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 Norway

2008-06-02: Gränjesåsvallen - Grøndalen (108 km)

The ride from Gränjesåsvallen to Idre is great fun. After a short steep climb there is a nice gradual slope down to the valley for almost 10 kilometers. No need to pedal and not too steep. Construction work is starting half way down the hills. There will be a new ski resort at Mt. Himmeråsen - The Himmelsfjäll ski resort. I shop in Idre and continue toward the Norway/Sweden border further west. There are some hard climbs in the beginning but higher up the landscape is flat with lakes, bogs and hills in the distance. I buy some raisins and sweets in a small village shop just before the border. Norway has a reputation for being even more expensive than Sweden.


Beach at Lake Femunden with Femundmarka National Park in the background.

There are great views of lake Femunden and the Norwegian mountains along the highway, and hardly any traffic. After Gröndalen I pitch my tent on a slope facing Mt. Sølen.

A small farm at the Norway/Sweden border with Mt. Sølen in the background.

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