Cyclopaat, an alter ego with a twist
Tour de Suisse master tag
The Grimsel pass (2,164 m, summit sign 2,165 m) connects the cantons of Valais to the south and Bern to the north; it crosses the continental divide between the Mediterranean Sea and the North Sea.
It’s part of the most famous routes – or round trips – of the Alps and is combined with the Furka pass, which it ‘meets’ in Gletsch in most of those.
There’s a loop with the Susten pass (north), or with the Nufenen and Gotthard passes (south).
It connects the cantons of Valais and Uri.
It’s part of the most famous routes – or round trips – of the Alps and is combined with the Grimsel pass, which it ‘meets’ in Gletsch in most of those.
Other than traversing the Gotthard tunnel, you can travel the new Tremola if you want to enjoy some of the views from within your car or on your motorcycle, while not losing too much time.
However, that also has some (long) tunneled sections and the far more interesting – and better cycle-able – road is the old Tremola between Airolo in the Italian-speaking canton of Ticino, and Hospental in the German-speaking canton of Uri.
The Umbrail was a side-trip into Switzerland during the Giro of 2011 and the start of my Giro of 2020.
I started the climb in bad weather during my Tour de Suisse 2019 too, but found it was blocked by a landslide some 5 or 6 kilometers in.
The Umbrail from Bormio is the same climb as the Stelvio, minus the final 3.3 kilometers.
Either end of the Umbrail can be cycled free of motorized traffic during the Stelvio Bike Day.
Coming from a basically pancake-flat country – he actually lives below sea level, on the world’s largest artificial island – it’s amazing how much Cyclopaat likes cycling the Alps.
Even on a good day, he’s an average climber at best, but he claims it’s all about the views.
That is, he isn’t bad at it, but as he’s insane, he cycles multiple passes every day, for up to two weeks.
