Tomorrow it all starts for Leah and I. The Viking Tour of Norway, a seven day road cycling race between floyds and through towns that I have no way of ever pronouncing. I have the added bonus of Leah joining me for her first stage race. She is viewing this as a warm up for the Haute Route and is planning on taking it easy. Let's see how that plan of taking it easy goes as I know how competitive she can be......
A short overview from the website:"Five fjords - eleven climbs between 500 -1500 meters up from crystal sea - several new glaciers - and another thrilling roll-out of spectacle between our two new stage finishes. Trollstigen, Geirangerfjord, Norangsdalen, Eagles`road, Dalsnibba 1476, Trollveggen, Old Strynefjell and the prologue climbing to northern Europes second highest road - Blåhøe." http://www.vikingtour.no
That is the overview. What do I expect. Some good long climbs, beautiful scenery, and I will be trying to take photos from the road, and a fun, but sometimes painful week. Everyone I have spoken to has enjoyed the race, and described it as a 7 day cycling holiday with a race within it. We are looking forward to it as we getting to see parts of the Europe that we would not have seen, and from what we hear it is very beautiful. The race is also meant to be very well organized but at the same time low key, which could be a great combination. We also have the added bonus of staying in hotels rather than camping
Today I am sitting in an airport hotel waiting for Leah to fly in. As the one in this adventure who works for a startup, I drew the short straw, and flew out on the cheap early flight. Leah arrives in a few hours time.
Tomorrow we catch the bus arranged by the organizers to make logistics easy is to the start town of Vaga. I think it takes about 3 hours, and is out on the coast. This is a real bonus, and something that makes the race a lot easier.
Then it will be a quick bike building session before the prologue stage tomorrow after. This has been built up for some time. A 15km, 1200m climb. Only the first 2 km are sealed, then it goes to gravel, and looser and looser gravel and there was always the risk that it may be cut short if it is too rough. Well the hill climbing gods were smiling, well Leah will think they are, as it has been cut short. 5.7km for a 600m climb. It will still be a nasty 10% average gradient punch and the short news release says be ready to walk your bike if it is too steep and too loose. A real hard push and rough way to start, and to walk up the legs but better than 1,200m climbing on the first day.
Below is a summary of each stage. Not all of the riding is timed as we have ferries, gravel roads and some nasty downhills to contend with, but they will still be miles on the bike.
Stage KM Vert
1 Prologue. Vågå – Blåhøe. 15 1200
2 Vågå – Trollveggen – Trollstigen - Åndalsnes 159 2200
3 Åndalsnes – Stranda 110 1100
4 Stranda – Øye – Stranda 88 1950
5 Stranda – Eagles Road Geiranger – Stryn 152 2700
6 Stryn – Panoramic road – Stryn 125 1600
7 Stryn – Strynefjell – Vågåmo 159 2300
808 13050
Until after tomorrow’s session, I will leave you with the photo of the day. Tomorrow, some scenic pics coming.
