Cycling with skis: Down and up again

2008-06-03: Grøndalen - Friisvegen (97 km)

The landscape changes as I ride down toward the first larger valley in Norway. It's more dramatic, with steeper slopes, deeper river valleys and higher mountains. Even the roads are steeper and narrower. It does not feel entirely safe to go fast with the extra equipment strapped to the bike. The breaks get overheated and I need to stop for a while to cool them down. In Koppang I buy some groceries and ask about the mountain roads ahead. The first one is called Vinjevegen/Vinjeveien and is a steep winding dirt road that climbs high above the treeline, and ends at the second mountain road for the day - Friisvegen/Friisveien. Getting up above the treeline take several hours, but after that it gets easier. I pass little villages and hamlets. Some houses are old traditional summer huts where livestock was brought to graze. Others are small but modern cabins where Norwegians go during weekends and holidays.


Small hamlet along Vinjevegen - an unpaved mountain road between Koppang and Friisvegen.


Me at the tree line on Vinjevegen. A Dutch/Norveigian woman took the photo. She's driving north through Norway to see the country.

Friisvegen is paved but is closed with a gate further up the mountain. It's easy to push the bike past the gate on the side, but I wounder what the reason for having it locked is. I cook some pasta next to a large snow field higher up, and camp with beautiful views of the Rondane Mountains in Rondane National Park.


Friisvegen/Friisveien - A mountain road between Atna and Ringebu.

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Cycling with skis: To Dalarna on a non-existing road

2008-05-28: Lake Mälaren - Rosshyttan (109 km)

Before Enköping I decide to go on smaller roads. The highways 55 and 70 are too busy and there is even a stretch of proper motorway where cycling is prohibited. Finding good alternatives is not easy. I end up riding quite a few kilometers extra on winding small roads, sometimes without asphalt. After crossing the last bridge across lake Mälaren, I ride past the villages of Teda, Björksta, Kärsta, Tortuna, and Sevalla before I cook lunch on a small meadow next to the road.

The plan for the day is to get to the road through Sätra brunn and Salbohed and camp before Avesta where I will look for a new Goretex jacket at the Haglofs Factory Outlet.

There is a tiny road on my old map that would get me up on highway 56, and on to the Sätra road. I go through Vad where the road should be and end up at a farm. Two guys are building something there and they're not sure if there is a road anymore. They show me on to a small track that leads to the nearby forest. They suggest I give it a try. The path slowly disappears, but I don't want to turn around and cycle a long detour. I end up pushing my bike through a small forest area, a forest clearing and a small bog before I get up on the national highway.



I camp near highway 70 before Avesta.

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Cycling with skis: Day one

2008-05-27: Trosa - Lake Mälaren (97 km)

I had most of my gear packed the night before departure, but I had some experimenting to do with fixing the skis. If they're tied too low they get stuck in the front panniers while turning. If they are positioned to far back the bindings get in the way of my thighs. I found that there was only one option for how to place the skis (see photo in previous blog post).

I filled up water and fuel bottles and left around noon. The weather was perfect. After 25 kilometers I chose a smaller road in the countryside. At Kattnäs I made the first mistake. I took a chance on following a local bike trail, but it didn't go where i guessed it would go. I ended up on the west side of lake Klämmingen. No big deal. It was also hard to find the right way in Åkers styckebruk, and in central Strängnäs. I cooked some macaroni after crossing the first bridge across lake Mälaren, and camped just before the second one.


The first camp site on an island in lake Mälaren.

Cycling with skis tied to the frame was a bit odd at first but I soon got used to it. I had to readjust the straps at one point, and going fast on bad bumpy dirt roads did not feel safe.

If you have Google Earth you can follow the route for day one with this: norway_2008_tour_day1.kmz

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