Velomobile Road Trip with Brigitte and Fritz (Day 29)

Day 29.

Vicosoprano - Pfunds

120 km | 1214 HM

Today's ride had two goals. Firstly, to ride the Maloja Pass and secondly, to roll through the Engadine. Two nice things on the same day. The Maloja Pass is a medium to easy pass and very beautiful to ride. The serpentines follow one another closely and one rides higher and higher along a wall. In the morning it is almost completely in the shade of the forest.

Immediately after we were back on the main road from the campsite, Angelo came from behind on a racing bike. He didn't look fast and we were able to keep our distance. That gave us an incentive to stay in front. The sky was blue, the sun was already blazing, the road curvy, cool forest sections still in the shade, lush alpine meadows with light brown cows. Overall, there was still little traffic on the road shortly after 09:00 hrs.

After a while I waited a bit for Angelo to talk to him. He was also curious and so we got into conversation and rode side by side for a while. He is 70, smaller and stocky, comes from Chiavenna and rides the tour to St. Moritz there and back with 100 km and 1,800 metres of altitude difference often. This year he wants to ride a total of about 19,000 km. That is enormous. As we approached the climb, he said, "It's going to be tough back there. That was also due to his gear ratio, which was 11-32 at the most and normal road bike chainrings at the front. We had chosen this pass because of the serpentines. Always 100-200 m, then the next serpentine and again a short straight stretch. Very beautiful to see.

The traffic had increased a bit in the meantime and became annoying. Motorcyclists, campers, cars. But the actual climb of 300 metres with 14 serpentines was quickly done. No sooner had Brigitte and I reached a viewpoint than Angelo arrived, beaming. We high-fived and gave each other compliments. We wanted to take a photo together. Then he said: "Federico, you don't have a belly at all, eh! He then rolled a short way downhill to St. Moritz, only to turn around again. We looked for a nice spot on Lake Sils and had lunch.

Afterwards we walked along the lake and then came St. Moritz. The place is disappointing. Up from Maloja, the Inn rises and flows north-east to join the Danube at Passau. So it's easy to drive down the Inn valley to get to Germany without crossing any more passes. We were starting to feel a bit pressed for time, so we opted for this quick solution to get north.

The Engadin, one of the most beautiful landscapes in Switzerland, also begins up here. Often the descent is only slight. Sometimes there is a steeper section again. After 100 km through the Engadin and 800 m down, we entered Austria. In Pfunds we bought food for the evening and drove to the campsite. The first and only place on this trip that was very crowded. Very unusual for us. Many white water kayakers on a short holiday around Ascension Day. Also some cyclists on their way to Italy via the Via Claudia. And of course the usual motorbike and camper tourists.