Day 9: The day according to Team B

John H phoned in his report from St. Gallen.

I began the day with the rest of the group, wanting to have a go at one of the big climbs before I turned back. I got my wish as I was basically dragged up one hill up to around 1200m with guys. At this point, about 15 miles in the wrong direction for getting back to Zurich, I decided to I’d better turn round. I’m slower at climbing than the others, not having had the time to train, and I didn’t want to hold them up or myself. I swapped some bread sticks for cheese with they guys and began to retrace my steps.

I didn’t actually take exactly the same route as yesterday, trying a few new routes to vary the scenery, which is amazing, and enjoying fantastic weather for the whole day. At Altstatten, I discovered a nice cycle route which took me out of town in style. However, one road was really tough – climbing up to Gias, I found that the road was 18% which was a nasty surprise. In fact I had so much trouble making the climb that I contemplated chucking out various bits of my kit to lighten the load! At one point, I stopped at a roadside shack, and a woman there asked me why I wasn’t taking the funicular, (I didn’t take it, by the way, honest…). The last bit of the ride was the least pleasurable – on a more main road than I’d have liked, with traffic whizzing past scarily close.

The decision to turn around proved to be very sensible as I only got to my intended campsite at 7.30pm, just as reception was closing. Unfortunately I’m nowhere near any shops, so tea is going to be the left-overs from lunch, and I’ll be falling asleep dreaming of a big breakfast. I’m 6 miles out of St. Gallen, in a nice spot by a river, in the base of a little valley. This of course means that I will have to do a climb first thing in the morning to get out of the valley… I’ve managed over 60 miles, which is a respectable distance, and had a great day’s cycling.

I’d like to wish the A Team all the best for their big climbs to come and a safe ride to Venice.