Swiss Mountain Bike trip
The plan for this year was a complete crossing of the Alps with a mountain bike. Due to a number of reasons, that was not achieved. However, what I did achieve was not far off!
A friend and colleague of mine was planning a trip to the bike week in Lenzerheide this year, and when he heard of my Alp plan, he made a good suggestion. The plan was to travel, per bike, from the Bodensee to Lenzerheide, via the Zuericher See.
So on September 7 we drove down to the Bodensee, and began our trip on the morning of September 8 from Au, Switzerland.
The first segment of the trip was the "Kaffeefahrt", which was supposed to be the easy part....so we thought. The segment turned out to be wonderfully scenic, riding through all wonderful Swiss country side, but also much more difficult than we expected. Constantly going from one cow pasture to the next, riding through the leftovers of what cows eat, and over-nighting in a peculiar Swiss mountain hut. The Hundwiler Höhe! After a full day of mountain biking in +30 degree temperatures, riding through pastures and getting sprayed with "leftovers", i was really looking forward to having a nice shower....NOT! Not in this hut, no warm water, not even any running water in the rooms! Just a small 18th century washing basin. Not for me! I searched around the hut and found a garden shower, and soon was showering, outside, with mountain water that was just slightly above freezing. The last time I was so cold was probably as child after hours of playing in the snow and not wanting to come in the house because you were having so much fun.
Anyway, I can still recommend this overnight stay, simply for the character of the amenities, and the personnel!
The second day we traveled on towards the Zuericher See, and found a nice Bahnhof hotel, with nice showers!
Now the hard part: Panixer Pass! When leaving the Bahnhof Hotel towards our third day of writing, the hotel owner gave me a strange and scary look when he heard of our plans. The bus driver also questioned our destination, and asked twice whether we were sure that we wanted to go to Panixer. I became ever more apprehensive, but Peter just calmed me by reminding me we could also push our bikes if things became too difficult....NOT!
Short synopsis: we had to carry our bikes, and backpacks, for 5 hours up the mountain. I made it, but currently I cannot remember what motivated me!
Going down the other side was not much easier. Very steep, and at one point I almost thought about turning back as we passed an area that was way too steep for my tastes. Arriving at our hotel for the evening the personnel there also commented that coming over via Panixer was not "normal".
The next day we traveled on towards Lenzerheide, arriving just as the rain and temperature drop began. Perfect weather timing!
In summary, I am now sure than ever that I want to do a full Alpine crossing with the bikes, but i'm not sure that I'd do the Panixer Pass again! Have a look.
A friend and colleague of mine was planning a trip to the bike week in Lenzerheide this year, and when he heard of my Alp plan, he made a good suggestion. The plan was to travel, per bike, from the Bodensee to Lenzerheide, via the Zuericher See.
So on September 7 we drove down to the Bodensee, and began our trip on the morning of September 8 from Au, Switzerland.
The first segment of the trip was the "Kaffeefahrt", which was supposed to be the easy part....so we thought. The segment turned out to be wonderfully scenic, riding through all wonderful Swiss country side, but also much more difficult than we expected. Constantly going from one cow pasture to the next, riding through the leftovers of what cows eat, and over-nighting in a peculiar Swiss mountain hut. The Hundwiler Höhe! After a full day of mountain biking in +30 degree temperatures, riding through pastures and getting sprayed with "leftovers", i was really looking forward to having a nice shower....NOT! Not in this hut, no warm water, not even any running water in the rooms! Just a small 18th century washing basin. Not for me! I searched around the hut and found a garden shower, and soon was showering, outside, with mountain water that was just slightly above freezing. The last time I was so cold was probably as child after hours of playing in the snow and not wanting to come in the house because you were having so much fun.
Anyway, I can still recommend this overnight stay, simply for the character of the amenities, and the personnel!
The second day we traveled on towards the Zuericher See, and found a nice Bahnhof hotel, with nice showers!
Now the hard part: Panixer Pass! When leaving the Bahnhof Hotel towards our third day of writing, the hotel owner gave me a strange and scary look when he heard of our plans. The bus driver also questioned our destination, and asked twice whether we were sure that we wanted to go to Panixer. I became ever more apprehensive, but Peter just calmed me by reminding me we could also push our bikes if things became too difficult....NOT!
Short synopsis: we had to carry our bikes, and backpacks, for 5 hours up the mountain. I made it, but currently I cannot remember what motivated me!
Going down the other side was not much easier. Very steep, and at one point I almost thought about turning back as we passed an area that was way too steep for my tastes. Arriving at our hotel for the evening the personnel there also commented that coming over via Panixer was not "normal".
The next day we traveled on towards Lenzerheide, arriving just as the rain and temperature drop began. Perfect weather timing!
In summary, I am now sure than ever that I want to do a full Alpine crossing with the bikes, but i'm not sure that I'd do the Panixer Pass again! Have a look.
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