Grüezi! from Switzerland

[Guest]

...

 

Edited May 14, 2023 by TéNéRéLOADED

[AZJW]

@TéNéRéLOADED Welcome from Arizona.  Nice looking bike, but post pictures of Chocolate! 

[Tenerider]

Welcome and grüezi from Germany!

 

Jan

[Guest]

11 hours ago, AZJW said:

@TéNéRéLOADED Welcome from Arizona.  Nice looking bike, but post pictures of Chocolate! 

Thanks AZJW! Well, my chinese watch got broken the other day. Therefore I don't have enough time to take pictures (and all the chocolate is eaten up anyway). But maybe here's something in the right direction. 

[Guest]

11 hours ago, Tenerider said:

Welcome and grüezi from Germany!

 

Jan

Hallo Tenerider! Thanks for the welcome. Die Welt ist ein Dorf! (= it's a small world!) 

[AZJW]

8 hours ago, TéNéRéLOADED said:

Thanks AZJW! Well, my chinese watch got broken the other day. Therefore I don't have enough time to take pictures (and all the chocolate is eaten up anyway). But maybe here's something in the right direction. 

Now, That's a motorcycle I can sink my teeth into!  

[Guest]

On 1/7/2023 at 10:48 AM, DuncMan said:

Welcome from the Isle of Wight, UK!

Thank you very much, DuncMan and many apologies for the late reply. But I was busy preparing the bike for winter use, although there's no winter yet around here. And riding around of course … 

Isle of Wight, UK! Wow! Sounds great to me. Back in time I used to listen to Jimmy Hendrix's album "Live from the Isle of Wight" almost every day.

Edited January 14, 2023 by TéNéRéLOADED

[Guest]

1 hour ago, DuncMan said:

That must have referred to the Isle of Wight festival. That’s still going every year and attracts some big names in the music industry. 

Right! (According to Wikipedia: Isle of Wight Festival on August 31, 1970.) 

[e010584]

Hoi from AZ.  I feel your pain as I spent a lot of the past eight years working in Switzerland (Flugplatz Mollis, Glarus) and did a fair amount of mountain biking but very limited off road riding on an Africa Twin demo. 

[Kiwi]

Hello from Norway!

 

Tell me, do they put Salt on the roads in CH?

[Tenerider]

6 minutes ago, Kiwi said:

Hello from Norway!

 

Tell me, do they put Salt on the roads in CH?

Good point...as far as I know, in CH spikes are allowed!

 

Edited January 15, 2023 by Tenerider

[Windblown]

On 1/14/2023 at 3:06 AM, TéNéRéLOADED said:

Thank you very much, DuncMan and many apologies for the late reply. But I was busy preparing the bike for winter use, although there's no winter yet around here. And riding around of course … 

Isle of Wight, UK! Wow! Sounds great to me. Back in time I used to listen to Jimmy Hendrix's album "Live from the Isle of Wight" almost every day.

 

Welcome. Bikes and wood heat. No matter where we are in the world somethings remain the same.

 

Looks like you have that bike set up well for winter.

[Guest]

10 hours ago, e010584 said:

Hoi from AZ.  I feel your pain as I spent a lot of the past eight years working in Switzerland (Flugplatz Mollis, Glarus) and did a fair amount of mountain biking but very limited off road riding on an Africa Twin demo. 

Hello there and thanks for the empathy! Mollis! That's just about 45 to 50 km as the crow flies from where I live (Prättigau). It's exactly how you draw the picture! My mountainbike got over 500'000 meters of elevation gain too with me panting in the saddle the last six years. Let's see how many inches I'll get done with the Ténéré … AZ sure is quite another pair of shoes. I think you guys ride mostly wherever you like? 

[Guest]

6 hours ago, Kiwi said:

Hello from Norway!

 

Tell me, do they put Salt on the roads in CH?

Hello and thanks for the reply! Yes, they put salt on all federal and cantonal roads. And not just a little bit. One could think it's winter as white as the roads look like from the salt. On local roads (communal etc.) it's upon them to deside. Some do, some don't. And if it's relevant for tourism (Davos, Arosa, St. Moritz etc.) they mostly let the snow on the roads. If there is any ...

[Guest]

6 hours ago, Tenerider said:

Good point...as far as I know, in CH spikes are allowed!

 

Yessir! But just from november 1 until april 30. And just to a speed of 80 km/h (appr. 50 miles). And not on the Swiss version of the Autobahn. So no Eisspeedway for sure …

[Guest]

4 hours ago, Windblown said:

 

Welcome. Bikes and wood heat. No matter where we are in the world somethings remain the same.

 

Looks like you have that bike set up well for winter.

Thanks for the warm welcome! Yes, we are all humans finally. So fire and bikes. 

Edited January 15, 2023 by TéNéRéLOADED

[e010584]

5 hours ago, TéNéRéLOADED said:

Hello there and thanks for the empathy! Mollis! That's just about 45 to 50 km as the crow flies from where I live (Prättigau). It's exactly how you draw the picture! My mountainbike got over 500'000 meters of elevation gain too with me panting in the saddle the last six years. Let's see how many inches I'll get done with the Ténéré … AZ sure is quite another pair of shoes. I think you guys ride mostly wherever you like? 

I'm somewhat familiar with Prättigau, hiking to berghutten in Davos and spending a fair amount of my time in Grau Bunden region while living in Liechtenstein.  Obviously it is possible to ride off road there, but it appeared best to do so covertly (if you're not a farmer) as I had done on the AT (an emotorcycle would be best) even though I startled some hikers.  That being said, the road riding opportunities over the mountain passes were spectacular.  AZ has endless riding opportunities, although most think it is only desert rather than so incredibly diverse.  I loved riding in the desert this time of year, but the heat gets excessive in only a couple months or so.  We live in the higher elevations now at 1800m and 2550m respectively with lots of riding even over 3000m and other recreational opportunities to 3850m.  I spent the last few years before retiring off the program (Marenco Swiss Helicopter / Kopter / Leonardo AW09) down in Sicily where off road riding was plentiful and legal (not that that dissuaded Italians )!  Never before had I seen a bigger culture clash than the Swiss and the Italians working on that program, as the Swiss were absolutely strict about following laws (to a fault) while the Italian's derived power from violating them.

[Tenerider]

10 minutes ago, e010584 said:

I'm somewhat familiar with Prättigau, hiking to berghutten in Davos and spending a fair amount of my time in Grau Bunden region while living in Liechtenstein.  Obviously it is possible to ride off road there, but it appeared best to do so covertly (if you're not a farmer) as I had done on the AT (an emotorcycle would be best) even though I startled some hikers.  That being said, the road riding opportunities over the mountain passes were spectacular.  AZ has endless riding opportunities, although most think it is only desert rather than so incredibly diverse.  I loved riding in the desert this time of year, but the heat gets excessive in only a couple months or so.  We live in the higher elevations now at 1800m and 2550m respectively with lots of riding even over 3000m and other recreational opportunities to 3850m.  I spent the last few years before retiring off the program (Marenco Swiss Helicopter / Kopter / Leonardo AW09) down in Sicily where off road riding was plentiful and legal (not that that dissuaded Italians )!  Never before had I seen a bigger culture clash than the Swiss and the Italians working on that program, as the Swiss were absolutely strict about following laws (to a fault) while the Italian's derived power from violating them.

We need a lot more Italian spirit here in Europe!

[e010584]

30 minutes ago, Tenerider said:

We need a lot more Italian spirit here in Europe!

Obviously some of the faults the Swiss inherited were from the Germans , but at the same time it's not the lawlessness of the Italian's so much as their spirit for knowing how to have a good time.  It is however likely past time for much of Europe to revolt against government overreach to enjoy greater freedoms and learn to lighten up and enjoy life. 

[Ray Ride4life]

43 minutes ago, Tenerider said:

We need a lot more Italian spirit here in Europe!

For most the food, the rest we need to stay in the middle to prevent going Mafia.

[Guest]

8 hours ago, Tenerider said:

We need a lot more Italian spirit here in Europe!

Agreed! On the other hand … it's not that easy to switch to "dolce far niente" if you're raised with "Obrigkeitsglaube" (trust in authority)—to stick with stereotypes. 

[Guest]

7 hours ago, e010584 said:

Obviously some of the faults the Swiss inherited were from the Germans , but at the same time it's not the lawlessness of the Italian's so much as their spirit for knowing how to have a good time.  It is however likely past time for much of Europe to revolt against government overreach to enjoy greater freedoms and learn to lighten up and enjoy life. 

To be fair we've internalized some of the best german virtues too (laboriousness, strictness …). And who's "The Swiss"? Is it the french speaking Welsche from western Switzerland? The Tessiner chatting Italian from the southern part? The Romansh from Graubünden? Or is it me, the average swiss german dialect speaking John Doe? But you're right, we all should stand up against governement overreach a lot more … 

[Guest]

7 hours ago, Ray Ride4life said:

For most the food, the rest we need to stay in the middle to prevent going Mafia.

The middle seems to work well for little countries like Switzerland, right? After all we're sticking around since the year 1291, somehow.

[Guest]

12 hours ago, e010584 said:

Obviously it is possible to ride off road there, but it appeared best to do so covertly (if you're not a farmer)

Where I live the fine is up to CHF 1000 if you get caught on the "Alpstrasse" (gravelroad to the high cow alp)  without a permit. 

 

12 hours ago, e010584 said:

even though I startled some hikers.

That's typically Swiss—hikers are startled by the bikers, bikers by the eBikers, cars by motorbikes, skiers by the snowboarders and freeskiers, traditional climbers by the free climbers … 

 

12 hours ago, e010584 said:

AZ has endless riding opportunities, although most think it is only desert rather than so incredibly diverse.  I loved riding in the desert this time of year, but the heat gets excessive in only a couple months or so.  We live in the higher elevations now at 1800m and 2550m respectively with lots of riding even over 3000m and other recreational opportunities to 3850m.

I'm a follower to "Matt's Offroad Recovery"& "Fabrats" etc on Youtube. They often show the sheer beauty of the high desert regions in there videos. And being in Utah they are State neighbours to you in Arizona, I guess. Plus I travelled some of the parts of your great Nation over the years. So yes, you guys have some opportunities … to say the least.

 

12 hours ago, e010584 said:

Never before had I seen a bigger culture clash than the Swiss and the Italians working on that program, as the Swiss were absolutely strict about following laws (to a fault) while the Italian's derived power from violating them.

Well, some malicious gossip from northern Italy has it that Sicily isn't even Italy … But well, yesss! Switzerland and Sicily—that's the culture clash right there! And for the law part, being a very direct democracy we establish all the laws by ourselves. So why not following it? See …

 

Edited January 16, 2023 by TéNéRéLOADED

[Tenerider]

43 minutes ago, TéNéRéLOADED said:

That's typically Swiss—hikers are startled by the bikers, bikers by the eBikers, cars by motorbikes, skiers by the snowboarders and freeskiers, traditional climbers by the free climbers …

 

Oh maybe we've adopted this habit from the Swiss? It might well be the opposite

 

Same situation here - but imho much better in NL. When doing a bit of TET last year, the only people staring angrily at me were German E-Bikers who crossed the border. The same ones which expect any Dutch waitress to speak German.

But when they're in their cars, they'll play hit-n-run with cyclists.

 

Interestingly, I found horse riders to be very polite - because I always stop for them. Doesn't cost me anything except half a minute to let them pass, and they're grateful and hopefully won't per se hate motorcyclists any more. In a crowded continent, we need to tolerate each others. Not only in one direction, as cyclists and hikers expect it!