Check out the Video first!
https://vimeo.com/185157362
Preparation
Back in January my friend Jonathan and I met up at the Bianchi Cafe in Stockholm. We hadn't seen each other in a few years and only a few times since graduating highschool together back in 2000. It was a bit of a luck because I was visiting my sister in Stockholm, and had been kicked out for the day because she was busy tidying up her apartment ahead of a viewing, as she was about to sell her apartment. Anyway, a happy surprise was that Jonathan really enjoyed cycling, particularly mountain biking! So we talked about that for quite a bit, and suggested riding together some time later in the year. A few days later Jonathan sent me a link to a new race event in Iceland, the Glacier360! It was a brand new event being set up by a tour group that organized guided mountain bike trips in Iceland. I didn't need much convincing, and soon we were both signed up for this 3 day stage race around Langjökull glacier! (We'd find out later that we were actually the first team to sign up so we were given start number 1!) In the next few months we organized flights and discussed what gear to bring etc. but also did a race together in Uddevalla to understand better how we'd get along. I had spent most of the spring road-cycling and swimming in preparation for Vätternrundan and Vansbrosimmet, but did a little bit of mountainbiking in the Delsjö area as well just behind my apartment in Gothenburg. Soon enough the summer months were rolling by and it was time to meet up with Jonathan in Stockholm for our trip together to Iceland!Arriving to Iceland - August 14-16
I drove up to Sollentuna on Sunday evening, after having spent the previous week gorging myself on good food at home in Småland while my family was vistiting from different parts of the world. I found Jonathan still working out what to pack, while I similarly had spent the last few days going back and forth about exactly what to bring. We inspected each others gear together, left out duplicate tools etc, packed everything up successfully and after a delicious meal prepared by Jonathans wife Elsa we headed to bed.The flight went smoothly, and we landed to a very grey, dreary and misty Keflavik airport at about 9am Monday morning. The airport was packed, but we quickly got bus tickets and very soon were heading east to Hafnarfjörður. The view out the windows was not a very pretty sight, as we were hoping for better weather than to cycle through dense fog and slowly getting soaked from the continuous light rain. Having jumped off the bus, my cousin Örvar picked us up with his reliable little trailer anno 1982 for our bike bags. It was great to see Örvar and Sirry again, and of course their three delightful daughters. We caught up in the kitchen over a late brunch, and even witnessed Chinese tourists being dropped off outside the house to take photos of a beautiful example of Icelandic architecture! We joked that Örvar and Sirry should start charging for photos of their house, or maybe even invite tourists for an experience of having coffee with true Icelanders! In the afternoon we got to borrow the car and toured Reykjavik, driving out to Seltjarnes first and then into the center. We saw quite a bit, with highlights being the enormous contoured map of Iceland at city hall, and the delicious bread and pastries from Braud Co. just near Hallgrimskirkjan. In the evening we were invited to dinner at my aunt Salla's house in Kopavogur, where many cousins also came! We had delicious fish soup for dinner and Skyr-pie with blueberries for dessert, while spending time with many cousins I hadn't seen for several years and even getting to meet the newest addition to the family, Rökkvi Harðarsson!
The next day was all about preparing for the race, and we took a taxi in the morning with our bikes to the headquarters of the organizers Made in Mountains (MiM) to put our bikes together. There we met Jorge, an experienced Portuguese rider who had done many stage races before in South Africa, Nepal, USA and of course home in Portugal. We also met briefly Jonathans brother Chris who was signed up for the race also, along with his teammate Greg who was going to race on a fully rigid single-speed Kona! Quite a contrast to the top of the line full-suspension S-Works, Trek and Yeti bikes we'd seen so far. We had a few hours to kill before the pre-race meeting so we grabbed some world-famous hot dogs from Bæjarins Beztu and saw some more of Reykjavik, ending up at Reykjavik Roasters coffee shop to write some post cards. The race meeting was at the Kex hostel, which was full of people dressed in Marmot, North Face, and Arctery'x gear, clearly ready to tour Icelands interior. We found the Glacier360 corner and were asked first to sign a waiver before picking up our race numbers. Seemingly unlike most others, we actually read the waiver and were surprised to see several references to the agreement being subject to certain laws in British Columbia, Canada!? Well, the organizers admitted they'd just copied and pasted the wording and said the document was just meant to inform us about the risks. After an information session we made our way back to Hafnarfjörður via bus and relaxed for a while before dinner together with Örvar and Sirry, and also Erla and Friggi who came over. We had a great dinner of fish accompanied with malt og appelsín! It was however the night before the race so we turned in rather early, making sure to have all our things packed up before bed time!
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| Grey and dreary as we land in Iceland |
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| Awesomest map in the world - and there in the center is Langjökull glacier! |
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| Out by Seltjarnes in the outskirts of Reykjavik |
Stage 1 - August 17
Early morning! We woke up at the crack of dawn (which is extra early in Iceland) and Örvar was nice enough to drive us down into the harbour of Reykjavik where we met up with the other racers. We loaded our bikes and luggage onto the buses and were soon off driving east. The weather was changing quickly as we went up and down across some small passes and through valleys. But things were looking bright overall with the sun piercing through the clouds! At Laugarvatn we picked up the rest of the racers, which included most of the pros who mostly did look quite pro, but also like mere mortals at the same time. One of these pros was Rebecca Rusch who was there with a crew from Red Bull who were going to film along the whole way and prepare a feature for their website. It wasn't far from that stop to Geysir, where our bikes and gear were already laid out, with Jonathans and my bikes up at the front where they belonged as top-seeds! ;) We had a look at Strokkur and did some warming up and filled up our water bottles, before it was time to line up in front of the big starting gate. One could really feel the energy buzzing around, as everyone was eagerly anticipating the ride ahead, all in their finest kit and on spotless shiny and well-tuned bikes. Then the starting signal went off! Most everyone held a similar pace for the first few kilometers as we climbed through forested area of about 3m tall trees, but once we emerged onto the more barren rolling hills above, the field was spread out. The first section followed a gravel road parallel to a string of power cables and the riding was quite easy. We could see a steep climb ahead though, dotted with other riders. It was indeed steep but once we got to the top we were treated to a very different landscape, much more volcanic and barren with Langjökull glacier off to the north-east on our right. The road here was rougher but still not so bad, and we tried to up the pace a bit along the next 30 or so kilometers. Soon we had rounded the east side of the conical old volcano Skjaldbreiður and descended down towards the first rest stop. I was pretty tired so it was a welcome sight and it was here that I first talked to one of the photographers from Red Bull. He was a cool young guy, living in Austria but from the US, seemingly always doing some kind of adventure. But I was more impressed when I saw over off to the side another competitor, sitting on a rock, and nursing her baby! The baby must have only been about 4 or 5 months old. She and her partner set off for the rest of the stage at about the same point as we did, and seemed really in great shape. So impressive! To be doing a long distance endurance event and just casually sitting down at a rest stop to breastfeed. Just awesome. After the rest stop we followed a busier road so the surface was easier to ride on, but there was a bit more traffic, and we were also now climbing. Several teams were having to help push each other up the climbs and the going was quite slow, until I saw a distinct and typical mega-cairn marking the top of the pass and then we let loose and were sweeping down the hills! Jonathan is a very skilled descender and quite fearless so I had trouble keeping up and he would have to hold up from time to time to let me catch up. It was getting warmer and greener as we descended too, and soon we were biking in the bottom of a wide valley along a noisy and wide creek. With a few kilometers to go the course jumped off the road and onto some beautiful single track trails winding through another small forest, which made for the funnest riding of the day. We emerged out into a clearing where we were to cross the creek mentioned before. Jonathan was ahead of me and in the middle of the creek got stuck and I heard a loud bang as his rear tire exploded! He didn't notice though and kept biking as I saw all the sealant pouring out of his tire and spilling on the rocks. I called out to him and he finally stopped realizing what had happened. Fortunately we were only about 500m from the finish, but what terrible luck! As we limped across the finish line we were greeted by staff handing us drinks and guiding us to the camp site. We were both quite impressed by the facilities at the campsite, the tents that were set up for us were much larger than expected and even included proper comfy air mattresses! The campsite was actually part of a larger hotel complex with a restaurant, a little shop, golf facility etc., quite fancy compared to the wilderness we’d been cycling through. After cleaning and tending to our bikes we went over to the pool and relaxed in the hottubs, but also ran over to the icy pond to chill off a bit! Jonathans brother and his teammate finished the stage quite a while after us, but their feat of managing with a single-speed fully rigid bike was super impressive! Next was dinner and we had a good time talking to a German couple we’d been cycling parts of the route with, they were from Bavaria and mostly did sprint triathlons but had recently started mountain biking. We turned in quite early that night, ready for more riding on day 2!
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| At Geysir - let´s go! |
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| Climbing with Langjökull by my side |
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| The Camber where it belongs |
Stage 2 - August 18
Route: https://www.strava.com/activities/683291667I woke up feeling great, and felt even better when stepping out of the tent and seeing the beautiful surroundings and the promising weather for the day! In high spirits we went up to the hotel to get breakfast, and then packed up our gear, prepared our bikes and lined up by the starting line. The route started on a couple of kilometers of pavement first heading further up the valley but we soon passed the last farms and were on a rocky dirt road heading into the highlands. The sun was shining down on us as we went down and mostly up the rolling landscape through lava fields sprinkled with green moss. After about an hour and a half we finally reached one of the highlights of the day, the major river crossing that everyone had been talking so much about the night before! Our tactic was to wade over in our socks with pants rolled up and bikes on our shoulders, and change into spare dry socks on the other side. There was a rescue worker who had set up a rope across the river and was on hand in case anything went wrong, but the crossing was not very difficult. We did see an Irish biker slip and fall into the icy water though, facing the prospect of spending the rest of the day riding in wet clothes! I lent him my spare long johns which he gladly accepted, although they were a bit baggy and loose on him. For the next 20-30km there were several other river crossings and it was at times difficult to see if they were bikeable, so for some we waded across, some we jumped across, and some we rode through. This part of the day was a lot of fun because the sun was shining, it was neat crossing so much water, and the riding was quite fast and smooth. We were still climbing though and soon reached a plateau of sorts, very rocky and difficult to ride on, but with spectacularly eerie views to all sides seeing Langjökull clearly to our right and mountains on the horizon to our left up near Blönduós and towards Varmahlíð. The first rest stop was much farther along on the route than expected and when we finally reached it, it was a very welcome sight. The organisers had promised 4 rest stops in a span of about 50-60km, but there ended up only being 2 there. Luckily we had such good weather and a tail wind, otherwise this day could have ended up very differently. When we’d finally managed across the tricky plateau, the track wound down into a shallow but wide valley and we could see the F35 road off in the distance which was where we’d make a sharp turn right. As we raced down the bumpy road it was quite a shock to get on the relatively smooth dirt road again! But now the wind was in our faces and it became a completely different challenge as we could see much farther ahead and the climbs were less steep but much longer. At the top of one climb we stopped briefly to eat a bit and I noticed that my rear axle had rattled itself loose, but after tightening it things rolled on much better. It was also here that we saw our nearest competitors again behind us, and we decided that we weren’t going to let them catch us before the finish! So we pressed on, as the wind tried to push us backwards and more cars were passing us also on their way to the destination for the day, Hveravellir. Multiple times we felt deceived as we’d see what looked like some sign of the camp but it’d turn out to be an airfield or a shepherds hut. But then across another rise we finally saw the steam rising from the hot springs and we got renewed energy in our legs taking us the final stretch. The route took us down a single track for the last 400m or so, and finished through the bright blue gate after 112km of riding! It was great to be finished for the day, particularly such a challenging and exciting stage, but I was also massively disappointed with the reception we got. Namely, none at all. There was nobody on hand to do any of a number of things, take our photo as we finished, hand us something to drink, point us in the direction of the camp/showers/food, give us some encouraging words or high fives for finishing. It was a real bummer. So I found the camp myself and dropped off my bike and got something to drink, but went straight back to the finish line to wait for the other teams. Take their photos and welcome them to camp. It was the least I can do while the organisers seemed busy pampering the pros who had all finished several hours earlier. At last though it was time to clean up, both the bikes and ourselves, and Jonathan and I jumped into the hot spring that we’d been looking forward to all day! The hot spring was only lukewarm though, but another cyclist who was a Danish journalist realised we just had to add more hot water. The temperature was regulated by two pipes, one with cold and another with scalding hot water, so we just had to move the pipes to get the balance right again! It was fun to share our experiences with the journalist, and I need to not forget to check out the article he was writing when it comes out in Danish mountainbike magazines! Dinner that evening was simple but filling and we treated ourselves to some beers, while I also shared the photos from the finish line with the respective teams. Evening came quicker today since it’d been a longer day, and it was not long before sunset that Jonathans brothers team arrived as well, even more impressive that they’d come through today! It rained a bit as we crawled into our tents and prepped for the next day, eager to ride what had been promised to be an easier day with more downhill and the race finish line waiting by Gullfoss!
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| Getting our feet wet |
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| Jonathan disappearing in the vastness of Icelands highlands |
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| Team Joteg - Numero Uno! |
Stage 3 - Valley of Thieves - August 19
Route: https://www.strava.com/activities/683291909The third and final day of the race had arrived! But despite the two tough days behind us, I was still feeling fresh and excited for more riding. We’d slept a little longer today though so there was a bit of a rush towards the end to be ready in time for the start, but soon enough we were all lined up again together with the other teams. I was glad I’d chosen to wear short sleeves and shorts again today, because we were still having great luck with the weather and it was quite hot climbing up and away from Hveravellir towards “the valley of the thieves”. As we reached the edge of the valley I had to stop briefly and take in the spectacular view. The green slopes giving way to a beautiful valley with gleaming streams down below, and all under a beautiful blue sky dotted with light fluffy clouds. The other aspect being the sheer openness of the place, being able to take in so much and so much beauty from just one spot! The descent into the valley was fast and fun and down below the tracks were smooth and flowing as we crossed another few streams. The fun didn’t last all too long though, as soon we were out on a large open plain, and there was barely any track to ride on. Big rocks were everywhere and at least for me it was impossible to ride continuously for the next 3-5km. It was still early on in the day and I didn’t want to get disheartened, but if this was what had been promised to be the fun single-track on the easy day, then we had a much longer day ahead of us than anticipated! Fortunately things soon got a bit better, as tracks were emerging ahead of us. The terrain here was very soft and all-terrain vehicles had formed deep ruts in the soil which were not very nice to look at, but made it quite easy to navigate. Often these ruts we were riding in would be about a half meter deep though and quite narrow, so it took a lot of concentration to ride well and not sideswipe the edges which could result in crashes or worse. We were soon riding along the glacial river Hvítá and I started thinking about the sheer scale of things and how all we’d seen so far fit together. We were now on the opposite side of Langjökull compared to where we’d been on day 1, and here glacial runoff was flowing into lake Hvíárvatn and then continuing south to form probably the most famous waterfall and landmark in Iceland, Gullfoss. Here the track was a lot of fun, flowed back and forth, up and down, through soft mossy areas and then across sandy stretches surrounded by big boulders making us feel like we were riding on the moon. Soon we’d crossed this area of wilderness and were back on dirt roads, quite wides ones actually. Here we caught up with several teams and even passed some as the riding became a lot less technical and much more about endurance and stamina. There was one last major climb to contend with as we rode along the side of a conical mountain, and then had a ginormous descent which took some concentration as the road was pocked with potholes especially in the bends. We met up here with the crew from Red Bull and for the last 20km or so we rode together, chatting and enjoying the last bit of the race. I was honestly feeling quite exhausted here though and had a hard time keeping up with the pace that was set, with Jonathan leading the way. The dirt road soon gave way to asphalt and more and more cars were buzzing past us, as we saw the mist from Gullfoss down below. Before we knew it the big blue finishing gate was right ahead of us and just like that the race came to an end! It was a bit surreal making it to the finish line, both because of realising where and how far we’d ridden, but also because suddenly we were surrounded by hordes of tourists pouring out of busses to go all googly-eyes at the sight of Gullfoss. Jonathan and I got our obligatory victory selfie with our medals and the waterfall in the background, before we packed up our bikes and gear into the van that was going to take us to Reykjavik. The organisation here though was a bit awry, as there didn’t seem to be any plan and we were fortunate to have enough space on the van for both of us! I had a good time on the drive back though, chatting with other racers like the Irish guy who’d fallen in the river the day before, and Jesse from Tennesse who’d ridden a Fargo in the race and was now planning to ride it north in Snaefellsness to do some touring. Everyone was in a jolly mood and one could feel the atmosphere of content, while everyone was quite tired and also a bit sad that the race was over. Arriving to Reykjavik it became clear that my bike had not made it in the transport so I was faced with either a 2 hour wait or picking up the bike later. Thankfully the organisers offered to drive home my bike to Hafnarfjörður later in the evening, so things worked out! Here Jonathan and I parted ways as he had reserved a hotel for the night and left early the next day while I went home with Örvar and Sirry to have some pizza and relax with them and their daughters. What a great way to end the evening, with pizza, more malt go appelsín, and spending time with family!
The next day was planned to be the night of the big party to bring the whole event to a close, out on Viðey island off the coast of Reykjavik. Unfortunately my flight left the same night so I wouldn’t be able to make it to the party, but instead I got to spend the day in town together with Örvar and Sirry and family. It was actually the day of Menningarnótt, the anniversary of the founding of Reykjavik, so there were a lot of activities in town. The city had distributed equipment and ingredients to people living in town so they could make waffles which were being prepared out on the sidewalks and handed out for free! We listened to some concerts in various areas, chatted with people and family members we ran into, and had some great food from the food stalls downtown. Also we listened to a choir singing in Hallgrimskirkjan, before testing out some “french fries with nutella” that we’d heard would be good in a local US themed restaurant. They were… interesting, let’s say. The day ended with a ride to the airport, saying farewell to my fantastic hosts Örvar and Sirry, and climbing aboard a plane back south the Göteborg!
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| In the Valley of the thieves |
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| Finished! |
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| Blinging at the Golden waterfall |
