Minus Fourteen Lake Loop
After yesterday’s ride up to Magglingen showed that singletrails were in no condition to be easily ridden uphill, I opted to ride a loop I almost never do - riding around Lake Biel. The lake has nothing interesting to offer for a mountain bike and on a road bike the loop is about as exciting as riding a home trainer. So in the past, this has never been a ride I ever considered doing. The current Siberian temperatures however, added a challenging element to the loop and on the cyclocrosser I was able to stay off the roads for a big part of the ride. I crossed Biel and headed straight to the lake, then followed the lake along the south side all the way to Lüscherz. Here, despite the law requiring public lakeshore access, no trail follows the water. The straight stretch of road to Vinelz was too boring to take, so I climbed up to the Hofmannsfluh and found some real fun singletrack. Once in Vinelz, I followed the marked bike route to the harbor in Erlach. At St. Johannsen I had to jump on the road to cross the canal, where I turned right to ride through the old town of Le Landeron and to La Neuveville. Here, I got back to following the marked hiking trails through the vineyards. Ligerz approached quickly. The climb to its famous little church proved to be too steep on today’s icy patches. Past the church it was an easy ride to the entrance of the Twannbachschlucht, though occasional ice required to take the speed down a notch. I was happy that the last leg to Tüscherz and Vingelz included a few more short climbs. My toes were frozen to the point of falling off and each climb pumped some warm blood back into them. Those minus fourteen degrees added a good portion of challenge to the forty-two something kilometers. Despite the fact that I could barely walk the four floors upstairs at home, I would not want to miss out on such a small adventure.
