Day 1 - Basel to Colmar
So, Day 1 finally arrived and this journey started with the first step. How satisfying it was to put the out of office message in, delete teams and outlook from my mobile and get into the swing of things!
The morning
I woke up at 5.40am at Zurich Airport in the Hyatt Regency hotel. For some reason not a restful night, but perhaps it was the anticipation. The Hyatt is a great hotel a stone’s throw from the airport and is my go to hotel for when I have to catch an early flight. This time it was where the car with all the kit and the bike was parked. So in the morning, after doing a final packing check (and still forgetting things…), I checked out and drove to Basel, from where my cycling trek was planned to start.
The ride
After leaving Basel behind, I also very quickly left the Rhine behind… for a Rhine tour, there was very little of that today. But I am sure I’ll meet it again in due time. The ride went through ruler-straight cycling paths, first along a canal - or actually more than one, then through a forest, then we mixed it up a bit and went through a few of the Alsatian towns and then, after about 50ish kms, I made it to Neuf-Brisach. Claude already alerted me to it, but it was probably the only town worth mentioning short of Colmar. If the weather would have been sunnier, I might have actually stayed there for a while, but it being what it was, I just rode through. Cute but in sunshine probably infinitely better than in the drizzle.
Overall weather was a mixed bag but putting on sunscreen feels like inappropriate optimism in hindsight. But - the first stage did what it was supposed to do. Prepare me for being in the saddle several hours for quite a few days, get me to appreciate nature and my surroundings and make me switch off from work. Going into it I would have expected that last bit to take a few days but it happened instantaneously.
Issues to keep in mind
As with triathlons, or trail runs, the challenge today was nutrition. Stomach was probably also in anticipation mode, so not very happy. Which led me to not eat until after the half-way mark, which of course was a mistake from an energy perspective. So that is something I need to do differently tomorrow.
Overall, there is no stress in the morning. I guess I will go crazy if I try to cycle the whole trip with an average speed of 15 kph. Into the wind, up the hill, sure. But on flat, no way.
So 82km today took me 4h30. Still slow overall but it was rather strong headwinds at the last bit of the ride. So tomorrow, no rush with breakfast and getting ready, don’t really need to get out before 10am.
The evening
Tonight, I am in the La Maison des Tetes in the middle of Colmar. 5 stars, Relais & Chateaux, very very comfortable room and nice service. Dinner tonight is at La Brasserie Historique. Food: down to earth Alsatian food, meaning quite a bit of protein and fat… but what the doctor ordered - plus a good amount of different local wines and a bit of cheese. Happy.
Now sleep.