It was a holiday here in Switzerland yesterday, so between that and the forecast for cooler and possibly wet weather on Saturday, I went for a long ride. The goal was about 120mi on the gravel bike but clearly I didn’t virtually recon the course very well. I called it at 90 miles after more than 11k’ of climbing. I did score a Strava Top 10 on a hellish climb I was merely attempting to survive.
That climb (Muotatal) is 4.21 miles at 12% average and mostly loose gravel, which meant I too often spun a wheel. The first 1.86 miles is its own segment: all paved except for a bit of the road being rebuilt, that’s listed as 14% average and the first half is mostly under trees. The rest of the segment is entirely gravel and entirely exposed. The climb came at precisely the 45mi / 5hr mark of the not-flat ride.
Here’s a pic from the end of the 1.86mi segment. I didn’t know I was trying for a Top 10 otherwise maybe I wouldn’t have rested for so long in the last shade (that’s a lie, I wouldn’t have cared about the Top 10 and welcomed the rest). I came up from the left and from the road seen way down below. The mountain bike route (see signpost) goes off to the right, which I figure is an easier route.
This is seemingly halfway up. No idea if it was, here there’s a nice track in the gravel for traction but it doesn’t stay that way.
Looking back at the view and the respite that was that brief downhill on the right.
This is from very nearly the top of the 4.21 segment. It felt a lot longer than 4 miles, and not just less than a quarter-mile longer. If you look closely, on the left side of the pic on the trail is a speck, that’s a rider riding down.
I’m done with the climb. Somehow I missed a waypoint so my Garmin wants me to turn around and hit it. Um, no. Not long after the corner ahead, I’ll come across a half-dozen riders resting with a mix of e-bikes and not-e-bikes who are (rightfully, if I may say 
impressed at the non-suspension gravel bike coming through. They are at an intersection and likely came from a trail on the left and not from where I came from.
Eventually, I hit Lake Luzern. On road rides, I’ve always gone on the north side of the lake. This time, I’ll take the longer route and go on the south side. Bad idea. While it’s scenic on the way along the lake, often with tunnel bypasses like this, there’s a stair climb.
Here’s the start of the stairs. Looks good enough. There’s even a ‘ramp’ on the right to roll the bike.
Soon, however, it degrades. Fortunately, it’s nearly all shaded. Some parts are slightly better than this, but nothing is like the first section. It’s about 2 miles, though it seems like more, of 15-20% of stairs. My watch says I did 90 flights. It was good hike-a-bike practice that I didn’t want.
At the top of the stairs are cows, of course.
In the end, I decided to call it a day at Luzern and take the train home, a 40min ride. Riding would have been easily been 3hrs (when including trails). But there was no value in digging a deeper hole.
The hill profile is a bit obscured in the TR report, so here’s Strava’s:
The last flat section was meant to have a hill climb, but when my Garmin said the first part of the hill was 18%, well, I checked the map and found I could skip the climb and get to where I wanted to go, so I did.
I clearly used up my brake pads on the major descent. A winding, with tight turns, narrow, steep road with oncoming traffic meant I was constantly bleeding speed. A couple of times my brakes started to whine so bad that I pulled over to let them cool. Today’s rest day will include replacing the pads. I’m thinking about using e-bike brake pads from SwissStop as they are rated for higher heat and have to stop a heavier bike. Does anyone have experience with those?