Now that I live in Switzerland, I should somehow, at some point, pay homage to my new country, right? Well, what could be a better way to do it than cycling from east to west?
Some time ago, I started eyeing the Alpine bike route. It’s a relatively challenging mountain route from Scuol (east Switzerland) to Leyin (west). It has sixteen stages with a total of 24000 meters of climbing. To do this in one go in sixteen days is already a relatively tough job. Since I like challenges, guess what, I want to make it a bit harder for myself…
Originally I thought I could do this in eight days but when I started planning I realized I would have to do, on average, 2400 meters of climbing, continuously, for eight days. That means that while on some days I would do less, on the others I would have to do total ascents of up to four kilometers! Without any rest days…
While I still consider doing this in 8 days an option if I manage to get my fitness to an exceptional level, more realistically I may decide between two alternatives: either do a lightweight performance version over ten days, or a longer, bikepacking version over 16 days. In the performance version I would only take the usual small backpack to last me for a day, and I would take accommodation in hostels or hotels. It would still be completely self supported, without any outside help though.
Well, let’s see how the COVID situation evolves in the next few weeks…cause I need to buy myself a new bike!!
Lukáš Soľanka 