Good evening from Brekke! Today I rode about 70 kilometers (43 miles) and it was one of the most scenic days of riding I've ever had. The first several kilometers were another big climb (about 1000 feet) until I hit the highest point on the route - about 2300 feet. From there I went through some spectacular downhills and switchbacks as I descended into the valleys where the fjords all begin. By the later part of the day I was at sea level or within 100 feet of it.
As I woke up I heard pounding rain on the roof of the lodge. Great...more rain. It looked like it was going to keep raining based on how the skies looked so I put on my rain jacket, rain pants and gloves.
Ready for battle.
It rained pretty hard for a few kilometers and then started to let up to a slow drip or drizzle. I lost the rain pants (they aren't too breathable and going uphill and getting hot was miserable) and just kept going. The remainder of the day was some rolling hills and incredible views. It did rain on me most of the day but not too bad. Every time it started to rain hard and I felt like I needed to put rain pants on again it started to let up. The sun would peek out every so often but it was overcast the majority of the time and never got warmer than 50 degrees. It wasn't windy though so it was a nice temperature to ride in.
It will be a big post today as I got a little crazy with the pictures. My luck ran out at the end of the day, though. I hit a huge bump on the road and my camera (which was in my jacket pocket) flew out and onto the pavement and now won't turn on. Part of the camera popped out of place and I couldn't get it back so I'll just have to get it fixed once I get back home. The pictures for the rest of the trip will be from my iPhone which fortunately takes great pictures but there are some things it won't do that my good camera can. Oh well. Worst things could have happened while I was out riding so in the grand scheme of things not a big deal.
Pictures from the day:
More free range sheep. We had a stand-off for a minute or two.
There's still snow on some of the mountains here. In July.
This was my view as I started to head down the mountain. It was awesome. I couldn't go too fast because 1) It's not my bike and I don't really know how well it's been maintained and 2) there are some hairpin turns on the switchbacks and to put it mildly the consequences of error are high. But on the straight sections I bombed down!
This was the first tunnel I had to ride though. I went through about six or seven during the day and the longest one was about 1.5 kilometers. On the main roads/highways they have lights in them. In case you're wondering, only one of them (the longest one) had lights in them. The rest didn't and I had a headlamp and light on my bike that Arne gave me. I should have brought my own light which is incredibly bright. The ones I had with me aren't the best but they do the job.
The tunnels are terrifying. They're right up there with the logging trucks if not worse because they last longer and it's pitch black in there. Almost like riding through a cave.
My rented bike and backpack. Arne gave me a reflective vest and with the tunnels today I put it over my backpack so people coming behind me could see. These are on one lane roads, mind you. I didn't have any people come up from behind me but the first car I saw all day was in that tunnel. I didn't meet too many cars in the tunnels but the ones that did saw me and slowed down which was great. I did pedal as hard as I could going through the tunnels. But for real...terrifying. I would have felt better with my own light.
Looked like the old foundation of a stone house.
For a while I was riding through an area that looked like a bunch of Bob Ross paintings. A lot of happy trees. The clouds hung incredibly low too in some of these spots. Since it rains so much here and there is moisture coming in from the fjords everything is green and there is moss covering everything.
In case I win the lottery I found a vacation property.
Arne told me to stop at the "Wilderness Museum" along the way and I was ready to get out of the rain for a little bit so I stopped in. I paid my 65 krone to get in and it was a couple rooms of taxidermed animals. There were many, many trophy bucks the owner shot himself. It also had a bunch of fish, birds, mountain lions, sheep, etc. all native to Norway. Quite the place. Some of the fox and weasels had the animals they hunt in their mouth.
Me trying to figure out if I was lost and which direction I needed to turn after the bridge. Luckily, I wasn't lost. I do have some offline maps downloaded but that only really takes you so far. It's good to have some basic navigational and map reading skills because it can be a little confusing with the way the roads are here. I say all this and I'll probably get lost tomorrow.
This massive ferry (and there are several of them on this route) transports vehicles to another side of the fjord and saves people many, many miles of driving. Arne gave me a (as my buddy Bryan would say) pro tip and said there was a longer tunnel shortly after this - the one with lights. He said there is about a half hour between each boat and to time my departure from this spot right after the cars off the ferry have cleared. If I wait too long, I'd get all the traffic in the tunnel (it's two lanes, at least) coming to board the ferry. Or I'd have all the traffic coming off the ferry coming from behind me in the tunnel. I did as I was told and only had a few cars in the entire tunnel.
Coming into Brekke and right before my camera broke. I was stopped to take this picture, at least.
I'm staying at the Brekkestranda Fjordhotell. It's a pretty neat place. An interesting bit of trivia about it is there are no right angles in the entire structure. As I was checking in I said my name and the guy (probably in his mid-20s and speaking fluent Norwegian to someone right before I walked up) working at the desk said, "Oh you're the cyclist from Nebraska!" in perfect English and zero accent. I asked him where he was from and he said Los Angeles. My natural follow up question was "What are you doing here and why??" Turns out his mom is from Norway and she owns the place. He came here in 2010. Crazy.
Tomorrow I ride out to the Songefjord which is the world's second largest fjord and will end up in Eivindvik. Today was the longest day of riding and I'm guessing the last hilly day as I'm out of the mountains now. Until then...
