Swiss Miss

I left Landeck early the next morning, but the hike the day before had done a number on my legs and had me aching on stairs. The route was difficult, and standing to climb used some of the sore mussels, so I avoided that as much as I could. I was rather tired and decided to take a short day. Hostels and were scarce, and with bad weather moving in, I splurged and spent a night at the historic Post Hotel. I had a room to myself, with a wonderful four course dinner and breakfast included. Pictures from the early days of the hotel showed 1900's style trucks driving through trenches of snow, with skiers from the same period.

The next day was a real wash out, but fortunately it was mostly downhill to Liechtenstein, where I found a hostel in Vaduz. I didn't have much time after washing up and drying off, bit also learned there's not much going on in Vaduz besides some views from a palace and a stamp museum. I rolled through the city center in the morning, and was in Switzerland before I knew it. The riding in Switzerland was flatter then I expected as I followed along the river Rhein (upflow). I made some good progress into the mountains, but was getting tired and pulled into one of the only hostels that I could find which was booked; so again, I got a hotel that was more then I wanted to spend. Things are expensive in Switzerland. I would compare them to NYC prices. The currency is also very colorful. I overpaid for my first sub sandwich when I only had Euros. That night I was able to save some money on food by eating a local kabab. The reaction from people that I'm from NY and rode from Copenhagen is funny sometimes.

 

 

The next day I had two major climbs ahead of me. Maybe I was optimistic, but I thought I could do them both in one day. But the Alps mean business. The climbing around here is serious, and when my GPS track winds up like a coiled cobra, or a child's zig zag drawing there can be some hairpins sections hat that add on hundreds or thousands of feet of elevation at a time. Some sections really are ridiculous, and are like the hardest climbs from home stacked end to end. When you climb till there's snow on the ground (in August) you've had a pretty good day. Some of the roads round up mountain sides, over bridges and through tunnels that you can barely see the other side. The amount of infrastructure is pretty amazing, and there are great views everywhere. Some of the traffic is difficult. Large vehicles, like tour buses, will take up an entire hairpin turn, and cannot pass a bicyclist around blind bends, which are frequent. There seem to be a lot of motorcycles, and bewildered looks from drivers that pass me by. I was passed by a train today where people waved from the glassed enclosed café car. There is some merit to it I guess.

There are a other cyclist on the road. I saw a bunch climbing and gave them a hearty cheer when I passed them climbing on my decent. There are two other distance cyclists here at the hostel tonight.

The riding has put a lot of strain on my equipment, my gears and brakes in particular. I should check my brakes as I think I smelled something burning coming down the pass today. There are some crazy descents in the mountains.

Tomorrow I have an even harder ride through Furkapass, and with 90% chance of rain I'm not really sure what I'm going to do. It would be uncomfortable and perhaps unsafe it were really raining hard. I would take a rest day but I only have one month left in Europe, and, I have yet to find any good chocolate, cheese, or braided blond girls running around, so I'm tempted to press on. The rain may come down as snow in the mountains?