SUCH24

The best brunch of the year was again on full swing today on the Bundesplatz. The SUCHists were warmly welcomed by Charlotte (my co-dotwatcher) and Matthias, who were the Beer-chefs (well IPA, brewed in a micro-brewery in Zollikofen by Marc and Vincent). Charlotte and Matthias had a special cap for this high-responsability job. Marc did a speech and he announced that next year, the SUCH will be about mysteries. We are more than curious but we will have to wait until January to find out about the rules. Let’s see if we can develop an AI to make the perfect SUCH's route until 2025.

We loved hearing all the stories from the participants, the bivouac stories, the best snacks, the highs and the downs. Evelyn Weiss , first woman, who arrived Saturday morning after a very regular and strong race, impressed us by her positive mindset and said she really enjoyed it, even if the weather was sometimes terrible. We also had contact with Hannah Kool and some other participants: all had this positive mindset. We really liked that and we know how much mental strength it requires !

Samuel Frésard , who arrived during the Brunch, had a wonderful welcome committee (note to myself for next year: arriving during brunch is the real goal.). Samuel Frésard also “won” the peluche marmot for his route: he crossed the Nufenen yesterday in full snow. Well, in that weather, the marmots were probably hiding, but Samuel was cycling. He deserved that marmot!

And a special mention to Svenja Hölzl and Bastien Cambresy : again, they showed us that ultracycling can be a feast (and a “fest”) ! Bastien just had his cast removed on his hands and this was particularly challenging for him. Well done, Bastien, and recover well !

Charlotte and I really enjoyed following this SUCH for you, and hope to have made you smile. Congratulations to all of you for riding this SUCH and congratulations to Marc and Vincent for organizing such a beautiful, authentic and amazing Event ! Vous êtes “extras” et des “enragés” comme dirait ma grand-maman jurassienne <3

Your dotwatcher are over and out! See you next year!

The SUCH is not over yet! Most of the riders have now reeched the finish line in Bern. Congrats to all of you! You look beautiful, tired and... hungry! This is why we decided to make a list of your favorites snacks while riding. Dear readers of our SUCH Gazetta; if you're hungry too, be careful. Grin and bear it, tomorrow is the big Brunch! Or like we say in french: "Mange ta main et garde l'autre pour demain!"

What a day ! We got some reports from Paula Banolas and Fabian Burri (Cap 109) in Ostschwyz that it hailedfor the whole morning. Some riders sent us some pictures of their very wet rides and the conditions seemed to be very intense for everyone out there.

In the morning too, the authorities closed the main alpine passes (Nufenen and Grimsel). It means, no Checkpoint up there. It’s a very understandable decision - there’s sometimes 20 to 30 cm of snow up there!

The first men arrived already in the morning: Liam Bromiley arrived at 8.32 on the Bundesplatz. What a strong race! We were very impressed by his pace. He also took the long way down the valley after Airolo, which costs him some time, but he was fast enough to overtake the leaders again later. 46 hours of racing - this is very impressive ! Bravo Liam and rest well!

Second is Jonas Verest , also a strong race, arriving 3 hours later than Liam. A very nice and impressive performance as well. Thomas Schlatter, arrived only a few minutes later than Jonas, completes the podium. Well done ! Beat Ruetimann, Luca Bernasconi and Dominik Bokstaller arrived later this evening, just as we also were on the Bundesplatz to feel the atmosphere and bring some desserts to Marc and Vincent, to maybe “sweeten” the rules for next year ;-). (But we take no responsibility if the rules are especially hard and almost absurd!)

All the riders seemed “fresh”, literally ;-) Luca went directly for a beer and an ice cream, as we would have expected. He told us also how he struggled to find the Kappelle in Melchsee-Frutt - the visibility was so low he couldn’t see 2 m away.

Dominique Perone et Cédric Sermet arrived also at the same time - les welsches dans la place ! They are the first pair and got welcomed by an apéro. Typisch welsch… Bravo !

We also talked with Marc, energetic as always, who showed us how he literally put a bar in his van (the magical arrival beers come from there !), brewed by Marc and Vincent themselves. We analysed and discussed a few chosen routes with some DNS/DNF that were there and watched the race comfortably from the couch. We’re giving 10 points to the people that went DOWN the stairs after Seelibergsee and 15 to the people who navigated around the AI/AR border in a forest. Very impressive ;-)

Even though some men already arrived, it stays very interesting between Evelyn Weiss (Cap 7) and Alessia Sträuli (Cap 48), even though Evelyn seems to have an advantage for now. She told us she was pretty tired a few hours ago, but it looks quite good on the tracker for now ! Let’s see how the cold Jura will affect the riders… And you know what: until now, no solo women’s has DNF. Well done, girls !

Some SUCHists didn’t make it because of the weather or health reasons (or a wedding tomorrow!): to them, you are real warriors to even had the idea of riding in such a weather. Be proud of yourself, rest well and see you on Sunday !!

And to the ones still riding: you are very impressive. Keep riding, stay safe (and warm if you can...)!

The magical beer in the magical van:

Luca Bernasconi: straight to the ice cream!

The second day is now almost over and it's been rich in adventures !

After a very cold start in the morning (well for those who rode bike at least -not like us-), the riders made their way slowly but surely through the beautiful but wet Switzerland. Like we said earlier, some riders took very funny routes. Special mention to Anastasia Stiel who decided to descent the Seelisberg. We hope for her that the stairs weren't too slippery! All the solo women are still on the race and moving fast. Well done, we're really impressed! On the overall solo riders, only nine have left the race and three pairs also decided to stop the journey. Well done to all of you and good recovery!

With Lauriane, we are slowly thinking that the SUCH could be UN PEU PLUS ROMANDE QUAND MEME, we just don't see any riders in our beautiful corner of Switerland 😪 But if Marc and Vincent see this post ➡️ __on a des bons plans si jamais__

That's it for today. To all the riders, we wish you the best luck (and warth ?) for tonight!

To be continued...

If you read this message, you're probably following some friends or family members on the SUCH. And were you also super happy to not be out there when you went to sleep last night ? The warmth and comfort of a bed... We sent extra vibes to our friends out there for sure !!

We contacted a few of the SUCHist this morning to know how the first night went. We know that Paula Lückenmeyer and Fabien Burri slept in a trailer next to a construction site. It was very cold and they are currently warming up in Disentis. In the women's field, Alessia Sträuli seemed to have slept somewhere near the Austrian border for 3h. Evelyn Weiss rode through the night with a few powernap and enjoyed herself a MacDonald's around midnight. Hannah Kool made a 3h30 break in Landquart and Anastasia Stiel made good progress, riding throught the night.

In the men's field, Luc Lütschig is now leading, following by Luca Bernasconi (wondering if he's fuelling on ice cream as he usually does...), who took a very impressive route through Melchsee-Frutt at night. We'll try to contact him later to see how he's doing. Jonas Verest completed the podium. We know that Dominik Bokstaller took a hotel in its own hometown from St-Gall to dry a bit. They are all riding a very strong race and it's very impressive to see how fast they are going.

Les mim's, Nathalie et Fabien Monnier had a quite rough night and are now on a Mission: they have a wedding on Saturday. But well, if it's raining that much, they don't need to shower !

We had some reports of Pablo Wünsch and Max Dregger that slept ON THE GRIMSELPASS, Mesdames et Messieurs! They byvied somewhere under a stair. Their Instagram reports showed a super icey roads. One hour ago, they were telling us they have to wait that the roads get "ridable", so they are warming up and having breakfast at the hotel. They also told us that the road to the checkpoint in Bern is close, so be careful!

We also got in touch with Ben van den Brand, Dutchman living in Belgium, who was the only one starting in Zentral Schweiz. He told us he almost didn't sign up for the race when he saw how complicated the rules were. "But my brother is a programmer and loves puzzles, so I gave him the mission to build my route, with the least km and the least elevation meter. He gave me in the end 10 different routes, and I chose this one, which had the least elevation meter and least kilometers." So, someone made it by solving SUCH with an algorithm ! Now we are wondering if Komoot is going to hire Ben's brother to design an AI special for SUCH ;-)

That being said, here a few pictures of the partecipants and their social media:

Christopher Ungar is drying his socks and shoes for tomorrow

1ST 10 HOURS IN THE RACE

The race had yet started about 9 hours ago and our riders seemed to have found their pace. It looks like most of the riders have chosen more or less the same route, however some other riders decided to do something completely different. The rules of this year's event makes most riders have to choose other ways to get to the different checkpoints and cantons and we can already see that the route choices take them on some serious gravel sections. This is what we can see between Lago Ritom and the next checkpoint in Ticino at Lai di Sontga Maria. This is actually really clever as this section shortens the route at about 50 km and 500 meters of elevation on the other riders who go back in the valley! We think that this just depends on your mood and on your gravel/hike-a-bike experience… 🙃

Women's race :

Cap #48 Alesia Sträuli, currently first woman, is making the women's podium hard as she seems to have a strong pace. She also chose the gravel option. But cap #7 Evelyn Weiss is following close so we bet for a very interesting battle between these two. Cap #59 Anastasia Stiel is also racing strong but chose a completely different route as she started in Môtier (NE). Our Parisienne cap #50 Floriane Le Saule is for the first time in the Alps. She said in Marc's story that she was having only fun until now. We wish that this mood will last with her all the way to Bern!

Men’s race :

Cap #43 Lorenz Inauen, currently 1st in the race, is pushing hard but is close followed by cap #1 Jonas Verest, (1st of last year SUCH) already showing all his power. Top 10 of the men’s race is also very diversified as we have cap #23 Nils Hilligardt from Germany and cap #41 Dimitri Bayle from France. Cap #13 Dominik Bokstaller just told us that he finds the Haribo Frogs more difficult to eat than to actually ride a bicycle. We hope for him that they are not frozen yet, despite the weather…

And the pairs :

Most of our pairs seem to all have chosen the same route with the gravel section in Ticino. Cap #114 Nathalie and Fabien Monnier (les mim’s) told us this morning that they will try to find a place to sleep around Landquart before the biggest rain hits. We hope this will be successful. Cap #111 Svenja Hölzl and Bastien Cambresy are making good progress but cap #109 Paula Lückemeyer Bañolas and Fabian Burri are coming fast!

All the riders are now slowly entering the night… and also the big rain 😈 Let’s see how it will look tomorrow morning. To be continued...

This is it ! This morning a 10:10 am our fellow riders started this 5th edition of the SUCH. Like it looks like a cyclists party in Gletsch, some riders still preferred to start at more eeehm… remote places let’s say. This is the case for example of cap #59 and cap #6 who chooses the Swiss canton of Neuchâtel as a starting point. They surely going to reach the checkpoint at Lac des Taillères very soon. On the other side of Switzerland, some riders decided to start at Castrisch at the fountain and they are now heading toward Grimsel Pass. That's for sure a very interessant start in the race... let's see what the day is gonna bring us !

Cyclists taking over public transportations... Almost like a critical mass in another setting ! (Picture from Svenja)

The SUCH is a reference in the Ultracycling Swiss scene. Marc and Vincent, the organisators of the SUCH had a very clear idea on how to celebrate it: with some complex rules and some water. They probably didn’t wish so much water (and probably not in solid form, too), though. 

Lauriane, your co-dotwatcher, called Marc and Vincent last night with one question: “Why so complex rules? ”. They laughed a bit. “You know, every year we had a pizza on the Friday night on the race and we talked about the rules for this year, what works well and what we want to do next year. And last year, I said to Vincent:* putain* , it’s too easy for them!” Marc and Vincent’s goal for this 2024 Edition was clear: in 2024, the SUCHists will spend more time on the planning than on the bike. (I admit: my partner and I tried to solve the planning with an algorithm, but it didn’t work completely…) 

The route is the goal (or the contrary?)

As usual, they wanted to have some checkpoints that have a strong connection with Switzerland, and Swiss history. “Water is kind of everywhere in Switzerland, so it made sense,” said Marc. “We are very curious about people's creativity !” Creativity will be seen on SUCHist’s brevet cards…and the route. This year, the cantons were put together according to when they entered the confederation (for example, Nidwald, Obwald, Schwytz and Uri are in the same groups, as well as Solothurn and Fribourg, for example). The only stand-alone canton is Jura, who made its entrance in 1979 - the youngest swiss canton. It's allowed to "pass" one canton per group, except for Jura. And obviously, if you choose to not go through a Canton, you have to avoid it completely, which can be pretty much a challenge when their borders are super random, like Solothurn, Appenzell or the zone between Morat, Neuchâtel... In every canton, a checkpoint is located in a place in connection with water (a lake, a fountain, a waterfall...). The SUCHists have to take a drop of water and put them on their brevet card to draw something. We are super excited to see the creativity out there !

For the start: we know that most participants are starting in Gletsch. We saw this morning on the live-tracker people travelling to Basel and a few around St-Gallen. as well as some are starting in Geneva. That is now interesting ! People starting in Gletsch should be over the mountains passes when snow will make its first appearance of the year (Meteoblue is showing a forecast with 30 cm of snow on the Grimsel for Friday). I didn’t read anything about bringing skis in the race manual but well, it might come in handy ! 

And about the riders ?

In the women’s field, we will be closely watching Alessia Sträuli, winner of the Dead End and Cakes in 2023. Evelyn Weiss, who had a very strong season with a 3rd place at the Race Through Poland, will also be on our list. This is also not her first time on SUCH: une vraie habituée ! In the men’s field, there’s should be some action: Jonas Verest , winner of last year, Dominik Bokstaller, Simon Flury, Luca Bernasconi and Sébastien Glauser could all pretend to be the first one to drink a beer in front of the Palais fédéral.  In the pairs' field, our favorite cycling influencer from Luzärn Andy Signer will be racing with Lukas Pfreundner. Nathalie Monnier and Fabien Monnier.  As Valaisans they don’t fear anything. Together they form a team, called les mim’s . We love their “always good mood” style but also their teamwork in ultra events. For sure a pair that we have to keep an eye on ! And let’s admit it: we also have a bit of a faible for Svenja Hözli and Bastian Cambresy, the Queen and King of the best snacks and good vibes !  To say that the weather will be challenging is probably an understatement. We’ll be cheering from our couch for them !! You are all amazing and we are wishing you the best for the SUCH ! 

P.S: Marc and Vincent told me that there are 3 special “holy water” at some Checkpoints. Let’s see who find them first…