This morning seems an age ago, the beautiful campsite, the lake, I really didn't want to go, but it is Stannah to Daldoss...
The ride started ok, some more lying down cows, (pic attached) and a hilarious moment at a farmers market with some cow on cow action, despite having bells the size of a small car around their necks and my now routine, Lidl Car Park Picnic.
I continued down the same Route 3 I had been on through most of Switzerland, then the 13, then if in a car, the 28, but there are tunnels, so no bicycles. This put me on Cycle Route 21, which for the most part was brilliant, then it went off road through some woods, then loose stone tracks, so steep I had to get off and push. At times I was doing 10 steps, then putting on the brakes and resting. It was horrendous and I had an hour and a half of this before I even got to a road again, then it was a race to Klosters and Davos to try and make up the time.
I got to Davos about 4.30 and would have liked a break, but the most I managed was to shove an energy gel down my neck, have a quick whizz behind some trees, then hit mountain...
I was going over the Fluela Pass, apparently it's very well known amongst cyclists as being quite a test, both going up it and coming down. I got into my state of knackerdness fairly quickly, having done 70+km already and a few thousand feet of hills, but nothing in my training prepared me for additional pressure of a huge drop to one side, with no barriers. There were times with cars whizzing past, that I was genuinely scared I might go over. So up and up I went, above the snow line, as the sun disappeared behind the mountain. This I liked, because it got much cooler. In fact sometimes when I stopped, I was actually cold. I would try to look ahead and see where the road went, but it just kept going up the mountain. At one of my rest and photo stops, I asked a motor cyclist, how far the top was, he said about another 3km. At the rate I was going, that was around 45 mins. (I saw my speedo at 4.4kmh, that's barely 3mph.
So with this in mind, I set off, fully intending to summit, without stopping again, but 3.5km later and still looking up at the road, I cracked. I couldn't do any more and almost stopped, but then I looked down at my crossbar... Last May I met Mark Beaumont, a real inspiration to me and a genuinely top bloke. He held the World Record for cycling round the world, (194 days), and I had asked him to sign my bike. I got him to write, "John, WWMD" (What Would Mark Do). It was for this exact moment and it worked. I just dug in and completed the last single km, getting to the top in 2 hours. I will admit now, I did have a little cry, the emotions just overwhelmed me and the sense of accomplishment at what I had done was massive. Then I filmed the occasion and rode on to the hotel at the summit...
Just as I arrived there, another cyclist did also. He had come up from the other side and was the first cyclist I'd seen, that also had panniers. His name was John, (Johns are cool), and he was cycling TO France. We had a laugh about the mirror bike rides, compared notes and swapped e-mail addresses. He has the only photo of me on this whole thing.
I then started my descent, about the same distance, 14km, but obviously muuuuch faster. I hit 61kph, (I saw afterward in my stats) and scared myself on more than one occasion. I had to stop to warm up too, as at one stage I was shivering so much I was wobbling the handlebars.
But I'm down now, in the Fluela Hotel, (seemed apt) and the amazing lady that runs it, made me some gulasch soup, even though the kitchen was shut. I'd been gagging for exactly that, so she is my new favourite person.
So, France done, Switzerland done, (practically), just one more wee mountain and it's Italy and Daldoss...
Bring it!
Lazy Cows
Stupid Tracks
If Carlsberg Did Lidl
Day 9 Route
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