June 6, 2023 - Andermatt - Gottard Pass and the Tremola Road

 Today I rode solo from Andermatt to the Gotthard Pass taking the Tremola Road.  

Gotthard Pass reaches over 6,900 feet elevation. The combination of riding to the Gotthard Pass on the Tremola Road made for an interesting day.  It was a good thing Sooz decided to pass on the ride to the pass because the cobblestone makeup of Tremola Road made it very bumpy and rough - it would not have been good for her back.  Plus, I was kind of glad to be riding solo - it made it easier to maneuver and I didn't have to worry about how the ride was affecting Sooz so I could concentrate more on the hairpin turns.  I'm also glad it wasn't raining.  I think rain would make the cobblestone surface slippery. 

Here is a short description of the Tremola Road taken from this website - How long is the old Tremola road?  The fascinating and tortuous road is 11.3km (7.02 miles) long, running from Airolo to the Gotthard Pass through numerous curves. It features 37 bends (24 of them being hairpin turns). Each bend has its own name. The road is very steep, hitting a 13% of maximum gradient through some of the ramps. Starting at Airolo, the elevation gain is 839 meters. The average gradient is 7.42%.

After riding Tremola Road and crossing Gotthard Pass, I arrived at the Swiss town of Airolo and stopped for a coffee.  The ride was not very long but pretty intense.  It was very strange because, although Airolo is in Switzerland, the signs, language and menu were all Italian.  Even the architecture looked more Italian than Swiss. Regions reflect more their history than their current country boundaries.  It's not uncommon to even speak German in parts of Italy and vise versa.

I took the main highway back to Andermatt.  Much of the ride was through the Gotthard Tunnel which is over 10 miles long.  During my ride through the tunnel the temperature in the tunnel rose to 99 degrees as registered on my motorcycle.  It reminded me of Florida.  When I left Andermatt this morning the temperature was in the low 50's and I had my electric heated vest on.

From a different website describing the Tremola Road that I rode today.  The picture and map are accurate, it was full of hairpin, 180 degree turns.

Beginning stretch of the Tremola Road

Tremola Road

You can kind of get the feel for how narrow and twisty the Tremola Road is.  I didn't have our professional photographer riding on the back so my pictures are not as good as Sooz takes.

The GS at the top of Gotthard Pass