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    Sustenpass (Innertkirchen) – Cycling Inspiration & Education



    At 27.8 kilometres in length Switzerland’s Sustenpass can easily have you feeling quite daunted at the prospect of scaling it on two wheels. The grandeur of the road immediately instils a sense of anticipation and excitement as you leave Innertkirchen on what can only be described as a true journey. Lush meadows, dense forests and chocolate-box villages make way for a sensory overload of tunnels, waterfalls, high mountain lakes and glaciers!

    Sometimes the road can feel endless, but in some respect that can be a good thing as the surroundings are so dramatic and beautiful all at the same time if you’re anything like me you’ll be crying out for it to continue all the way to heaven and beyond.

    Start: Innertkirchen
    Length: 27.8km
    Summit: 2,224m
    Elevation gain: 1,602m
    Average gradient: 5.7%
    Max gradient: 10%
    Ridden in early July

    I very much hope you enjoy our video from the Sustenpass. If the thought of these peaks is just too much, then why not join us for one of our cycling tours in the French Pyrénées, Dolomites and Italian Alps. For more details visit http://thecolcollective.com/cycling-tours.

    Thank you to our partners Mavic, Cannondale, Exposure Lights, Lezyne, MyPower by InfoCrank, Muc Off, The Sufferfest, TORQ and USE for enabling us to bring these truly special mountains to life for you all. If you’re in need of new bike kit in the future and you enjoyed this video then bear them in mind and help keep the wheels turning 🙂

    For more help and advice visit our website at http://thecolcollective.com, become part of our col community and sign up for our free newsletter for monthly updates.

    Never miss a video, subscribe to our YouTube channel or get in touch on Instagram, Facebook orTwitter. We’d love to hear from you.

    Stay well, ride safe and thank you for watching.

    Peace.

    Mike Cotty
    The Col Collective

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    View 48 Comments

    48 Comments

    3. Velofil on

      Fantastic Video, I have ridden the Susten many Times but I have no idea how you guys managed to get 10 minutes of footage without a single car or motorbike?

    6. Oliver Gröning on

      For me the Susten from Innertkirchen is one of the absolute most beautiful passes in Switzerland. Right up there with Gotthard (from Airolo, see Giants of the Swiss Alps video), Grosse Scheidegg (from Meiringen, still waiting for a video, it is spectacular and hard!) and col de la Croix, Pillion and Mosses (see other Col Collective video).
      Build as a military road in 1938-1945 it is not on a main traffic axis. The inscription close to the top (8'09") says "In ernster Zeit dem Frieden geweiht : In grave times dedicated to peace" . This has the advantage that on a weekday motorized traffic is quite low. On weekends however the traffic can be intense due to tourists. Thanks so much for this magnificent video, as all the others it helps to get over the winter season.

    12. JH Cycling on

      Just finished my trainer session.. and had this one as a dessert! 🙂 What a road.. what a scenery.. wow, just wow! Epic ride without cars and smooth tarmac.. Oh, that is something to wait while living in a "ice-box" for four more months… Love those climbs! 😀

    23. JarekMa2 on

      Hi! I'm still trying to figure out what gearing I will need for such climb. You wrote 34×28 and power > 275 W. But what was your avg power on this climb? Thank you!

    27. Brian Fallon on

      I used the live in the area and the Sustenances was epic. It ws my farewell ride when i left.. It started snowing once we got above InnerkIrchen. Thank goodness the Swiss have cafe's all over the place. I hope when you were in the area you shot video of the Grosse Schidegg. It's much more difficult and very little traffic other than local farmers, cows, and the occasions PostBus blaring it's horn to the tune of william Tell overture. The view at the top of the Eiger is unforgettable.

    28. johnnytifosi on

      Great vid once again! I did that climb three years ago, really nice scenery and excellent road. The pass is huge but the reasonable gradient makes the climbing actually enjoyable, instead of grinding in 8%+ walls. However it has two drawbacks that are not mentioned: First, it has quite heavy traffic, especially with annoying motorbikes. You seem to have been quite lucky that day. Secondly, the actual peak is inside a tunnel, so you miss that bit of nice view and achievement at the end. Also by the time I climbed the pass, the sign was gone, much to my dismay on missing a celebratory photo. Did they install it back or did you find it at some back road?

    34. Linda Mazziotta on

      Hi Mike, I did the Sustenpass today after watching your video many times. The video made me dream, and today I just felt happy after this climb! Just amazing and personally so enriching. Many thanks for sharing this dream! Linda

    45. mirino on

      Amazing videos. What kind of video editing software does he use? How do you create and insert those elevation profiles?

    48. Daniel Herter Casagrande on

      Years ago I made the Susten from the other side – I think it is more beautiful from the side you have chosen (I might be wrong may be I was just not fit enough to realize the beautiness after the Gotthard I was overweight)

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