Week in Trentino

Tremola, Sustenpass, Grosse Scheidegg

Back to the bumps on the Tremola

Sustenpass

Steingletscher

Grosse scheidegg

Descent to Grindelwald, with Eiger north face

Engadin Radmarathon

I'd been looking forward to this event with some nervousness, as last year I cycled the two loops of this high alpine event - but on two separate days, so I knew this was going to be a big day on the bike.

Scuol

The hotels around the small town of Zernez are all booked up long in advance, so instead it was good opportunity to visit and stay in Scuol, only 26km away. The additional attraction of Scuol, besides the obligatory ski slopes, mountain views, white water rafting is the large spa complex Bogn Engiadina (Romansch for Bad Engadin) Looks nice in all the photos, especially in the wintertime, so an interesting location to be based for a couple of nights. 

The nervousness woke me up at 4.45 am, in advance of my android phone alarm clock which I realised I had made the same mistake again of not setting the day for the alarm - so annoying when this happens, it should be the default to be the next day!
After the short journey to Zernez, the only decision to be made here was what to wear for the first half of the race. Arm warmers and gilet seemed too much, as they would both have to be carried later, so my light assos wind jacket got the nod. 10 degrees was chilly, especially as there is a small descent after ova spin, then the long tunnel into Italy.
I started in block 3, but there was so little time delay between each block that this made little difference. However, as its uphill right from the start up Ova spin which is enough to sort out the riders very early, the road was packed and I found myself riding along the gutters and at one point bouncing a pedal off the stone wall as I fought through the field.
The tunnel to Italy is well lit, so no need for bike lights here. Its slightly uphill inside the tunnel as well, so I found myself going off the front of one group and chasing down the next bunch ahead of me, in the cool air. Once through into the open, I was in a bunch of 40-50 riders all going at pace the whole length of the Livigno valley.
Still cool, but the climb out of the valley up to Forcola pass was a warmup, and stunning scenery all the way. The road drops 300m or so once back in Switzerland, many cars on this section and getting down safely was the main priority here, as the road very quickly goes up again to the Berninapass before making the long, long descent back to Zernez. A large peloton formed here, mostly around the rail crossing on with the magnificent view to the Morteratsch glacier, either a train had just passed or there was some other traffic incident here but the marshals had stopped a large bunch of riders. Just enough to time take  swig of water, then we were off.
I had been wondering about the colour of our number plates, I had yellow, many of those around me had blue, so I assumed these guys were only going halfway and that was the reason they were doing so much work driving the peloton down to Zernez. Yet, when only 1 or 2 turned right to the finish line, I realised the colour of plates was random. For those who finished here, it was only 10:10am, far too early to be finishing a Sunday ride!
For die lange strecke riders, Susch is where it gets serious, at the start of the Fluella pass over to Davos. I checked my computer, 100km done. So only another 111km to go, with the majority of the climbing ahead of us!

Ice melt at top of Fluelapass

There was a fair amount of traffic on the Fluella, as expected the summer circus of motorbikers, rally cars, sports cars and all were enjoying the great weather and alpine scenery, but all passed by without incident or aggravation. Descending through Davos is where more cars are turning, slowing down etc but once passed the town its down, down down when you know this means the next climb is going to be up up and more up.
The Albula pass is one of the nicest around for cycling, very little traffic, without needing to say awesome scenery, but at the cost of being much steeper. At times you get glimpses of the trainline as it ascends in circles from one side of the valley to the other.
The climb is massive, and once at the top I drank much coke, water, ate orange segments, cakes, bananas and prepared for the fast descent to the finish. Our small number swelled through the valley until about 10 of us were working together, knowing that this was the final effort and we could push it all the way to the finish line.

Well organised with showers, pasta party, food and water at the finish. Seems this year the trend is for events to give away arm warmers, so at least I will have very warm arms next winter.

Which left me with one more mission for the day - Scuol baths! Not a patch on the Japanese onsen, more a large jacuzzi outdoors, but it was a nice way to spend the post-radmarathon recovery.

Official time 7hr 30min, 113 out of 612 finishers