With temperatures hitting 38°C in Zürich last weekend it made sense to head upwards and cool off. The Graubünden area in central Switzerland is well known and extremely well set up for mountain biking with several bike resorts and miles of Alpine singletracks. Ticket to ride Lenzerheide is a freeide route that takes several different areas in one epic ride. You can buy a lift pass specifically for the ride so that you can take a lift in several different resorts to connect up the loop and cut out the bulk of the climbing. Trails are marked as normal hiking trails rather than as the bike loop (though you can download a map and GPS online) so it isn’t crammed with goobers as bike parks can be. The black route is 53km with 1200m of steep climbing so it doesn’t feel too much like cheating to take the lifts and the best bit is a total of 4600m of descending in one ride!
The trails are insane, probably the biggest variety of terrain I’ve ever ridden. Everything from fast swooping dusty singletrack through the woods, narrow rocky trails traversing along steep mountain sides, a technical descent across a boulder filled moonscape at 2600m, to rooty trails through the forest. At the bottom of each one you’re left looking at stunning views, pumping with adrenaline and excitement thinking that was surely the best of the day and then 5 minutes later the terrain changes entirely and you have a new favorite.
and don’t listen to anyone that says you need a full-sus in the Alps – Ragley loved it!