Lake Como to the Triple Pass Pitch: Bike
South to North
The first strike of the 2023 Point to Point Challenge Line of the Year season came in strong. On June 12th, 2023 original patch member Payton Dwight threw down the '“Lake Como to the Triple Pass Pitch” on a bicycle. This challenge consisted of a 114.4 mile point to point ride from Lake Como, Italy to a Grimselpass, Switzerland mountain top camp across the Italian/Swiss ALPS, with 13,845ft of total elevation gain in a single days ride.
The glory of this day marked the end of a 6 week bicycle packing tour across Europe during which Dwight started with the completion of the “Lisbon to Black Sea Mental Health Tour,” a 3,375 mile journey from Lisbon, Portugal to Constanta, Romania on the shores of the Black Sea.
This ride was self supported, meaning Dwight carried all of his own gear on his bicycle and had NO vehicle trailing him if something went wrong. The three mountain passes ascended included St. Gotthard-Pass, Furkapass, and Grimselpass.
Reflecting on the days ride we have an excerpt from Dwight’s journal:
“How you do anything is how you do everything.
Woke up early in Lake Como, Italy. Local patisserie on lock. Croissants check. Espresso check. Vamos. I flew into Switzerland. Wind at my back. Ambition in my nostrils. Man did it feel good to be back in Switzerland. A month ago it was the fourth country I entered. Now it marked fifteen countries tagged and bagged. Full circle. Spirits were high. Ravenous for rotations. Time to end this thing the right way.
Boomed 60 mi before the climbing began. Pizza stop. Fully loaded. Just like my bicycle. Cafe latte. 3:20 pm and 12,000 ft of climbing to go. Big belly Jon. Digest on the bike. Give it couple hours and it turns to diesel. Let’s get it. Nothing to it but to do it.
St. Gotthard-Pass to start. Lightweight. Cobblestone stretches. Old school. Lots of thumbs up. Little do they know I have two more passes to boom. The boys love climbing. Beautiful downhill. Luscious. Tear off some baguette. Couple cliff bars. Snickers. Latte. Fill up the water. Back on the hog. No time to waste.
Furckapass in sight. Grimselpass on deck. Punch that clock. Spin’em. Carving up the switchbacks like James Bond. Hours and hours of climbing. 5 mph. Brutal. Nothing better. Kids getting spiritual. This too shall pass. Summit. Snap a pic. Throw on the jacket and gloves. It’s a cold jon up here. Rip the downhill, we’re losing daylight.
Straight into Grimselpass. Less than 2,000 ft of elevation to go. What is this, a pass for ants? It’s just a matter of time. Loopy rotos. Watching the devil dance. Listening to @jellyroll615 life story on the @joerogan podcast. Somebody save me. And by somebody I mean my legs because I’m gunning this mountain. Legs feed the wolf. Full course meal. Feasting. Make it to the top. Blacked out. Watch the sun undress the mountains. See God. Stumble into a restaurant. Beg the kitchen to make me a meal after closing. They do. Big plate of pasta. Coca Cola. Fill the water. Back to life. Lights on. Time to descend this mountain. Start the descent. See the perfect pitch. Can’t pass it up. Sleep on the mountain. King of the world for a day.” - P. Dwight
