Inaugural Ride

After a busy week of orientation I was finally able to get out and have some fun. After morning meetings on Friday, the staff went out for some bobsled training. A local here was on the 1980 and 1984 Swiss bobsled team, and back in the day he built a small track, which was used for training for the start of a bobsled race. So we all formed groups of 4 and had a competition. It's something I'd never done before, nor did I think I would every be pushing a bobsled, but it was so much fun. After that we had a friendly game of softball.



I had to make a decision about what to do on Saturday. The school was taking a group to IKEA to buy furnishings for the apartments, but there was a group of returning staff members that were going out for a ride. I needed some stuff at IKEA, but I chose the ride, and I'm so glad I did. Not only did I get to spend some great time riding with some new people, I had one of the most beautiful rides I've ever been on. The route was undetermined prior to the start, but I was told it we shouldn't be out for too long...not true. We ended up riding 80 miles, and climbing over 6000 vertical feet...that's a decent amount. There was one climb that took us an hour to ascend. At the end of the ride they apologized to me for taking a newbie out on a ride like that. We started off in Switzerland rode into France and then back into Switzerland. Before we crossed back into Switzerland we took a brief stop to swim in Lake Geneva and get cooled off. It was an amazing ride through great scenery and many quaint, little towns/villages. Now I have a group of riding buddies for the next couple of months before the cold weather sets in.




Today I rode with one other person in attempt to have a recovery ride. Recovery rides are nearly impossible as each ride ends with a long climb up the mountain back to Leysin. We did our loop and were about to head up the mountain, but there was a wreck that stopped traffic, so we turned around and went back to a cafe for breakfast. After breakfast we headed back up the mountain.



I hope once work officially starts (as in classes begin) I'll still have plenty of time during the week to get out on the bike. My new bike is awesome. It climbs like a machine, but I don't..haha. I have a lot of time to put in on the bike to catch up with the other staff members, but I feel good about it.