Tour of the Alps 1994 This summer, as in past years, I loaded my suitcase with a few clothes for off the bike activities and some gifts for my friends in Europe. Along with these things I packed my bicycle saddlebag with all the things on my minimalist checklist for an extended bike tour (total weight 6.4 kg). The cranks, QR skewers, chain, and rear derailleur went in the suitcase together with tools necessary for assembly. The bike was partly dismantled with the forks turned backwards, the wheels strapped to either side of the _frame_ and the bars rotated and hooked up through the wheels with the fork tips turned toward the rear. Spreader bolts (5/16 x 16 thread) prevented damage to the forks. This configuration was covered with a clear plastic bag and taped shut. I used Avocet Road 700x28 wire-bead, non-Kevlar tires on Mavic MA-2 36 hole rims with 1.8-1.6mm DT spokes; Campagnolo Record brakes (Cool Stop red pads) and small flange hubs with a Sun Tour new winner pro 6- speed FW 13, 15, 17, 19, 21, 24 and Shimano Dura Ace 180mm cranks w. 47-50 CW, SPD 525 pedals and M110 shoes; the _frame_ is steel and about 26 with oversized top and down tubes equipped with Avocet Racing Turbo Gel saddle on a two bolt Campagnolo Record seat post, steel bars and stem. I wear Avocet polypropylene shorts and jerseys. These two pieces of legal overseas air baggage and my small carry-on bag can be taken on trains on arrival. It is permissible to ship whole bicycles by air but when you arrive, the bike cannot be carried onto most trains, while sent as baggage can cause a days delay or more just when it is least convenient. I flew on Thursday, 23 June, in the afternoon with Air France from SF to Paris and from there to Zurich, arriving in the late afternoon on Friday. I traveled alone because my friend's knee flared up the weekend before departure after we took some long rides. I took a train from the ZH airport to Affoltern a/Albis where my friend Freddy Ruegg runs a top notch bike shop and my friends the Dierauer's live. I've made the Dierauer's place my _base_ camp for many years. I put the bike together before being treated to a delicious Swiss dinner and prepared for departure in the morning. 1. Saturday, 25 June [118km, 2404m]: The next morning under fair skies I pushed off toward Luzern and the central Alps of Switzerland (CH). The road heads out of town and down into the Reuss valley to the south into canton Argau. The Reuss runs from the Gotthard and Furka passes to the Vierwaldstettersee (Lake of Luzern) and on to the Rhine. The road through Argau is lightly traveled and has an excellent bike path most of the way up the valley to Luzern. At Gisikon this road crosses the Reuss again and joins the main road into Luzern where, at the city limits, two large redwood trees stand guard, one at each side of the road. In Luzern the famous wooden bridge that curiously burned to the water from one end to the other while the fire department watched, while finding no equipment that could be brought to the bridge. A few years ago this same fire department watched while the train station burned to the ground. At least the wood workers seemed to be more skilled than the firemen in that they rebuilt the bridge to exactly replace what had burned with identical materials and construction methods that were used by the ancients.  Too bad they didn't include the modern touch of installing fire sprinklers while they were at it. After taking a picture at the Lion monument sculpted into a sandstone wall, I walked across the rebuilt wooden bridge and headed off toward Kriens and the Alpnach leg of the lake where the Pilatus railway in Alpnachstadt climbs the steepest cogwheel route in the world at 48% grade. It uses two horizontally opposed gears that engage a two sided gear rack in the center of the 800 mm gauge track. A sample piece of rack with the two gears is displayed as a sculpture on the lawn in front of a floral display. Because it was fair weather I decided to cut over to the Melchtal instead of taking the direct route over the Brunig Pass (1008m). At Sarnen, taking the road past the train station, I headed up a scenic and car free route that goes over the mountains to the Susten Pass road and into the Haslital. At Stockalp (1075m), at the end of the Melchtal, the road becomes narrow (timed one way traffic) and steep, climbing to the Melchsee in 7 km. Just before the lake, in Frut (1902m), I picked up some sustenance at the general store before taking the scenic ride around the two lakes to Tannen (1976m) where the road ends at a large comfortable youth hostel. Hiking trails head off in several directions of which one that leads to Engsteln (1837 m) is partially cut into a granite wall as it enters the canyon. From Engsteln a narrow paved road descends down a classic alpine steep walled canyon to the sound of ubiquitous cowbells. After descending to the Susten Pass road I rolled down to Inertkirchen (625m) through sweeping curves and several curved tunnels. From Inertkirchen it's a small sprint up the four traverses of the Lammi pass (709m) that detours around the Aareschlucht, a narrow slot in the rock through which the Aar river slices. At the top of the Lammi I turned off onto the road to Rosenlaui and the Grosse Scheidegg pass. The sky was dark and let out a few drops now and then. It was good climbing weather and as I rode past Hotel Zwirgi next to the Reichenbach waterfall I thought of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Moriarty who went for a final vertical swim there, according to Conan Doyle. The Reichenbach gorge is a steady steep climb that only lets up just before Hotel Rosenlaui (1330 m). On the way up the usual dippers cavorted in the roaring Reichenbach and the large European jays were a counterpoint to the jangling cowbells. As I arrived at the hotel I noticed the parking lot was well stocked with cars and the famous bakery from Meiringen was unloading heaps of meringue (invented in this bakery and named after the town) specialties as Christina Kehrli came out to tell me that a wedding party had reserved the whole hotel but that space 'could be found'. This was possible because the servants quarters are separate and I got a small room with a view to the glacier. With only one menu (darn!), I had to eat at eight when the party was served. I was the only other guest (served in the coffee shop) and shared their dinner selection of a large mixed salad, trout with small yellow potatoes and steamed vegetables. I didn't get the cake but was amply satisfied with a generous fruit sundae. At midnight I woke up to fireworks that were as powerful and brilliant as any I had ever seen, except that these reverberated in the confines of granite walls. 2. Sunday, 26 June [137km, 3012m]: The next morning after a hearty breakfast I rode on up to the Grosse Scheidegg (1961m). I noticed for the first time that, as I left Rosenlaui, the Eiger was clearly visible over the Scheidegg when the road first breaks out of the trees. You just have to look. The Grosse Scheidegg is directly beneath the north face of the Wetterhorn (3701m) with its dusting of confectioner's sugar and glacial appendages. At the summit, the Eiger (3970 m), Moench (4099 m), and Jungfrau (4158m) presented their glaciers in a grand panorama in the clear sky that would soon change. I descended carefully to Grindelwald (1034m) on the private bus road on which the bus travels as though there were no bicycles even though the bus is exactly as wide as the road (beware!). Although the buses are postal yellow and have the three tone postal horn, they are not postal buses and don't accept the Swissrail pass. As I rolled down the valley of the SchwarzeLuetsch toward Interlaken (563m), the still air was icy every time I crossed the river or better said the cascade of the river. Having made an early start and with some favorable air along the lake, I rode around the lake to Brienz (566m), took some pictures of the BRB steam/cog railway and continued on to Meiringen and up the Lammi where I ate lunch at the Gasthaus zum Lammi, it being Sunday, when restaurant meals are the rule. From Inertkirchen the road climbs south into the granite walls of the upper Aar river to the Grimsel pass (2165m). The Aar has two sources that flow from the Unteraar and Oberaar glaciers on east slope of the Finsteraarhorn (4275m), the highest peak of the Berner Oberland. There were some snow banks along the road as I got above Handegg and making the clear but high overcast day interesting, a strong wind blew down from the pass. The wind was so stiff as I tried to crest the first dam, that I had to dismount to avoid being knocked down, quite aside from not being able to move forward in bottom gear. Fortunately this was a quirk of the location so the rest of the climb was mostly with a crosswind. At the summit, with its lake still frozen and substantial walls of snow, the clear air made Gletsch (1761m) in the Rhone valley, 400 m nearly straight down seem close. In Gletsch, I stopped off at the DFB (Dampfbahn Furka Bergstrecke) train station where a raft of books and post cards about the days before electrification and the restoration of steam operation on this line is available. They have a snack bar from which all proceeds go to the DFB. I got filled in on the latest developments and hope some day to take a steam train from Realp to Gletsch or even farther to Oberwald. I headed up the Furka (2431m) where the sun seems to shine more often than not, and stopped to take the obligatory picture at the Glacier. As often is the case, the afternoon chilled fog was already pouring over the Grimsel and down the wall onto Gletsch, where I had just ridden in clear air. As I approached the summit the clouds got thicker and began leaking a bit but quit as I began down the hill. It was relatively warm so late in the afternoon making it a pleasant descent to Realp (1538m) with a good view of the upper Reuss valley and the Oberalp
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