Edelweiss 2 tour -- Viele Kurven
After Edelweiss1 (Destination
Spass), Mark and I decided that a follow-up was needed. So last
Wednesday Leon found himself in need for a ride. An email and a chat session
with Mark later, Edelweiss 2 was planned. As Mark has to work, it would be
only 2 days of fun in the Alps. No real preparation was needed, I knew the
drill and Mark knew the roads. Mark drew the route we took afterwards:
Day 0 October 19th 2001, Venlo (NL) - Zurich (CH), 675km (420mi)
Fahren Fahren auf der Autobahn (Autobahn, R.Huner/F Schneider). The usual
stretch of highway between Venlo (Home of my bike) and Zurich. Friday
evening rush hour around Karlsruhe. Some traffic jams. Real traffic jams
were yet to be found in Switzerland, 20km before the destination of the day,
Zurich. So much for making a good time.
Ate at Mark's place. Yummie. We
discussed the route to take. As tradition wants it, it included a visit to
Mark's dealer to get him a new front tire. Weather is predicted to be good
for Saturday, not so good for Sunday. Well, we had our share of rain during
Edelweiss 1, so we know how to deal with that. For tomorrow, we decided to
head towards Austria.
Day 1 October 20th 2001, Zurich - Nauders (A), 422km (262mi)
Got up at 6:17. We needed to be in Konstanz (D) around 8:00. Luckily for us,
there was not much fog in Zurich although this is quite common in the lower
parts of Switzerland in fall and winter. We got that fog as we descended
towards Konstanz at the Bodensee. We left Mark's bike (Zoeki) at the
dealer's for a new front tire and went into town for breakfast. Of course we
went to the same place for breakfast as we did last time. Later we picked up
Mark's bike and headed towards Austria, which meant following the shoreline
of the Bodensee (one of the largest lakes in central Europe). As we entered
Austria, we bid farewell to the lake and headed up into some hills.
Immediatly we found ourselves at lovely roads with hairpins and steep
inclines :). At the "top" we had a marvelous view over a see of fog which
covered the Bodensee and the towns around it. Somehow we got lost and Mark
had a little incident with his new (read: not-so-grippy) front tire. No
damage though as his case guards and luggage cases did their job. I led us
further into the Alps. We tackled our first pass, the Hochtannberg pass
(1679m, 5509ft). Much fun. The other passes of that day were less fun (the
Flexen pass 1773m, 5817ft and the Arlberg pass 1793m, 5883ft). The weather
is still very good. I even thought of removing my jacket-liner for a second.
A lot of hotels are already closed for the season. This is an annoyance when
searching for a place to stay. Specifically, if one wants to stay at
particular hotel. In Nauders we ended up at just a hotel alongside the road
after circling the town's center for a while. Had some good dinner.
Unfortunately dinner ended abruptly when the locals at the bar (who'd had
more than a beer or two) began yodling. And on top of that we didn't get a
dessert! (They had what looked like chocolate mousse in a donut form!)
We discussed the possibilities for tomorrow (max 8 passes on a single day).
We hope the weather will allow us to do just that.
Day 2 October 21st 2001, Nauders - Zurich, 391km (243mi)
8 Passes, 6 border crossings, +INF of rain and snow.
Got up this morning
at 7:17 and watched the rain. It was dry though after we had our breakfast.
First order of the day was getting some gas in Switzerland, 8km (5mi) away.
When we returned to Nauders to continue our trek south, we found the hotel
we had been looking for the previous day. Figures.. The Italian border is
right at the Reschenpass (a barely noticeable 1507m, 4944ft), so we didn't
stop there to take a photo. Rain in Italy. In Sluderno we decided that we
would go for the Stelvio pass. Its 2758m (9049ft) make it the 3rd highest
pass in the Alps. The brighter sky in that direction was another motivation
to go there. The pass road's tarmac was not exactly in pristine condition
and on top of that it was covered with wet needles from the trees. No real
peg-scraping conditions.. but fun nonetheless. The Italians had done us a
favor by numbering all hairpin turns so we could count down the 48 (sharp!)
curves to the top. Between hairpin 30 and 29, Mark had to take a photo of
Zoeki's odometer (10000km, 6215mi, a serious metric milestone for a rookie).
Some of the cars that came down were covered in snow. Hmmm, not good. When
we were taking the pictures of Mark's bike, a German guy on a Ducati stopped
and asked us if there was snow on top. "Well, we don't know that, but you've
got 29 more turns to find out. Have fun!". We saw his bike again on top.
From hairpin 12 onwards there was snow indeed. At the pass there was a 10cm
(4in) layer of snow. The pavement was clean though, so we managed it pretty
easily. We couldn't not credit that to the fog, though. On top of the pass
the sun came out, although it had been hiding only until a few tens of
meters before. That was good. So was the (damn good Italian) coffee and
pastry we had. There were several other bikes, mostly BMW's.
We continued towards to the Umbrailpass (2501m, 8205ft). Although it is the
highest pass road in Switzerland, it seemed just a bump in the road while
descending from the Stelvio pass. No customs-guy to be seen. Large parts of
the road down were hard-packed gravel. Fun. Going slow gave us the
opportunity to enjoy a great view of the valley below. At valley level we
took a left turn towards the Ofenpass (2149m, 7051ft). That went by pretty
quickly and we made another left turn into a long tunnel. Back into Italy
across a big dam towards the next pass: the Forcola di Livigno (2315m,
7595ft). The road led us on the shore of the artificial lake. Very pretty. After clinging
onto the pass sign and taking another photo, we headed towards the
Berninapass (2328m, 7638ft). It was cold! A foggy 0 degrees (32F). Brrrr. We
had hot chocolate and something to eat at the Ospizio Bernina. We used the
break to dry and get warm again. Back on the bikes, Mark even had to use the
choke to get his bike started. It had totally cooled down in the hour we had
been inside. Down we went to St. Moritz. Lotsa rain.
We decided to take the road back towards Zurich, which would lead us over
the Julier pass (2284m, 7493ft) and Lenzerheide (1547m, 5075ft). At the
Julierpass we had some snow. Mark ran a few laps around the (closed)
kiosque to keep warm. I had to take the picture. Brrr... snow and wind. As
we descended from this pass, the sun came out. We deserved this, believe me.
Immediately we stopped and took the camera out once more. I hope the pics
turn out ok. I still used the heated handgrips on full though. I love my
BMW. The road dried for the first time today so we were allowed to use a
little more trottle. That warmed our bodies more than the hot chocolate.
Maybe the lower altitude had something to do with it, but I believe the
blood just gets warm seeing all that dry tarmac hugging the hillside. The
fun didn't last long as we had to endure another rainshower after
Lenzerheide. Wetness all the way towards Chur. We jumped on the Autobahn
towards Zurich, where it hadn't been raining very much, apparently. On dry
city-roads we had some more fun heading towards Mark's place. Arrived in the
dark at around 7 or so.
We thanked our bikes for the wonderful trip. After having a slice of pizza I
left for The Netherlands. Of course there was rain on my way home. From
Basel (CH) till Karlsruhe. After that it was dry going on the Autobahn.
Day 3 October 22nd 2001, Zurich - Eindhoven (NL) 735km (456mi)
Still going strong on the Autobahn. Highway 61 was depleted of cars. Only
trucks had to be dispatched. No problem, as they all kept on the right lane.
Top speed of 190km/h (120mph). I did a reasonable and easy 140km/h until I
saw the first distance towards Venlo at the roadside. Then I felt the need
to get home and the speed increased to about 160km/h (100mph). I didn't stop
at Venlo but continued to my own home in Eindhoven. Arrived at 4 in the
morning. 735km in 6.5 hours. Could be done faster, but this was good enough
after a long day of riding in the Alps.
The Edelweiss 2 trip ended for me with returning the bike to Venlo. It had
been an awesome weekend. I wonder what the weather will be like for
Edelweiss 3...
(c) 2001, Leon Brunken, leonb(at)steeg.nl.eu.org
(Edited in joe)