July 25, 2023
Bellinzona -> Andeer
Climbing to the "Deutschsprachigen Raum"
I woke up at some point in the middle of the night (not sure exactly what time, my phone was dead) to what I first thought was a practical joke by one of my bunkmates. It seemed as though someone was shining a strobe light into my face. When I sat up in bed I noticed it was in fact coming from the window, and that it was a really wild thunderstorm. About one lightning bolt every second was flashing through the curtains. At this point I had my hostel ear plugs in, so I couldn't really hear the thunder. All of a sudden, a flash way brighter than the rest lit up the room as if it were daylight, followed immediately by what sounded like a gunshot. The thunder must have been directly overhead. I took my ear plugs out, staggered out of bed, and walked down the hall where a window was open (it was hot, and here in europe there are no window screens). I stuck my head out the window and saw bolt after bolt of lightning arcing across the sky in fractal patterns, along with a near constant sound of thunder. My bunkmates were awake but could have given a shit about this meteorological phenomena. From what I've heard and experienced thunderstorms are incredibly common in the Alps during summer. This, however was the most intense thunderstorm I had ever seen in person (and I spent last summer on the East Coast, this is saying something).
The storm was fast moving and was out of sight in a few minutes. I went back to sleep. When I woke up again, it was about 7:30. Thankfully, my electronic charge cables and charge ports had dried out enough to charge my phone and battery pack. I plugged in and charged up. While that was happening, I showered and ate breakfast. Breakfast was mediocre, but it was all you can eat. While I was hanging out in the front lobby I saw another bikepacker leave the hostel. He did not have camping gear, so he must have been going hostel to hostel or something. This is something I had initially thought of doing, but having camping gear has saved my ass multiple times at this point. The flexibility it gives you is well worth the weight in my opinion.
I figured out my route on komoot, and looked at my camping options. I left the hostel around 10am. Today was a day of climbing. About 7000 feet of climbing to be exact. It ended up being my favorite pass climb of the trip so far. The road leaving Bellinzona was mostly flat for the first 15 miles or so. It followed frontage roads and gravel double tracks. At this point it was warm and humid, probably around 80 degrees.
Eventually, the bike way turned onto a frontage road that was a one lane paved road. There was virtually no car traffic. The grade was constant and not that bad. Around the 3000 foot mark I ate a chocolate bar. A couple miles later, another bikepacker passed me. He had a lighter bike and much less gear than me (no camping stuff), but he was probably 20 years older than me. I could not let him pass me. I geared down and picked up my cadence so I could pass him and stay ahead. I stayed 1-2 switchbacks ahead of him until the town of San Bernardino (much nicer than the one in California by the way). Once I got to town, it started to thunderstorm. I waited out the rain under an awning and he blasted past me, riding soaking wet through the rain. After the thunderstorm passed I stopped at a Migros gas station on the edge of town and got a coffee and a salad. Another money saving tip: ultimate bike fuel is to get a coffee and put 6 packets of sugar in it. I also feel like vegetables are hard to come by in Switzerland, so when I see a good grab-and-go salad, I usually get it.
From here I still had a couple thousand feet to climb. The grade wasn't too bad, so I kept doing my low gear, high cadence climbing. It kept getting colder as I ascended, but the climbing was keeping me warm. Eventually I got to the summit, where the restaurant was closed. I took a selfie and continued on the descent. About 15 minutes into the descent, it started to downpour. I didn't bother to put on my rain gear, because I figured just like the day prior, it would get much warmer as I descended. I was wrong. I descended almost 4000 feet from the summit of San Bernardino pass and the temperature felt about the same as on the summit. By the time I got to the town of Andeer, I was freezing. I stopped at a grocery store and got some dinner, but I knew I had to get out of my wet clothes quickly. I was ok then, but another hour on the road could have been bad. I rode to the mineral spa in town and parked my bike. I stripped off my mud covered arm and leg covers and washed up a bit with the water from my bladder, trying to look half-way presentable. This was a nice, fancy, indoor hot spring resort
I paid 22 francs to swim in the hot spring. Unfortunately, the water was only 34 Celsius, so not quite warm enough to get my core temperature up. I instead went to the locker room and stood under the shower for 15 minutes. Once I was warm I went in the pool for a while. Thankfully there was a campsite in Andeers, just a couple blocks away that had space for me. I checked in and set up my tent when there was a break in the rain. I washed my clothes in the dish washing sink, then ate a sausage from the snack bar, spending my last 7 Francs (today is my last day in Switzerland, gotta spend them). I crawled into my dry sleeping bag as the rain pounded on my rain fly.
Today's ride: 59 miles (95 km)
Total: 1,536 miles (2,472 km)
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Good that you were in a hostal then!
There had been serious Unwetter in northern Italy that night..
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