Surenenpass - An underestimated Swiss mountain bike classic

It’s October and winter is coming to the mountains in Switzerland. Soon, everything will be covered in snow, and I will have to swap the mountain bike for skis. However, I do want to enjoy a ride or two in alpine terrain before winter really sets in..

So on this beautiful autumn Saturday, I set off to ride the Surenenpass. It’s a classic mountain bike tour, but comes with quite some challenges. The uphill is long and involves a lot of pushing the bike. And the descent is over 1800 meters or 6000 foot on challenging trails and is easily underestimated.

I got up extra early this morning to get riding as early as possible, knowing there will be many people on the trail on this beautiful weekend. Unfortunately, the Swiss Federal Railway had one of it’s rare delays which made me miss my connection, so I am already an hour late…

To make up for this, I skip part of the uphill by taking a small gondola up to the Führenalp. From there, I pedal up to the Surenenpass. I have to walk parts of the uphill, because it is just too steep to ride for me.

After a great descent on mostly challenging and technical trails, I arrive at the valley floor, grateful for having taken what might have been the last opportunity for a mountain bike ride in the alps in this season.