Candy Cranks

Are we going to snowboarding or biking this weekend? That was the decision we wanted to make for last saturday. Some of our bike friends went skiing and snowboarding and some of us went biking. At Gurten in Bern (our Capital City):

My both Intense are not ready to ride, so I chose to take the Santa Cruz – VP-Free and Domi of course he took his V-10!!

My both Intense, left behind in the cellar…

Excited!!

Well, ok… the first half of the trail was very icy in the morning, but it got better in the afternoon.. or should I say it melted to mudd:-)

..guess which bike wasn’t on the trail yet:-)

It was a very cool riding day. It took a while to get all bikes and clothes cleaned….
..but it was worth it!! We made also some filming… maybe you’ll see more stuff later on my blog

Snow is falling from the sky, it is -4°C… we can’t stand our addiction to ride our bikes. So we decided to go on the top of Zurich (Uetliberg). As we reached the top, it was already getting dark, but it didn’t matter - the snow on the trail led the way down. It was a great downhill with snow and ice:

more on kAIRin’s blog or flickr

Snow has fallen in Switzerland this week. For the first time this winter. The snow came really late, but here it is. First I wanted to go snowboarding but my Snowboard didn’t arrive yet. So I decided to go biking. My Bikes are all in a kind of winter sleep (service needed!), so I grabbed my Santa Cruz freerider which is not really the bike you choose for up hill. I took my friend Lars with me and he took my heavy bike up the hill. Thanks mate!

The Weather was cloudy and the temperature 4° C. But it wasn’t that cold at all. The trail was full of hard, icy snow in combination with wet mud. Despite of the snow, I do really like riding in mud. It’s fun and challenging! With the right tires “Maxxis Swampthing” you’ll have more grip than you’ll ever expect.

It was a great winter ride, but the downhill was too short! And we had a lot of work to get rid of the mud:-)

More Pictures on kAIRin

Meanwhile, it’s really cold here in Switzerland. The weather forecast for yesterday said, snow!! Our Mountains are already full of snow…
Fortunately Switzerland is a small place and in a 3 hours drive we are in the South (”Ticino” or “Italy”) ….almost back to autumn. So we decided to bike at Monte Generoso near to the border of Italy. The weather was just awesome 15° C …. blue sky …. sunny …. just great!!!

After biking we ate a Pizza at the Lake of Lugano… and then… unfortunately it was time to drive home. As we drove through the Tunnel of San Bernadino - we knew what’s expecting us - and then it came back - the cold, wet, dark weather.

But it was an awesome day.

Saw this huge Bikeway in London, near Tower Bridge Station!

I had a great Bike Weekend at Bike Park Livigno. It was my first time there and I do really like this Park. It’s full of flow and jumps. They have this Swatch Bike Park – Big AIR Bag. That was my first time I ever jumped on that Bag. It’s really easy, but I have to confess that I was really scared – I almost didn’t do it… On Sunday, it was a little bit wet and I couldn’t get the curve after a woody North Shore, so I just drove strait a head between two Trees, fell front flip over my Bike and my really hard but stylish saddle cut my leg off (I guess it’s time for a new saddle)…

see my Swatch Big Air Bag Jump video here:
http://www.swatch.com/zz_en/shootmyride/smr_videoplayer.id-59604.html

see more Pictures of my Weekend here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/karinchristen/tags/livigno/

go to my page here:
http://kairin.ch/blog/2009/09/bike-weekend-in-livigno-it/

I really like the new collection of Dakine for 2010. They have some good new stuff at Eurobike 2009. Especially the Girls Collection!
There are Shorts for “All Mountain Biking” and Shorts for “Freeride Biking”. My Favorites are the Freeride one “Mode Short”, they have some cute details like the removable recoil pass pocket or the side waist tab adjustments.. wondering how they would fit with my crash pants.

I also like the Back Packs, there are two new models “Girls AMP 18L and 12L, specifically designed to fit a girl’s frame. Those two models are good for Bike Tours. All Packs have this new molded back panel with Air Channel Ventilation. I was given a new Girls Drafter Pack yesterday. Looking forward to take them on my next Biking Trip.

If you are going with your bike to work, I would recommend the new “COMMUTER BAG”, equipped with a padded laptop sleeve (fits most 15” laptops), a tarp lined shoe pocket and of course an expandable helmet pocket. I definitely like to have one of these Bags.

And I also loved the Brooks Stand

More impressions on my Blog:
www.kAIRin.ch