Tour 1993, 16 - 21 August
| stage | distance (km) | climbing (m) |
|---|---|---|
| Oetwil a.d.L. - Engelberg | 111 | 880 |
| Engelberg - Brig | 160 | 2290 |
| Brig - Lavertezzo | 129 | 2240 |
| Lavertezzo - Andeer | 118 | 1960 |
| Andeer - Oetwil a.d.L. | 180 | 70 |
| total | 698 | 7440 |
Stage 1: 16 August 1993
The first stage of the Tour 1993 had to be an easy one. I had been invited by Karl,
a colleague of mine to stop at his family's house in Engelberg. I was very glad to
accept since i had never been there before and was keen to see this alpine region.
It was Sunday and the weather was good. I had first to ride to Lucerne. I reached
the city around noon and crossed it without stopping. Then i was riding more or
less along the Lake of Four Cantons (some call it, in English, Lake of Lucerne)
when i crossed the pack of Grand Prix Wilhelm Tell. This race, named after the
Swiss national hero William Tell, is an important event of the amateur's calendar.
It runs over several stages.
After leaving the lake at Stansstad i passed Stans and headed for the valley leading
to Engelberg. The road started to climb seriously after Grafenort. It was a nice
climb, mostly in the forest. I was passed by a whole bunch of buses loaded with
Japanese tourists. It is a very common thing to go to Engelberg and from there to
the Titlis when you are visiting the region of Lucerne.
I reached Engelberg in the middle of the afternoon and met my colleague. After some
drinks we made a short tour of the town, well known for its monastery and impressively
surrounded by mountains between 2500 and more than 3000 m high.
| distance (km) | altitude (m) | climbing (m) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oetwil a.d.L. | 0 | 420 | |
| Dietikon | 4 | 390 | - |
| Bergdietikon | 6 | 500 | 110 |
| Widen | 10 | 560 | 60 |
| Bremgarten | 15 | 390 | - |
| Rottenschwil | 20 | 440 | 50 |
| Aristau | 23 | 400 | - |
| Unterrüti | 25 | 410 | 10 |
| Merenschwand | 27 | 390 | - |
| Sins | 35 | 410 | 20 |
| Luzern | 55 | 440 | 30 |
| Hergiswil | 64 | 450 | 10 |
| Stansstad | 66 | 430 | - |
| Stans | 69 | 450 | 20 |
| Grafenort | 82 | 570 | 120 |
| Engelberg | 92 | 1020 | 450 |
| Engelberg | 111 | 1020 | - |
| total | 111 | 880 |
Stage 2: 18 August 1993
A "rest" day was inserted between the first and the second stage. Together with my
colleague Karl we climbed (by foot, not by bike!) the nearby mountain Huetstock. It
was a very nice day and we had a superb sight from the summit (2676 m). We got a bit
thirsty, but a lot of water (excellent local spring), and then a big portion of pasta
were refueled in prevision of the next day.
Two passes were on this stage. The first one, the Brünig, leads from Central
Switzerland into the Bernese Oberland. It climbs just over 1000 meter and is not very
steep.
The second pass was the Grimsel. This one was more a challenge since it climbs well
over 2000 m into the Canton of Wallis/Valais. But the pasta of the previous evening
were well transformed into potential energy by the efficient machine man+bike. I
reached the summit in the beginning of the afternoon.
After the steep descent towards Oberwald, i rode down the valley of Goms, along the
upper course of the Rhone river. I had some (dry!) head wind and it was not a very
easy ride. I finally reached Brig where i found an hotel for the night. For the
evening meal i ordered... a big portion of pasta, obviously. It is however not easy to
have employees of restaurants to understand how much kilojoules a cyclist needs to
ride. The "big" portion was in fact just a medium one. I had to order a good dessert
to supplement it.
| distance (km) | altitude (m) | climbing (m) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Engelberg | 0 | 1000 | |
| Grafenort | 10 | 570 | - |
| Stans | 23 | 450 | - |
| Stansstad | 26 | 430 | - |
| Alpnach | 34 | 460 | 30 |
| Kägiswil | 36 | 490 | 30 |
| Sachseln | 44 | 470 | - |
| Giswil | 49 | 480 | 10 |
| Kaiserstuhl | 52 | 700 | 220 |
| Lungern | 57 | 750 | 50 |
| Brünig | 62 | 1010 | 260 |
| Meiringen | 71 | 590 | - |
| Lammi | 73 | 710 | 120 |
| Innertkirchen | 77 | 620 | - |
| Guttannen | 86 | 1060 | 440 |
| Grimsel | 105 | 2170 | 1110 |
| Gletsch | 111 | 1760 | - |
| Oberwald | 118 | 1370 | - |
| Münster | 127 | 1390 | 20 |
| Fiesch | 142 | 1050 | - |
| Brig | 160 | 680 | - |
| total | 160 | 2290 |
Stage 3: 19 August 1993
I spent the night at a hotel near the Saltina river. Nobody had any idea
that, only one month later, this river would come out its bed and bring many
thousands of cubic meters of debris into the town of Brig, destroying so much
on its way...
The stage began right away with a big pass: the Simplon. For the first part of
it, i rode on the old road: steeper but much quieter. The it joined the main
road, which is less steep. The traffic was not too bad. I had a short stop at
the top, just to drink something and have a glance at the mountains around.
The first part of the descent (in Switzerland) was good, but there were many
places where the road needed to be repaired (or was being repaired) on the
Italian part. Road works are often marked by forests of more or less useful
signals, especially in Italy. But bikes are almost always forgotten by road
construction engineers and, without willing it, i happened to ride directly
into a long tunnel and then on a highway to Domodossola!
I was finally able to exit the highway and took to the left towards the
Vigezzo valley. The small road first climbs towards Druogno. When i arrived
there, it was about noon and there was very much traffic in this touristic
town. I continued towards the Swiss border, where the valley changes its name
to Centovalli, referring to the hundred lateral valleys of this very tormented
landscape.
After Intragna and its high church tower, i was riding down to Locarno. Since
i was much earlier than expected, i thought of calling my former boss (and
director of my thesis) who owns a vacation house at Lavertezzo. Since he was
there with his wife, i decided to visit them. It was really hot as i climbed
into the Verzasca valley. At Lavertezzo, after a drink, we had a nice walk
along the Verzasca river (and over it on the famous stone bridge). Then we
went to a little grotto to have a supper and it was already time to ride to
the local motel and to take a room there.
| distance (km) | altitude (m) | climbing (m) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brig | 0 | 680 | |
| Simplon | 22 | 2010 | 1330 |
| Simplon-village | 30 | 1480 | - |
| Gondo | 39 | 860 | - |
| Iselle | 43 | 670 | - |
| Ponte di Crèvola | 59 | 300 | - |
| Pontetto | 60 | 340 | 40 |
| Masera | 62 | 300 | - |
| Druogno | 73 | 830 | 530 |
| Camedo | 90 | 550 | - |
| Locarno | 113 | 200 | - |
| Gordola | 118 | 220 | 20 |
| Lavertezzo | 129 | 540 | 320 |
| total | 129 | 2240 |
Stage 4: 20 August 1993
On this fourth day on the road, i first had to ride back down to the plain.
After this first descent, i took towards the East, all on flat roads (or
almost). Passing Bellinzona, i went towards the Valle Mesolcina. This valley,
though Italian speaking and open towards the Ticino, belongs to the canton of
Grisons. Since there is a highway all along the valley, there was not much
traffic on the other road. It was hot and my bottles were soon empty, but i
found no fountain on the way. Finally i stopped at a small farmhouse to beg
for some water. The road began to climb seriously by Soazza. The landscape was
also slowly changing from the dry valley towards the green alpine landscapes.
Before reaching the town of San Bernardino there was a nice plateau to recover
somewhat. Then, as the motorway went into the tunnel, the road to the pass
climbed again. There were still few motor vehicles along these hairpin curves.
The landscape was marvellous and made me feel so good that it was like no
effort to climb.
The descent from the San Bernardino pass was nice too. Only the valley of
Rheinwald appeared a bit long, but then the road was steeper again, winding
through the wild Rofla canyon. I stopped at Andeer and took the last hotel
room that was available in this town.
| distance (km) | altitude (m) | climbing (m) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lavertezzo | 0 | 540 | |
| Gordola | 11 | 220 | - |
| Gerra-Piano | 15 | 200 | - |
| Cugnasco | 16 | 230 | 30 |
| Gudo | 19 | 220 | - |
| Pedemonte | 22 | 260 | 40 |
| Orenno | 23 | 230 | - |
| Gorduno | 27 | 250 | 20 |
| Roveredo | 36 | 280 | 30 |
| Lostallo | 46 | 420 | 140 |
| Mesocco | 59 | 790 | 370 |
| Forcola | 71 | 1660 | 870 |
| S. Bernardino V. | 73 | 1610 | - |
| S. Bernardino P. | 81 | 2070 | 460 |
| Hinterrhein | 91 | 1620 | - |
| Splügen | 100 | 1460 | - |
| Andeer | 118 | 980 | - |
| total | 118 | 1960 |
Stage 5: 21 August 1993
The last stage of this tour was long but all descending or flat. I knew
already most of the way and was riding quite fast. I was eager to see how i
should come along the Walensee. Some years before, i had to ride over the
Kerenzerberg pass because the main road along the lake had been transformed to
the westbound part of a new highway: no bikes allowed. Now, however, a bike
path had been constructed. Even several tunnels had been made to allow bikers
to ride through. In spite of some very steep passages and some gravel, this
was a real progress.
As i was making a little pause at Niederurnen, a woman came out of her house
to bring me a soft drink. I was first a bit surprised but appreciated very
much this offer. The rest of the stage was flat and rather boring. Only the
city of Zurich brought another surprise, but a bad one. I was riding along a
bike path that i used to take two or three years before to ride to work. Now,
however, the big drug market of Zurich had settled itself right on the path. I
had to step down and was just able to come through the junkers and dealers.
There were policemen around, but they were only looking at the scene. I was
shocked to see this mess. The day before, i had felt like in heaven when
riding over the San Bernardino. The drug scene of Zurich (now fortunately
dissolved) was like hell. This huge contrast remained the most impressive
memory of this tour 1993.
| distance (km) | altitude (m) | climbing (m) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Andeer | 0 | 980 | |
| Thusis | 13 | 730 | - |
| Bonaduz | 28 | 660 | - |
| Reichenau | 32 | 600 | - |
| Domat | 37 | 580 | - |
| Chur | 42 | 600 | 20 |
| Landquart | 55 | 530 | - |
| Sargans | 70 | 500 | - |
| Walenstadt | 84 | 430 | - |
| Weesen | 104 | 420 | - |
| Siebnen | 124 | 450 | 30 |
| Lachen | 128 | 410 | - |
| Pfäffikon | 134 | 420 | 10 |
| Zürich | 165 | 410 | - |
| Oetwil a.d.L. | 180 | 420 | 10 |
| total | 180 | 70 |
PS / 7.12.1996