Nino Schurter is arguably the best mountain biker of all time. What many people don’t know is that the Swiss rider is also a keen road cyclist and does almost half of his training on a road bike. Follow him on his favorite road ride in his incredibly scenic home region.
Words by Nino Schurter
It is mid-September; the mountain bike race season is almost over and the day greets us with blue skies and warm temperatures. The perfect day to get out your road bike and enjoy a big loop in the mountains. I am lucky that my home region is not just amazing for mountain biking, but also offers incredible road rides.
Most people are surprised to hear that I do around 45% of my training rides on a road bike. Especially recovery or base mile rides are mainly done on the road. It is easier to keep a certain cadence without too much intensity. But the ones I really enjoy are the rides in the high mountains. To wind up some alpine passes in spectacular landscapes and enjoy the high speed of the descents, that’s what makes this sport so beautiful for me. My first love will always be mountain biking, but road cycling is also something I truly love.
Andri Frischknecht, my teammate at SCOTT-SRAM, came for the day to join the ride. It is always great to have a good training buddy especially for a ride like this. Andri is quiet, but also a funny guy and has the power to push me to my limits, simply the perfect riding buddy.
We started our ride in Tiefencastel. It is situated at the bottom of the Albulapass which was also the first pass we tackled on the day. 1500m of climbing in around 30km with stunning scenery. Towards the top we decided to go for one of the Strava segments and hunt the KOM. It may be 3 weeks since the last MTB World Cup of the season, but we never get tired of battling ourselves even in training. At the end we failed by around 15 seconds. We simply over-paced it at the beginning and then ran out of energy. You can’t beat the times of the pro riders from the Tour de Suisse like this. Next time we will get it right 😉.
We filled up our bottles at the top before the amazing high-speed descent that awaited us. I really love this kind of downhill. When you force yourself to get as low and aero as possible to take the corners with full speed. Aerodynamics in mountain biking is just not as important as on the road. Here you can feel every aero feature you’ve got on your bike or how crucial your position is. This science around aerodynamics always fascinated me and as an athlete you just love everything which makes you faster without even pedaling.
After 28km in the valley we reached Susch, the start of the Füelapass. We were lucky as the “Cycling the Alpes” event was on, which meant there were no cars allowed and we had the climb completely to ourselves (the cycling event went up the other side). The climb was 14km long with 1000m of vertical climbing. The view from the top towards Davos is one of the best you can find in the Alpes and the downhill is hard to beat. Fast, great tarmac, some technical corners and amazing views. What else do you want? Perfect for speed junkies like us.
In Davos we stopped again to fill up our bottles before continuing to our starting point in Tiefencastel on a lumpy profile. It would have been easy to call it a day at this point, but we felt like we’d still got something left in our legs and decided to add another 15km and finish the ride at the Casa Caminada.
The restaurant is owned by my friend Andreas Caminada. He has one of the few three-star Michelin restaurants (Schauenstein Castle) and recently opened this more affordable beer garden next door. On a day like this it is the perfect place to refill your tanks on his terrace with some delicious local food and reflect on a stunning day on the bike. Great weather, amazing scenery, perfect company and some delicious food. Sometimes a perfect day doesn’t have to be on dirt and mud.
Due to sponsorship contracts Nino used DT Swiss wheels and Maxxis tires.
The Route
The route starts in Tiefencastel and immediately begins with a 30km climb up to Albulapass with 1500hm followed by a fast descent to La Punt. From there it is rolling terrain for the next 28km to the start of Füelapass. The second climb of the day is 14km long with 1000hm of climbing. After a fast descent you will reach Davos. From there it is lumpy profile for the last 33km to the starting point in Tiefencastel. In total it is 129km and 2750hm. Nino and Andri added another 15km and 180hm to Casa Caminada.
