Home.

Good ride with good company deserves an icecream! We made it up all the hills and had a few laughs. This must be repeated!

More speed...

... More fun, untill someone has an off. Sorry J, it just happened to be you, but nothing broken and just smeared mud and a grazed arm to show off on monday. We decided to cut the ride short due to me still recovering from last weekend's ride and rode home along the road.

Trail ride with J.

Finally J has moved back to Norway and even more finallyer we've had time to ride together! It's been at least 6 years since last time, so long, in fact, that neither of us could remember. Anyway J came round our place and I took him to my local singletrack... Unbeknowest to me that he'd not been on a bike for 3 years. Sorry J. My trail was a bit overgrown and quite technical, but J managed really well. After a bit the trail opens out onto a tractor, er, track. More speed, more fun...

5 hours home.

And my poor bike will be hung off the back of fil's car all the way. Tomorrow tlc.

Next morning (today)

I was too tired to write this all yesterday. Today we go home. My bike is good. Dirty and tired and still looking brilliant. But I suspect it will be used for xc and trails instead of marathons from now on.

Finally.

After a bit of faffing about looking for signs and riding around the Olympic ski jump arena like a tourist, I was in Lillehammer. Anette met me and helped me up to our room where peeled off sweaty, wet, gritty clothes, had a long hot shower and collapsed on the bed. Tired x 1000.

I forgot to mention.

That the weather got steadily worse. Down in Rena it was warm, but up near the top it got cold and I got my jacket on. Then it dribbled. And then it rained. Thanks a lot. By this time I was tired to the point of walking up the hills so with the rain my misery was almost complete. All I needed was a puncture or mechanical failure. But my bike (yes it is titanium) delivered and held it's own through the punishment. Good bike. Very good bike.

Sweet!

Some places the trail turned like I likes it. Narrow, fast and, well to be honest, interesting. I get bored just riding along a grit motorway. This bit was great!

Lunch.

We started at 11 and I usually have lunch at 12 ish, but I stopped after about 40 k and had me a Snickers and some nuts. The road had varied from smooth dirt to ballbearing type gravel and I was tired. Almost half way now.

More grit road.

Did I mention that it was 90 k? It can't all be fun... Hang on, why not? Norway is one of the most beautiful countries in the world. Sparsly populated and full of lovely fiords, valleys and mountains, and we're riding here?!

Shawn the...

There were a fair many sheep along the way. Some in the way too, but mostly staring in disdain at idiots on bikes.

Suddenly interesting!

The trail pointed downwards! And suddenly I was having fun. This is what I do, and even though I was on my hardtale (yes it's titanium) with a 90mm fork I totally hooned! But then I thought my fil isn't used to this type of trail and stopped to see if he was ok. He was, so we continued and got down to a long grit road decent, where I also pulled ahead. At the bottom was another sign so we followed that on some singletrack and then had to accend on this! Riding was nigh on impossible so I hicked it with the bike on my back.

Follow the, uh, grey grit road.

My fil would stop and wait, then just burn off again. It was more annoying than helpfull really. I love the guy, but he was psyching me out. By this time I had given up and was just riding at my own pace.

First sign.

I was pretty relieved to see this as we didn't know the way. This is the first sign we saw at 10 k, only 80 to go!

Omen?

We set off at 11, the weather was nice and warm, but in my backpack I had a wind jacket and a fleece just in case. Also 2 Snickers and 2 packs of salted nuts, about 3 litres of water and an energy drink. After about 10 minutes I gave up trying to ride with the fil, so turned on the pod and listened to some Foo. I saw this skull at the side of the road and had to share. Nice omen!

Today I ride 90k

So it's important to get a good breakfast inside. I'll be trying the Birk trail from Rena to Lillehammer. I haven't done a ride of this length for over a decade, but I think its doable. My father in law is also doing the ride, but has been training for ages so I doubt we'll be riding together. This is my breakfast at the hotel at Hamar, and Anette and her mum are driving to Lill. and meeting us there.

Random workshop.

This from last weekend, I parked up in Oslo to fix someone's bike. I just love being able to do that!

Hafjell.

A weekend at the mountains. Lots of friends good weather and great trails... Only way too hot! Today the temperature has broken and there are clouds, and I loath to say, but I am enjoying that! It's 12 and this is my first lift of the day. But only because I've been selling stuff.

More pics

Here's some pics I took while in the lift of the new elements at Dram.

It ain't half hot mum!

Dram is good. They've extended the 113 and now it's silly droppy! I left a tire mark on my shorts (on the outside), which was a bitch 'cos they are my favorite shorts, my white Tld that I save for especially nice conditions. I met up with 2x Ole and 1 Bang Bang and I had to push them to keep up. But the heat! I didn't cool down properly untill around 11 after drinking 4 litres of water (throughout the day) and laying naked in bed with a wet towel over me!

First lift.

After hearing that someone had sabotaged the lift I was worried that my Dram plan was inma in down the drain. But all is well and on the lift up for the first run of the day.

To work!

I rode to work this morning. I was gonna just ride along the road, but took a 'short' cut through the forest. It was shorter, took more time, but as I weaved my way through the singletrack the long grass caressed my legs and I just knew this was right. It added 15 min to the ride, whatever!

The bird is the word.

No I haven't been surfing on water, but I have just surfed on tarmac, or long-boarded all the way down to Portør. My lovely wife rode her bike and I skated from the start of the road to the pier and back. Just over 9 click in all, some nice downhills both ways, and now my left thigh is dead. I have got to learn to skate with both legs!

Bengt and Pål Erik.

Training

Yesterday's training was good, we had 2 new guys come and use the track, so the 4 of us hooned til the mosquitoes were full. The 2 new guys had to leave early, so B and I hiked up another trail and freerode that instead. The view from the top was astonishing!

Long ride.

Well I thought it was gonna be a long ride, it was gonna be training ride with my father-in-law for the Birkebeiner. I chose a route with tarmac and grit and just a bit of singletrack. I thought it would be about 50k, but was in fact nearer 40k. My father-in-law is really fit and left me for dead in the hills, but I got a second wind and managed to catch up again. It was the first propper ride on my ti bike, but needless to say it was brilliant. I don't really like riding xc, but good company made this ride much more fun.

Low key

I'd left my gps at work and still wanted to ride. So I went out on the 55 for a pootle. Up to the lake, round and down, up to the cabin and suddenly I saw a trail mark! So I explored, found this rock trail and got lost. Had to turn around and go home. 2 hour ride!

Quite a good weekend then?

Yeah, as I lie in my own bed, after a good shower, listening to the birds outside twittering, I slowly digest the weekend's moments. Bengt's Bubba Scrub, Are's camp and kids, Ole's toasty sandwich (!), being suprised the lifts were closing, longboarding to the shops and, at last, but not least my 'off' in the last run today as the mountain hinted at us to 'get out!' All in all a great weekend!

A little rain. :(

Well we got up late, can't imagine why, the weather looked to be closing in. So once we had packed the tent down, changed eaten breakfast and were finally ready, it rained. So I'm on the lift up now, on my way up for run no. 2 and have no jacket. It's fine. It's just rained enough to keep the dust down. ;) there are a couple of new trails, one just off 'old school' which is tight, bermy, loose and sweet, but not finished, and one from the mid station down which is also tight and bermy. Can't describe them better. Fun!

Dinner.

After riding to the shops for food we had a barbie and studded our faces with more good friends.

Good good.

What a chill day! Good trails, good weather and good friends. We rode all day and were actually suprised when the lifts closed.

And before that...

Ever get the feeling you're going back in time? Here are my sleeping socks! They kept my toes toasty in the night. Get some!

But before that...

We skated to the shops for breakfast.

Nearly France.

This year's first ride in a gondola. On the way to the top for this year's first run at Hafjell.

Roadtrip.

Well its friday, so I'm off on a roadtrip again. This time Bengt is riding shotgun and we're going driving to Hafjell for the season start weekend. Plans to camp were nearly foiled by 3 different invites to surf people's sofas, but we wanted to camp even though it was gonna be cold. I'm up now, and I didn't sleep to badly. Here's a pic of the inside of the van, as tightly packed as possible.

Wet McWetness

As I had lent the Tubemobile to the wife I was looking forward to taking the Old School Ti and riding home. Of course, seeing as I had bragged about this before hand the weather decided to pull out the stops and try and drown me. I didn't care, though, and braved the elements, uh, bravely, and took off. After about 20 minutes my skin had turned blotchy and red, and my goose bumps had goose bumps. So I phoned the wife. She decided to let me suffer a bit more and parked a further 20 clicks nearer home. By the time I got to her it had stopped raining, but I was really cold. I was even more pleased to see her than usual!

Final

I got time to put in a couple of freeride runs and then it was time to for my final. After lots of funny comments about my lack of protection and my lack of training I knocked 2 more seconds off my time and came in in 15th! Chuffed as a cat with a new shoebox! Great track, great weather, lots of great people, great bike! Thanks to all for a great day!

Raceday?!?

After a long ride on my ti bike on friday, I rode to the shop to get my motorbike, I went to Drammen to watch the dh race. Unfortunately I stood in the wrong line for the loo and was given a start number! I quickly rode the track twice before qualifying with a time of 4 57. I've just done my first run with a time of 4 42! It's really hot here, probably about 28 degrees in the shade. One more run to do, and I'm gonna pin it! Thanks to all the shouts of encouragement!

Downhiller at heart?

Drammen is good, in fact it rocks! But today I wasn't 'feeling it' and was riding like I wasn't paying attention. I was going fast, but was lacking the passion. My trail ride from Thursday was still fresh in my mind... I asked C if he thought I'd lost my dh mojo. And then suddenly all the stars aligned and a did one perfect run. The type where speed ceases to exist, and the bike just becomes an extension of your self... Then it was gone, and I was back to normal. Oh hum.

Fantasy.

It turned out to be one of those epic rides. I am now home, showered and going out for pizza. Life is good.

Fine width.

I was a bit worried about the width to start off, but now I'm sure. There bars are the dog's dinner!

Today's ride.

I've certainly been putting in the hours at work recently. So my boss decided that we'd all go out on a st ride. Yes I work alone, and am my own boss, but it's the thought that counts. I'm riding from my house to the golf shop for an ice cream. St all the way, and back. Looking forward to my next stop!