Biel/Bienne

So, we went to Biel/Bienne yesterday and it was brilliant. To start with it's easy to find, just a short little drive off the motorway from Bern (here is a map). Secondly, it's sunny. I've been told by a local that it's always sunny there, and we all love sun.


The Funicular takes you from Biel/Bienne (at about 400m) to a town called Magglingen at the top (at about 800m). It is capable of taking a decent amount of bikes (at least 10), and runs every 20 mins (on the hour, 20 past and 20 to the hour). It takes a mere 10 minutes to get to the top, and from there it is literally 50 metres to the top of the track. If you are quick enough, you can get back down before the next tram leaves. A day pass is available at 30chf (about 23€), or you can get half day or single journey tickets. I managed to get 7 runs in over the time we were there (about 5-6 hours) including time for a spot of lunch and drinks breaks.

It turns out there is one main track that is the only "legal" route down. It is well maintained and has some great features. In fact, they were maintaining parts of the track as we rode it. It is a fun, fast and technical track that starts out with a fairly intimidating rock garden. From there it speeds up a bit and mixes gullys, berms, rocks, roots and drops. There are a few different sections to ride and some natural places to stop and catch your breath. The best section for me is a new section, where there used to be a long straight with a big/long jump. Now the track winds down the hillside with some excellent back to back berms and swithcbacks.

There are also a handful of other tracks to be found, and with a little local knowledge we managed to ride most of them. These are more natural singletracks and flat out fire roads, with a variety of different bits in between. One of our favourite sections of the day is on one of these tracks. It's a short section that follows a little gully, with tight berms/corners and lots of trees to squeeze the wide bars through. It's so flowy and fun, I could ride it all day!

All in all, it's a great place to ride, and a nice change from Morzine. I'd post up some pictures, but I didn't take a camera, so you'll have to go yourselves to find out what it is really like! If you do, let us know how you found it.