Tag: alpine

Monday the 15th June was a day of two alpine passes for me. I had a commission from the organisers of the World Tour Swiss cycling race, the Tour de Suisse. This tour has a history of competing with the French speaking (but also in Switerland) Tour de Romandie and its route almost always sticks to the Swiss German speaking Cantons. For me, this meant adventuring over to fresh parts of the country that I don’t often get to visit.I was to spend Monday’s stage on the back of a motorbike and had been told that the Gotthard pass, that the race was due to ride up, was truly an iconic piece of road. I’d not heard of the pass until this week, but it was said that if it was in France, it would be one of the most famous cycling roads ever. The ascent, believe it or not, is cobbled. In terms of bike racing, it’s a little like Paris – Roubaix, but on a mountain. With time to spare in the morning, I decided to drive the pass before seeing it from the back of a bike later in the day. It’s really quite special, like nothing i’ve seen before, and of course cobbled as promised.Having finished my days work, it was time to head back home. A quick google map search showed three possible routes, with me naturally choosing the shortest distance but longest predicted time. “Maybe it’s a mountain pass” I thought to myself. What followed was a 37km stretch of road up to the Passo Della Novena, which at 2478m is the second highest paved road in Switzerland. What makes this pass so special is that following a great day at work, I didn’t see a single car for the whole time. Incredible.