Day 8
Rest Day in Lucerne, Switzerland - 320.6km!!

It was a rest day so I spent it resting on the bike!!! The best of the best of the group went on this ride which netted us two mountain passes. We were shooting for four of them, but two of the passes were closed. One was closed due to rock slides and one was closed due to construction of the road.

Still we managed to hit two very nice passes. Remember what I said about France and the twisties? Forget it. The Swiss Alps are it. Hairpin after hairpin, under, over, behind, you name it and the road went that way with drastic elevation changes.


The guys were riding really quick today. If you weren’t dragging or scraping some part of the bike you weren’t riding fast and hard enough. We ground foot pegs, saddlebags and one guy even got a cylinder head!!! For those non-motorcyclists that might are reading this you have to lean a bike into a curve. The faster through the curve and the shaper the turn the more you have to lean the bike in. As you lean the bike further and further one of two things will happen – you will either break your tire loose and the bike will come out from under you (called a low-side) or you begin to put those lower parts on the pavement. So when I say we were scraping pegs, I mean we were literally grinding them off on the asphalt as we came around the corners. I was finally starting to feel the effects of being on a bike and riding the roads we had been riding. I had some sharp pains through my shoulders and down my left arm. It wasn’t enough to keep me from riding, but it was enough to keep me from riding quite as fast as the tour leader and two of the other guys (I later heard that he never takes folks as fast as we were pushing the pace). Still, I had a great freaking ride!! Taking passes at 9000+ feet with hairpins and sharp drop offs really wakes you up!

It was a tough 320km, but I would definitely do it again. After getting back we had some beverages and then went out for dinner. Italy won a game of the World Cup and the plaza square in Lucerne went ballistic. It was quite entertaining to be there.

One guy in our group got pretty hosed on wine and we ended up going out afterwards. His friend dared him to mess with this Asian prostitute, but only to mess with her. Turns out, the she was a he and everyone was in on the joke except this guy that we knew (sorry, no names just in case) Now, I would never do that to anyone but it was already in full swing by the time I came along. Needless to say we were in tears laughing a few tables over while he was putting the moves on the she/he. The she/he even had it’s his/her hands up our friend’s shorts a few times. We were losing it about this point. His friend finally stopped it all by telling him and thankfully took it very well.

We then went to a place of “ill repute.” I am not sure if this is legal or not but this place was a brothel. Drinks were very expensive and the ladies wanted us to buy Champagne for them at $25.00 a glass. The standard proposition appeared to be $200 (francs) for a ½ hour. I told them no way and I left, but a few of the guys stayed behind. What happened? Who knows for sure!!!

I can’t say that Lucerne did much for me, but apparently it was picked so that the ladies could get some quality shopping time in. To me, the little towns and villages that we passed through were much more interesting, warm, and a pleasure to ride through and see.