bicycle day 2023   

Eighty years ago, on April 19th, Albert Hofmann and his lab assistant Susi Ramstein – the first woman to take LSD – rode their bicycles from the Sandoz headquarters in Basel’s Wettstein district to Bottmingen, the suburb where the chemist lived with his family. Hofmann had intentionally taken LSD for the first time about an hour earlier.

This year’s Bicycle Day, we will retrace the approximately four-mile route he rode with young Susi’s help, as we do every year, reflecting on the many mental adventures Albert Hofmann underwent and on Susi Ramstein’s courage as the first psychedelic trip sitter.

Doors will open at 5 p.m. at the Gaia Lounge on Hochstrasse 70, providing a protected space from which we can depart and return in case of bad weather. Pre-registration is not required, refreshments and trippy music before and after the ride guaranteed.

This congenial event follows a weekend of superlatives. On Friday, April 14, at the Hotel Hofmatt in Münchenstein, the SÄPT (Swiss Medical Society for Psycholytic Therapy) will host LSD80, a celebration of the most significant day in the psychonautic year, with presentations on LSD in research, therapy, and society, as well as an evening program. For the first time, there will also be a parallel program in French. As the German-language event is sold out, I will be attending the French program and look forward to meeting new people.

On Saturday, April 15, and Sunday, April 16, you’ll find me at the LSD80 – DOWN TO EARTH festival at the Ostquai of the Rhine harbor, where an impressive industrial environment and an explosion of art and communication on all levels awaits us. We will also pay tribute to the late anthropologist Christian Rätsch, who passed away unexpectedly last September. You’ll find the complete program here.

In honour of LSD’s 80th anniversary, we are giving away free memberships to the Gaia Media Foundation. Anyone who attends the LSD Festival and completes the on-site coupon will automatically become a member for one year, receive our newsletter, access our library, and the use our lounge for their own – related – events, as well as other perks. We want the Gaia Media Lounge to once again become a lively meeting place, and a hub for the consciousness movement.

I hope you have the time and inclination to join us.

Festively Yours
Susanne G. Seiler

P.S. You’ll find us at the gaialounge, Hochstrasse 70 (behind Basel’s SBB station, tram stop Peter Merian), every Thursday afternoon from 14 – 18 h. Welcome!

the beauty way