Today it snows in Sargans, so it's a great day to finally write about the bike packing tours we did last summer. As I said before, I discover sustainable mountain sports. One of the basic principles of sustainable mountain sports is to use your muscle strength to get somewhere. So following this principle, we should try to avoid motorised vehicles and walk, bike, climb or ski instead. With this in mind, I had the idea to try out a multiple-day bike packing tour from our home in Switzerland. I only have to say these things once, and Tom is enthusiastic to join. He takes the map immediately and starts planning concept routes to get an idea of where we can go.
The framework
After a bit of route exploration we made a framework for our first multiple day cycling trip in the Alps. It should be a challenge but for some things we chose the comfortable way, to make it not too heavy all in once.
We decided to take the racing bikes for the first trips because, in the Alps, we have more experience with road cycling then with mountainbiking. At that point my racing bike was also way more comfortable than the mountainbike I had. In terms of sustainable mountain sport, road cycling is actually not an official mountain sport like hiking or mountain biking, still it has components that suit sustainable mountain sport.
We love to bike over steep roads so then we better bring as less as possible. Therefore we decided not to camp but to stay in B&B’s or guest houses. With that decision we saved a significant amount of weight but it also gave us the possibility to maximize the time on the bike since we did not need to set up a tent and cook.
We were flexible with the dates and decided to book just a few days ahead to be sure the weather should be okay.
With respect to the route, we thought it should be possible to bike the same amount of kilometres and elevation meters as we would do on another sunny day in summer. That was probably a bit ambitious, but more about that later.
Tom started planning and proposed two tours which we both finished this summer: a two day trip to Andermatt and a three day trip to the Stelvio pass. In this blog I will write about our preparation and the first tour. The second tour deserves a new blog.
The packing
With clear thinking and the experience we had from hiking and cycling, we made a list of what to bring containing:
One set of clothes to wear and one set in the bag;
Extra protection for wind and rain (buff, rain jacket, windstopper, sleeves and knee warmers);
The basics: Multi tool, 2 spare tires each, tire lifters, bike pump, small bottle of chain lube, lights and a bike lock;
Energy bars and Isostar powder to refill the bottles, the rest we bought fresh on the way;
Clean clothes for the evening and to sleep;
Bathing suit and travel towel (so many lakes!);
Toiletries in travel size, sunscreen, basic first aid kit, earplugs for the guest house;
Passport, phone and navigation charger;
Pocket knife (I just always bring my Swiss Knife;);
Disinfection, toilet tissues;
Face mask (Covid-19)
We choose not to bring an outer tire because it takes a lot of space and the chances that we need one are not that great. But I can say from experience, if you need one, it’s not always easy to get one within a short distance. That’s something to consider next time.
The bags:
I prefer to have as less weight as possible on my back, especially on a racing bike when I’m in a leaning forward position. Therefore I decided to take a big (15L) saddlebag and a smaller frame bag for the tools and things I need on the way. Tom prefers not to hang bags on his bike during a cycling trip with climbs. When you are standing on the pedals, the saddlebag moves a bit from left to right and that could give an unstable feeling. A handlebar bag could be an option too but still, it gives a bit of an unstable feeling on the racing bike during climbs and descents. Therefore he decided to join with a backpack.
First trip: Two days to Andermatt (284 km and 4.948 hm in total)
Day 1: Sargans - Versam - Oberalp - Gurtnellen (Oberdorf)
Day 2: Gurtnellen - Klausenpass - Kerenzerberg - Walensee - Sargans
We left early on Saturday morning and Tom made a route with predominantly Swiss cycling trails. Sounds a bit like the very well prepared cycling trails I know from the Netherlands but I can say, it was not comparable at all! We encountered a lot of gravel / stony sections with sometimes steep short hills. Our speed (or at least my speed) is not that high on gravel roads and especially not while carrying bags. With more than 150 km to go we had to decide whether we took the faster paved road of just make it a long day over the way more beautiful road along the Rhine. We chose the last one. Also because we didn’t need to worry about a place to sleep or eat.
The tour came along the Ruinaulta, that’s called the Grand Canyon of Switzerland and national heritage. With train, kayak or on foot you can go through the canyon but we took a higher road with great view. Slightly touristic but a must see if you are close by. Then we continued the trip over a paved road to Versam. That was a beautiful quiet climb through small and authentic villages. A few kilometers, about three, are quite steep. But that’s a good warming up for the real climb of the day: Oberalp.
On the way to Oberalp we took the national route again and what should not happen, happened: Tom hit a stone and had a hole in his outer tire. Unfortunately there was no bikeshop around, but giving up was not an option so Tom did the tric with a banknote. He changed the inner tire and putted a banknote of CHF 20,- between the inner and outer tire at the location of the hole to close it. Actually the idea was to make that as a temporary solution till we found a bike shop. Fortunately it lasted 1,5 day till we got home, since we didn’t find any open bike shop for road bikes at all.
We again lost some time so we speeded up to Disentis, our starting point for the climb to the Oberalp pass. From there it’s a 20 km long but not too steep climb. It follows quite a busy main road, like most cols in the Alps, but that didn’t feel annoying. These longer climbs are actually some kind of meditation for me. I just search for a rhythm and try to look around a bit. After passing the summit we had a great view over Andermatt. Going down further in the direction of Altdorf the view got even better when we cycled through a beautiful, deep canyon. It was late and we were getting cold so we just enjoyed without any stop for pictures. I guess during the day, this road will be way more crowded with people. That was the positive side of being late.
When we booked our guest house for the night, we knew it was on a hill. After confirming the booking, we analyzed a bit better what kind of hill we had to climb to our place for the night. While cycling the last section of the first day, we were prepared and knew it was just one more steep climb of about 2 km and then we would have good food and a beer. Since I was really getting cold during the descent, this last climb was actually a good way to become warm again and to arrive in okay conditions at our sleeping location.
The next day we were ready to roll again after a good night rest. We started with a very basic breakfast, but that’s actually most of the times the case at these locations. We ate everything we got served and just took an extra energy bar before we left. The first part was easy going through the small village of Gurtnellen and along the river to the start of the Klausen pass in Altdorf. A nice distance to warm up again. The climb to the Klausen pass is about 24 km, it never gets too steep but it’s just a long way. In the beginning it was still rather busy with cars and motorcycles but further up, it got more and more quiet and we had great views into the valley. The view on the top was really nice, but actually I enjoyed the climb and descent even more.
We soon went down before getting cold and I was very much looking forward to a good lunch meal in the valley of Glarus. What we didn’t know by then, but what we learned in the meantime: Sunday is Sunday, and on Sundays very less places are open for food. We expected to find something on the way but it took more than 30 km before we found a place to sit down and have a sandwich. Actually, at that place the kitchen for lunch was already closed but they could offer us something small. We just ordered a double portion of something small and that was more than enough to reload. At that point I decided to look better for lunch stops while planning the next trip.
With new energy we went further for the last climb to Kerenzerberg. Just 6 km to the top and then soon we would have a great view over the Walensee. Seeing the Walensee felt a bit like coming home. We went there often in the summer to swim or relax a bit in the evenings. And that was exactly the plan we had this day. From the bathing spot at the Walensee to Sargans is about 18 km almost flat road. Although we knew these last kilometres mentally would not be easy, we celebrated at the Walensee that we made it and that Tom’s outer tire was still holding with the banknote inside.
Overall, I think we have had a great first bike packing trip. Next time maybe a bit less kilometres per day or a bit less gravel roads. We also could prepare the food stops better and we could consider to bring a spare outer tire. There was not much in the bag that we didn’t use. Just some rain and cold protection and the first aid kit. But that’s a bit of safety I would not leave home next time.
Soon you will also find here my blog about the second trip to Passo Stelvio! There you can read what we improved or did not improve;)
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