What a sportaddicted Geek thinks…
I recently developed a little tool, which was able to add ascent alerts to your garmin tcx course file. It was ok to use, but had still some issues and I had to choose some settings every time I wanted to patch one of my training files.
So I upgraded my tool by keeping some gauss filtering and mainly adding the Douglas-Peucker algorithm for more reliable results.
I’m now quite happy and it’s even faster and easier to use. You can try the tool with any tcx garmin course file.
Distance: 28.5km Elevation: 1372m Duration: 3h14 Avg. Speed: 8.8km/h Details: gpsies, trainingstagebuch TCX file: TCX file (including elevation alerts)
Short but very hard and steep trip! There are always some nice single trails around, but be aware of the bumpy roads going up 
Until Strelapass the track is cyclable. Going to the Weissfluhjoch it gets harder and even steeper. So you might need to walk some parts (I did about 20min walk I think).
Soon after Weissfluhjoch it’s going down on a singletrail, which is quite rocky. You might be better off using a fully
The downhill in direction to Wolfgang is not as nice as I thought. The first part is a walking tail which is very bumpy and steep, which means you need to walk again and again. Soon you’ll get on an unpaved road (no trail unfortunately) almost until Davos.
Distance: 61.5km Elevation: 486m Duration: 2h11 Avg. Speed: 28.0km/h Details: gpsies, trainingstagebuch TCX file: TCX file (including elevation alerts)
I’m working in Lucerne once in a while. So to keep more or less on track with my training I cycle one way and the other way goes by train. Even if it’s a little mess to take the sbb with a cycle on the rush hour I have the advantage to be faster at the company from the railway station.
I’m still trying to find out the best way keeping the elevation low. Seems to be not that simple, as there are some bottlenecks regarding the road system.
Besides some parts on large roads, this proposed route seems to be an option. The cycling path (thank you veloland) around Meggen and the cycling road between Risch and Cham are fantastic!
The dark sides: The outgoing road from Lucerne as well as the surroundings in Bar/Zug are messy and noisy. The sihltal can be quite cool (even in temperature mode) if there is not too much traffic. You can just cycle as speedy gonzalez there 
I’ll probably tweak this track on some smaller part, but generally seen I could live with that one even if it takes some 10min more than the first one!
Unfortunately there are some working areas: Just before Meggen and in Fänn. Be sure to follow the orange signs “Risch” even if you are on the road “Zug/Zürich” (Usability?!?) or you’ll end in a (temporary) one way road!
Distance: 51.05km Elevation: 843m Duration: 2h06 Avg. Speed: 24.7km/h Details: gpsies, trainingstagebuch TCX file: TCX file (including elevation alerts)
I chose a shorter training tour today with some more hills on it. Actually the tour is quite rolling. I tried again to stay mostly on the pathes from Veloland Schweiz.
Originally I wanted to cycle along the airport of Hausen am Albis but I couldn’t find any paved road so I just gave up for that.
There is a water lilly exhibition some where on the track, unfortunately I can’t remember where anymore. I’ll check it next time. Funny what kind of exhibitions there are…
All in all I did like the tour. It’s a good training course as well, if you want to cycle some small hills as well and not go too long / too far on your cycle. Some kine of a short “Feierabendtour”.
(with Maltodextrin)
- 1 liter of water or tea (alternative: 7dl water + 3dl fruit juice) - 30 g sugar (alternative sirup) - 30 - 40 g Maltodextrin 19 (see picture, available in Apotheke Sun Store in Migros-City) - 1g (1/3 tsp) cooking salt (reduce at will) - lemonjuice (at will)
To be used for trainings longer than 1h30.
I use Maltodextrin since last year now and I’m very happy about as I can get some more energy in my favorite drinking.
This is the second time I’m cycling that trip. But this time I took some time to take 2-3 photos…
Distance: 49.6km Elevation: 432m Duration: 1h56 Avg. Speed: 25.7km/h Details: gpsies, trainingstagebuch TCX file: TCX file (including elevation alerts)
The part around the airport is just amazing. Funny how many people are staying there or sitting in their cars having lunch and watching the planes taking off and landing. I must say it’s quite interesting when the planes “fly around your ears” (german proverb) while cycling.
I’m not surprised anymore that people complain about planes flying too low over their village. Impressive!
Distance: 49.23km Elevation: 528m Duration: 2h00 Avg. Speed: 24.9km/h Details: gpsies, trainingstagebuch TCX file: TCX file (including elevation alerts)
As the Gigathlon is coming soon, I was looking for a short trip today by avoiding hills as much as possible. I set up this trip, which is quite nice.
As soon as you have left the annoying redlights of the city you’ll practically only cycle on cycling pathes from Veloland Schweiz! I did that on purpose by using the opencyclemap layer on gpies while planning.
I must say, Veloland Schweiz does a terrific job by finding nice cycling pathes. Unfortunately there is no way, to get their data as a digital copy and some parts are not usable for racing bikes (unpaved roads). But the group of openstreetmap / opencyclemap do a great job as well. There are already quite a lot of Veloland Schweiz tracks on their map, which is great to plan a trip (you’ll also see if the road is paved or not)! I already contributed as well on their project by adding some trails and will do it in the future as well.
Highlights of this trip are:
Distance: 117.2km Elevation: 1904m Duration: 5h00 Avg. Speed: 23.4km/h Details: gpsies, trainingstagebuch TCX file: TCX file (including elevation alerts)
We organized a little training weekend in Ticino for the Gigathlon with our team (or the ones who could participate and had time). Unfortunately one person fell sick so we went cycling as a party of tree people (Sergio, Martin and me).
The part around Indemini is great but also hard. You’ll have to cycle endless serpentines to arrive on top. The roads are not that cyclingfriendly as in the german part of Switzerland, you’ll realize that especially around San Antonino shortly after Bellinzona. A big mess with the bicycle! We had to look for a way to surround the main road (closed for cyclists) for several minutes and even jump over fences…
As my companions were much better in shape, I was mainly in the slipstream and I had 20min more going up on my own speed. But it was a great trip.
Distance: 75.0km Elevation: 1469m Duration: 4h05 Avg. Speed: 18.2km/h Details: gpsies, trainingstagebuch TCX file: TCX file (including elevation alerts)
Generally cycling in South of France seems to be a little bit tricky. Finding nice routes as in Switzerland takes much more time and the maps seem to be way less precise than I’m used at home. Anyways the road to Collobrières from Grimaud is fantastic and includes a small pass. We added some more kilometers and elevation meters in the lonely forest “Forêt des Maures”.
Images will follow on my flickr account.
Distance: 48.8km Elevation: 1002m Duration: 3h01 Avg. Speed: 16.0km/h Details: gpsies, trainingstagebuch TCX file: TCX file (including elevation alerts)
Cycling in Monaco is rather difficult and you’ll not find anything flat. There are not that many options there and finding a route which is cyclable but has not too much traffic is rather rare. There are almost only step tracks. But amazing scenery, especially during the Grand Prix Formula One.
Images will follow on my flickr account.
