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Iceland ring road CCW day 7

Iceland ring road CCW day 6

Iceland ring road CCW day 5 and 6

Iceland ring road CCW day 4 and 5

Iceland ring road CCW day 3 and 4

Iceland ring road CCW day 3

Iceland ring road CCW day 2

Iceland ring road CCW day 1 and 2

Norway Cycle Tour

Day 12: 84 miles 8753 ft

Odda had a weird vibe to it. It was close to so much beauty though. There were other hikes nearby I would have loved to do if I had more time. Leaving was a chore with a steady 3500 ft climb to the ski town of Roldal. The road turned down for a fun descent but then things went steadily up using several peaceful tunnel arounds before leveling out next to a string of lakes. I made it into camp just as the rain became heavy.

Day 13: 82 miles 4711 ft

I set off knowing the rain would continue through the day. Thankfully all the climbing the previous day meant I wasn’t really going up much further. After about 40 miles on the day I descended out of the clouds and the rain subsided. The original route had me climbing back up into the clouds via Guastatoppen mountain. On a clear day I may have chosen different but today I couldn’t even see the mountain. I opted for a route that parralleled the mountain and ran next to a long lake. The change saved me elevation, distance, and likely more rain. Instead I arrived at a place call Max camping just after 2000. The owner was fun to talk to and kindly gave me a cabin for the same price as a tent site. It gave me a chance for my things to dry after the rain.

Day 14: 64 miles 2789 ft

After a good nights rest in the cabin I knew I only had 60 miles to reach Oslo. The previous day my quads were starting to sing with soreness when I would stand to pedal. I stood to check my quads and heard a loud pop. My quads were sore but I didn’t feel any increased pain. Then I noticed the derailuer dragging the chain every so often. I pulled over and found that a spoke had broken. Unfortunately it was on the drive side so my spare spokes would do me no good since I was unable to remove the cassette. I put a little electrical tape on the spoke to keep it still and pushed on towards Oslo. The temporary fix worked well until 10 miles to go when the chain would grab unless there was constant forward pressure. I’m sure a combination of dirt and lack of maintenance contributed to the problem too. Regardless, I was relieved to roll into Oslo. I was ready to take a break from pedalling but I also immediately missed the time to myself on the bike. Thankfully I’d soon meet up with Yanai for another phase of Scandinavian vacation.

Norway Cycle Tour

Day 8: 74 miles 4816 ft

Today I finished the last 2 ferries. At the first ferry I ended up waiting four hours. I was a bit upset with myself for being so inefficient. I arrived after 1230 and read that the next ferry wouldn’t arrive until 1630. Some cycle tourers from the UK arrived a bit after me and we talked for a bit. They decided to wait until 1430 and ask a ferry arriving then if they would make an extra stop where we were trying to go. I didn’t think this would work and was short on food and unsure of the next town where I could purchase some. I decided to ride the 4 miles back to the last town grocery store and restock. I had lunch there and returned. When I arrived at the waiting area the Brits were gone. I laid down and tried to get a nap before the 1630 ferry arrived. When it did I asked the attendant about the cyclist at 1430. Sure enough, he had made an extra stop than listed on the schedule at their request.

I’m still not sure of the schedule of the second ferry but rode the 20 miles in between at a quick pace and rolled onto the deck just before the ferry pulled away.

On the bright side I ended up riding a shorter distance than planned and staying at a great little camp site for the night.

Day 9: 90 miles 7041 ft

The rain started outside Bergen and didn’t stop all day. I may have enjoyed Bergen more with out the rain but I tend to enjoy the solitude of nature more than big cities anyway. I was met with road construction and heavy traffic. Next time I’ll bring waterproof mittens that actually stay waterproof. I’m still not convinced I need waterproof shoes but maybe I’d add more than one pair of waterproof socks. Those were key when my shoes were wet.

Day 10: 67 miles 4816 ft

I ended up pushing on through the rain and arriving at a camp site after reception had closed. I’m not sure it was a tent site. I only saw motorhomes. After I set the tent up in the rain I took a much needed hot coin operated shower. My sleeping bag was dry and I would have slept well if it wasn’t that the only spot I found to pitch the tent was on a hill. Also, I knew that rain was forecasted for the next day and had planned to allow myself to sit out the rain in the tent if needed. There is an emotional toll to getting pelted in the face with rain all day.

After repeatedly sliding to the foot of the tent I knew I wouldn’t stay to wait out the rain. I woke up before reception opened and packed my soaking things in a drybag. By this time it was 0900, reception would be open. I rolled my bike to the opposite end of the complex and shouldered it while I climbed over a wall to get back on the road. I felt I had paid for anything of value I had used.

The forecast ended up being right and I was in for another solid day of rain. Just as I was getting pounded in another torrential spell near the end of the day I rode out of the cove I was in and the sky cleared. I laughed and yelled enjoying the sun on my face after the last two days. I stopped in a camp site in Lofthus since it was the last one I knew of before my planned hike to Trolltunga the following day.

Day 11: 31 miles 2490 ft and 17 mile hike

I’d heard of the hike to Trolltunga (Troll’s tongue) before coming to Norway. The advice was to start early because the 17 miles was predicted to take between 8 and 12 hours. By the time I arrived at the trailhead it was 1400. I hid my bike and locked it to a tree. Then rushed up the trail at a fast pace. After 2.5 hours I was standing on the tongue. A nice guy from Kazakhstan took some pictures for me.

On the way back I was still hiking at a fast pace when I passed a group of Russian hikers. They had hired a guide who was wearing a red jacket similar to mine. On of the girls in the group reached out and took my arm to lean on as I was passing. She thought I was her guide. By the time she looked up and realized it we had a laugh but I told her it was alright. We ended up hiking the whole way back together. Her english wasn’t amazing but it was better then my russian so we got to know each other through broken language and then said goodbye at the bottom. I continued on to Odda to spend the night.

Norway Cycle Tour

Day 7: 117 miles 7700 ft

I spend the night at a camp site in Gaupne. I had originally planned to hike to a glacier today but I sleep on it and decide to continue riding and take advantage of the good weather forecast. After doing my second ferry of the trip I’m getting close to 50 miles on the day when the gps points me up a notch between two mountains. I’m quite sure there is no road there, even a hiking path is doubtful. I figure out a rerout that’s 20 miles longer but actually has a road to ride. The weather is cloudy but good and holding so I settle in for a climb that soon turns into switchbacks. I’m in good spirits and in my own head but I can’t help but hear roaring engines making the climb below. I think it’s motorcycles. It doesn’t take them nearly as long as me and soon I’m being narrowly passed by speeding Ferrari’s. I’m not even bothered. They are still at the top when I arrive a while later. Among them is a 1987 Testarossa, a car that I had as a toy growing up. This is the first I’ve seen in person, 32 years later.

As with most climbs, I get to reap the benefits of several miles of down hill. I’m making good time so continue on until I find the gps pointing me up another remote switchbacking road. This one is paved so I flounder less than before and just get to work. By this point I’ve learned that remote climbs and tunnel arounds while difficult are actually the most enjoyable parts of the route. The solitude is priceless.

Norway Cycle Tour

Day 5: 81 miles 5453 ft

Geiranger is a beautiful little town that entices cruise ships to make their way up the fjord for a visit. It’s a town with only one road passing through it. For me as a cyclist this means one bombing descent into town and then spending the rest of the day climbing back out. Warm and muggy at the bottom, cold and windy at the top. A day well spent. Even the tourists from the cruise ship rent bikes to do the climb out of town. They all wave as they pass me. E-bikes.

It’s another huge victory having the monster climb behind me and I pass through Lom with it’s beautiful wooden church and find a peaceful place to set up camp.

Day 6: 56 miles 4803 ft

I notice the river next to me is going the opposite direction as me again. Water is everywhere in Norway. Fjords, waterfalls, rivers, and rain. I get the feeling it’s a big part of life here. I see locals walking their dogs in the rain with no umbrellas, no rain jackets. Much of their electricity is from hydroelectric plants. Even I get my drinking water from the cold rivers that are never far apart. Tasty and refreshing.

It’s not raining when I stop at a view point to read about the area. I’m a little intimidated as I learn that I’m heading up the highest pass in Northern Europe. Yes, it’s only 4705 ft but it seems that every monster climb I conquer has another waiting behind it. I didn’t learn about this stretch of road during my route research but I’m glad it made it into the route. As I climb I attack to keep warm in the cold wind. Then I attack to make it under the eaves of the closest roof I can find as the wind is joined by driving rain. Thankfully it doesn’t last more than 15 minutes and I’m able to reach the top and warm up in a cross country skiing training center. It’s only open during the summer as the road is closed because of too much snow during the winter.

I see another form of Norway’s water at the top, Glaciers. With the climbing behind me I’m able to just take in my other worldly surroundings. It’s cold but no longer raining. I keep the rain gear on as I grin ear to ear descending to Sognefjord.

Norway Cycle Tour

Day 4: 74 miles 5856 ft

In an attempt to not be caught off guard by another monster climb I looked at a topograpgic map hanging at the camp site the night before. Today I knew what lay ahead. Trollstigen (Trolls ladder). In reality, Trollstigen is only a 7 mile climb. That’s including the 2 mile climb after the restaurant in order to start the descent. Once I got into the main climb I was to distracted by the scenery to suffer. There are of course many other tourist in cars and motorcycles. Ascending it on a bicycle feels like being in the Tour de France. People are watching and cheering you on. I asked one of these people to take one of my panniers to the restaurant at the top in order to make the climb easier but I still climbed quite slowly. I was relieved when I arrived and my bag really was waiting on me at the top.

The descent, like most are, was even more enjoyable. Having the big climb behind me was a victory I could build on. I rode downhill for the next 20 miles enjoying surprise waterfalls before climbing several miles again to wild camp next to a glass surface lake. My plans for established camping and a shower didn’t work out this evening and I found myself gasping while bathing in the snow melt water. On the plus side this meant I’d get to enjoy the same view in better weather in the morning before descending Into Geiranger the next day.

Norway Cycle Tour

Day 1: 20 miles 1558 ft

It took roughly two days to arrive in Trondheim with my bike on the evening of June 13. I stepped outside the airport entrance with the bike box and hoped that no damage had occured. The box had a large hole with a hanging flap and new tape after an obvious TSA inspection. I felt eyes as I opened the box and methodically unpacked and put together the bike and loaded it with luggage. Thankfully the box had taken all the damage. The bike was just fine. I set the empty cardboard box behind a trash can, turned on my gps, and began the ride towards Trondheim.

The weather was perfect and the miles came easy. What I didn’t expect is that it was later than it seemed. This time of year the sun sets around 2315 in Trondheim. By the time I found hostel Vandrerhjem and some pasta salad to eat from a local grocery store, it was closer to midnight. I shared a room with a German guy who had spent the last week motorcycle touring the same roads that were in store for me. He gave me the motto for day one;

“Consistency beats resistanc-y.”

Day 2: 101 miles 6263 ft

The excitement of riding so far from home remained quite fresh. I spent a little time jostling over the old cobbled roads of Trondheim first thing in the morning. I rode over a bridge into old town. Past a decadent church. Through a moody cemetery. Before long I was out of town, hugging the lazy coast line. The riding was mostly enjoyable and benign until around 75 miles in. The GPS indicated I should turn right. It was a very steep and remote gravel road. I checked the map and debated sticking to the main road but decided against it. After wrestling my 60lb bike up the climb for nearly an hour, the road relaxed to a more manageable grade.

The GPS that I forgot to connect to the dynamo hub died and stopped giving me the reassuring feeling that I was still headed in the right direction. Thankfully I had a power bank and found a “Joker” grocery to refuel while it charged. I noticed less traffic and more nature. Sheep grazed and blocked the road only to quickly waddle to safety as I passed. Eventually the road turned down and I whizzed into camp under golden light and pitched my tent for the night.

Day 3: 92 miles 5092 ft

I awoke to sore legs and numb fingers. My phone said it was 0340 in the morning. That’s what time the sun rises. I had knocked off my sleeping mask during the night. Sleeping while camping is never as restful as your own bed, or any bed really, but after replacing the mask I was able to rest til a more humane hour. The numb fingers were on my left hand. Likely from resting on the handlebars for so long. Not a catostrophic injury but I found I no longer had the strength to change gears with that hand. I could however reach inside the bars and pull the lever when I needed to get in the big ring.

My climbing efforts the previous day meant that I enjoyed net loss elevation for the first 30 miles until I found myself in Sundalsora for another grocery store lunch. I found precooked chicken (kylling) for using in salads. I repurposed as sandwich meat by dumping it into a baguette. The truth is, anything tastes good when you are cycle touring. I was eating like a king. Sunndalsora isn’t a very big city but I found it quite beautiful. Riding into town the road is flanked by mountain walls in a long narrow valley. After leaving town it follows the waters edge by the Sunndal fjord it’s named after.

I’m not sure if it was my tired legs or that I had only travelled 57 miles by 1600. Again I looked at the map while destroying a pizza bread and a danish or two. Orginally, while plannig this trip I had aimed to ride 100 miles per day. That was looking less and less realistic. Standing on the road in front of me, I could turn left and do a 130 mile loop to see the Atlantic Highway road or I could continue straight still be on route just with 130 less miles hanging over me. I finished the Danish and went straight. Bittersweet.

The road continued to hug the ocean, in and out of fjords until running into a wall of a mountain that someone decided to pave switchbacks over. The grade was steep for about 5 miles and It had caught me by surprise. I had an elevation profile on my gps computer but it only gave a clear picture of one mile in advance. I could also see the profile over my entire 1000+ mile route but not where I lay on that profile. I climbed so slowly that I’m sure 5 miles took over an hour. At some point you just accept life in the granny gear.

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