Motorcycle day tour: Austria – Italy – Switzerland

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Motorcycle day tour: Austria - Italy - Switzerland
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Motorcycle day tour: Austria – Italy – Switzerland

Motorcycle day tour: Three-Country Giro
Motorcycle day tour: Austria – Italy – Switzerland

Even less experienced motorcyclists can do this varied tour in a relaxed manner in one day. It is recommended for transit travelers on their way to summer vacation destinations.

Thorsten Dentges

08/02/2012

There are: 168 kilometers, gradients of up to 15 percent, a total of 3300 meters in altitude, guide time eight hours. Ambitious cyclists start the three-country Giro early in the morning in Nauders / Austria, club up the Stilfser Joch (Italy) and then roll quickly through the beautiful Swiss Engadine with other beautiful passes. Three countries in one day, wonderful landscape, thousands of curves. A really great round for two-wheeler fetishists. If only it weren’t for this annoyingly strenuous pedaling, motorcyclists could easily warm up to it.

But what does “could” mean here? You can. We start in Nauders, Landhaus Engadin. The biker host gave us the most important route tips over a beer the evening before, now let’s eat a few rolls in peace, because we don’t want to stress ourselves on this tour. The best of the 2500 or so bike boys and girls who voluntarily dare the marathon tour (or rather: torture) every year in June, pedal up the mountains with more than 300 watts. Quite well, but nothing compared to the 66,000 watts that our motorhome has Victory Hammer S lifts. The carbon racing bikes used by amateur athletes weigh less than seven kilos, the cruiser’s exhaust pipe alone weighs more, and the entire motorcycle 320 kilos. Nevertheless, the Ami bike should be able to complete the circuit, including a few coffee breaks, in the standard time, it does not need any high-carbohydrate energy bars, just a few liters of gasoline. So, fill up and off you go!

From Nauders we bubble south, the Italian border is reached after a short time. The Reschenpass is popular with motorcyclists, but more as a transit route to get to Bella Italia as quickly as possible away from the motorways. The road itself is rather meager fare for curve hunters and route gourmets. On Lake Resia, a church tower comes into view that appears to be floating in the water. In 1950 three lakes were dammed into one, this very Reschensee. The residents of the village of Graun and part of the village of Reschen had to move to larger cities in the “national interest to strengthen national industry” since 1939, their 163 houses were blown up and the debris sank when the flood was dammed. Only the Romanesque church tower from the 14th century was left standing by the South Tyrolean provincial government for monument protection reasons, and this is now the reason for the obligatory photo stop that all tourists take at this point – and then perhaps treat themselves to a bratwurst at the snack stand. An absolute no-go for racing cyclists, but for cruiser riders: it rolls better with a full stomach.

On the first bends of the Stilfser Joch it rolls quite well, but the heavy load wants to be forcefully forced around the corner. The road surface is, let’s say carefully, a second choice, and on the steep incline the throttle hand must be skillfully combined with a sensitive brake foot in every serpentine so that it runs smoothly. Pedaling bikers struggle with muscle cramps at this point, motorized bikers tend to have too many muscles on the motorcycle. Both parties are wrestling with the mountain on the Stelvio Pass, and that is exactly the kick. Not for beginners, but our heavy iron copes better with these extremely extreme motorcycle alpine conditions than feared.

But long before the top of the pass (2757 meters) it ends shortly after turn 34. Closure for construction work? Snow? Idle to speculate, now it’s time to turn around, and instead of entering Switzerland via the spectacular Umbrail Pass, the route leads over the less inspiring main road via Glurns and Pontevilla to Santa Maria Val Mustair in the Swiss canton of Graubunden. A nice little town where the majority of the 500 or so residents speak Romansh. And a good point for a short rest before going up to the Ofen Pass (2149 meters). To the left and right of the clean asphalt road, colorful, blooming meadows, white mountain peaks and pristine forests. A brown bear was even spotted there a few years ago. According to archaeologists, the Ofen Pass was already used by Stone Age people as a transition from the Adige Valley to the Inn Valley, but it was not until the Middle Ages that the route became more important as a trade route between Engadin (Switzerland) and Vinschgau (Italy).


Motorcycle day tour: Austria - Italy - Switzerland


Dentges

Even less experienced motorcyclists can do this varied tour in a relaxed manner in one day. It is recommended for transit travelers on their way to summer vacation destinations.

Heidi doesn’t care about history at the moment. The Swiss woman cranks from bend to bend in this fantastic mountain landscape, completely sweaty – on a mountain bike. Half an hour ago, your partner, a fitness freak, did not break away as a partner and would rather go “at his own pace”. Project manager Heidi otherwise solves completely different problems professionally, takes it with Swiss composure and takes a break from all the struggling on the stove pass. She enjoys the panorama, breathes fresh air, lets the sun shine on her face. Looks a little jealously at our motor-driven two-wheeler and the associated uphill comfort, but, very sportswoman as she is, she wishes a nice ride and then continues to cycle towards the top of the pass.

It’s jam-packed at the top of the pass at the inn. Is there a biker meeting taking place here at the moment? Not at all, but pass heights seem to have a magnetic attraction for touring riders. Ignition and brains fail, or why else is there machine after machine and there is a queue at the cash register? Weekdays, well noticed. It’s too full for us, instead of standing around stupid, we prefer to drive on. On the hunt for a fine piece of the famous Engadine nut cake. There are certainly also those in the valley. So we leave the Swiss National Park behind us, the tunnel Munt La Schera to the Italian Livigno (duty-free shopping) and try our luck in the small town of Zernez. After all, it’s almost coffee time and your stomach growls badly.


Motorcycle day tour: Austria - Italy - Switzerland


Dentges

If the goal is not the way but the break, the winding Alps are also a top area for heavy choppers and cruisers.

A racing cyclist who successfully completes the three-country Giro burns around 6,000 calories. A piece of Engadine nut cake has what feels like 6000 and one calorie. The mighty and wonderfully sticky cake made of grated butter dough with caramelized walnuts pops right in, but hello. It is best to have a coffee with milk, a cigarette for afterwards, or better still: digestive schnapps or a nap. Driver full of paper, tasty and full, also the sound when starting the Victory, the three-country trip can go on cheerfully. The sport cyclists still have to unwind around 50 kilometers via Sub and Scuol, the nerds among them can do it in under an hour and a half. We cruise leisurely along the Inn. Not a breathtaking river valley, but it offers a beautiful winding road and plenty of opportunities to take short breaks in small towns with picturesque bridges.

Finally, after the Swiss-Austrian border, a small pass leads over the wooded mountains back to Nauders. Cyclists torment themselves over this last climb of the Drei-Lander-Giros, they will probably curse. The road is very nice to drive – when instead of flat legs you have a sovereign 140 Newton meters on the crankshaft. Thanks to the engine. When rolling down to Nauders, both motorcyclists and cyclists should be equally happy. Made it, phew! In the inn, maybe go to the sauna, then pizza or schnitzel, large beer or apple spritzer, bar talk. An all-round all-round day for all bikers, one way or another.

Info


Motorcycle day tour: Austria - Italy - Switzerland


Werel

Travel time: 1 day. Distance covered: 170 kilometers.

Travel time:
If you want to reel off the three-country Giro as a complete round, the time window for this tour is comparatively small. Stilfser Joch (Passo Stelvio) and Umbrailpass lead to an altitude of over 2500 meters, there it can snow quickly, or other bad weather spoil the driving pleasure. You can get through relatively safely and without closures from mid-June to the end of September.

Route profile:
Sections of the Umbrail Pass are not paved. Anyone who does not master their Big Cruiser (or similar bulky machines) with extreme loads in pillion operation should also skip the demanding Stilfser Joch with its patchwork road surface and the very tight bends. The round can be shortened well from Santa Maria / Switzerland or Glurns / Italy. The roads in the Engandine part (including the Ofen Pass) and the section from Nauders to Vinschgau (with the Reschen Pass) are well-developed country roads with mostly wide curve radii. More information about the Giro on the cycling race website: www.dreilaendergiro.at.

Stay:
The Landhaus Engadin in Nauders, centrally located in Nauders / Austria, phone 0043/5473/87351, www.landhaus-engadin.com, offers guided tours, tour suggestions and a garage for motorcyclists. Bed and breakfast: from 27 euros (per person); Apartments: from 40 euros (unit).

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