Eurotrip Day 1

Riding out of European cities can be a challenge with finding the right roads and not getting turned around but my start went really well from a navigational perspective.  I did have an issue with establishing tire pressure to get started as I didn't bring with me a luftdruckeanseiten   (aka. "pressure gauge". Thanks to the woman at Radsport-center bike shop in Meiringen  for the help with the concatenating german nouns)  My attempt to get it sorted in Zurich was only partially successful.
At this point I'll take the opportunity to reinforce a stereotype.  Avoid triathlon shops for bike service.  The level of expertise of the shop personnel was well below what would be considered 'entry level self sufficiency' for any mountain biker I know.
Anyway, the ride went really well.  I found the secondary road I wanted to take (Albis strasse) to climb up out from Zurich towards Luzern where I was rewarded with this view to start my journey.

The ride from Ober-Albis to Luzerne was just a bit rainy and cold on and off but my new showers pass jacket had a chance to show it's chops.  It really does breathe a whole pile better than any gore tex or alternative I've had a chance to try.  Very happy with the purchase.  I'll perhaps do a dedicated review on it some other time. For now, I was thankful to have bought it.

Luzerne is strikingly beautiful, and that will be a theme throughout the whole trip. Just replace the placename with wherever I was at the time and it applied.

 

From Luzerne I made my way south along the Alpnacher see, Wicher see, Sarnen see, and finally the Lungerer see before heading up the second climb of the day and first legitimate pass! Brunig Pass.  It's a low pass but provides some stiff grades.  The reward is a beautiful view up the valley of lake through which I had just rode.






Along the way I noticed the proliferation of cycling route signs and map points. It turns out Switzerland had over 60,000km of designated bike routes including overland (mountain bike) routes.   Incredible!

Found accomodations, got settled and set about hunting down dinner.  Dinner invariably started and ended like this.

Numbers for the day:
~120km with 2180 meters vertical.
http://www.bikemap.net/route/540933