CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Easy pace, good stops and enough scenery for mixed groups. Out of Einsiedeln and back again: 82 km, roughly 1 h 48 in the saddle. It goes by way of Sihlsee group, Rothenthurm moor road, Rigi foothill view and Zug option. The highest point is 923 m. Rolling hill country.
16 km on Pragel and Ibergeregg Loop.
Check the pass is open before you commit to it.
This is where a day makes up time without anyone trying. Third and fourth, and very little else. 19 km that neither climbs nor drops much. The road settles into the ground rather than fighting it.
The ground tilts up and stays tilted for 28 km. 469 m of it, taken steadily rather than in one wall — a steady rhythm suits this better than bursts. The height arrives whether you hurry or not.
Einsiedeln is a monastery that grew a town around it. The story goes back to the ninth century, when a hermit named Meinrad settled in the forest here and was murdered in 861 by robbers who coveted the candlesticks of his chapel. A Benedictine community was founded on the spot in 934, and over the centuries it became one of the most important pilgrimage sites in Europe, centred on a statue of the Virgin Mary, the Black Madonna, kept in a chapel inside the church. Pilgrims still arrive from all directions, many on foot, since it lies on a branch of the Way of St James.
Read the complete Einsiedeln abbey stop write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Einsiedeln abbey stop sits at 0 km, early in the day. Reckon on about 3 °C colder than the valley, and more in the wind. Next is Sihlsee group pause.
A group pause needs three things, which are room to park a line of bikes, a flat place to sit and something nearby to eat, and the Sihlsee provides all three without fuss. The reservoir stretches east of Einsiedeln at about 889 metres, and its shores have wide verges, picnic areas and small beaches where a dozen riders can drop gear and take helmets off without blocking anyone. On warm days you will see families, anglers and paddlers, but the lake is big enough to absorb them.
Read the complete Sihlsee group pause write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Sihlsee group pause comes up about 4 km into the recorded legs. Next is Rothenthurm moor road.
Rothenthurm looks like an ordinary Swiss village on an open plateau, and then you learn that it changed national law. In 1987 voters approved the so-called Rothenthurm Initiative, which protected the high moors of Switzerland from development and stopped the army from building a training ground on the plain here. It was a surprise victory for conservation and remains a point of local pride. The moor is a raised bog, a spongy landscape of peat, cotton grass and stunted pine, formed over thousands of years after the ice retreated.
Read the complete Rothenthurm moor road write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 20 km into the recorded legs you reach Rothenthurm moor road. Nothing on this route is higher. Next is Rigi foothill view.
Not far from Arth lies a piece of ground with a violent story. In September 1806, after weeks of heavy rain, a huge part of the Rossberg mountain slid down onto the valley below, burying the village of Goldau and killing around four hundred and fifty people. The slide covered a wide area in rubble, and the landscape you see today, with its tumbled boulders and rough, uneven fields, is the scar. Nature has reclaimed much of it, and a wildlife park now stands on the debris, though the scale of the event still shows in the shape of the ground.
Read the complete Rigi foothill view write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Rigi foothill view, about halfway at 900 m. Next is Zug food finish option, mostly downhill.
Zug is the smallest of the big Swiss business cities, and it carries its wealth lightly. It sits on the northeast corner of Lake Zug, with a compact old town of narrow lanes, a medieval clock tower called the Zytturm with its colourful roof, and a lakeside promenade where swans and joggers share the space. Low taxes have drawn companies and a large share of the world's cryptocurrency firms, so the town is nicknamed Crypto Valley, though you would not know it from the pastel houses and the old town gate.
Read the complete Zug food finish option write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Food at 57 km, roughly 59 minutes into the riding. You lose 487 m on the way down to it, steadily. Next is Back to Einsiedeln, climbing 469 m.
Einsiedeln is a town built around a single building, the Benedictine abbey, whose white baroque towers rise above the rooftops from every approach. The monastery grew from a hermit's cell. Meinrad, a monk from Reichenau, settled in the forest here in the ninth century and was murdered by thieves in 861, and in 934 a community was founded at the site. For a thousand years since, pilgrims have come to the Black Madonna, a dark wooden statue in the Chapel of Grace within the church, and the town sits on the old pilgrim road toward Santiago de Compostela, with a yellow shell on a blue sign marking the way.
Read the complete Einsiedeln coffee stop write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 82 km. The road climbs 469 m over at least 18 km before it, steadily.
Einsiedeln abbey stop → Sihlsee group pause is the reward section in Rothenthurm moor. Look through the bends, use legal pull-offs for photos and keep a little margin for tractors, cyclists and damp shade. The best ride here is smooth, not noisy.
This Rothenthurm moor road → Rigi foothill view stretch is for rhythm and scenery. Keep your head up, let the view breathe, and resist turning every open bend into a target. Stop once properly rather than half-stopping everywhere.
Rigi foothill view → Zug food finish option is the reward section in Rothenthurm moor. Look through the bends, use legal pull-offs for photos and keep a little margin for tractors, cyclists and damp shade. The best ride here is smooth, not noisy.
Use Zug food finish option → Back to Einsiedeln as clean positioning. Keep it tidy, ignore impatient traffic and save the enthusiasm for the good road ahead. The value here is not drama; it is arriving at the riding section with space, fuel and concentration intact.