Cycling in Norway
You’ve seen the picture above right?! This week I cycled from Oslo to Trondheim. It was crazy hard but beautiful, cyling in Norway as I expected! It was cold windy, sunny and warm. All what you can think about cycling in Norway were in these days.
On day one after Oslo I took Hamar as point to go. I knew It gonna be hard but I tried to make it. Along the road I could take a cycling route nr 7. It is a Pelgrim path from Oslo and a long time it follows the Saint Olav ways to Trondheim. It was so beautiful! I turned off my navigation and decided to watch the signs to Hamar. I missed one. Just before a mountain. On strava I could see it was a average climb of 8% and my avarage speed of 7.4 kmh! I had to climb 20 minutes and give all the power to keep riding. I climbed up and at the end of the gravelroad there was a dead end! #$%^&! After that I decide to ride down and have a good meal. (couple of minutes and you’re back down haha) I started early so I had time to make a long ride today. In total it was 145km (around 3000HM) when I saw the viking ship on my right side! Wow, look at the pictures where I camped š
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- Vikingship Hamar!
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- Wilcamping next….
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- Next to the Vikingship!
On dat two the weather forecast was not good. I had to go early as possible bacause it should rain at 11.00. So I woke up early and was on my bike at 6.30 on my way to Lillehammer. With rain and wind in the afternoon I reached the campingplace Elstad just before the real mountains showed up. (124km and 3200+ HM) With my eggs I pre cooked in Oslo I was able to give my body the protain it needed. The next day is was raining whole day and with the big stages the last two days I decided to get some rest.
When I look back the rest was a great decision. It rained the whole day and the next stage was crazy. It started with mountains for breakfast. Mountains for lunch and mountains for diner! In the morning after 4km I had a climb of 9.3km and avg 7%. It took me 1.08 to get up. (avg of 8.1 kmh). See Strava segments of this stage here. I could feel my legs where good and after 90km (3700+ HM) a mett the German guy I mett the day before. I decided to go cycle with him easy to the campsite he would go. After another 60 km (1900+ HM) we reached the camping. Awesome place in between the mountains!
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- Cycling to the moon!
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- Great landscapes
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- Stunning views
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- Roadblock
The next day I cycled another day with my German buddy. After 160km it was hard to get in the right pace again. It was a 87km ride with 2000HM. We were on the plateau and had some stunning views! Saw also a couple of reindeers and camped at a beautiful mountainlake!
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- On top of the world
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- Perfect roads
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- Snow!
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- Great views š
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- Reindeers!
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- Great camping
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- Feel good!
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- Wish I had a raft š
The day after we rode a couple of km together and splitted up. He rides to northcape so took the ferry and I had go to Trondheim. I reached Trondheim in the afternoon and decide to camp the first night. What a great night. It is midsummer here, and you have to see the pictures below. At night it stays light!
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- Midsummer evening 22.00
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- Midsummer night 3.00
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- Midsummer morning 9.00
At the moment I’m in an Airbnb apartment in Oslo. Take some rest till friday. Wait for better weather before I cycle up a 600mtr plateau again. The weather is way better in a few days (hopefully it saves me from rain and 5 degrees). Becide that, in 2013 I was overtrained and try to avoid that. Still 4 months to go!
See my route on Strava or Runkeeper!
Follow my route on Strava
Follow my route on Runkeeper
#TourduEurope total now after 35 days
2890 km
149.20 hour / min
113 bottles of water
Hi Paul, hoping to do something similar to this, whats your advice for getting ourselves and our bikes back to Oslo?
I did fly with Norwegian Air back to the Netherlands. I think they fly from Trondheim to Oslo as well 12x a day š You can check in large luggage and take your bike. Make sure you follow their instructions with the steering-bar, take off pedals, let air out of the tubes etc.
Have a great trip Olso to Trondheim!
Hi Paul, Your a great cyclist and adventurer. Came accross your Oslo to Trondheim article. Last month I completed what I said was the last leg of my Camino de Santiago. Amsterdam to Vezelay. Then I thought what the heck why not continue on next year I was thinking first stage Trondheim to Oslo. The following year either through Denmark or longer route via Copenhagen to Amsterdam. Your comments would be much appreciated on the following. The Google profile looks earier starting in Trondheim would you aggree or is there little difference. I use road bike rather than MTB. and expect to take about 8 days. Paul I look forward to your comments. Happy and Safe Cycling
Hi Sean, I saw a ot of gravel paths so an roadbike with good tires will be nice. A mountainbike isn’t a must. My bike is just a trekkingbike but love the big tires. If you pump them up hard they are awesome om the tarmac as well. 8 days will be good mate. It’s just an fantastic route and it doesn’t realy matter which way your ride. Maybe you can check which route the “Trondheim to Oslo” (http://styrkeproven.no/en/frontpage) race is. That will be a lot of Tarmac, but for me the advanture was the gravel and unpaved road.