Swiss Pie

Where to start? A little lapse to the blog mainly because Ive been too lazy to update it, not because I havent been around computers. Been doing alot more couchsurfing in Switzerland, to great benefit. I hope we can keep it up through Italy. So Ill give you a recap from where I think I left off. I believe it was last Friday, leaving Basel.

Friday the 25th- Hung out in Basel until very late, about 5 PM. We only had to go maybe 50 km, so we figured it was no big deal. This wasnt a mistake really, but we did underestimate how quickly it would get dark. Got a little lost and ended up doing one uphill that we simply had to walk. Oh, also the granny gear on my bike isnt working, so I definately couldnt ride it. Must have been like a 12% or more grade. Anyways, we got over the mountain and flew down into Aarau around 9 PM. Very crazy descent in the dark (we had lights on mom). Got to Aarau and had to try to search out our host because Im an idiot and lost the paper I had written his address and phone number on. Eventually through some interrogation of locals and cryptic tidbits of information I recalled we found the place. We posted up outfront and no more than 10 minutes later Olivier showed up. Great guy, made us some tasty pasta, showed us around his flat and then gave us a TON of info on setting up a mountain bike trip up to Lenzerheide. Awesome.

Saturday, 26- Woke up, took the bike to see if we couldnt get the granny gear working. I figured it was the chain, having over 2000km on it now. Replaced the chain to no avail, so I had to ask the mechanics to look at the front derailleur. They did some mojo and got it to work, but not for long. Going to have a look at it today and try to fix that. Anyways, finally left Aarau even though we hadnt found another place to stay until Sunday night. Rode about 60 or 70 km to right outside Zurich and hobo camped in a patch of woods sandwiched between a farmers fields.

Sunday, 27- Woke up, cruised through Zurich and followed the north shore of Lake Zurich down towards Murg. Somehow on this trip we always stumble upon crazy events, and today was no different. As we were riding generally southeast we noticed more and more people out on bikes and rollerblades (hahhaah). There were refreshment booths and games on the sides of the road and no car traffic. Moms rollerblading with strollers, all kinds of goofy. Found out that the event is sort of a Critical Mass ride mixed into family sunday, called SlowUp Zurich. Got through that mess and headed down to Murg to meet up with a fellow named Lars.

About Lars' Residence- Lars had told us that he lived in an old factory redone as apartments. John pictured something like in the movie The Specialist, with a grizzled lonesome assassin living in a large, bare factory. I though of some ritzy loft housing. When we got there, I was gloating that I had assumed correctly. Then we phoned Lars and he came down front to greet us. He told us to bring the bikes around to the back where he lived. We commented that the apartments looked pretty fancy and he told us to wait until we saw his setup. He opened up two giant steel doors and we walked down a dark corridor. I kid you not, this was like some serial killer type stuff. He opens another door at the end of the corridor and BOOM. It is a MASSIVE old factory room. There are piles of antiques and other forgotten treasures being stored in one half, 2 tennis courts on the other. Along the side is a sort of shanty-esque kitchen, 2 bathrooms, shower, laundry and the rooms of Lars and Michel. Ive never stayed in such a cool place. I cant believe they actually live here. And the rent is so low I felt violated for what I had paid for the last year.

Back to our adventures, Mon. 28- Left our luggage (or the majority of it) at Lars' place and rode our bikes the 50km (which magically morphed into 65) to Chur. We were going to stay with a forester named Andri. I told him we would probably get there at 530 to 630. He contested that we couldnt ride that distance in that time and said he would see us whenever. He was closer to correct than I was. If it had really been 50km and not 65 we may have gotten there around 7, but instead we arrived around 730. We dialed Andri....no answer. Again. No answer. Starting to think he was in the shower or something. He had expected us to take longer himself, so I didnt think he would have abandoned all hope. Eventually we get a hold of him, about half an hour and probably 25 phone calls later. Gasping, he told us he was playing soccer and the girls on the sideline had failed to inform him that his phone was ringing nonstop. Went on back to his neat little studio, showered, ate, drank beers. He had spent some time traveling through central asia, so I picked his brain a little about that. Apparently getting into Russia isnt as hard as I had thought, if you know how to do it. Andri had work early in the am and we wanted to get to the slopes early, so we called it a night.

Tues, 29- Got up around 7, had some muesli and coffe and headed for the bus up to Lenzerheide. About 10 CHR saved us the 15km and probably 500m climb from Chur to Lenzerheide. Rented some sweet Specialized Stumpjumpers and headed onto the lifts. Had a great day of ripping down the mountain, eyes watering, stupid grin pasted on my face like a kid with too much candy. Check out the videos. Had quite a spectacular crash on the last run of the day (it is ALWAYS the last run it seems). Luckily nothing broke as far as I can tell, although my shoulder is pretty damn sore. We got back to Andris apartment around 7 PM, had some dinner, talked a bit more about his job with the trees, drank vodka and ate horse jerky. Pretty solid Tuesday.

Wed, 30- Andri had to go work in a forest in Davos, higher in the mountains so we got up about 6am. Because of my shoulder, we couldnt ride back down to Murg to get our stuff like we had planned. We had to take the train. Being good citizens of the world, we paid our fares and got on board. Next time Im not gonna bother....30 bucks wasted. Nobody even checked. Got into Murg about 8am and just kind of putzed around. Went down to the store, but it was closed from 12-230 so we detoured to "the garden". "The garden" is how Michel refers to the amazing piece of property that he just took ownership of. For about 200 CHR a month he has a house on the lake with a garden and a full orchard of fruit and nut trees. I could get used to living there. We chilled by the lake awhile then got some groceries and returned to the factory to make lunch. Restful afternoon of reading and such before John and I went under the blade and refreshed our haircuts. Vast improvement...I was starting to look a little frightening.

Thurs, 1 and Today- Just chilling out, eating, resting the shoulder and doing odds and ends.

So that brings you up to speed. Ill leave that to soak in today and then later tonight or tomorrow Ill do a post that talks a little more about plans for the next section, concerns, preparations and deep thoughts.