Graubuenden Switzerland – Lenzerheide to Chur. 25km ride with a 1850m singletrack descent.
Graubuenden is the only Canton in Switzerland that allows mountain biking on all their trails. Historically a farming area it catered to skiers in the early 1900’s giving the farmers something to do in the winter. They are now catering to mountain bikers. They are working to create a destination for riders of all levels. So far they are on the right track.
We stayed at the Kurhaus in Lenzerheide. Built in 1882 as one of the first tourist hotels in the area when the Brits discovered the skiing potential here. Now its positioning itself as a mountain bike hotel catering to the next wave of recreationalist in the area. They do it well. They have a secure bike room, they give you maps, breakfast included with enough food to also make lunch. Funky rooms with big sinks with funky keys its a pretty cool place.
We ride from the Kurhaus and follow the Wanderweg signs along our route. The times are for hiking. They also have red signs designating bike routes which are also described in their biking brochure. Currently the brochure is available only in German but they are redoing their website to offer English version ride descriptions. The hotel also provided us with the Bike Explorer maps of the trails and area.
The new Rothorn 1 Gondola
View from the Gondola. They are building trails catering to the freeride crowd to add to the existing all mountain and hiking trails.
The Wanderweg signs are at all trail intersections. As well all the mountain trails are marked with red and white stripes.
These wells are present everywhere along the trails. We are told you can drink out of them. But be warned, there are lots of cows grazing in the area.
As mentioned, as Graubuenden is historically a farming area cows continue to use these areas to graze. The communities and families that own the land allow other recreation on their land, but the cows rule all.
The Panoramaweg traverses the mountain and takes you from Rothorn to Bruggigerberg and up to Joch at 2020m. This is a machine built trail built this year catering to mountain bikers to offer an easy traverse and climb to Joch and other areas. The trail is also lined with wire to prevent the cows from destroying it.
At Bruggigerberg the path is paved all the way to Joch
Joch at 2020m
Restaurant at the top of Joch, yes that’s a cow on the hill.
Time for Coffee
We go down a bit then go past this house to find a single track trail heading to Grida
Chur in the distance. We are at 1960m, Chur is at 650m.
As this is Switzerland, the trail crosses farmers fields. We have to say hi to the farmer and navigate a bit to get to the next section of trail.
Eventually we make it back down to Chur!
From here we could ride back to Lenzerheide on the other side of the Valley, but I had to go to Swisscom to get the SIM card I bought there to work. The Ditzes at the airport didn’t set it up to use data so I could update my facebook during my rides. Very important.
We catch the bus back to Lenzerheide using the Swissrail pass.
Elevation Profile.
