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Hello cyclists! What great people to talk to! My story. I have bikepacked a bit. I started doing some of those long races and now just like to travel to new places and try to just ride in the day. Should be easy in Norway to have light in the summer. My wife, Anne, was watching YouTube and she tells me of some beautiful lakes in Norway and little huts on a video that popped up. Mathew is very cathartic for her and she really likes watching the videos. So we started looking at more videos and maps to get an idea of the place. It was really hard to match names with places as the spelling took some getting used to. We are now planning an adventure for this summer assuming Americans are still allowed to travel and we still have jobs.
My sister lives in Orkney Scotland so we have recently cycled from there back to the south on roads and trails. It was so hot and sunny we nearly cooked as we didn’t pack sunscreen. Hopefully Norway will be at least somewhat sunny.
Here is our plan right now. We will travel maybe 30-60mi a day. Anne likes to see more things and not ride as far as I might. We will stick to smaller roads and dirt when possible.
Fly to Oslo from Gunnison CO, USA, our home, in mid June(?). I would like to go earlier but it would be nice to be warmer in the north and in mountains. It would be nice to store bike bags in Oslo as I have access to a couple nice fold-able ones. Head to Telemark region by train. Ride the canal trails and stop at the huts that Matt discusses (we have many here like that for skiing and summer bicycling). Then I’m thinking ride north to Geilo and ride to Flam. Then make our way north. Cycle some of the fiords and valleys and depending on mileage and weather catch some ferries along the way to Bodo and ride the Lofoten islands and then ferry/train/bike back to Oslo. I know a lot of people are up here but we kind of have to go there. I’m thinking a total of 1000km (600mi) total riding and connect places together with trains and ferry. It is tricky but I think looking at ferry and train maps more and Mathews routes and others online it should be fun to get something that hits many nice places.
We would love any suggestions from your trips!
Jarral Ryter
2 Comments-
Jarral, I’ll trade you a tip for bike boxes/bags in Oslo for some Gunnison trail tips (I live near Denver).
I flew to Oslo last summer for a long bike tour around the Hardangerfjord and Sognefjord. There is a Best Western near the airport serviced by an hourly shuttle bus. I would ask the desk in advance about storing gear but they stored mine and 5 or 6 others at no charge and no real time limit. Give them a few nights of business and everyone should be happy. Good breakfast and a good Indian restaurant nearby.
Flying through Munich vs Frankfurt is less of a nightmare. Frankfurt is just too big.
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Thanks for the tip! Nice to find out some answers before you get there! I just bought tickets. Iceland air on june 10. to july 7 i think. Hopefully norway doesn’t have record snow. I’m always nervous about getting a bike on the train. My sister lives in Orkney Scottland so we took train up and biked back. It was funny how you had to delve into that to find when you had to reserve a spot for your bike. They didn’t have a lot of space so I wanted to do it as soon as possible.
What do you like to ride? road, gravel, mt, touring, bikepacking… Jumping off jumps (I avoid them)? The smaller roads are pretty quiet (Gunnison to Lake city, Crawford, Cottonwood pass (best before memorial day when pass opens but then it’s an out and back). Many gravel loops. Colorado trail from Denver to Durango is near here…. Let me know. I’ve ridden loads around here and SW colorado. Bikepaking.com has a couple gravel bikepaking loops that are remote and very quiet in the area.
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