A Car-Free Tour de Suisse Experiment

For more photos see the VeloNews Tour de Suisse Web Galleries: Lugano Prologue and Car-Free Gallery

Last summer (while in Switzerland researching trips for the VeloNews Ultimate Ride Guide) I discovered the Swiss National Bike Network and its nine cross-country road bike routes with 82 local and regional trails covering 9,000 kilometers.  I also learned that for an extra $10 (above and beyond my train ticket), SwissRail allows travelers to toss a bike onto any Swiss train.  Wonder-twin-power-activate this rail and trail system, sprinkle some heart-thumping terrain on top, and you get a veritable Disneyworld for DIY cycling junkies.

This summer, with 1-month remaining on my annual 50% off Swiss train pass, $7+ per gallon gas prices, and an assignment to photograph several Tour de Suisse stages, I wanted to see how far I could push the Swiss transportation infrastructure.  Would it be possible to shoot the race using only trains and a bicycle?; i.e. no cars or motos.  To find out, I put this “carbon-free as possible” Tour de Suisse experiment in-motion after the stage 1 prologue in Lugano, where I aimed my bars north to Zurich and fully embraced my roots as a steel frame riding, wool sock wearing, earthy-crunchy Pacific Northwestern cycling photographer.

Rather than follow the race from point to point, I based myself in a small village near Zurich with easy access to a train station and feeder lanes to the Swiss National Bike Network.  From this hub, I could hop a train or pedal to the beginning of stages and either hang at the start or spin ahead on the Tour de Suisse race route until I found a scenic spot to shoot the passing peloton.  Next, I would catch a train to the finish or ride a National Bike Network trail back to Zurich. 

In 2010, I somehow overlooked the fact that Switzerland has no open container laws but took full advantage of Heidiland’s public beer drinking tolerance this year by rewarding myself at the end of each day’s photo-shoot with one or more Swiss brewskies.  Prime swilling locations included the grassy slope of stage 7’s 2383 meter Fluelapass and every time I used the rails to get back to my crash pad near Zurich.  In total, I managed 386 kms of cycling with 4630 meters of climbing to cover 4 stages—a far cry from what the racers hammered but much more fun than sitting in a car.

I was never alone on the trains or trails and met meet hundreds of cyclists who were also using this rail/bike combo to follow the race.  South Africans, Germans, Italians, and Swiss, by the end of the race I’d made two-wheeled friends from all over the globe.  It’s truly been a “pinch me this ain’t real” experiment. 

Here's some photography from my car-free 2011 Tour de Swiss gig:


2011 Tour de Suisse - Images by Gregg Bleakney 

Giro d'Italia for VeloNews Magazine

In addition to producing daily and theme photography packages for VeloNews.com during the 2011 Giro d'Italia, some of my work from the race is starting to turn up in print too.  First up--a photo-essay and general content images sprinkled throughout the VN July issue.

Some popular galleries and content from my Giro coverage on VeloNews.com:

Photo Essay, Team Androni - The Giro's poorest team with the biggest dream

Interview with Giro race director Angelo Zomegnan

Photo Essay, At the Giro with Gregg Bleakney

The Giro was just a super-dreamy gig, when I have a little more time to digest it all, I'll post some light color galleries from my own wild ride around Italy in this blog.

Outside Magazine Pacific Coast Cycling Spread

It's nice to see mainstream mags. (i.e., beyond-niche cycling publications) pimpin' travel bike trips and destinations to their readers--so kudos to Outside for featuring this image.

This shot was made two years ago with fellow vagabundos gMack, Hall-Pass Ben, and Sir Scotty M. in the Quinault rainforest, an alternative route option for the popular Pacific Coast Cycling Trail that loops around Olympic National Park and/or the Hood Canal to Astoria, Oregon.  We landed an assignment to test cycling-specific rain gear and decided that it would be appropriate to do the testing in the rainiest place in the Lower 48 at the rainiest time of year.  As luck would have it, nary a rain drop glazed the tarmac during our 4-day shoot and I had to get creative to make it look wet when it was actually sunny and uncharacteristically super-fab November weather.

Regarding the swag test results...for me, bike travel ain't about the gear, it's about traveling differently and experiencing landscapes and people in a more intimate way than possible with a car or plane...but if you just have to know, the article on the topic by Sir Scotty M. is here.

Ditch Logic - A Podcast from the Dirtbag Diaries

 

Listen to the Podcast on Patagonia's Cleanest Line

I had a great time working on this podcast about how my two year "out in the world" bicycle trip changed my life.  I think that Fitz and Becca did a great job of keeping my thoughts in line--heck, they even got my big bro to speak without mumbling!  This, more than anything I could write in a portfolio bio section, explains my path to photojournalism.

G

Tour de India -- Road Magazine Photo-Essay

Made In Italy - Feature Story for AC Magazine

This month, Adventure Cyclist Magazine is running my semi long-form feature on the Price family bicycle touring company, ExPlus.  Most of my work for Adventure Cyclist to-date has been focused on my personal travels. Since 2010 my photographic projects have grown to include feature writing and I've found that first person format limiting (and overdone quite frankly--I bore myself sometimes).  Initially this piece was slated to run as a fairly standard travel narrative about cycling across Sardinia but I change my mind after meeting the company founder, Rick Price.  I found Rick's story of ditching a small town on the Oregon coast to pursue true love and a life of travel in Italy fascinating and decided to trash my first proposal to focus on his journey instead of my own.  Fortunately, the editors of AC were cool with this (at least as far as I know).  When I first dropped this "change of subject" think on Rick he responded, "that sounds like a bad idea...I'm not very interesting."

I disagree:)

Cover Shot and 45-Page Feature Story - What I Did Last Summer

Last May, my 11-day assignment to Sardinia accidentally turned into a dreamy four months of scouting Europe for the best routes, trip operators, hotels, and people in-the-know for VeloNews' 2011 Ultimate Ride Guide.  The issue hit the newsstands this week.

For my part, I produced articles on Italy, Switzerland, France, and Spain--45 magazine pages of reviews, short stories, and interviews in total.  I also created a photographic package and podcast for the feature(s).  I'm entirely grateful to the editors of VeloNews, who gave me tons of creative freedom and the authority to stay away from the top-10 list format (usually researched by a cubicle googler who's never done any of the stuff they are recommending) that has become so common in today's toddler attention span, search engine results driven publishing world.  In short, they let me keep it real.

Life's a boomerang.  My former career in software started at the University of Oregon where I founded a digital publishing company called WhereNext.com with a group of college buddies.  We focused on, of all things--travel guides to Europe.  I remember starting that company with dreams of stomping the streets of Europe ala Rick Steves--tracking down fresh new destinations and activities for young, independent travelers.  However, WhereNext quickly scaled to include a full staff of talented writers and as the President,  I assumed the role of working the upper floors of towering office buildings in Seattle, Angel investor meetings in Portland, and unassuming cafes in Silicon Valley to raise multiple rounds of VC funding to finance our growth.  So it was odd, though entirely fulfilling, to find myself doing what I originally set out to do after college--but with a 13 year detour.

A few pages from the article: