If an ideal place to test mountain bikes exists, surely Lenzerheide, Switzerland is at the top of the list. Planted in an alpine valley flanked by grassy slopes and ridges dotted with ski lifts and endless trails of Switzerland’s Bike Kingdom, it’s the home and training ground for the greatest cross country racer of all time, Nino Schurter. Lenzerheide hosts the annual UCI Cross Country World Cup that’s widely considered the most technical of the series.
Doug and I arrived in Lenzerheide on a weekday in late June thanks to SCOTT bikes, who’d brought us there to test their latest iteration of the Spark RC World Cup. The first iteration of the RC (stands for Racing Concept) revolutionized XC racing by introducing the 120/120mm suspension platform that has now become standard on today’s technical UCI courses. As amateur XC racers ourselves, Doug and I love an excuse to ride a light efficient bike. And to do it in Switzerland? Yes, please.
We spent the week exploring the trails around the Graubunden region, from flowy machine built bike park to rooty subalpine cow trails, rocky alpine ridges and the endless gravel roads that connect all corners of the neighboring valleys. Here are a few takeaways from the trip.
Lenzerheide is a magical place
Imagine an idyllic valley in the Swiss Alps with verdant hillsides, crusty ridgelines, quaint chalets and adorable blond cows wearing bells. Add to that hundreds of miles of singletrack extending over every peak in sight and chairlifts that string them all together. That’s Lenzerheide.
We arrived a few days before the SCOTT event to get acquainted with the trails. Day one took us on a punishing service road climb to the top of Piz Scalottas, followed by a delightfully fast and rocky flow trail down to pea gravel roads linking singletrack sections to the valley floor. Yes, we laughed, this will do.
Dropping off of Piz Scalottas into flow.
On day two, we met up with a fellow U.S. shopowner for a long tour we’d found on the Komoot app. For 31 miles and more than 6800 feet of climbing, we circumnavigated the valley, climbing high into the alpine and descending into the sweet, peak-rimmed town of Arosa for a grocery run on chocolate wafers and Haribo gummy bears. An hour and a half climb took us to the Hörnlihütte mountain hut where we filled water bottles from one of the hundreds of natural springs in the area. We then traversed a limestone rock field to the top of Lenzerheide ski area and the manicured trails of the Bike Kingdom. A raucous 3000 foot descent ensued that made us need to stop and cool our brakes. It was pure fun.
Nearing the top of a very long, very rewarding climb to the Hörnlihütte.
On day three, we finally got our hands on the Spark RC World Cups we’d traveled so far to ride. We tested their climbing lockouts on a long pavement ascent to the top of the Brambrüesch gondola (and spotted a wolf along the way), then dropped into a seemingly endless flow trail that deposited us right in the middle of downtown Chur, Switzerland’s oldest city. A 2500 foot ascent back up to the village of Valbella had us convinced, the Spark RC climbs like a dream.
Pausing in the walking city of Chur before the long climb back up to Lenzerheide.
The Spark RC World Cup rips
Modern cross country bikes share a common goal: make the fastest, lightest, most capable ride to meet the demands of increasingly technical XCO courses. To meet that goal, many of them rely on single pivot flex-stay rear suspension designs that keep weight down while providing a somewhat tunable suspension system. The RC World Cup takes a new and different tact, with a shock embedded in the down tube that’s paired with an inverted flex pivot and, on the higher end builds like the RC World Cup Evo we tested, RockShox Flight Attendant. This design puts the center of gravity at its lowest possible point on the bike, which theoretically reduces pedal bob, increases pedalling efficiency, and enhances handling over technical terrain. The addition of Flight Attendant allows for continuous and automatic damping and stiffening based on the terrain, boosting efficiency and letting riders simply focus on the ride.
The SCOTT Spark RC World Cup Evo poised on the Lenzerheide UCI XCO signature feature, the Stegosaurus.
A few rides on the RC showed these claims to be true. The bike fired up steep climbs and easily pedaled through roots and rocky features. It also had a playful pop around tight switchbacks thanks to the short wheelbase that I learned to lean into more and more as the week went on. I noticed the 66.9 head angle immediately (notably slack for an XC bike) in the way the RC ate up steep downhill sections of rocks and roots. It was comfortable and confidently ready to send wherever I told it to. I finished each downhill with a huge smile and kept exclaiming to Doug, “This is such a cool bike!”
Doug descends one of the many root sections on the Lenzerheide UCI XCO course.
The Spark RC World Cup joins the ranks of lightweight XC race bikes like the Specialized Epic 9, Pivot Mach 4 SL and Santa Cruz Blur. We can’t wait to get them in CCBB stores in August. And if you want to see the RC ripping in real time, check out American Scott athlete Bjorn Riley who has absolutely been crushing the UCI World Cup circuit this year.
Nino Schurter is the friendliest GOAT
During the trip, we were lucky enough to ride with cross country mountain biking’s Greatest of All Time, the legendary Nino Schurter. With 36 World Cup wins, a full suite of Olympic medals and 10 Elite World Champion titles, he is a master of cross country mountain bike racing. He’s also a local hero in Lenzerheide, with a trail system in his namesake and Danke Nino spraypainted on the paved service roads of the Bike Kingdom Bike Park. He retired from professional racing last year and now enjoys a leisurely life doing all the races he couldn’t do when on the circuit, including BC Bike Race where we saw him this past May.
Our ride with Nino coincided with the one rainy day we had on the trip, but he was undeterred. With 30 other dealers from the US and UK, we piled into gondola cars to lap the Bike Kingdom trails. Rain slapped the window panes of the gondola on the ride up, a foreboding sound for Colorado sugar cubes like Doug and me who rarely see a wet rock, but we were riding with Nino so who could care? Two sopping laps later––one on smooth flow, one on a mudslicked rock and root-strewn goat trail that sent many riders flying––and we’d had our fill. But Nino smiled as wide as ever for the photo with Doug (his 50th for the day?) and we got a signed book addressed to Cripple Creek. What an awesome experience to ride with a legend.
Nino and Doug during a break in the rain.
So there you have it, a brief glimpse into the wonderful world of mountain biking in Switzerland. As for the Scott RC World Cup, we’re stoked to see these bikes arrive in the U.S. later this summer. Send us a message or call your local store to preorder yours today!
-Manasseh Franklin