| Re: Road Cycling Routes (route discussions are on another thread)
Description: Malbun (Liechtenstein) by way of St. Luzisteig An enjoyable but hot day of cycling up one of the toughest and in my opinion least well known climbs in the Zurich region. Date: Sunday, June 28th Length: 65 km Time: 3 hours to 5 hours Total Altitude climbed: 1,600 meters GPS: http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/i...kValue=6125143 Difficulty: Medium Hard Ascents: St. Luzisteig (727 meters), Malbun (1,580 meters) Traffic: Some car traffic on the climb to Malbun, no motorcycles but a wide road so not so stressful. Transportation (from Zurich HB): Train to Sargans Highlights: Maienfeld, beautiful but tough climb up to Malbun and personally the great adventure of a day out with the Hillseekers Lowlights: maybe the last 2k up to Malbun, personally my little tumble in Zuri coming home Description in Detail: This was a day where I started out with grand ambitions to ride multiple tough passes but the heat/sun and the clock eventually changed those plans. It was another beautiful, sunny day in Switzerland when I hopped the 8:37 train to Sargans. The cycle compartment of the train was jam packed full of cycles of all makes and varieties. About an hour later, hopped off the train to meet my cycling compatriots, the Hillseeker clan for another day of biking exploration in this mecca of cycling….another training day for the Etape coming up in one week. The goal was to find some of the steepest, nastiest climbs and try to go up them without stopping pedaling (too often) and not falling over (not successful on that front). From the station, we headed out on the street and there were cycling signs galore all pointing in one direction, down a cycling path which looks more like a parking lot next to the station. We continue on this path following the signs for where, not sure, we are bit confused at this stage as this part was not on the St. Gallen map, however the scenery was beautiful as there were mountains on both sidesultimately the goal was to get to Maienfield so after a few directional errors, we followed the ride signs to Bad Ragaz and ended up at the train station and from there found the cycle path taking us to Maienfield. - If someone was doing this ride properly, they could follow turn east coming out of the Sargans train station and make there way to the Rhine River and follow the nice cycling path along the Rhine and then follow the signs to Maienfield
We arrive at Maienfield – home of, in my opinion, some of the best red wine in Switzerland and the scenery is wineyards and we cycle up through the old town of Maienfeld. About halfway up through town one should take a left following the the cycling sign (for Route 2 I believe). You travel about half a kilometer on this road and take a right up the road, called Stiegasse, there are road signs here for Saint Luzisstieg, this is a wide road with a some traffic but a very nice 2.5 kilometer covering almost 200 meters.- There is an alternative route on a more quiet road, instead of going right at the junction, take a left throught the small wine yards roads winding through and eventually there will be a small road near Flasch that turns uphill at a pretty steep gradient follow this road all the way up to St. Luzisteig
When you get to the top of St. Luzisteig there are a few cafes but continue up the road (there was a market here when we there) and to the road continues through a arched gate to left, if you look up the hills from here there are some ancient walls, not sure if there is a road leading there. You now head down through the gate and the descent is a more a straight shot (one bending curve) and you are in Liechtenstein. The only place that has better roads than Switzerland is Liechtenstein....wow, so nice. Continue straight on through the town of Balzers and then straight on to Triesen, this is a big road with cycling path on the road, don’t pay any attention to the cycling signs (which try to lead you to a different path to Triesen, but we figured out that was for mountain bikes eventually). Continue on to Triesen and immediately to the right you will see a sign for Malbun. The climb up to Malbun starts steep, stays steep and gets even steeper at the end so be prepared for a good climb if you are to take this one on. It was definitely one of the hardest climbs I have done and the temperatures with full sun exposure on this day made it even tougher but the toughness only makes one stronger. The climb was featured in the 2007 Tour de Suisse as a finishing climb for some reason unbeknown to everyone (even the commentators) it was rated a Category 2 climb, I remember watching and seeing the field blown apart on the last few k’s and thinking I need to do that climb. It was won by Frank Schleck that day. The road up to Malbun is a big wide road with some traffic but not overloaded even on a Sunday. This is a ski resort road so not a pass but an out and back course. The climb rises about 1,100 meters in 13k, which is almost a 9% AVERAGE. There is an alternative route up from Vaduz, which is full shaded with trees and virtually on a great narrow road, this is even steeper and brings you up to above a 1000 meters before connecting to the main road. We only found this route on the descent but I would highly recommend it and hope to go back to try the climb up this route soon. The climb continues to wind up wide hairpin turn after wide hair pin turn, at 8% to 9% gradient sometimes steeper, my lungs are burning and I am overheated but each turn has inspiring views down to the valley below which makes you forget the suffering. You continue on up the climb through Triesenberg and though the body is begging for a breather this climb does not relent and never gives you a break. At about 1,050 meters altitude after a very steep isolated section of the road with no views, one reaches a place with a park on the right side, which has a fountain and a working toilet, this is made for a break for cyclists if one is needed. From here one continues on for another 2 kilometers or so and eventually reaches a tunnel. The tunnel is about 500 meters long a bit eery but well lit. This is the first real breather as the tunnel is more or less flat. But the steepest part of the mountain awaits, the final 2 kilometers average near 12% and there are no bends or turns you just head straight up the mountain, this part of the climb seems to last forever as I can just barely make out the Hillseekers off in the distance…eventually you top out at the ski town of Malbun, you have made it…there is an alternative to continue up through town and take the a small winding path just beyond the chair lift which will add another 1 kilometer and 100 meters in altitude. We went for the fitness platter at the local café instead. This was when the executive decision was made to shorten the day as we were feeling hot, tired from our various sporty days the day before (Okay, I have to be honest here, it was really hillseeker, she just broke down and said, I can’t handle anymore of this climbing, I have had enough…do you believe it?) After our nice lunch, we headed the descent which was pretty nice and fast for the first few kilometers back down through the tunnel past the signs for the town SUCKA, rather than follow the route we came up we decided to follow the road to the right leading to Gnalp. This is a brilliant road, very tight, steep and winding at the top, tight hairpin after tight hairpin eventually a forested road, where the road is as smooth as glass and there is no traffic at all on this road…..I only had thoughts on how nice it would be come up this route (a true crazy climber, thinking about the climb instead of enjoying the descent). This road continues on like this into Vaduz (there is a cobble section at the end). The main problem is, coming from Vaduz, it is not clear to me that there is an easy way to find this road as it did not in my opinion seem well marked….I will try though. But essentially you continue down the road following the signs to center of Vaduz and the castle in Vaduz is on the hill on the left. So to find this road I would advise starting from castle Vaduz head up the road about 500 kilometers and take a right on a main road from here you should be able to find the cobbled road up this climb (one would hope). From here we followed the signs back to Switzerland, to Sargans, from the main road after Vaduz, one must pay attention and follow the cycling sign veering to the left off this road which leads one to Sargans. We followed the cycling path signs to Sargans, which eventually led us to path next to the Rhine, which was beautiful and we blasted along here at almost 40 kmph and made it back to Sargans train station. As we had 30 minutes for the train we downed a Radler or two (lemonade and beer, good) and the local Sargans band made an appearance at the station to musically show their appreciation for our effort. We hopped the direct train back to Zurich. My little excursion doesn’t end here. After getting off at Zurich train station, I sped towards Seefeld and people were everywhere enjoying the beautiful sunny day and getting ready for the Euro 2008 championship. Some Spanish matadors were waving their flag at me as if I was a 1000 pound bull…..all great fun, until the bull (me) made one too many brave turns around fans and sunk his backwheel in the tram tracks…..this is falling part, I hit the deck kind of hard but sprung back up quickly but a bit embarrassed, after this stupid fall, I checked the bike everything okay, a few scrapes on the arms and hips but nothing serious. This cyclist will live to ride another day…everyday is an adventure in this beautiful country and I can’t wait to get back from France to explore more great climbs in the Mecca of Cycling, Switzerland.
Last edited by dakman; 02.07.2008 at 00:24.
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