swiss commuting

It's 9am and we've got a train to catch. But this isn't your normal commute. Oh no, we've got a train to catch alright, but we're heading out of town and up a mountain side; and we're taking our bikes with us for the ride.

The swiss are known for a few things: cheese, watches and trains that run on time. All the time, without fail and without any 'leaves on the tracks' excuses. And these trains run up great big mountains. Mr Branson could learn a thing or two from the Swiss for sure.

The trains are just one side of these trips - the main event is getting back to the starting point having as much fun as possible - Heading from barren scree mountain tops, through 'Heidi' style meadows, to vineyards and forests.

Commuting has never been this much fun.

the trips

We've got two trips lined up for this summer. The first starts from the lakeshore town of Montreux and heading up to Rochers de Naye at 1900m. This gives us a wapping 1600m of gravity assisted riding all the way back down to the shore. The riding is technical, flowing singletrack nearly all the way down; with amazing views to boot. Check out our helmet cam footage from a Summer 2007 trip here.

Our second trip heads from the spa town of Bex in the Chablais valley. The trains take us up to the ski resorts of Greyon and Villars - with the possibility of heading further up to Bretay at 1800m. The trails are steep, rocky switchbacky affairs with little room for error. You'll want to have your whits about you for this one.

Both of these trips will involve 2 or 3 train rides giving a total descent upwards of 4500m.

Photos taken from alpavista.ch