very steep climbs that left us breathless.
What another coffee stop? Don't these guys ever ride?
The entire day we pretty much followed our way along the Rhine with the goal of reaching the Rheinfall, a spectacular location of the a waterfall in the Rhine. A very popular tourist attraction. On the way our route required some cross country riding that included carrying our bikes and riding on some very rough ground before finding our way to the Rheinfall.
Not exactly what we had planned
Gotta take a photo after all the effort
Epic Ride Weather correctly predicted the riding conditions today including the headwinds, temperature and cloud cover.
Brian
