Hyunh’s friend Lewis that he had previously met in Barcelona was randomly at our hostel. So together, the three of us found a bike rental place for 23 Swiss Francs for the entire day. We biked about 45minutes through road, gravel and then dirt trail to the midway point between Interlocken and Murren. A kayak competition was taking place. We had missed it the day before when there was a trick competition. Today is the semi-finalists races. The kayakers race in heats of 6 or say about 200meters above where we are sitting. The first 200meters is a straight away and then a 5meter waterfall followed by numerous rapids. From our viewpoint we can clearly see the peddle race to the waterfall and entries into the first series of rapids.
The extreme races ended and we continued by bike up to Murren. At the city we find an extreme gondola to take us up the town. The gondola goes up to a point where we call get off then board an extreme train that takes us the rest of the way. We queued in line and buy our tickets and then walk our bikes over to the bottom of the gondola where luggage items are stored. When get ready to board the extreme asshole that had originally told us to buy 15 Swiss Franc tickets orders us to come back and buy luggage tickets for our bikes. While queuing in line again, our original gondola takes off with our bikes on the bottom and we are left waiting again for the next gondola.
The views from the gondola are extremely breathtaking. What once was a small peak viewable from the bottom of the town has grown into a massive mountain that continues to grow as we ascend. At the midway point we get off the gondola to board the train and are unable to find our bikes. There is an automatic machine that takes the luggage compartment and moves the entire platform to another platform on the train. So we board the train hoping that our bikes have already been moved. At the very top we see three bikes stacked against the side of the train station and luckily they were ours.
One of the things you notice in Switzerland is the abundance of fresh drinkable water fountains. At Bulmer’s hostel where we are staying there is a sign at the fountain that says “the best drinking water in the world”. I assume that it gets better the farther we go up. At Murren we refill our free Balmer water bottles and explore the town. We can to the base of an extremely steep hill that is so steep that we are unable to climb it via peddling even at the lowest gear. At that area we break for lunch.
Switzerland is extremely expensive. The Swiss Franc is roughly on a one to one conversion as the US dollar however everything costs three to four times more. For example a BigMac value meal costs 14 Swiss Francs. It is because of that and the fact the Swiss aren’t really world renowned for their cuisine that we just buy lunch meat and bread for most of our meals. At our picnics area we keep seeing people walk up with massive bulky backpacks. It soon becomes apparent that they are paragliders carrying up their chute. They launch from the hill next to us taking from a clearing.
The downhill ride is probably the best part of mountain biking and makes the uphill journey well worth it. The trails going down consist of dirt and rocks that form switchbacks all the way down. We pick up extreme speed from the straight-aways and brake hard to negotiate the 180 degree turns. About half way down my hands start to get numb from the vibrations the front suspension takes from the rocks and my legs are getting sore from absorbing the bumps coming from the rear wheel. At that point another 180 degree emerges and I brake hard letting the rear kick out a little bit before releasing the rear brakes. It is then that I hear a bunch of branches snap behind me. I immediately stop completely and see Hyunh’s bike turned over on the side of the trail and Hyunh nowhere to be found.
I throw my bike against a tree and run back up the incline to where the bike is laying sideways with the rear wheel still spinning and I see a Hyunh climbing out from the trees below. We lost traction in the front wheel while trying to move to the outside of the turn and superman-ed off his handle bars. He scraped his palms pretty good and slowly blood was covering the scraped area. At that point Lewis finally catches up. We tear up one of Hyunh’s shirts and to clean the wound and I get to use my newly acquired Swiss Army knife to cut up some bandages.
For a spit second, I knew what it was like to fly. Then, reality hit as well as the gravel...LOL. I went slippy sliding on the gravel...imagine how painful that would be. I was luck only to walk away with scratches on my palms. After Wei and Lewis patched me up, we continued down the mountain for more extreme biking. I would do it all over again with you Wei just for the thrills. Be good, dude.
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