New Bike Switzerland Rentals

Although Switzerland is one of Europe’s premier destinations for cyclists, it’s almost impossible to find a decent rental bicycle. We’ve noticed this openning for a few years, but with many other projects going we’ve only recently had time to launch our rental site: www.bikeswitzerlandrentals.com

This site allows riders to reserve their bicycle on-line, add options (panniers, GPS, etc) and to have their bicycle delivered and dropped off at any train station in Switzerland ! For the moment, we are renting out our new fleet of BMC Alpen Challenge 02, but have plans to have a smaller selection of road bikes for the summer of 2010. All rentals come with: handlebar bag, back seatpost bag, rear rack, computer, water bottle, everything you need for a flat and a telephone to keep in contact.

All National Bike Routes on New GPS

We’ve bought new GPS units for the season (Garmin’s Legend HCX) and have loaded them with all 9 Swiss national routes ! Now independent riders or those renting our bikes can use the GPS to do our “Challenge” and “Lite” itineraries, or do any of the 9 National Routes. But that’s not it: all the smaller regional routes are also on the GPS! AND all of the national hiking trails. Click on the map below to see all the possible bicycle routes !

First riders of 2009 leave tomorrow !

Marcos and Julianna arrived in Geneva last night from Rio de Janiero. In spite of the ten hour flight, they plan on doing a full day of sightseeing in Geneva today before heading off on the Lite Route tomorrow morning.

The weather seems to be on their side: low-60s and blue skies all day today !

Bon voyage

Our first riders of 2009 are from Brazil

A few spaces left !

There is still room on all of our trips, but things are changing fast now that everyone is reserving their air tickets. There are only two spaces left on our August 27-September 7th Lite Trip.

We do have a single woman looking for a roommate on our August 12th Challenge Tour and a single man looking for a roommate for that same tour. Hmmm, maybe they can work out a temporary solution for themselves ??

My best.

JOHN

New Bike Switzerland Challenge Movie

We took a  bunch of pictures from the last five years, some new video shot last summer and some stock footage from Swiss Tourism and put together a new and improved “Challenge Film” which covers each day of cycling. We took extra care in making sure that each of the pictures actually corresponded to the days indicated in the movie, so watching the film is pretty close to reliving the trip.

We also got permission to post a few Burt Wolf documentaries about Switzerland on the website. They’re fascinating stuff, and I encourage everyone who is coming on a ride this summer to take a look. You can find all this on the “movie page” of the site. If you’re thinking about doing the Challenge Tour, then the film “Jungfrau” is a must-see. Otherwise, if you’re going on the Lite Tour, you’ll want to look at the film “The East”.

Follow this link to go to the “Movie Page” of the website.

New Rental Website

In the next two to three weeks we’ll be launching a new bicycle rental operation in Geneva. Riders will be able to book and pay for their bikes on-line and pick them up at our facility in Geneva.

Hard to believe, but there is no place in Geneva to rent quality bikes. There are places renting city bikes and bikes appropriate for a day’s ride in the country, but nothing that you would want to take on the road for anything more. We’ll start out renting from our fleet of new Alpen Challenge, with the intention of acquiring more high-end road bikes as things take off.

New Bike Tour Website

Our Gran Canaria tour will be the first of a selection of tours that we’re going to offer on the “Bike Switzerland World” website. The idea is to offer a series of tours that:

1. Must not currently exist (Sorry, no Burgundy wine regions or trips to Tuscany)

2. Must meet our criteria of value (Quality bikes, excellent organization, luxury without pretention).

3. have local guides that give you a local experience that would be difficult to replicate as a solo rider.

We have in fact already created the Gran Canaria itinerary and for those of you who want a sneak peek, you can find the daily stats (kilometers, climbing, etc) at this link.

First Bike Ride. Last Raclette.

Everyone is asking that question about now: Have you got a ride in yet ?

Yep…mine was the first week of March: a short 60 km loop into France.

I was all alone, so had to find a steady fence pole for this picture. No religious intent.

And of course, with the warmer weather has come the last raclette. Frog invited us over last thursday for a final big “do”. Here is a picture:

Me in France

At Frog's

Last Call for Jerseys and Jackets

I know…I’ve said that before. But I talked to Louis Garneau and have decided to have the Jerseys delivered to Iowa rather than Switzerland and this buys us some time…until March 27th. So, if anyone is thinking about a jacket or a jersey, please place your order now. We’ll only have a few limited sizes afterwards.

Again, all details related to sizing can be found Here for the jersey and Here for the jacket.

Thanks for reading until the END.

Best,

JOHN