Grosse Scheidigg

The descent from Susten Pass was breathtakingly beautiful and endless--over 5,000 vert. ft. in 12 miles. The grace of the bicycle cutting neatly through the curves and accelerating through the straightaways made me feel like a dancer on top of his art. OK, I'm not a great descender--Rick, Bill, Markham and any number of cycling buddies are faster, more fearless--but I'll claim the feeling anyway. And the podium visit may have had something to do with the dancer thing :-)

All too soon, we arrived at Grosse Scheidigg, the hardest climb of the week. 4,000 ft. vert. in 10 miles, it features a number of sustained grades between 12 & 17 %. The race was over so now the approach was, "just finish, baby!" The initial ascent is steadily steep for a couple miles before the road enters a open mountain meadow and follows a small river. Here the slope moderates, and we wound our way through small farms, still climbing at 4% or so. At the end of the meadow, we stopped for lunch at a picturesque inn with a cafe and outdoor seating area. Relaxing under shade trees, we enjoyed the best lunch of our Switz. visit with homemade soup, large sandwiches, bratwurst and fresh fruit. We enjoyed it so much we stayed for 2 hours!

We returned to the Scheidigg as it turned up in earnest--the next km often hit 14% and higher slope according to the Garmins. Cars are not permitted from here to the top, only bikes, hikers and a special bus--the "ExtraFarht" bus! We're still trying to figure out what it means exactly, but there's evidence it's related to the bratwurst several teammates had at lunch. The narrow road wound higher, generally maintaining at least 7% slope and more often 10-12. It was brutal and I slipped into a zen of climbing, blank mind, push, breath, push, breath. Maybe that's Lamaze, not zen? Whatever, it got my compadres and me to the summit, a place that happens to be a stone's throw from the Eiger Glacier.

We celebrated the summit with a beer before heading down a steep, hairpin descent toward the town of Grindewald. Once again an animal emergency arose as a herd of milk cows sauntered down the road toward their home barn. Skidding to a stop, we handled it the only way we knew how: taking photos. The cows were amiable enough as long as we got out of their way.

We finished our day in a whirlpool at the Belvedere Hotel, before moving on to the terrace for a beer. High mountains with glaciers and impossible tram cabling rose all around us.

Susten--The Race

We left Andermatt at 9 AM with temps around 60 deg. and the promise of a clear blue sky. After a chilly 12 km descent, we regrouped, shed our excess clothing and turned up the Susten. Charles immediately bolted out ahead of the group as we searched for a sustainable pace. Soon, 5 of us--Rick, Markham, Rich, Bill and I--separated from the rest, while Charles continued push ahead hard and open a gap of nearly .5 km on us at the 4 km mark. We weren't particularly concerned--he was going out fast and 13 km of steady 6 - 9 deg. slopes lay ahead. We had the advantage of numbers and time. We hammered upward, our legs and lungs at their sustainable limit.

My reluctance to racing faded as we pushed past 6 km, then 8 km: my legs would be toast regardless now--I had, de facto, committed to pay the price. The scenery was probably spectacular, but who noticed? We were locked into our inner pain, eardrums pounding like the diaphragms of woofers, legs groaning, out of the saddle, back down in the saddle, keep the bike pointed upward, wheels turning.

The short version is, despite our numbers and effort, we never caught Charles. He churned up the mountain maintaining a 262 watt ave. for 11 miles. In the last 5 km, Markham closed the gap to 1 minute, meaning the finish still wasn't close. I came in .5 min. later, with Rick finishing 1 min. behind me.

It was a podium sweep for the Atlantans! Rich finished strong and came in 5th, meaning 4 of the top 5 places for the East team. Charles accepted purple streamers for his handlebars in the official awards ceremony. Then we took pictures, refueled, and admired the view, elated at our "exploit" and oblivious to any tired legs.

Day 5: Race Day

On Day 4, Rich (Ride Commish) and Charles took a 3 hr. train ride to Zermatt, a little town under the Matterhorn, in lieu of climbing the Gotthard. At supper that night, Nel, our tour leader, made a surprise announcement: the Ride Commish had phoned in and asked her to declare tomorrow would be Race Day. The first climb of the day, up Susten Pass, would determine the official Swiss Challenge 2009 KOM (King of the Mountain). Rich and Charles didn`t return until 9:30 PM, and they seemed particularly high-spirited, with Rich joking how much better he felt after seeing the doctor. There were whispers among the rest of us about Aspen blood bags and the rumored presence of Dr. Michele Ferrari in Switzerland.

I didn't sleep well that night. My legs were achy from the past 2 days and didn't seem to be recovering well. Mostly, though, I didn't relish the concept of a race up mountain climbs that were long and hard enough without the pressure of speed. And tomorrow's climbs were "The Red Climbs." Markham and Rick had proven themselves the strongest of us over the first few days, with Charles and Howie showing promise, so it seemed the perfect setup for shredded legs and little success.

My heart pumped hard at the thought and I struggled to turn off a hereditary competitiveness that, at age 56, no longer seemed to serve me well. Did I need to torture my legs and redline my heart for 1.5 hours to prove.....exactly what? Some things may be primordial, deeply embedded in our chemistry so as to defy one's rational brain, because my heart pumped hard anyway, and I never really seemed to fall asleep.

Pig Crossing

At the top of Gotthard Pass, a narrow country lane runs off the main road for about 2.5 km along a high mountain meadow, through a small rugged Swiss farm and around the next mountain to a panoramic viewpoint.  A sign designates this a mountain bike trail, so Rick and Markham scouted it and found it passable with road bikes--despite a couple gravel stretches--and well worth the effort.  Several of us then biked out to the viewpoint.

On the return, Jim trailed us and, passing through the little farm, nearly T-boned a 300 pound pig.  Or pork-chopped it.  Luckily, Jim`s farming experience in suburban Connecticut  (chickens, goats, fish, and one pig) had prepared him to handle the situation.  He yelled, loudly, "Hey, guys!  Stop!  A pig!"  This caused a couple of us to dismount our bikes on a very steep slope, look back and decide we couldn`t be of help.  

Jim pulled out his cell phone and began snapping pictures, allowing the pig to safely cross the road, which, in turn, allowed Jim to remount his bike and chase us back to Gotthard! 

Sauna, Nakedness and Beer

Markham decided to use the hotel sauna yesterday to speed muscle recovery.  On Todd´s suggestion, he bought a cold beer and took it along, prepared for cool refresher on top of the unclothed European sauna experience.  A fellow hotel patron was already reclining in the heat, a large, SwissGerman speaking gentleman with generous body hair.  He bolted forward when Markham entered and exclaimed emphatically, "No beer!  Hot beer, no!"   Markham placed the beer outside the sauna and re-entered, to the gentleman`s satisfaction.

This has lead us to a number of theories.

1)  the man is a beer lover and objects to hot beer

2) cold beer would adversely change the microclimate of the sauna

3) beer would be too quickly absorbed by a sweaty body, leading to delirium

4) there is a rule that you take NOTHING but yourself into a Swiss sauna

5) the Swiss STILL do not have a sense of humor!

Your insights are appreciated.....

 

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Gotthard Pass

Even the name is meaningful. "Gott" is a German expletive meaning `goshdarn` or something like that, and "hard" speaks for itself.  In fact, this appears to be a pattern in the naming of Swiss mountain passes--consider "Furka Pass" (you supply the translation), which we climbed yesterday, and "Grosse Scheindigg" which we climb tomorrow.  

Be that as it may, the old road up the Gotthard compensates mightily for the 7.2% slope with its charming cobblestones.  The pass is famous historically, as it was first traversed in the early 1200`s with the building of the Devils Bridge, when it was seen as uniting the 4 disparate cultural areas of Switzerland.  The first road, the cobbled remains of which are known as the "old road", was built in the 1830`s and opened cart and wagon traffic through the pass, giving rise to Lucerne as an important Swiss city.  The Gotthard area is still considered the point where Switzerland`s four languages and cultures meet.

Today has been a gorgeous day with clear blue skies and temps rising from the 30`s into the 70`s.  Really, only photos can tell this ride story:  few cars, 8 mi. of quaint cobblestones, 18 switchbacks, and lots of historic engineering scattered amidst mountain grandeur.  (Note: see Chris`s blog referenced earlier--his photos are consistently better than mine!).  We rode to the top in small groups, just loving the day and taking in the sights.  At the top, a Swiss man was grilling bratwurst to classical music under the statue of Saint Gotthard, offering it to us and the many sight-seers for $2 a dog.  The sun shone and we relaxed with a picnic lunch before taking a short side trip to a special viewpoint.  The descent was fast, dry, and a bit shaky until we could leave the cobblestones and rejoin the new road into Andermatt.  Tomorrow we leave for our toughest climbs and a new town.