Biking near Geneva, CH

Henning Tveit said:

I am going to spend more or less the whole of July in/near Geneva this
summer, and I wouldn't like to be without a bike the whole time.
So, the short version, does anyone know:

1) How is the terrain in the area suited for biking? (Mostly MTB I guess,
both for sight-seeing and training.)

2) Is it easy to rent a decent bike, or should I bring my own?

Please take into consideration that this will be mostly trips of
hours-duration, not trekking for days, since I will be busy 9-5 on
workdays.

Any tips about biking in the area will be very appreciated, thanks.

Geneva CH ? Where is CH?

Or did you mean Geneva OH?

--
--------------------+
Frank Krygowski [To reply, remove rodent and vegetable dot com,
replace with cc.ysu dot edu]

Frank Krygowski said:

Henning Tveit said:

I am going to spend more or less the whole of July in/near Geneva
this summer, and I wouldn't like to be without a bike the whole time.
So, the short version, does anyone know:
1) How is the terrain in the area suited for biking? (Mostly MTB I
guess, both for sight-seeing and training.)
2) Is it easy to rent a decent bike, or should I bring my own?
Please take into consideration that this will be mostly trips of
hours-duration, not trekking for days, since I will be busy 9-5 on
workdays.
Any tips about biking in the area will be very appreciated, thanks.

Geneva CH ? Where is CH?

Confoederatio Helvetica. Switzerland.

Quoted message said:

Or did you mean Geneva OH?

Or it could be that, of course.

--
Keith Willoughby http://flat222.org/keith/
SupercalafragilisticBorussiaMoenchengladbach

"Frank Krygowski" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]

[...]

Quoted message said:

Geneva CH ? Where is CH?

Confoederatio Helvetica, otherwise known as Switzerland.

Quoted message said:

Or did you mean Geneva OH?

Er, no.

--

A: Top-posters.
Q: What is the most annoying thing on Usenet?

Quoted message said:

I am going to spend more or less the whole of July in/near Geneva this
summer, and I wouldn't like to be without a bike the whole time.
So, the short version, does anyone know:

1) How is the terrain in the area suited for biking? (Mostly MTB I
guess, both for sight-seeing and training.)

2) Is it easy to rent a decent bike, or should I bring my own?

A friend of mine is staying there this summer, I will email him and let you
know if I get any reply on the biking matter.

--
Jem Berkes
http://www.sysdesign.ca/

"Henning Tveit" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I am going to spend more or less the whole of July in/near Geneva

this

Quoted message said:

summer, and I wouldn't like to be without a bike the whole time.
So, the short version, does anyone know:

1) How is the terrain in the area suited for biking? (Mostly MTB I

guess,

Quoted message said:

both for sight-seeing and training.)

2) Is it easy to rent a decent bike, or should I bring my own?

Please take into consideration that this will be mostly trips of
hours-duration, not trekking for days, since I will be busy 9-5 on
workdays.

Any tips about biking in the area will be very appreciated, thanks.
--
Henning

Well, I have a Geneva bike map in front of me, which their Cycling
Officer was distributing at a conference once, but I've never cycled
there. The map has a list of bike shops, but none of them mention
renting.

The town is tiny, and so, in fact, is the entire canton. You can not
only cycle out of the country in any direction, you could probably
walk. The immediate surroundings are fairly flat, but at the border
you hit the Jura mts on the west, and Mont Saleve on the east.

The bike coordinator's name and e-mail is Claude Morel
[email hidden], phone no listed as 022/418 42 00. He
gives out the maps, free, it says. I think it was him that I talked
to, and that he spoke fluent English. The bike map is just of the
town, not the entire canton. I should think something like the
correct French IGN 100 000 scale map would probably show the
surroundings pretty well - I don't know what Swiss maps there are.

The map says that the the Touring Club Suisse, their automobile
club, has a local bike section, which does rides., web site
www.tcs.ch, phone no of the Geneva section 022/735 46 53. It also
lists some user groups, ATE, Aspic, and IG-Velo, web sites
www.ate-ge.ch www.aspic.ch/aspic www.igvelo.ch

I have a guide book, published in England, Cassini and Lamory,
Haute-savoie and Mont-Blanc, Two Heads publishing, 1994. The closest
rides to Geneva that it gives are a couple along the top of Mont
Saleve. It says, "The Grand Piton de Saleve (1379m) is the high
point of this ridge which overlooks the Genovese basin. The entire
range is suitable for mountain biking and offers wonderful views of
Annemasse, Geneva, le Jura, and in the distance, Mont Blanc. I don't
know whether the cable car takes bikes, but that's almost after-work
distance.

I hope this helps

Jeremy Parker

Quoted message said:

I am going to spend more or less the whole of July in/near Geneva this
summer, and I wouldn't like to be without a bike the whole time.
So, the short version, does anyone know:

1) How is the terrain in the area suited for biking? (Mostly MTB I
guess, both for sight-seeing and training.)

A couple summers ago, I was staying in a village in the hills which was
quite close to Geneva. I didn't have a bicycle, but I remember that there
were incredible roads through the countryside and up mountain sides. I was
jogging the roads and it was an incredible view!

So this might be ideal for a road bike. I don't know anything about
mountain bike terrain around there. Either way,

Quoted message said:

2) Is it easy to rent a decent bike, or should I bring my own?

You can always cross the French border and rent a bike there, some people
make the trip daily across the border. Hmm interesting I just found:
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/mapshells/europe/geneva/geneva.htm

Marked on the map is "Free Bicycle Rental". I don't have experience with
renting bicycles.

--
Jem Berkes
http://www.sysdesign.ca/

Quoted message said:

1) How is the terrain in the area suited for biking? (Mostly MTB I guess,
both for sight-seeing and training.)

Downtown Geneva is OK for cycling, although some parts may be a bit scary
(Pont du Mont-Blanc at rush hours, which by the way you can easily avoid).
Geneva tends to be clogged by motorized traffic because:
- it is at the end of a lake, so everybody tries to cross the Rhone at the
same bridge
- there is a huge lot of cross-border commuting, and till recently public
transportation did not really extend past the border into the French
suburbs. So almost all the French come to work by car.

So, it is a good idea to get your own bike and use it everyday ! There is
good public transportation if you stay inside Switzerland, though.

For leisure and/or MTB, you probably have to ride a few km away from the
city:
- Westwards: rolling countyside starting near Collonge-Bellerive towards
Haute-Savoie (France); south shore of lake Geneva through Hermance,
Nernier etc...
- Eastwards: vineyards around Satigny, the Rhone river
- Southwards: the Salève, elevation 1375 m
- Northwards: the Jura range, culminating at 1717 m elevation (le
Crêt-de-la-Neige), or the easier woods between Collex-Bossy and
Chavannes-de-Bogis.

Buy the 1:50'000 map from Swisstopo (#270, Genève). There is also a
version dedicated to cycling, which I don't like because it is not very
legible; it may however show you a few good routes. You will find both
versions in all good bookshops.

Don't worry about crossing the border. Have your ID with you, but most
probably nobody will ever ask to see it.

Quoted message said:

2) Is it easy to rent a decent bike, or should I bring my own?

You can rent a mountain bike at the railway station if you book in advance
with www.rentabike.ch. OK if you want it for a day, not OK for a month
(too expensive).
You can borrow a more basic bike (not to say a clunker) at "Genève roule"
just behing the railway station (www.geneveroule.ch).
And you can probably find a few bike shops who also do some rental, but
there I can't help you.
The best thing to do, if you can, is probably to take your own, so you
can use it everyday (see above).

If you can read some french, have a look at www.aspic.ch. Aspic
(Association for the Interests of Cyclists) is the local advocacy group,
and a quite dynamic one.

Have fun

Jacques

Frank Krygowski said:

Geneva CH ? Where is CH?

Or did you mean Geneva OH?

Geneva (CH) is the one original Geneva, mother of all others. It is to
Geneva, OH, what Paris, France is to Paris, TX and Paris, IL.

DRS said:

"Frank Krygowski" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]

[...]

Quoted message said:

Geneva CH ? Where is CH?

Confoederatio Helvetica, otherwise known as Switzerland.

Ah. I learn something every day!

--
--------------------+
Frank Krygowski [To reply, remove rodent and vegetable dot com,
replace with cc.ysu dot edu]

Jacques Moser said:

Quoted message said:

1) How is the terrain in the area suited for biking? (Mostly MTB I guess,
both for sight-seeing and training.)

Downtown Geneva is OK for cycling, although some parts may be a bit scary

What's nice of Geneva is that in 15 minutes maximum you can get out of it and
find yourself in the countryside.

Quoted message said:

For leisure and/or MTB, you probably have to ride a few km away from the
city:

Geneva is also well-served by frequent trains, where bikes are allowed for
a (relatively) small fee.

Quoted message said:

Don't worry about crossing the border. Have your ID with you, but most
probably nobody will ever ask to see it.

Sometimes they ask :-(

The Touring Club (http://www.tcs.ch) proposes 16 routes starting from 4 points
downtown and going all around the countryside. These are road-bike circuits.
Obviously TCS sells the maps associated to those routes. I think they are
a fairly good starting point to get acquainted with the region.

Other links:

http://www.suisse-a-velo.ch/01_entree/frameset_einstieg.html
http://www.switzerlandtourism.ch/ (velo)

P.S. In CH there is a mandatory sticker. It offers a free RC ensurance. You
might want to consider to purchase an extra full-coverage (unless you already
have one). Swiss hospitals can be expensive :-(

Ciao,
--
Roberto Divia` Love at first sight is one of the greatest
============= labour-saving devices the world has ever seen.
Mailbox: C02110 CERN-European Organization for Nuclear Research
E-mail: [email hidden] CH-1211 GENEVE 23, Switzerland

In article <[email hidden]>,

Jacques Moser said:

Downtown Geneva is OK for cycling, [...]

Thanks a lot for your answer and to all the others who have replied. I
got more than I expected. 🙂

--
Henning

In article <[email hidden]>, Frank Krygowski <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

DRS said:

"Frank Krygowski" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]

[...]

Quoted message said:

Geneva CH ? Where is CH?

Confoederatio Helvetica, otherwise known as Switzerland.

Ah. I learn something every day!

All these years I thought CH meant Confederation of the Holenzorn (sp) and
Helvitica was a computer or typeset font.

What do I know anyway?

HAND

--
"Freedom Is a Light for Which Many Have Died in Darkness"

- Tomb of the unknown - American Revolution

I'll be in Geneva too in mid-June so this thread has been very useful to me
also.

May I ask some related questions? Allow that I am a very bad cyclist, with
balance problems and terrified of road traffic. Say I rent or borrow a
"clunker" from "Genève roule" as per your suggestion. If I need to get daily
back and forth between the Old Town and the Route des Chênes (the site of the
Ecole Internationale called La Grande Boissière), is this route hilly or flat?
Are there a lot of cars/traffic? Is there an easy cycling route?

As a schoolgirl I used to do this by tram - an orange toy tram called N° 12,
but it no longer runs. I also walked it sometimes. I'm sure there is plenty
public transport available, and perhaps it is not worth it to go through the
palaver of renting a bike and bringing my helmet, given that I'm only there for
four days.

Looking forward to it, yippee!

EFR
Ile de France

Elisa Francesca Roselli said:

May I ask some related questions? Allow that I am a very bad cyclist, with
balance problems and terrified of road traffic. Say I rent or borrow a
"clunker" from "Genève roule" as per your suggestion. If I need to get daily
back and forth between the Old Town and the Route des Chênes (the site of the
Ecole Internationale called La Grande Boissière), is this route hilly or flat?
Are there a lot of cars/traffic? Is there an easy cycling route?

The road between Old Town and Route des Chênes can be split in three sections:

- downtown: medium/slow traffic, several bike paths
- outskirt: more traffic, fewer bike paths
- Route des Chênes: medium traffic, wide roads, some bike paths

For the density of traffic, it depends on the time of the day. Around 8:00 AM
you can find many people coming in (from France). Opposite way between 17:00
and 18:30.

Roads: Route des Chênes and the Old Town are about at the same level.
Unfortunately to go from one to the other you *must* reach almost
lake level. This means you have hills both way. Steeper going into the
Old Town (which is the highest point of Geneva). There are roads that
keep higher (such as Galland/Place Bourg de Four): you'll have to
find out the best route for you. Also, several roads have less traffic
as they bring only to the Old Town (not a popular destination for most
of the commuters). Again, you'll have to work out your route.

In the past, the public services used to have a "Geneva by Bike" road
map. It reported all the bike paths, recommended roads, "hot spots" and
bike shops/rentals. This was about 10 years ago, not sure they still
have it. Ask to the registration center once you'll be in town. I used
to live downtown, to travel in the Chêne-Bourg area and to commute by
bike (had also a serious accident by doing so, but that's another story).
It's feasible. I also heard that things have changed (for the better)
since but I have not put wheels downtown ever since.

I'll try to post some references for the "Geneva by Bike" map tomorrow.

Ciao,
--
Roberto Divia` Love at first sight is one of the greatest
============= labour-saving devices the world has ever seen.
Mailbox: C02110 CERN-European Organization for Nuclear Research
E-mail: [email hidden] CH-1211 GENEVE 23, Switzerland