Today, we took our bikes and headed towards the mountains in Pany, Graubünden. In times of Corona we wanted to avoid public transport for 2.5hrs and decided to take our bikes for this 136km adventure. We are definitely not well-trained bike riders and were kind of scared of the last ascend to the mountain hut at 1'400m. The furthest, we've ever biked in a single day was a trip from Zurich to Basel and this was 100km. On a side note, we've also ran this distance once last year ;)
At 7:15am, we started our journey with two backpacks full of stuff to get us through the next week (no food). Once we got out of Zurich city, we traveled along Greifensee. Most of the route was either on a separate bike path or on a bike path just along the street. We also made sure to only have minimal sections with loose gravel, as this is super annoying with a racing bike. The wind was really cold, but as soon as the sun got more powerful during the day, it was very pleasant.
The section along Walensee I was most excited for, as there is not much space due to the steep cliff. The route traveled next to the highway but on a really nice separate bike path next to the lake. The view to the other side and the Churfirsten mountains was beautiful. The last part of this section was along the road with no separate bike path, but this was only for about 8km.
In Bad Ragaz, we did a longer break at the train station. There were only a few people out there, especially for a Saturday it felt really empty. All stores (except convenience stores) were closed due to the Corona regulations.
After passing Landquart, we rode along the valley towards Davos. From there, it was slowly going up, but the real struggle started when we rode up the mountain in Schiers. First, it was going up towards Buchen, then a flat section, before the final ascend to Pany. Oh man, that was hard. We've never rode up a mountain before, and I always made fun of people doing it and I definitely didn't enjoy it. After this, everyone who does it without an e-bikes has my utmost respect. Nevertheless, I was proud that we made it up the mountain, although we had to stop for many breaks. I'm not sure I would ever do it again ;) Next time, I would prefer running up the mountain, that feels more like my natural habitat.
Writing this post the next day, I can tell that my butt hurts (a lot) and my neck. I didn't have special cushioned bike shorts, but Zeno did, and his butt is hurting as well ;)
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| First pic of the day at about 15km in. |
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| Morning view near Greifensee. |
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| Blocked road, had to wait for the horses to cross. |
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| Snack-break and sunny weather. |
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| At the start of the Walensee. |
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| Almost at the halfway point, so stocked. |
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| Steeeeeep section at Walensee. |
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| Afternoon break at Bad Ragaz. |
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| Made it to the mountain hut. Still hate riding uphill. |
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