I’d been training to do a self riding tour in and around Montreux, Switzerland. We were going to be visiting for the Montreux Jazz festival and it seemed a fun, adventurous thing to do! I scouted the internet for information, routes, guides, etc and finally rented a bike at a local bike store in Aigle, a 20min train ride away.

The original plan was to ride around lake Geneva. Montreux is on the lake and looked like a path going around. Easy enough, right? But the bike store convinced me not to – apparently the roads dont stay along the lake once you go into France on the other side of the lake and contruction (the bane of cities everywhere!) blocked the path on the swiss side just 5-7 miles out. So I joined them on their ride. I had an ebike and I should be able to turbo easily. So I thought!

What. A. Ride. that was!!!

Such a beautiful day again on the Swiss Riviera. Tour through City, lake, vineyards, pre-mountains, farmlands, quaint villages. Zipping in and out and holding my breath and trying to breathe to catch up!

After 3 rides of holy mountains, I never want to see a hill or a bike ever again (for atleast a week. lol)! And these weren’t even the Alps-Alps (so sad I had to ditch that due to logistics and the roads seemed super weird to navigate for me on my own). They called the furthest section “pre-alps” and what we rode was Lake to Vineyard with a very pretty tour.

Hills in Montreux ain’t the same as hills in Atlanta! One section of 15% grade had me worried that I’d be pedaling backwards instead of moving forward

But oh yes, I did sing after cresting every hills …. lungs and legs were on fire during the climb to sing. And I was praying as I was riding through the roads zipping alongside the peloton from the bike store in Aigle.

Would I do a self touring ride again?

Yes but only if I have scouted out the place beforehand. If I were to go now, I can figure things out and lead a good 5-7 day tour from Montreux as base. But as soloist, the logistics were way more harder than doing a long run. Not to mention way way more expensive too! And it made me appreciate my folks at the cycling house even more!