The canton of Graubünden and its municipalities have a reputation for generously promoting mountain biking and investing in infrastructure accordingly. The Disentis mountain railroads also built their own flow trail. However, the municipality at the foot of the Oberalp Pass made the many footpaths and hiking trails available to bikers as they were. This will change in the next few years thanks to almost half a million francs and the municipality's first mountain bike product manager.

In order to position itself as a bike destination, Disentis entered into a partnership with Ralph Näf's Thömus RN Swiss Bike Team in 2019. The racers promoted the area, Näf and his team helped to expand the mountain bike offer in Disentis. At the forefront: head mechanic Remo Eberle. He fell in love with the village at the foot of the Oberalp and Lukmanier Passes. When a bike store there was looking for a mechanic, he seized the opportunity.He subsequently spent even more time on the single trails of Disentis and the neighboring communities at the upper end of the Surselva. "It's great what you have here, you have to make something of it!", he repeatedly urged those responsible for tourism and the municipality. Many trails are already a dream come true for technically very good mountain bikers, but are too rough and too washed out for most. He is particularly critical of the fact that there is no official descent from the end of the flow trail on Caischavedra back to the village. "If this route starts to attract a lot of bikers, it will lead to conflicts with the other trail users," he is convinced, "The bikers don't want to ride down by train."

"Pirate-like routes signposted"

Remo Eberle discovered trail after trail, devised route after route and told those responsible in the municipality, the mountain railroads and tourism about it. It took time and a lot of persistence from the trail enthusiast before anything changed. Eventually, the mountain railroads signed a contract with the man who had come to their village as a bicycle mechanic. Together with representatives of the municipality, he defined bike routes. "Because SwitzerlandMobility didn't want to include them, we signposted them in their style, but labeled them with letters instead of the usual numbers," he explains.

Then Disentis took the next step: the destination created the position of Mountain Bike Product Manager. "I was delighted, I thought something was getting going now," Remo Eberle recalls. What he hadn't expected was that the people in charge asked him if he wanted to take on the job. "I'm a mechanic, I have no training in this area," was his first reaction. In the end, he agreed to the experiment. Since January 1, 2022, he has been the Mountain Bike Product Manager at Disentis Sedrun Tourismus, responsible for an area that extends as far as the Oberalp Pass.

At that time, he had already worked with the municipality to determine in detail which trails should be renovated for use by hikers and mountain bikers, which should be extended and where new trails should be built. "I now know the area better than many of the locals," he says confidently. While searching for a new path up the Bostg on the municipal border between Disentis and Tujetsch, he discovered that the line he saw in the terrain was still marked as a path on maps from 1970. You can tell how fascinated he is by his task.

Almost one million francs for bike infrastructure in Disentis and Tujetsch

Following the municipal council's decision in mid-February 2022, the product manager is now responsible for implementing this plan. "In the next two years, around 90 kilometers of bike routes will be created, almost 20 kilometers are single trails," promises Remo Eberle. From trail scout, he will now become the project manager for trail construction and renovation and ultimately the marketer of the trail network, which extends far beyond the boundaries of the municipality. "The municipality of Tujetsch, to which Sedrun belongs, is also investing 420,000 francs in bike routes and trails. Almost a million is available for the whole area," he explains. Eberle's tasks also include connecting Disentis to the Gotthard region's route network. He won't run out of work or money any time soon.

Remo Eberle himself is not entirely comfortable being asked about his role in the municipality. "I'm not that important. The municipalities would have done it without me," he is convinced.