Linear Bike Rides and Trains

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Yesterday I was watching the Tour De Romandie Morges to Morges stage and I was struck by how much of the route I am familar with. It's not just that I'm familiar with the route that I road with the group, but that I'm familiar with parts of the full tour. Over the years I have ridden between Geneva and Aubonne so many times that I know many of the roads well. I demonstrated this yesterday by recognising most of the roads the women road along.

I took the train to Morges with the bike, to avoid tiring myself out before the ride itself. It worked well. Now that I know this I can look for new options and ideas. I was thinking of riding from Yverdon-les-Bains to Nyon but then I came across another loop. Payerne to Rolle. The route they recommend is split in two stages, Payerne to Echallens and then Echallens to Rolle. The full ride is 86km in length with 1250 meters of climbing and 1300m of descent.

Another route could be the Foot of the Jura ride from Yverdon-les-Bains to Bière, and from Bière to Nyon rather than Geneva. The issue with this route is that some it could be on busy roads, especially on a Saturday.

A third routing option is number five that would go from Yverdon-les-Bains to Lausanne, but when I get near Penthaz I would catch route 63 towards Rolle but I would then want to catch route 488 after detouring by Vufflens le Chateau to see the castle and heading along agricultural roads to Nyon. I think this could be the nicest route. The advantage of stitching together several routes is that you can take the roads that should have less traffic, and less climbing where possible. The other advantage is that if you choose a route that is well sign posted then you do not need to use on-board navigation because road signs will be enough.

And finally, whether I do this will depend on the weather and how tired I feel. I can feel that my legs still want a few days of rest before taking on a new challenge. This would be a long day in the saddle. According to the route I drew the route is around 75.5km with 600m of climbing and 630 of descent and should take three and a half hours to complete. My aim would be to follow the route markers up to the point where I see markers for the next route I want to follow. I have mapped it to work as if I was driving from one place to another. Now I need to wait for good weather.