Swiss National Park Bike Marathon

I'd been looking forward to this event all year, and in some ways for a few years as its on the same weekend as AlpenBrevet, or before that Haute Route so this is the first time I'd put it first in the calendar of events.
This was so different to the Eiger bike challenge. Its 40km further, but the same ascent, so that extra stretch makes the whole course more enjoyable as the climbs are all rideable (well, with one major exception) and all the descents fast and not on tarmac which can feel such a waste on a mountain bike. Also not having to walk down any sections was a major plus.
Some excellent flowing single trail, the whole course up to Livigno was excellent. Using up nearly all the tarmac on the course, the start took us up towards S-Charl, gradually and in steps with breathers, a world away from the tedious Grosse & Klein Scheidegg climbs.
The best section has to be between Fuldera and Livigno , yes all 36km are stunning and rideable.
Seems strange to have to keep mentioning "rideable", and yes, after Livigno when we turn right up towards the high point of the day at Piz Chaschauna , the never ending trail of walking bikers pushing their bikes up and up beyond view we were back to whats the point of all this. In truth, the climb was possible if only for the pros, and in sections I could ride a little, but as soon as you're going walking pace, its better to walk.
I'd heard it could be a walk down the otherside as well, but I found this to be completely fine. I just hung right off the back of the bike, as it was very steep, but its mostly loose dust, not a rocky descent, so take it with care and you should be fine. I had to slow to let several guys past, but one rider about the same level as me over cooked a hairpin and landed up in the dust, hurt more by the burning disk brake on his leg than anything else.
It is a long way back from S-Chanf to Scuol, and there are still 1000m to climb in this section, most of which is the climb up to Guarda. But nice to pass through these classic Engadin villages like Lavin, Guarda, above Ardez and Ftan as they all have great water fountains, perfect for dunking the head and body in these hot temperatures - this really helps a lot, I cannot recommend it enough.
Lovely downhill on the final section of what would be ski slopes in the winter to Scuol, and over the high wooden bridge to the finish area by the ice rink, the first mountain bike marathon this year I could finish with a smile on my face!

Finish time 8hr 25m 23s

Eiger Bike Challenge

 

This profile tells enough of the tale of the Eiger bike challenge, but I should have paid more attention to it before hand. In my mind, this event was about the two ascents of Gross Scheidegg and Klein Scheidegg, with some connection lumps in between. Yes, I had seen Feld on the profile, but totally overlooked Bort - this is a super steep tarmac ascent for 3km, at which there are large crowds and an anouncement that the bergpreis is over, except that the track continues steeply up for a considerable distance more on concrete mesh surface, which eventually requires a dismount and push.
It took 5 hours to get to the turning point for the Klein Scheidegg bonus loop, a further 2.5 hours from there.
The course is a lot of tarmac climbs, and also some steep tarmac descents which end up with cooked brakes. There are short sections of single trail, but these are often stepped, or large rocks, so as they are so short they were not worth taking any risks and short walking downhill was also required. The rest was gravel tracks, often I felt unsteady when descending on such tracks as the wheels can slip at any moment. The final joke was approaching the summit of Klein Scheidegg, where we took a left turn up a steep field, wasn't crazy long push like the Sella Ronda Hero, but the final push for the day then its almost all downhill from here.
In all, it still reinforced my experience of Grindelwald being tedious long tarmac descents followed by brake pad burning descents and with virtually no flowing singletrail to enjoy.
This was a tough event, 4000m ascent over 88km, a little bruised as well as tired after this one.

7hr 25m 30s