Most of the riding on this site happened in Switzerland: the lakes and farm tracks of the Seeland at home, the Jura plateau above the Doubs, the green valleys of Ticino and the big Alpine passes. 20 rides are written up in full so far, 1,265km and 26,793m of climbing between them.
For years this was home, in Bargen in the canton of Bern, and so it's where most of my riding has been: about 560 rides round the home lakes alone. From there the Jura is a short drive, Ticino and the high passes a day trip or a weekend away with the camper. The pages below are arranged the same way: home first, then the Jura, then the south and the Alps.
Switzerland packs a lot into a small country: 26 cantons, four national languages, and in the space of a couple of hours' drive, everything from flat farmland to roads well over 2,000m. The rides on this site cover several of its regions. The Seeland is flat, with the three lakes of Biel, Neuchâtel and Murten and the drained farmland of the Grosses Moos. The Jura is the long limestone range along the French border, a plateau cut by deep river valleys like the Doubs. Ticino is the Italian-speaking south, with granite valleys and green rivers. And the Alps give you passes like the Grand St Bernard, the Ofen Pass and the Umbrail, on the doorstep of the Stelvio.
It's also good cycling country in the practical sense: quiet back roads and farm tracks, signposted cycle routes, and plenty of cafés at the top of things. My favourite seasons are summer and autumn, when the high roads are open and, outside July and August, quiet.
The Grand St Bernard sits right on the border: the climb starts in Switzerland and the second day was in Italy's Aosta Valley, so it lives under both countries on this site.