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!