Not a long post today, but just a reflective ride today in celebration of my 50th birthday.
I headed out around the vineyards – for a couple of reasons …
1) It was the place I first rode my bike when we got to Geneva almost 20 years ago and therefore holds a real special place in my riding heart
2) It was easy to design a route that was exactly 50k with all the tiny roads out there that interconnect
Into the vineyards
As usual I headed out through Vernier and towards Satigny, but took the road up the ridge to Choully. I was taking it easy today as I have a big few rides coming up over the next few days – but this is usually an interval segment so it was to take it steady today.
From Choully I headed down to Allondon and the climb up to Malval. These are really my oldest routes and so familiar to me.
The corniche
Through Dardagny I took the Corniche road back down to La Plaine and then climbed up towards Cartigny.
I stopped on the bridge because it was here on a pre-move visit in 2005 that our minibus stopped and I vividly remember falling in love with the view and thinking that moving to Geneva really would be a good idea. I think of that moment every single time I ride over this bridge without fail.
From Cartigny I dropped down to Aire-la-Ville, then over the Rhône and up the wall to Peissy.
Then a new road (with a tiny bit of gravel) and the main road back through Satigny.
Not so sweet perfume
I’d forgotten I’d thrown in a little “treat” for myself at the end of the route though – which is the steep climb from the perfume factory up into Vernier village. Another one I usually do intervals on – perfect for Vo2 max efforts – but not today.
Back through Vernier and Lignon and I was home in a little under 2 hours.
A great loop if you fancy getting out into the countryside.
