And so, we set off, a clatter of cleats, squealing of brakes and a few curses as Mum and Erika led the way out onto the road.

We soon settled into an orderly double line, tapping along at a steady twenty-five, thirty klicks, rotating at something like kilometre breaks. Mum directed us through Feldkirch and onto the road to Vaduz, the traffic was fairly light once we cleared the old town area. I was a bit surprised when we reached the border – yup, we're going into another country!

The guards smiled and returned our waves as we passed through, there wasn't really anything different once we were in Lichtenstein, okay the road signs are a bit different but that’s all. Our route wasn't flat, call it rolling, certainly easy going which allowed us plenty of time to take in the snow-covered wall of rock away across the valley.

“Pretty cool eh?” Ron opined.
“Glad we're down here,” I noted eyeing the distant mountains.
“Yeah,” she agreed, “Knowing George there's bound to be a catch to this though.”
I couldn't help but agree, there's bound to be a sting in the tail.

We dropped through a bit of a town before another steady slope took us along to Vaduz, the Schloss dominating the principalities capital. The road was well maintained, no potholes or dodgy repairs, it felt pretty good to be part of this mini peloton. Swooshing along we moved back out into the countryside, just as it looked like we'd swoop towards the river Mum called a left turn.

We'd hardly settled back down after the turn when we started to climb, not steeply but enough to reduce our speed. There was yelling ahead and I wasn't the only one struggling to react to the sudden rise in pace. Why? Well that became apparent a few metres further on as we passed what I'm guessing was the Swiss border.

No guards, no customs booth this time, just a road sign with the Swiss flag on. Apparently, Tina had won the border sprint, looks like coffee will be on her later. The road continued to climb up across a wide meadow before twisting through some trees, the grade stiff enough to reduce conversation if not stop it.

The road suddenly narrowed and we rode through an archway, apparently into some sort of fort. Then with a final kick we made the summit and started a descent back into the Rhein valley which snaked away in front of us. I have to say I was a bit surprised to find us passing through vineyards above Maienfeld where we clattered through a cobbled square, the buildings all decorated with murals.

The sun might be out but it was still fairly cold, my face was frozen by the time we reached the valley floor. After crossing the river, we rode up into Bad Ragaz but instead of going straight through we turned down a side road. It was only when we pulled up outside the bahnhof I realised why, coffee!

“I could get used to this,” Gret opined between sips of coffee.
“We don't do this all the time,” Ron pointed out.
“So how much further are we going?” I addressed Mum.
She shrugged, “Fifty or so, why, too much for the Weltmeisterin?”
“No, I was just wondering.”
“Don't worry Gab, we can push you back,” Erika told me with a grin.
“Ha de har.”
We were only stopped for about fifteen minutes; the sun was bright in the almost clear sky – not really warming things but it lifted the spirit’s a bit. Through Sargans and somehow, we ended up on a cycle track heading north beside the railway line. It was good tarmac though so apart from a couple of locals it didn't exactly hinder our progress.

It didn't take long to reach Buchs where, instead of taking what looked like the main valley road we turned towards some place called Gams. This road was almost hugging the lower slopes of the valley side, climbing almost imperceptibly as we went. I was at the back, telling Ron about Canada when there was a screech of brakes and some murmuring ahead of us.

“What's up?” I enquired once we'd come to an unruly halt.
“No idea,” Mand allowed, “Your Mum's whispering with Tina.”
“Ot oh,” Ron allowed, “This can't be good.”
I had to agree, Mum pushed off, not along the road but across it and into a side road, a side road that could, by its direction only go up.
“Where're we going now?” Tal mumbled.
“Goodness knows.”

We followed across the carriageway, our fate in the hands of the mad woman who claims to be my mother.

At the end of the village we turned right and the tarmac immediately started to climb, not steeply but maybe six or seven percent. Thing is, it kept wavering about that grade up and through the first hairpin before easing a little only to steepen again a few hundred metres further on. There were a few farms, the odd house but we were now on essentially open meadow, very Swiss.

Whoever was up front had us tapping along just the wrong side of comfortable, conversation dropped off which meant I could look out over the Rheintal falling away to our right after a second hairpin. It already looked like toy town, we must've already climbed a couple of hundred metres since we turned off. Things eased off after a third hairpin, well gradient wise, the pace kicked up to compensate, any thoughts of rotation long gone, it’s every girl for herself!

Another hairpin, this time followed with a ten percent slope up into what seemed to be a more substantial group of buildings, the name board called it Lehn. At least things levelled out but we were now on a single-track road, I hope we don't meet any traffic. In front of us, across a sort of ravine, I could see traffic on a clearly more main road, does this track join up to that?

I hadn't really taken notice but we'd turned a corner and the temperature dropped as the meagre strength of the sun was denied us.

“Ice!”
Sugar, good job we're going up. We all came to a halt to survey the ice bound road.
“What do you reckon Jen?” Anja posed.
“Looks clear beyond, we can walk past.”
“You're the boss,” Tina chuckled unclipping her other foot.
“Load of woollies,” Erika offered before heading out onto the ice on two wheels.
“Show off!” Roni joined the banter.

I found it difficult enough to walk the few metres, how Erika stayed upright I’ve no idea, must be those CX skills I guess. Once everyone was across, we set off again, the lane continuing to gain metres as it bobbled across the meadows. It was soon apparent though that the patch of ice had been a portent of what awaited us further along.

First it was the odd icy puddle, but then there was patchy snow either side, a bit up the middle of the tarmac. The further we climbed the more white stuff there was, up to white stuff covering the tarmac completely. Surely, we must get to another road soon, going back down the icy lane would be worse than continuing on.

We seemed to reach a kind of summit, the lane dropping into forest beyond, is that traffic I can hear? We had to stop for a car coming towards us, the lane had widened a bit at this point but it was still awkward. The road was still covered in snow and ice down through the trees which made for a nervous couple of minutes before we reached a junction with, I'm guessing the road I saw earlier.

“I’m glad that's over,” Mand sighed.
“No kidding,” I agreed.

We turned right, downhill, this tarmac damp but clear of white stuff. It’s clearly quite some sort of main road, wide and well surfaced even if it dodged about a bit as we descended through a ravine, a roaring river echoing about us. It was damn cold though, going downhill at some speed not exactly helping.

“Careful!” someone up front shouted.

The road tilted more forcefully downward, a sign warning of a fourteen percent gradient flashed by, it felt vertical, not helped by the Armco either side of the carriageway. The road looked a bit more than just wet in couple of places, not that we could do much about it, my comp was showing over fifty despite the brakes being on. We burst from the trees and back into sunshine, ahead of us and still some way below the Rheintal was bathed in the stuff, what I'm guessing is Lichtenstein beyond.

The road was now dry which is just as well as it bucked about a bit as it levelled somewhat. When we next got a view of the valley it was clear we still had a lot of height to lose but on dry tarmac and good line of sight everyone let their bikes run. We were closing rapidly on a couple of trucks, heavy braking around a wide hairpin lost a bit of momentum but we streamed past before the next turn.

I'm sure the speed board thing was flashing high seventies when we passed it going onto Gams. At least the road was straight-ish which meant we could scrub our speed without worrying about what was round a turn. As quick as we were in, we were out of Gams and on the valley floor, an exhilarating descent but I'm sure I wasn't the only one glad to be down in one piece.

 
© Maddy Bell 16.03.2019