Distance:   36.43km (singletrail: ca. 8km)
Elevation:  657m
Duration:   2h40
Avg. Speed: 13.6km/h
Details:    gpsies, trainingstagebuch
TCX file:   TCX file (including elevation alerts)

Last Wednesday I went for the second time to an organized biketour. Just perfect weather conditions for a tour like that. Hot, like in summer and no cloud to be seen anywhere!

Meeting point was the factory shop of Transalpes. When we started, we were 12 people (9 of them had a transalpes bike and I was the only one with a hardtail bike).
The tour sounded promising and was interesting from the beginning. Unfortunately after some time I got a major fissure in my tire. We split the group, 2 people staying with me while the others continued their tour.
Notubes couldn’t help fix the hole. So I had to replace the notubes system with a normal tube. No big deal, but a bit gluey and dirty. I thought, great I’m the new guy with the flat foot!
We then took the normal street instead of the singletrail on the Albishorn to meet the other at the Restaurant Schweikhof and admire the moon!
After having some beers and others we took more or less a direttissima back to Zwillikon. First on cart tracks which turned to nice and flowing single trails at then end.

All in all a great experience and it was just funny and great. I had a lot of fun despite my small incident.
I’ll be there on the next full moon tour!

By the way nobody was really surprised I got a flat foot with these tires (Schwalbe Racing Ralph), as the general mood in the group recommended the Schwalbe Nobby Nic. The Racing Ralph seems to be famous for not being that solid. I used the Nobby Nic during Winter so I just reused them now, hoping it’ll be better now.

Distance:   28.27km (singletrail: ca. 2km)
Elevation:  1200m
Duration:   2h39
Avg. Speed: 10.6km/h
Details:    gpsies, trainingstagebuch
TCX file:   TCX file (including elevation alerts)

Inspired by RedOrbiter Panoramatour am Rigi Südhang.
Nice but hard uphill to Rigi-Kaltbad. Mostly on paved roads with grade > 10%. You’ll need to walk a small part at the end of the road. Nice scenery though! Ideal for spring time as mostly on southern parts.
The last part going up is on unpaved, quite bumpy road. After going up you’ll bike on a nice and easy trail to Rigi-Kaltbad. This part is not  recommended for weekends as much hikers will share the path with you!
Going down is no fun at all! Very steep on a bumpy, gravelled road with a rain channel every 10m!
This tour is not recommended!!! (Especially the downhill part is very boring and annoying)

Distance:   53.01km (singletrail: ca. 12km)
Elevation:  1253m
Duration:   3h36
Avg. Speed: 14.7km/h
Details:    gpsies, trainingstagebuch
TCX file:   TCX file (including elevation alerts)

Inspired by Chregu’s Rund um den Alpnachersee.
Very nice tour for spring. Uphill on a small road not very steap, first to Fräckmünd (1416m), then to Renggpass (886m). You’ll need to carry your bike for 10min to Renggpass.
Mostly on south hillside, so good option for spring!
The downhill from Renggpass is great and nice if you want to learn to drive some serpentines!
Unfortunately the trail was closed by lumberjacks, but happily it was Saturday evening and no work ahead anymore. So I decided to drive trough. I had to walk around some stems and steel cables but it was worth it.
Back in Lucerne there was Chilbi at Allmend and Stadtlauf in Lucerne. So some big mess, which is why I had to drive like a drunken man…
But great tour worth do!

Distance:   42.48km (singletrail: ca. 7km)
Elevation:  1091m
Duration:   3h26
Avg. Speed: 12.3km/h
Details:    gpsies, trainingstagebuch
TCX file:   TCX file (including elevation alerts)

I got the gps data from seppibucher. So thank you, seppibucher! I changed the starting point a little, bringing it nearer to Zurich.
You can park your car at the football training field of Neuheim (see end point on gpsies).

The tour starts directly with some single trails and some nice tracks along the Sihl! Fantastic scenery with some small tunnels! The uphill to Gottschalkenberg runs on a small paved road without any difficulties. The downhill afterwards is interesting and “speedy”. Take care of hikers (especially on weekends!).
You’ll have fantastic scenery on top of Gottschalkenberg in every direction. You’ll also see some monastery on your way.
The last circle along Lorze has nothing special to get and can easily be cut off!

Nice tour without any big difficulties!

Thx to Rob for the good company .

Distance:   47.74km (singletrail: ca. 7km)
Elevation:  1486m
Duration:   3h34
Avg. Speed: 13.3km/h
Details:    gpsies, trainingstagebuch
TCX file:   TCX file (including elevation alerts)

Taking the gps information from gps-tracks, I tried a tour in the Zürcher Oberland. Sounden promising, the tour was not too bad. It had a bit too much paved road in my gusto, but all in all the existing singletrails were interesting but not too difficult!
Some parts of the ascent were really heavy, so be sure to keep some power during the trip…

I had to start the tour twice, because on the first day I had a new chain which did not work with some front gear, so I had to turn back and fix it first.

CAUTION: There is a not driveable iron stair at about km 41!

Distance:   24.12km (singletrail: ca. 4km)
Elevation:  834m
Duration:   4h09
Avg. Speed: 11.0km/h
Details:    gpsies, trainingstagebuch
TCX file:   TCX file (including elevation alerts)

Because of bad weather predictions we decided to go for a small “good-luck” trip around the corner. The start will wake you up from the beginning. 20% and more grades along a single trail will force you to push hard!
Unfortunately there were quite some un-driveable sections because of stairs. One part was even closed because of rock fall. We decided still to pass. No problems occured.

So you might take the path the other way round, especially the first 8km.

During the trip it got darker and darker and the temperature fell suddenly. We managed to get home dirty though. But it was just a matter of minutes.

Distance:   43.13km (singletrail: ca. 5-10km)
Elevation:  586m
Duration:   2h50
Avg. Speed: 15.2km/h
Details:    gpsies, trainingstagebuch
TCX file:   TCX file (including elevation alerts)

Röbi and me were inspired by this original track to really start the mountainbike season. Something rather easy with not too much elevation.

It was rather easy but still nice, really nice scenery and some interesting single trails although most of the part is done on forest tracks.

It was also the first time I’m using Stan’s notubes system (on the front wheel only, as the back wheel rim has a fissure and needs to be fixed first).

Seems to work quite good so far, but I need to deflate the tire, it’s way too hard now

Unfortunately no pics, as iphoto crashed and just deleted them!

Distance:   53.36km (singletrail: ca. 18km)
Elevation:  1523m
Duration:   4h09
Avg. Speed: 13.0km/h
Details:    gpsies, trainingstagebuch
TCX file:   TCX file (including elevation alerts)

My trip started with a double platter, probably due to horse chestnut in Ticino.

I got the trail parts from Vazifar last year. So the track is not unknown to me. But this time I suited it to my needs and especially removed the part in the Reppischtal, as the street there is often closed due to shooting exercises from the army (see also Waffenplatz Reppisch).

The trip includes some of the best singletrails around Uetliberg! It’s a very varied trip with a lot of different singletrails.

There’s just some short snowy spaces left, especially after Buchenegg. But all ridable!

Distance:   24.37km (singletrail: 1km)
Elevation:  613m
Duration:   1h50
Avg. Speed: 13.3km/h
Details:    gpsies, trainingstagebuch
TCX file:   TCX file (including elevation alerts)

Easy starting along the Ticino. Uphil (10-15%) on a small paved road, as almost always in Ticino . You’ll then follow a small trail on a stony path downhill. There are lot of leaves which makes the path slippery. Some turns are quite exposed, so be sure to not fall.
After the short trail you’ll land on paved roads again and ride along Bellinzona. You’ll encounter the castle “Castello di Sasso Corbaro”.
Except from the short trail no difficulty and nice scenery.

Distance:   30.68km (singletrail: 1km)
Elevation:  1010m
Duration:   2h21
Avg. Speed: 13.0km/h
Details:    gpsies, trainingstagebuch
TCX file:   TCX file (including elevation alerts)

Uphill on paved path or street, panorama route on forest track. On one small part you need to carry your bike on stairs going up.
Nice scenery, no difficulty.

What is SNA

- how can I measure, analyze, predict a social network
- focus on relationships
- actors are viewed as interdependent
- high complexity
- nodes and edges

- example maps of science http://tinyurl.com/arqu6f
- flat analysis, eg keyword analysis
- SNA-approach, eg. actors position, reputation measurements

Theory

- one mode: single set of actors
- two mode: two actors (eg books, buyer)
- metrics connectivity how is a graph connected
- metrics centrality: who is the most important node in the network?

I know there are some more, Axon Active is having some more on their analysis…

Business case “content curation”

- you have 2493 new updates, I want only top 5% content
- based on social position of person/posting
- 7tweets

Business case “social search”

- sth between Google and your friends
- leverage friends of friends
- output is people that potentially can answer your yuestion
- aardvark

Looking ahead

- still a lot to discover
- parallel computing
- geolocation
- politics, legal and privacy is a big issue (eg. voice over ip, calendars, email, chats, …)

Technical set of tools

- database, index
- visualization max to 40 points
- no further details
- analyzing twitter: 10Mio people, 20Bio connections on flat files

Discussion about twitter vs. buzz…

Website

- they use magento and drupal as base
- website is a mashup of lot of services (eg. wordpress, picturepage, twitter, …)
- logo with logotournament
- website is a mess, this is on purpose (working progress)
- they use google wave and gdocs for meetings and similar

Opensource Business

- they try it the open source of their business and post everything related on their site
- even their calendar is public!
- private blogs, images, links of every member of the company is integrated

Specializing

- some specializing is needed
- selling stockings for girls
- stockings eshop already exist a lot
- shouldn’t be a 0815 shop
- trying to get a relationship with the customer with their opensourcness
- service-oriented commerce

Shop A vs. Shop B

- Shop A is their trial shop (where they can try some fancy stuff)
- Shop B is their real shop

Trial on Shop B

- shopping cart as a service
- shopping from a picture: click on a item in a random picture to buy the item (similar to video)
- when time goes on, replace magento features with “services”

Difficulties

- Get the products from the manufacturer for a devent price

They are at the very beginning but with some general interesting ideas. Imo they are a little dazzled by the revenues of the private sales from Germany and France. Some ideas will be really difficult to realize.

- everybody can be a future customer of you
- if you can explain yourself, take the chance
- focus on loud voice, benefits of your products or service

Whats important

1. you
2. your business card for opportunities, see moo.com for inidividual cards
3. your website (do it on your own)

Introduce yourself

- introduce yourself is very important, so practice!
- tell what you’re doing from a point of view of the customer in the first sentence!
- try to be specific, eg special project, your specialisation
- what are the benefits for the customer
- talk about something what makes the customer curious
- what does it mean

Elevator pitch

- try to get appointment with your customer
- give additional information by introducing yourself
- make a relation to your counterpart (eg. tell him about your experience after listening to his presentation)
- offer benefits (eg. save money, innovative product)
- make him curious
- get an appointment (eg can I call you …)
- trust, so keep your promise!

Business Success Teams

- This is kind of a product or procedure which has been defined by her consulting company.
- SMART = Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Timely
- Mtg: 1) Info status 5min, 2) mutual support with advice, action 15-20min, 3) Home Work

- Indian difficult to work with
– boss decides
– not self driven
– always says “yes”

- eastern europe near shoring works better
– culture near ours
– good workers
– managers from eastern europe can be too hard in negotiations (loose-loose situations)
– most are in EU (can freely move, “legal” law, less bribing, but more expensive)
– best choice: 1-2 time zones away, none european state like Russia or Ukraine
– big cities more expensive, more fluctuation, more competition, but less expensive fligths easier to reach
– the further east the lower salary
– 20-40 US$ / hour

Selection criteria

- select large, non patriarchic company (stability, structure)
- small companies have large fluctuations, because most of the developers there don’t want to work for small companies
- check 2-3 references (still active)
- look for pragmatic contracts (non US contracts)
- some companies have mgmt in Europe, workers offshored might be a good option

Is it cheaper on the bottom?

- first criteria still pricing, but in the future it will be more and more not finding the people
- costs by factor ~4 in Eastern Europe (without communication costs, unproductivity, …)
- even with all costs taken factor will be down > 50%
- marketplaces like rentacoder.com or odesk.com only for very small projects

Howto pay

- Bank transfer

Availability / Expertise

- depends on technology ruby seems very rare in Eastern Europe
- if longterm perspective check network of company

What to offshore?

- everything important is kept here
- several options possible
- e.g. mgmt, CTO here and 12 developers offshore
- part of developer here, part of it offshore

Collaboration, Direct communication

- I want to have the developer near me (eg for scrum, pause talks, 1:1 communication, …)
- IM, video conference instead phone only
- Very important: you have to see each other on a regularly base. At least once 3-4 month

For one, sth completely different. Howto for some awesome cookies:

Zutaten:
* 150 gr Butter
* 100 gr Zucker
* 80 gr Rohrzucker
* 180 gr Mehl
* 2 Pack Vanillezucker
* 1 Ei
* 100 gr Haselnüsse gehackt (ich nehm da jeweils gehackte Mandelsplitter)
* 1/2 TL Backpulver
* 1/4 TL Salz (nehm da meist etwas mehr)
* 150 gr Schoggistückli

Zubereitung:
1. Butter und Zucker schaumig rühren
2. Vanillezucker dazu
3. Ei zugeben
4. Mehl, Salz, Backpulver dazu
5. Nüsse und Schoggi dazu

Teig ganz einfach in kleinen Häufchen aufs Blech klecksen und bei 175 Grad 12 - 14 Minuten backen

Distance:   48.19km (singletrail: about 13km)
Elevation:  931Hm
Duration:   3h01
Avg. Speed: 15.9km/h
Details:    gpsies, trainingstagebuch
TCX file:   TCX file (including elevation alerts)

Inspired by TobiTobi I chose the well known Altberg extended by the Elefantentobel.

The trip goes along the Limmat until after Höngg in Zurich. Interesting part of Zurich! Didn’t know this scenery there so far. At the beginning it was quite cold and foggy, but short after going up I got into the sun! After about 250Hm you’ll reach the Altbergtrail. You’ll follow the trail on normal forest tracks until you reach the restaurant Waldschenke

From the Altberg I crossed the ETH Hönggerberg (they have very modern sports facilities, haven’t seen that one until now!), going trough Käferberg until Irchel then going up to the Zoo of Zurich on some interesting trails (tricky one going up as well). Shortly after passing the Zoo and the skating park of Dolder I reached the Elefantentobel trail which follows a small stream. Nothing special there, but okay as track extension.

With this track I reached my year goal of 100′000 elevation meters by cycling (normal work drive excluded).

Distance:   72.12km (singletrail: about 19km)
Elevation:  1944Hm
Duration:   5h01
Avg. Speed: 14.3km/h
Details:    gpsies, trainingstagebuch
TCX file:   TCX file (including elevation alerts)

Inspired by TobiTobi I did my longest mountainbike track yesterday. I knew most interesting parts of the whole trip, but it was still interesting. Sometimes it was too muddy and slipery to bike

There are 4 hills to climb: Üetliberg, Heitersberg, Lägern (Hochwacht) and Altberg.

5′186 Hm left to reach the 100′000 by cycle this year.

Würde ich an einem HMO-Modell teilnehmen, wäre die Erhöhung deutlich niedriger. Doch habe ich 2 Gründe, wieso ich das HMO-Modell nicht möchte:

1. Ich will nicht 3 Tage auf einen freien Termin meines Arztes warten.
2. Wenn ich eine Sportverletzung habe, weiss ich, dass ich zum Spezialisten muss. Der Umweg über den Hausarzt kostet *mich* dabei nur zusätzlich Geld.

Es gibt dennoch eine Möglichkeit, sich nicht zu verpflichten zuerst zum Hausarzt zu gehen und der Preiserhöhung trotzdem zu trotzen:

1. Ich wähle einen Hausarzt nach Wahl. Der kommt nur ins Spiel, wenn ich ernsthaft krank/verletzt bin.
2. Ich trete dem HMO-Modell mit dem oben gewählten Arzt bei.
3. Bin ich nun krank, gehe ich zB zur Permanence am HB. Wo ich hingehe, spielt mir keine Rolle, denn ich zahle in der Regel den Betrag sowieso selbst (Franchise erreiche ich kaum).
4. Sollte ich vermuten, dass ich ernsthaft krank bin, oder bemerkt dies die Permanence, dann breche ich hier ab und gehe zum Hausarzt.

Im besten Fall gehe ich selten zum Arzt, kann frei wählen wohin ich gehe und zahle trotzdem pro Monat weniger Krankenkassenbeiträge. Verloren habe ich dabei nichts, weil ich die Franchise nie erreiche.
Im schlimmsten Fall bezahle ich die Franchise doppelt, in der Annahme, dass ich bereits bis fast zur vollen Franchise beim Arzt meiner Wahl (nicht Hausarzt) war und ab jetzt eine längere Erkrankung oder Verletzung habe.

Ich gehe aber davon aus, dass ich sehr selten zum Arzt gehe und deshalb meine monatlichen Kosten dank HMO-Modell stark reduzieren kann, ohne mich daran zu binden.

Ich habe nicht definitiv herausgefunden, was passiert, wenn ich im HMO-Modell nicht zum Hausarzt gehe, ausser dass die Kosten dann nicht gedeckt sind. Aber da ich bei einer schlimmeren Krankheit sowieso zum Hausarzt gehe (auch wenn der Befund zu Beginn von einem anderem Hausarzt diagnostiziert wurde), sehe ich keine Nachteile.

Distance:   41.39km (singletrail: about 6km)
Elevation:  1736m
Duration:   4h21
Avg. Speed: 9.4km/h
Details:    gpsies, trainingstagebuch
TCX file:   TCX file (including elevation alerts)

On the last day we took again some shorter trip, but boah. Just hard. If you are the person able to cycle 25% and more (!) of grade over a longer period, ie 3-5km on a stony path, this is your paradise! You’ll be rewarded with a nice flowing single trail slightly going down from the top.

If on the other hand you prefer to cycle most of the part, you should do the tour in the opposite direction.

8′000 Hm left to reach the 100′000 this year.

Distance:   53.23km (singletrail: about 16km)
Elevation:  1850m
Duration:   6h05
Avg. Speed: 8.7km/h
Details:    gpsies, trainingstagebuch
TCX file:   TCX file (including elevation alerts)

Second day in Ticino with Röbi we chose some longer tour, which was highly promoted on different websites. We were not disappointed. We already did the upgoing part to Monta Bar this year, but it was amazingly easier this time!

Then came a 12km long singletrail all around the valley. Great! Fantastic. Not everything was cyclable though (just some smaller parts) and the trail is not that easy neither. But “Freude ohne Ende”.

We stayed in a bed&breakfast at Isabelle Bernasconi’s place we can highly recommend. Very nice. And by chance 2 of our tracks were just quite near the house