2016 On the road today...

[Nefarious86]

[Vagabond]

Kingtom, are all your photos from the same area? When I head to Bormio this autumn I might build up the bike in Zurich for a couple of rides and make a couple of day trips your way. Can you recommend a stop to hop off the train at to sample some of those rides you're getting to enjoy. I notice all the mountains and quiet roads as I pass them on the way to catch the Bernina at Chur.

[kingtom]

Kingtom, are all your photos from the same area? When I head to Bormio this autumn I might build up the bike in Zurich for a couple of rides and make a couple of day trips your way. Can you recommend a stop to hop off the train at to sample some of those rides you're getting to enjoy. I notice all the mountains and quiet roads as I pass them on the way to catch the Bernina at Chur.

yes, mostly is the area within 100k from home. In autumn is just great here in the mountains. From Zurich direction Bormio i would prefer to stop around Altdorf or Chur, depending on the way you choose. Near Altdorf you have the passes like Klausen, Susten, Grimsel, Furka, Gotthard, Oberalp in 'blow distance'. Around Chur there are Flüela, Albula, Julier, Splügen.

Too many nice places to choose one. You have to stay several weeks, so you could ride all of them

[wingguy]

Fluela and Susten I would particularly rate 12 out of 10 for sheer epic epicness but that whole area is like, camp there for the summer and ride everything!

[Vagabond]

Thanks. I usually spend a couple of days in the area before heading on the train to Tirano. I'll definitely unbox the bike and head out early to get in a couple of long rides in the mountains down your way. I'll have to look into maybe staying in one of the towns along the Bernina's route South. Can you recommend a good bike friendly hotel Southeast of Chur along the line? Also, do you commute by bike between Lucerne and the Lake Zurich valley area?

[Vagabond]

And thank you as well Wingguy. Perhaps one of these days. I'm absolutely smitten with Bormio and the Gavia and Stelvio passes. This year I'll finish the trip off with a stay ar Lake Garda. I'm looking forward to riding down there and sampling the local wines. I don't think Basillic and Kingtom and Ultiguy know how good they have it. I'm pretty jealous as I kit up for a two hour ride here in Arlington. The riding here sucks. At least I get to spend days at home on Washington's beautiful roads a few times per month.

[wingguy]

I may well be floating in and around the northern end of Garda through late summer / autumn, though I'll be pretty nomadic. Feel free to shout my way when you're there

(I know a good campsite there where the owner sells his own vino for €4 a bottle but you may be thinking of a different class of wine )

[basilic]

...I don't think Basillic and Kingtom and Ultiguy know how good they have it.

yes we do! what we don't know is how people manage with no access to the mountains

Wingguy, will you check out the climbs NW of lake Anfo?

[kingtom]

Thanks. I usually spend a couple of days in the area before heading on the train to Tirano. I'll definitely unbox the bike and head out early to get in a couple of long rides in the mountains down your way. I'll have to look into maybe staying in one of the towns along the Bernina's route South. Can you recommend a good bike friendly hotel Southeast of Chur along the line? Also, do you commute by bike between Lucerne and the Lake Zurich valley area?

Yes, as basilic wrote, we know [emoji16]

You take the 'bernina express' to tirano. Perfect. Then i recommend to stay 3-4 days in near st. Moritz. The train stopps in samedan. Go to celerina. There i know the hotel 'alte brauerei'. Generally, everything is fu****ing expensive there. The 'alte brauerei' is agreable. And the comfort and service is ok.

I dont know, what you're able to ride. But some would be on my bucketlist:
1. Ofen-stelvio-bormio-livigno-bernina / 240k, 4'200m of climbing
2. Flüela-davos-albula / 130k, 2'800m
3. Maloja-splügen-thusis-albula / 180k, 3'000m

When you have seen this, you'll never leave switzerland [emoji23] [emoji23]

[kingtom]

And i commute between the lake zurich and lake zug. Not that far then lucerne. Just ~50-60k each way. [emoji6]

[wingguy]

Wingguy, will you check out the climbs NW of lake Anfo?

Possibly. I'm planning on heading into the Brenta Dolomiti for sure, not sure if I'll go down towards anfo though.

[Ghastly]

Aren't those Control speci tyres a little overkill on (from what I can see) pretty dry roads?

[Nefarious86]

Aren't those Control speci tyres a little overkill on (from what I can see) pretty dry roads?

And what would you run instead?

Ground control 2.1 front/fast track 2.0 rear in a control casing is my go to combo in changing conditions. That particular day had tar, loose shale, sand, mud, fire roads, cut in rocky descents with sandstone baby heads and pea gravel over hard pack. I prefer a bit more front bite over all out speed if I need to adjust a line mid corner at pace on blind descents and after the carnage and air lifted riders I delt with over the weekend it was the right choice for my style of riding.

[Ghastly]

Aren't those Control speci tyres a little overkill on (from what I can see) pretty dry roads?

And what would you run instead?

Ground control 2.1 front/fast track 2.0 rear in a control casing is my go to combo in changing conditions. That particular day had tar, loose shale, sand, mud, fire roads, cut in rocky descents with sandstone baby heads and pea gravel over hard pack. I prefer a bit more front bite over all out speed if I need to adjust a line mid corner at pace on blind descents and after the carnage and air lifted riders I delt with over the weekend it was the right choice for my style of riding.

here in Belgium I run almost the entire season on a RoRo 2.25 front, RaRa 2.25 rear combo... And if it's dry for a week or 2 I change to Fasttrack 2.2 or 2.0. But I'm not familiar with the underground you're having there and offcourse it's better to build in some safety!

[lrdunc]

Such beautiful pictures. Really jealous of that epic scenery.

Here are a few from my cloudy Memorial Day ride around Downtown LA: