Rigi Tour 2.0

10th of May 2014 marked another milestone in my venture into mountain biking. Together with 4 other colleagues/friends I conquered the top of the Rigi mountain for the second time, 8 months after the first attempt. Reaching the peak wasn't the biggest thing as I knew I would make it one way or another - as I had anyway done it once. But to reach at a much quicker speed, non stop in the last phase and with reserved strength and energy was what counted most. 

With Rigi, the last roughly one third of the journey is the most challenging where you have to climb for about 4-5 km of steepness that could easily make your eyes tell the brain to just give up. I knew as long as my legs didn't hit the wall and my heart rate remained at a good level, all that could fail me was my mental strength - it's all up in the head. I kept telling myself not to look ahead but down until I reached peak and I'm proud to say I did it well. With people along the way giving moral support, it was a great feeling and a huge sense of achievement. This Tour was the ultimate assessment of my fitness level after 12 months of life style change, the same 12 months after my very first mountain biking experience. 

I'm looking forward to Rigi 3.0 :) 

Cannondale Jekyll Carbon 1 (2012)

Talking about high end enduro mountain bike, this is the ultimate machine - Cannondale Jekyll Carbon 1. It's a 2012 model, but it's damn gorgeous. The frame is fully carbon making it really light at 12.3 kg, and to top it all, even the handlebar and the crank arm are also made of carbon - how about that?! The fork is with two mode of 150mm and 120mm making is perfect for any conditions. The rear shock is made specially for the bike and it also comes in special two modes for climb and descend. 

I never thought I would even be riding a top end bike such costing originally around 8000 CHF. I managed to borrow this second hand unit from a local shop for Rigi trip in the weekend - it's gonna be a great tour. 

The tail may be hard, but I love it / Giant Talon LTD

This is my mountain bike.

You want a superb hard tail? Look for this bike - it's a Giant Talon LTD. A model from 2012 that you could probably still find at some shops in Europe (unfortunately available only in this region).

I got it for CHF 1,400 though I told my wife it was only 800 quid. It's been sometimes now and since I have used it to the max and thoroughly enjoy the routine, I'm sure she will recognise that it's a money well spent. To be honest, there is no way, absolutely no way that one can get any cheaper price for the spec.

I don't think I can lay down a good comparison to other hard tails or even soft tails as I have not used that many and certainly not owned any before. But, one thing for certain is that I have not a single complaint about this bike. It rides well and smooth and handles all surfaces superbly - gravel, single train, soft mud, hard tarmac, you name it. The best is the comfort and ease it offers when climbing. I can only say that it's the bike for me and I will keep riding it as long as I can.

Thank you my hard tail - you've changed my life.

Mountain biking - 21 km of climb, descend, speed, control

Since after Ramadhan I had not been doing mountain biking with the regular guys - finally I had the chance today! Not wanting to miss, at 5PM sharp I hurriedly left the office, quickly picked up Lyris (that's my 2.5 year old daughter) from the nursery and shooting off fast on my heavy local brand "California" city bike to get home ASAP to change.

Precisely at 6 PM all the three of us started heading up-hill, initially on normal road then slowly turning into gravel tracks and some single trails. I should have taken some photos of the trails. A couple of them were pretty good. One in particular was covered in layers of chopped woods and branches - we were not sure of the reason, but I guessed it was a special path to train horses. It wasn't easy not to fall and it all depended heavily on how one controls the bike, not much on speed. Going down some of the semi single trails were also fascinating - and again control, balancing and braking played an important  role. With the speed going downhill, one small mistake could mean a crash and you don't want that to happen. I usually had the tendency to press the front brake too heavily when panic (and already had one crash precisely because of this); luckily all was good today.

Start to end was about 21 km - a short but certainly for enough given the limited day light.

I feel like taking a break tomorrow; or .. perhaps a quick spin alone. We'll see ...

And though that looks like me, it isn't ..