Yesterday was a great day weather-wise here. After a mostly grim days in low temps and frequent rain, it was sunny and cool. (That today, Mother’s Day, is an even more awesome, warm, sunny day is irrelevant as today must not be a cycling day.) I was tired and listless in the morning. I wanted to ride but had zero motivation to actually do anything, which was fine as I intended to take Fri-Sun off after my first Moderna shot on Thursday which was preceded by a very hard bunch of days. But by noon I couldn’t stay inside. The wife and daughter were out shopping and the son was on his computer so I plotted a route to explore some gravel I’d seen on my road rides. I considered getting on the road bike, but I didn’t want to work hard and felt it would be easier to “hide” and slack off on the trails. In the end, that’s not how this ride went.
So I plotted a loop on the computer, uploaded it, and hit the trail-road-trail-road-trail…. There was a lot more planned road on this than normal but it was good. My late, 12:30p, start meant there were a lot of hikers, picnickers, cyclists out there, which was fine since I was sightseeing.
In the end, my loop was mostly an out and back because of snow: I ascending to the snow level and it didn’t look good to continue through. My late start and dinner plans meant I didn’t have much flexibility, plus my route took me into a dead-end at the end of a valley overseen by two peaks, Bigger Mythen and Small Mythen. Garmin says it was an “unproductive” ride and I think in terms of the body, I agree, but for the mind, it was nice.
On pavement to get to where I want to explore with a view of Lake Zurich…
Grosser Mythen (Bigger Mythen) that I was supposed to ride to the left of, but that was blocked. I then tried a route to the right, past Kleiner Mythen, but that too was blocked by snow.
Some anti-tank barriers (Dragon’s Teeth)
A common sight on the trails: honor system treats and refreshments. Tea, cake, sweet drinks with the price list and money box. This one even has a table to sit down and enjoy.
That’s Grosser Mythen in the distance, where I’m riding to. Just on the edge of the shot on the right are ski jumps.
The Benedictine Einsiedeln Abbey, established in the 10th Century but this structure is from the early 1700s. During normal times, they have a terrific Christmas Market here.