rest day: Akureyri

Just milling around the picturesque city of Akureyri today, drinking lots of coffee while using the internet, stocking up on food at the discount chain grocery store and in general taking it easy. It feels like a vacation! Currently sipping a beer ("Egils Gull") and a shot of something called Opal (which tastes just like kids' cough syrup) at the Backpacker Bar inside the city's youth hostel.

My campground neighbor- a very charismatic Aussie named Craig- is in the midst of a 1.5yr bike journey that's so far brought him through Asia, the Middle East, a good chunk of Europe and now Iceland. Next on his agenda is Greenland (sans bike, as there are no real roads there) then back through Europe (he's only visited 30 of the 50 countries and intends to hit them all) and eventually into Africa. Yikes, that's a plan. But we're heading the same general direction and are going to ride together for the next few days. Perfect!!! I would really appreciate having some good company on the road, and it will especially nice to have a partner to trade pulls into the winds tomorrow as we head north to Husavik to check out the Icelandic Phallus Museum (yes, that's right, they have a museum with the largest collection of 'specimens' in the world... and how can you pass that up when it's only 62mi away?? It's animal specimens, not human... but you never know.)

From there it's a short jaunt down to Lake Myvatn where I'm planning to spend several days hiking up into the geologic/volcanic features in the national park surrounding the lake.

"Knit-Bombing" Akureyri style

meager payback: Saudarkrokur > Akureyri [82mi]

Today is when my route turned south/southeast, and for days I've been eager awaiting having the gales at my back. When I packed up 'camp' on the black sand beach, it was so calm you could drop a feather and it would land on your toe. I went into town and got coffee and a couple delicious pastries at a little local bakery. In normal life I'm not much of a pastry guy... so I can't say with certainty whether Iceland has amazing pastries or if this is just a part of life I've been missing out on all these years. But they were sure tasty.

As I made my way south on HW1 through the Blonduhlid valley, the air remained calm. Where's my stupid wind now?? Finally after about 20mi it stirred up and my next 15mi were rapid and effortless.

Blonduhlid valley on HW1

As the road turned east/northeast it began the long steady climb up along Nordura river, topping out at around 1400ft.

summit of Oxnadalsheidi pass, ~1400ft

A brief steep descent followed, then followed by false-flats into another stern headwind. At least the scenery through this section was very cool- much more of the sculpted volcanic mountains and cascading streams I'd been hoping to see. I was still cursing the wind, mind you, but you know.... 4 days of nearly continuous struggle against it was really zapping my spirit.

Eventually I made it into Akureyri around 8:30PM- an early arrival for me these days after a mere 11hrs to cover 82mi! I headed to the campground (of course uphill from town) and after getting set up, headed straight to a local stripmall pizza/movie rental place up the street. All afternoon I'd been craving hot pizza and cold Coke- I got my wish without spending much money. I devoured an entire 12" pizza pie in short order, and I gotta say it was absolutely delicious pizza, better than most that I've had in the States.

Tomorrow is a going to be a rest day here in Akureyri, time to rejuvenate and catch up on some things (the blog, bike maintenance, and hopefully a soak in the city geothermal pool. This is the largest city in Iceland outside of the Reykjavik metro area, and it boasts a population of a whopping 20,000 folks. It actually has a choice of multiple restaurants, coffeeshops and grocery stores! The campground is teeming with cycle tourists- I've only come across a handful of others along the road so far, but there are at least a half dozen singles/pairs here at the moment [the father/son I met yesterday, a couple from Alaska, an Aussie next to me and some others whose bikes I see parked next to their tents.] It's legal and perfectly acceptable to camp more-or-less wherever you want in Iceland, so most cyclists just find a spot tucked away to spend the night and only hit campgrounds on occasion to shower and whatnot. But this being a "major" city, it seems to be a popular stopover where people take a break for a few days and soak up the civilization.

more wind: Hvammstangi > Saudarkrokur [81mi]

Not the way you want to see flags blowing when you're about to roll out, knowing that 40 of your next 45mi are in exactly that direction....

Hvammstangi campground

First few miles today were pleasantly with the wind, but I knew that would change soon enough when the road turned northeast-north up towards the town of Blonduos, 40mi away. It really wasn't anything exciting today, mostly more of the same rolling meadowlands surrounded by snowcapped volcanic mountains. Not to sound trite, but Colorado's Rocky Mountains are far more majestic, the roads better, the weather warmer and the wind (usually) not so extreme and unrelenting. I had a lot of time to stew about the wind, curse it, and think about how eventually it should end up helping me out when I turn southeast tomorrow. If you ever see a lone cyclist in Iceland cursing into thin air, remember that it is the air that he's cursing.

I got Blonduos in the later afternoon, picked up some groceries for the night/morning and had a coffee break at a little cafe, where an older gentleman suggested I go northeast to Saudarkrokur instead of southeast to the tiny village of Varmahlid. It's beautiful with black sand beaches and lots of birds, he said, plus it would be a break from HW1 with less traffic and a change of pace. Fair enough, I thought, so I decided I'd check out his recommendations.

a major perk of touring is eating crap I normally won't touch

Also in town I met a father/son duo who had just ridden the Westfjords region like I'd planned on until my navigation blunder. They reported that it snowed on them, it was terribly windy the whole time, the grades were steep and that crews were working on the many miles of gravel roads- which meant dumping water and churning up the packed gravel. At one point they had to have the road crew drive their gear to the top of a pass because they simply couldn't get traction in the man-made mud. Sooo... maybe I'm not so bummed about missing that turn after all.

As I turned east into Norourardalur canyon, I was greated with a vicious wind right into my face... even though it had been blowing from the opposite direction earlier in the day. The terrain here is so varied and interwoven that the ocean winds find their way through various canyons and fjords, so there's no real telling what might happen. After climbing a decently sized pass to cross into the eastern side of the Skagaheidi peninsula I got a pretty good downhill stretch and eventually a tailwind in my favor.

Rolling into Saudarkrokur around 11PM, I found the campground to offer nothing special- not even a free hot shower. So I made my dinner using their sink area as a windbreak, then headed over to the black sand beach and threw out my sleeping bag in a little nook. It was chilly but the wind had relented; I watched a gorgeous sunrise over the Skagafjordur bay and got about 3 hours of sleep listening to the gentle waves lap the beach.

"I had a plan..." Reykjavic > Hvammstangi [155mi in 25hrs]

"I had a plan..." is typically not an indication of a smooth day, and well, it wasn't.

The plan was simple: leave Reykjavik on Sunday for a quick ~40mi ride up HW 1, through the tunnel and into Borganes by mid afternoon. Have a soak in the town geothermal pool, do a little bike maintenance and turn in early. I wanted to make it another 60mi north to Stykkisholmur the next day no later than 3pm so I could catch the afternoon ferry up to the Westfjords region. Easy enough....

leaving Reykjavik behind via HW 1

get the coffins ready... ominous and not too far off base

Aside from a head/crosswind things were going fine, until I got to the 3km tunnel under Hvalfjordur bay and found out bikes (as well as pedestrians... and.. horses?) are prohibited through the tunnel. [I'd read accounts of cyclists passing through without mention of it being a problem; it hadn't dawned on me to look into the rules.] Weighing my options (guerrilla riding through, hitch-hiking with a truck) I opted to take the long way around to the east end of the bay... an extra 30mi tacked onto the day. Not a huge deal, but the driving westerly wind pushed me east quickly and I had to fight it all the way back out to the coast.

Hvalfjordur bay

So now 4hrs behind my anticipated schedule, I fought my way (against the wind again) north to Borganes and rolled in around 9pm. But miraculously the wind had died, the sun was high in the sky and I still felt good... so why not get a head start on tomorrow?

By the time I ran into town and gathered some foodstuffs, the wind was howling again. I know, I know- everything I'd read about cycling in Iceland mentions the wind... it came as no surprise, but damn it's tough mentally and physically to battle it for hours on end. Anyway, the idea of pulling an epic day into the late night daylight was appealing and I fought the wind for another 4hrs, which got me a whopping 25mi up the road.

my first Icelandic sunset, around 11:30PM

Finally I reached what I thought was my intersection to head towards the ferry and checked my map for good measure. You can imagine my combination of disbelief, disappointment and genuine "DOH!!!" moment when I realized, alone on the side of the road at 2:30AM, that I'd failed to take a left turn way back at Borganes. Daaammn.... either backtrack the 25mi (now the wind had stopped again; it seems to be very intuitive about only blowing when I don't want it to) or head northwest and eventually travel 40mi of gravel roads to get to the ferry. Or, more rationally, skip the Westfjords altogether and just continue northeast on HW1. I decided the last option was the most reasonable and, somewhat dejectedly, pushed onward leaving any hope of seeing the Westfjords for another visit.

finally realized I had missed a turn, 25mi ago....

So at that point I decided to just keep going and going, to pull an all-nighter on the bike without ever needing a headlight. When else was I ever going to have that chance?!? I'd just pulled two all-nighters in as many weeks while working on sorting, packing and cleaning my apartment, and cycling through Iceland was far superior to those chores. The wind blew into my face, I made a snail's pace forward and the temp kept dropping. I kept adding layers until I ran out of clothes and donned my rain gear for their windproof warmth.

at around 2:30AM I saw my first Icelandic sunrise

breakfast creekside circa 5:30AM. It was still cold and windy

Eventually HW1 climbed up into the clouds through a crazy barren lunar landscape to the top of a 'mountain' somewhere around 1400ft above sea level. Not much for views from the middle of a cloud, but at least it wasn't raining!

The descent back down was, well, cold... but it was downhill at least. I finally made it to Stadur (a town that as far as I could tell amounted to a gas station and a few houses in the hillside) around 8:15AM and eagerly bought coffee and freshly deepfried pastries. Gas stations here are interesting: they are either pay-at-the-pump with no attendant, or more often, have a fast food type restaurant inside along with the usual convenience store items we expect in the US. (One chain has Quiznos inside) Aiming for the fishing village (w/ campground) of Hvammstangi, I'm almost there, so I thought. The brutal wind was still relentless and between it and my fatigue, it took another 4hrs to cover the final 25mi to town.

I rolled in at 12:30PM... 25hrs after I left Reykjavik expecting a 3-4hr day. 155mi in one gigantic, slow, often times miserable and delirious push. But I'd made it for better or worse!

a new personal record of both distance and duration!!! (and suffer-factor??)

After getting lunch and groceries, it was off to the town's swimming pool and geothermal "hot pot" (what we call a hot tub) to soak my destroyed body. With no sleep and massive physical exertion, I was literally dozing off in the tub.

Hvammstangi town pool, a sweet reward

Reykjavik

Spent today milling about the hipster/cultural hub of Reykjavik. Of the ~330,000 people who inhabit Iceland, almost 2/3rds of them live the in the greater Reykjavik metro area. Legendary for its late night locals party scene and such creatives as Bjork and Sigur Ros, I was very curious to see what it was all about. Turns out it's actually pretty cool, albeit the tourist hub as well. Kind of a mix of San Francisco, Austin, and some old-world charm with narrow cobbled streets mingling with mod architecture and sprawling 'burbs. It has the highest concentration of coffeeshops that I've ever witnessed, and I lived in Boulder for 4 years! [And not a single Starbucks]

"Knit-bombing" Reykjavik style

best hotdog ever- topped with beer mustard, tartar aoili and crunchy fried onion bits

hipster bar having a street party, complete w/ accordion player

at the apparently defunct bicycle collective

someone left me a surprise gift... it was tasty!

Keflavik > Reykjavic, the long way [72mi, 2800ft gained]

After a slow morning organizing and re-packing my panniers, fixing my broken speedometer bracket (with leftover clear packing tape that I'd neglected to throw away at DIA) and trying in vain to track down my favorite pair of sunglasses which I'd accidentally left in the bathroom, I hit the road for Reykjavik. Instead of taking the direct route on the busy highway (this being Iceland, that's a relative term) I opted to head down along the southern shore of the peninsula and cut up north through the inlands.

leaving Keflavik behind until July 3rd

It was a bit surprising to see vast patches of brightly flowering purple Columbine flowers roadside... our Colorado State Flower! They would be a common sight along the coastal route today. I tend to assume they're an imported/invasive species, but they sure are pretty.

After a fairly short time I crossed the "Continental Trench" where the North American and European continents meet. This trench grows by about 2cm per year due to plate tectonics and it's a thermal/volcanic zone. Nearby is a geothermal power plant that acquires water from wells drilled 2-3km deep, where the water is almost 300'C.

"Bridge Across Continents" [Europe left, North America right]

Along the coast is mostly jagged volcanic rock, which has a strange mossy covering that seems to have died... or maybe it's always white? Either way it looks like a covering of snow.

After a coffee stop alongside Grundlavik Harbor, I trended inland into a decent head/crosswind and finally got to Rd 42 as the afternoon was getting late. No worries, though, as daylight is not a concern in these parts. The crosswind was now at my back and progress was quick until I reached my first "Malbec Endar" (Pavement Ends) of the ride, which required navigating washboard bumps and steep kickers around this large beautiful lake [you'll have to forgive the lack of proper names of towns and features, I have no clue unless I find it on a map- which is not at hand currently.]

The day took much longer than I'd hoped, but I finally rolled into the Reykjavik Campground at 10pm. It's essentially a big city park for tents (for ~$10/night) with geothermal water showers and a communal kitchen supplied with hotplates, cookware, dishes and boxes of freebie food left behind by other campers.

A unique experience is that it currently does not ever get dark here. The sun eventually sets but it stays light and feels like a perpetual dawn, chirping birds and all. This is not helping my jetlag! I took this photo at 2:30AM (no flash needed) then proceeded to read (no headlamp needed either) until I fell asleep at 3AM:

Reykjavik City Campground circa 2:30AM

Tomorrow it's off to check out the city and stay a 2nd night at the campground.

an aside: Tour Divide beginneth

Before anything else about me, I want to give a shout-out and big "go get 'em!" to my old friend & mountain bike buddy, former co-worker, and super-duper insane ultra distance competitive cyclist Eszther Horanyi, who begins the Tour Divide today. This is a 2800mi, solo, 100% self-supported mountain bike race all the way from Canada to Mexico via the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail. There's something in the neighborhood of 265,000 vertical feet of climbing, grizzly bears, snow, rain and heat. Racers are allowed no outside support aside from services they find along the way. This is longer than the Tour De France, almost all off road, and the winners generally finish in fewer days than the Tour.

Eszter's out to destroy the women's record this year, here's wishing her a safe and fruitful trek!

Follow her progress on via Spot Tracker here.
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Finally... off to Iceland!!!

 After a very hectic few weeks of preparing to leave the country for three months (purging a majority of non-essential belongings, sorting & storing the stuff I'm keeping, moving out of my apartment and packing for a 3mo bike tour) I'm finally here in Iceland. Scrambling down to the last minute before my departure, the trek overseas has been a smooth one. 

Not exactly what you expect to see when boarding an airliner:

"Welcome to Iceland Air, where we tell you you're going to hell!"

The flight was smooth... I was so exhausted from the past few weeks that I fell asleep before we even took off. When I woke up later I thought we were still on the ground, but discovered we were at full cruising altitude. Iceland Air gets an A+ in my book for this flight: the ticket agent didn't charge me the standard $40 surcharge for my bike box, and they delivered it and my 2 panniers in good condition! Not to mention 100+ free movies to choose from and the flight attendants wear cute 1960's era hats :)


I landed in at the Keflavik International Airport (about 55km from Reykjavik) at 6:30am local time and got my bike & luggage in short order. Next was a phone call to the Alex Campground, who showed up to drive me and my bike to their facilities about 5min away. A major perk of this campground is their offer to store (for free!) my empty bike box during my tour. I'll pick it up when I stay with them on my final night here.

Alex Campground airport shuttle service

I spent the morning assembling my bike (luckily it arrived unhurt except for a broken speedometer mounting bracket- damn you, TSA) and reorganizing my gear. I've been pedaling around the old shipping/fishing town of Keflavik this afternoon, procuring a few supplies and admiring the scenery. Tomorrow I'm off to Reykjavik for a couple days before heading north to begin my circumnavigation of the island. On July 5 I fly to Paris, so the clock's a tickin!


Everyone here has been great- the Icelandic folks seem fairly reserved but very friendly and they transition instantly into fluent English. Most signs also have either English or a picture, so language hasn't been an issue. Yet. The weather's cool, cloudy and breezy with an occasional drops of rain... but its pleasant and about what I expected. Mountains in the distance, rolling plains to the east... feels a lot like Colorado minus the blazing sun.

4 day Mini Tour: Denver > Longs > Ned > Boulder > Denver

My last big push physically before my 3 month summer tour begins- and more importantly I think, a trial run with the 'new' bike and my gear setup. Set up the bike last weekend, packed up on Wed/Thurs and I took a 'vacation' day Friday and hit the road at 7am headed west.

My agenda for the long weekend: bike tour to Longs Peak, hike to the summit of Longs, ride to Nederland and then find my 'puter seat in the courier office on Monday morning.

I elected to climb via Golden Gate Canyon, the most direct route onto the Peak To Peak HW. It is a long, long climb... a few years ago when I was "training" for my first Utah Tour, I tried to climb this road, sans gear. I had to surrender to bowing my head over my bars near the top of the long ascent. Yet today I, smugly, crushed it. 50lbs of gear and I made a steady snail's pace up into the upper edge of the Foothills. Not to brag, but all my training has really paid off! I used to think that working as a courier counted as training. False. Very false. Since early January, you could say I've been sorta focused on training, 5-6 days/wk... running, swimming, weights, yoga, some spin classes, a few weights/spin/yoga (what the hell is that?) and of course many long rides in the mountains made possible by the unseasonably warm and dry winter we had.

So after 16mi of rolling flats and 18mi of of climbs, I finally gained the Peak To Peak HW

From here I headed north on the P2P for ~50mi, undulating between 8K and 9.4Kft  through Nederland, Ward, Allenspark. Shortly prior to the Longs trailhead/camp turnoff, I stopped by Olive Ridge campground and met Roland & Margaret, a retired Swiss couple halfway through their year long RV tour from Buenos Aires to Alaska to NYC! They shared a beer (american Budweiser) as we chatted about my euro tour and art museums near Basel, their hometown.

 
Despite threatening rain clouds all afternoon, I arrived dry at the Longs Peak campground, still closed for the winter, around dusk. Some overnight storms brought rain, lightening and sleet and I packed up camp still encased in ice at 5:30am Saturday morning. 82mi and 9900ft gained my first day out with full gear.

Hit the 7.5mi (each way) Longs trail at 7am on foot and climbed above a beautiful inversion

The weather was spotty; snow flurries w/o accumulation all day. A few times I considered turning back but each time I'd stop to regroup, the clouds would start to break before I was ready to turn tail. And so I kept pushing up and ahead. Until I got through the boulder field and saw a tent, I'd been the only person hiking up this high today.

the "trail" through the boulder field en route to The Keyhole

I pushed through 'The Keyhole' and things started to get far more intense in terms of climbing, altitude and weather. The signs had warned that this was "not a hike" rather a "climb" and I finally began to understand their advice. The backside of The Keyhole was no joke; one wrong slip would send you sliding down into dire consequences!

The Keyhole

The red/yellow bullseye paint marks the "easiest" route to scramble beyond The Keyhole.

Traversed the west ridge and caught up to two Tennessean brothers while ascending "The Trough." Now that I wasn't alone up here in the dicey conditions, all three of us pushed onward through "The Notch" and across "The Narrows." The snow was picking up and starting to accumulate, and the warmer rock faces were beginning to freeze over. Things were getting messy and dangerous. We made it to the very last steep pitch before the Summit Ridge when one of the brothers looked ahead and murmured, "This is stupid."

We all agreed. One slip, which was increasingly likely, would lead to instant death as you cascaded off the cliffs below. We turned back at 13,900ft, just 350ft below the summit. Wise decision... wiser yet would have had us heading down much sooner. There were no epic views, no grand ski lines, no majestic summit. We were just experiencing it for what it was, but that was perhaps better than running into a trail traffic jam on a bluebird day with people streaming onto the summit.

13,906ft

  The return back to the Keyhole was harder than the climb up because the continuing snow/wind was covering our tracks as well as the painted route markers. And shit was getting slick! We progressed very slowly and cautiously with only a few scares; when the Keyhole came into view all 3 of us let out a howl of relief. The risk had not abated entirely, but the worst was behind us. I made haste down the mountain towards my bike/gear so I could ride back down to the Natl Forest campground 6mi south. The sky was still dropping flakes when I returned to the trailhead at 9400ft, but the storm was breaking up and I let out for the other campground where I knew I'd have the next day for the 'dryer cycle' aka Colorado sunshine!

As I dried, organized and hashed out my gear, I had the realization that this stuff, give or take a few items, will be my only worldly possessions for the next three months halfway around the world. I think I'm comfortable with this prospect... certainly wish I didn't have an apartment full of crap to deal with.

In the afternoon I hit the road again and headed south on the P2P HW for 35mi to camp in the National Forest near where I often go mountain biking. Weather squalls missed me again; 2 out of 3 ain't bad. In the early morning I packed up and rolled into Nederland for a morning coffee before jamming down the canyon to work dispatch duties in the courier office.

After 9 hours in the office, it was back to the road to ride home to Denver through the 'burbs. A very successful 4 day trek! About 175mi on the bike and almost 15mi of high alpine hiking for the long weekend.

Denver > Squaw Pass > Bear Creek > Deer Creek; 102mi, 8000ft gained

I began my weekend with hopes up riding the paved road to the summit of Mt Evans at 14,264ft. However, a cold storm front was approaching and the forecast called for a 70% chance if thunderstorms in the afternoon. So I tried anyway despite not expecting to be able to safely (or comfortably) gaining the summit. Alas, I made it up to Squaw Pass at 9807ft while the clouds were swirling in and the temps were dropping. I could see my breath, and knew that it'd be in the upper 20's once up another 4500ft higher.

So I bailed on my Evans summit goal and instead rode to the end of the line up Squaw Mountain. It was 45 degrees here at 10,600ft. Not quite the amazing vista I'd hoped for, but I do appreciate having cell reception:

Some good views on the way back down to Squall Pass, however:

I cut over down Witter Gulch gravel road to Upper Bear Creek Canyon Rd, which eventually led into the town of Evergreen. From there I continued down to the little village of Kittridge and turned south on Meyers/Parmalee Gulch Rd to get to Deer Creek Canyon. I'd ridden these canyons a few months ago; it was fun to hit them backwards today.

I love this section of Deer Creek; you might think you were in the southern Utah desert:

Took a couple of detours on the bikepath ride home in order to surmount 100 miles... if you're gonna ride well over 90mi, may as well bag a Century, right? I'm disappointed not to have summitted a 14er today, but glad not to have gotten caught in a frozen thunderstorm above treeline. Hopefully the weather improves by next weekend and I'll go for it again.

my new friend

As my 3 month summer tour approaches, I lucked into a sweet deal on a Surly Long Haul Trucker touring bike via my coworker's girlfriend's brother. Today I finally got over to pick it up and bring it home. It's a 'beaut, my new friend the 'Iceland Machine.' This bike is designed and built especially for touring and I'm stoked to have the right tool for the job this summer. On my previous Utah tours I successfully utilized my old aluminum Bianchi cyclocross frame, but for a journey of this magnitude I wanted something more durable and purpose driven. Now I've got it, for a good price and pristine peace of mind. Thanks, Declan! [photos coming soon]

sunset mountain biking Nederland; 1700ft gained

I was covering dispatching duties in the Boulder office again today; brought the mountain bike along and hopped on the bus up to Nederland after work. I squeezed in about 2.5hrs of trails in the convenient West Magnolia / High School trail system. Actually found some new trails I'd not explored before, which was fun.

The high country aspens are just beginning to send out their buds:

And eventually I found some leftover snow around 8700ft:

Rolled back through the town of Ned around 8pm with plenty of daylight left. Bombed down Boulder Canyon under the full "Super Moon" and treated myself to a post ride dinner of burger n beers at the Mountain Sun brew pub. What a way to spend a Friday night, yes?!?