Brakes? Definitely over-rated!

There are two types of cyclists in the world.

There are the ones who are happy to huff their way up the winding road up from Andermatt to Oberalppass, with bike laden, no matter what the day, the or the weather. They are the purists. The die-hard cyclists, who would rather blow up lungs and legs than admit defeat.

The other type takes the train.

Phill, who we met on the Burra to Bendigo ride last month, and who has ridden EV15, told me that he would think less of me if I took the train rather than ride up. Well Phill, think thee less of me. The train was fun! Fabulous views. The weirdness of being on a train and having to walk uphill. The novelty of a cog train. And it was fast. This thing hikes up the 11km (less as the crow flies) from Andermatt to Oberalppass, approximately 600m, in less than 20 minutes, and that includes a stop at a station at a barren, snowless ski field on the way.

We see riders on the way up, and they don’t seem to be doing it too tough. In fact, at the top while we are making last minute fiddles to gear, all the riders we saw on the way up go by, and we see them recovering in a restaurant as we pay homage to the seriously misplaced lighthouse that is planted right the top of Oberalppass. If my reading is right, we will see its twin when we reach the end of EV15 at Hoek van Holland.

I’m still nervous about my brakes. (If you don’t know the story about the brakes, read it in this post.) I have a fully functioning front brake, and a spongy, semi-functioning rear brake. Neil encourages me to ride; I reserve the right to back out at any point and take a train down to Ilanz.

We launch ourselves on the road and immediately roll into a set of switchbacks. I approach every bend with caution, braking well before the turn, pumping my brake lever (which takes away some of the sponginess) between turns. Luckily my rear brake still slows me, and the front brake takes on most of the work. While I don’t relax properly, I start to feel a little more at ease, even while other cyclists, who obviously have full confidence in their brakes, sail past. 

It is cautious fun, and the views on this sunny-cloudy but mostly sunny day are stupendous.

We descend so quickly. Our starting point is just over 2,000m and in no time we’ve dropped 400, 500, 600m. It’s crazy. We pass though little villages that look everything like you would imagine a Swiss mountain village to look – quaint wooden houses, cows (or goats) in fields tinking bells around their necks that must be downright annoying. There’s a massive and beautiful railway bridge that the little red trains – The Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn, the Glacier Express and others – pass over on their journeys. It is green, green, green everywhere. It’s a lush, mountainous paradise.

In what seems like no time we find ourselves in the village of Disentis/Mustér which is 20km into the ride, and 900m downhill from where we started. We decide to stop for at a drink and maybe a snack. By the time we agree to stop we’ve passed through the village proper and we find ourselves sitting at a cafe at the railway station, with curious passengers on the stationary Glacier Express eyeing us.

We share a serve, which turns out to be a great decision, because after lunch the great downhill adventure of the day takes a turn upwards.

Not far from Distentis/Mustér, after a short downhill, we round a corner and it is on! We are climbing. I knew our downhill day had a few upward bumps, but this is ridiculous: about 1.4km, with some pretty steep grades. My new bike, Joy,  is supposed to be equipped for climbing in a way my previous (the black bike) was not, but when I look for my climbing gears after a bit too much huffing, Joy’s gearbox says, “No.” With Neil powering off into next year, I have to stop by the side of the road, regain my breath, and try a gear change again. My Pinion gearbox is supposed to work under strain, just waiting until the pressure eases off and changing gears when the time is right. Somehow that hasn’t worked for me, but when I’m stationary at the side of the road in the beating sun, a flick of the gear change lever works! I flick it down a few times, then set off again, and I’m now in a wonderful, comfortable gear that makes me feel like I can climb forever. I catch up with Neil, who is waiting, and we continue on what is now gravel roads (previously we were riding on fabulous, smooth, sealed roads). 

We are heading for Ilanz, which is supposed to have a few bike shops where I might be able to get my rear brakes bled and fixed, and I am still nursing Joy on all the downhills, when we pass through a little remote nothing village where, joy of joys, a bike shop appears like a brilliant mirage – and it is open! The guy there says he can help me, but I must wait an hour while he finishes with another bike. I figure a bike shop now is worth more than the hope of a bike shop in Ilanz, so we wait, and make use of time by tweaking a few other things on both our bikes. It’s just first day teething issues.

With my bike finally fixed, and with a firm, reliable, working rear brakes, we head off for the last 20km or so into Ilanz.

It’s a bit of a slog, mostly gravel, with some sections that could only be described as “technical”. (That means bike handling skills beyond just hanging on for dear life as the bike plummets down a hill.) There are some soft sections, loose gravel, and even what can only be described as a goat track (single track) and I keep thinking I would be more comfortable on my mountain bike. However, our super tourers take it all in their stride and before long we are riding into Ilanz, stumbling by chance onto our hotel, and inhaling a well-deserved cold beer. Over the course of the day we have dropped around 1600m from our starting point at Oberalppass!

Ilanz is a pretty quiet place. We take a turn aroud the small-ish old town, which is very quiet tonight, venture further into non-old-town and then spy a restaurant with a view over the river and background mountains. I take one for the view, having pizza for the second night in a row while we enjoy the peace of the Rhein river and the looming mountains.

I am so grateful to La Bikeria for being there, right in my path today, and for so quickly fixing my rear brake, leaving me to get on with plummeting downhill in the Swiss Alps.

Stats for today:

• Distance: 52.07km
• Climb: 258m
• Descent: 1600m (approx; because descending was big and fun today)
• Average speed: 18km/h
• Average temperature: 13C(but i think that is bullshit!)
• Moving time: 2:54:01
• See our ride on Strava

The beer picture

At the end of a day’s ride, our tradition is to enjoy a beer, and to photograph it for posterity. Today’s beer picture was taken at our hotel in Ilanz. We are right next to the Rhine, but can only really see the unattractive railway line. But at least there’s mountains. And a bald man. They were pretty steins.

Along the way today:

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