50km for 50 Years

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

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 view towards the alps from outside Dardagny

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.

Perfect

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.

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.