Well last night I finished off quite a bit of wine and probably didn't do me any favours on the bike ride I did today.
Saturday 7th September 2013
Actually woke up quite late in the morning. 1100 was quite reasonable and I felt bit refreshed than the previous week.
The weather report for the day was good but wasn't taking any chances so packed the new over trousers and waterproof poncho purchased yesterday at XXL.
Probably over did it on the weight side. Approx 15kgs worth of stuff including some small food and 2.5litres of water. I included warm and dry clothes as you never know in the hills.
The plan was to set off on a loop down from Drammen to Svalvik, crossing the fjord to Verksøya and then back up to Drammen, which I'd estimated at approx 50km.
I eventually made it to Drammen at 1300hrs and set off down the left hand side of the Drammen fjørd.
The first few km are still within the outskirts of Drammen and it's not until about 12km that the fjord and trees become visible or prominent.
It was quite sunny and the sweat was stinging my eyes quite badly. I took the helmet off and despite owning it for many years realised that the forehead band came off and I could rinse it. I only had the water from the small bottle on the bike frame so only rinsed it a little bit. There was a sense of relief after rinsing it out and re-applying it.
Just after that I got a puncture. Bugger 13km in and got the first puncture. Doesn't bode well. It didn't take too long to find the hole and get it patched up. As I had the awesome pump it wasn't a hardship to get the pressure back up to normal operating pressure.
It was relatively flat until Svalvik. The temperature was quite warm. The going wasn't what I'd call exceptionally easy, probably due to the excessive weight I was carrying. Trying to get up to touring weight though so wasn't too upset about it.
What I did get upset about was the appalling way that pedestrian and cycle paths just vanished into thin air. Luckily the road wasn't very busy and I could cross to the road again without too much issue.
Picture taken near Svalvik.
The van was from a company called Hjem-Is.
The man who was dealing with the money told the woman helping that I couldn't. Bugger I thought, leave me standing there in my biking gear on a hot day with my wallet out and not mention that I wouldn't be able to buy one. Just as I was about to set off for the rest of the hill, the woman came out from around the front of the van with an ice-cream in her hand. I was about to offer to pay when she put her finger to her lips and waved me off. I said 'takk' quietly so no one would hear.
I headed up the hill and hid under a bush at the next junction, so that if the van came my way the woman wouldn't get into trouble. Despite the fact it was free it wasn't what I would've bought if I'd had the chance. It was a dry ice-cream sandwich.
As I continued up I was struggling with sweat getting into my eyes. Very bad stinging. I had to stop to wipe my brow clear more regularly than I'd've liked. When I got near the top and onto an actual path I took my helmet off. I assumed the chances of me falling off or being knocked over, going up hill on a path was very small and worth the risk.
By the time I'd got to the top I'd come up about 175m/580ft from sea level.
I took another break at the top and tried to rinse the head band again as I'd have to wear the helmet going down the hill.
At the bottom of the hill I found a petrol station. Luckily they had a toilet where I refreshed my water supplies and gave the head band a thorough rinse. Unfortunately it then fell apart.
I bought a hot-dog as it was now about 1600hrs and I was not a little peckish.
On the road heading back North there were plenty of slowly rising hills and then long drops. On these downhill sections I managed to get up to a max speed of about 46kph. Got passed by lots of older cars which Norwegians only take out in the good weather. Plenty of examples from the US.
I was starting to think I may have taken on more than was wise! Wasn't planning on giving up, just thinking about the pain in the morning.
At one point where the road does a 180 bend round the fjord I decided to take an extended break. On another day if I'd started out earlier I'd've taken a quick dip to cool down.
At this point I thought I only had 15km togo. Oops! Only 5km out.
On the last few kms I was getting more and more tired. The closer I got the worse the path finding got. There was a particularly bad one which went steeply downhill quite a way before I realised it wasn't the correct path but somebody's driveway.
Another one close to Drammen centre indicated that the walking/cycling path would be 5km into the centre. I sent Eileen a message saying I'd easily be in the pub by 1830hrs. As I got closer I didn't see another sign until I ended up in a railway sidings with no obvious route out to continue. Bugger. Not good. I had to back track to the 5km sign and find another route using the main roads instead.
Even once I'd found a set of bike signs they weren't consistent. I eventually had to ask somebody and use The Force.
I only just made it to the pub by 1830hrs. 5.5hrs in total for 38miles.
.
http://my.viewranger.com/track/details/NTA4OTE4 .
Saturday 7th September 2013
Actually woke up quite late in the morning. 1100 was quite reasonable and I felt bit refreshed than the previous week.
The weather report for the day was good but wasn't taking any chances so packed the new over trousers and waterproof poncho purchased yesterday at XXL.
Probably over did it on the weight side. Approx 15kgs worth of stuff including some small food and 2.5litres of water. I included warm and dry clothes as you never know in the hills.
The plan was to set off on a loop down from Drammen to Svalvik, crossing the fjord to Verksøya and then back up to Drammen, which I'd estimated at approx 50km.
I eventually made it to Drammen at 1300hrs and set off down the left hand side of the Drammen fjørd.
The first few km are still within the outskirts of Drammen and it's not until about 12km that the fjord and trees become visible or prominent.
It was quite sunny and the sweat was stinging my eyes quite badly. I took the helmet off and despite owning it for many years realised that the forehead band came off and I could rinse it. I only had the water from the small bottle on the bike frame so only rinsed it a little bit. There was a sense of relief after rinsing it out and re-applying it.
It was relatively flat until Svalvik. The temperature was quite warm. The going wasn't what I'd call exceptionally easy, probably due to the excessive weight I was carrying. Trying to get up to touring weight though so wasn't too upset about it.
What I did get upset about was the appalling way that pedestrian and cycle paths just vanished into thin air. Luckily the road wasn't very busy and I could cross to the road again without too much issue.
Picture taken near Svalvik.
At Svelvik I tried to find a place to get some food at a cafe or some such. I couldn't even find a polser shop. In the end I went into a Spar supermarket and bought some apples and a drink, just to keep me going in case I really got stuck.
I got to what is probably the shortest ferry ride I've ever seen. In fact according to Wikipedia it is the shortest in Norway. Actually seems odd they haven't dug a tunnel to replace it yet. It takes about 5 mins to get across but it was only running every 30mins.
I arrived about 15mins before it was due to run so didn't have too long to wait. It cost me 24 NOK for both me and the bike. Not sure of the breakdown as separate.
Once on the other side I thought I'd be able to find some sort of shop/kiosk to buy some food.
The only thing I found was a hill. What a hill it was too. I hadn't looked at the elevation before setting out and didn't know how far up it was going to go.
It was a slog. Lowest gears and just keeping the legs going.
At what turned out to be about half way up I heard the distinctive notes of an ice-cream van coming from a side road. I crossed the road and joined the queue. I thought it a bit odd that there weren't more kids about. The adults who were there, seemed to be buying multiple packs. After standing for a few minutes I thought I'd better ask if it was actually possible to buy one!
The van was from a company called Hjem-Is.
The man who was dealing with the money told the woman helping that I couldn't. Bugger I thought, leave me standing there in my biking gear on a hot day with my wallet out and not mention that I wouldn't be able to buy one. Just as I was about to set off for the rest of the hill, the woman came out from around the front of the van with an ice-cream in her hand. I was about to offer to pay when she put her finger to her lips and waved me off. I said 'takk' quietly so no one would hear.
I headed up the hill and hid under a bush at the next junction, so that if the van came my way the woman wouldn't get into trouble. Despite the fact it was free it wasn't what I would've bought if I'd had the chance. It was a dry ice-cream sandwich.
As I continued up I was struggling with sweat getting into my eyes. Very bad stinging. I had to stop to wipe my brow clear more regularly than I'd've liked. When I got near the top and onto an actual path I took my helmet off. I assumed the chances of me falling off or being knocked over, going up hill on a path was very small and worth the risk.
By the time I'd got to the top I'd come up about 175m/580ft from sea level.
I took another break at the top and tried to rinse the head band again as I'd have to wear the helmet going down the hill.
At the bottom of the hill I found a petrol station. Luckily they had a toilet where I refreshed my water supplies and gave the head band a thorough rinse. Unfortunately it then fell apart.
I bought a hot-dog as it was now about 1600hrs and I was not a little peckish.
On the road heading back North there were plenty of slowly rising hills and then long drops. On these downhill sections I managed to get up to a max speed of about 46kph. Got passed by lots of older cars which Norwegians only take out in the good weather. Plenty of examples from the US.
I was starting to think I may have taken on more than was wise! Wasn't planning on giving up, just thinking about the pain in the morning.
At one point where the road does a 180 bend round the fjord I decided to take an extended break. On another day if I'd started out earlier I'd've taken a quick dip to cool down.
At this point I thought I only had 15km togo. Oops! Only 5km out.
On the last few kms I was getting more and more tired. The closer I got the worse the path finding got. There was a particularly bad one which went steeply downhill quite a way before I realised it wasn't the correct path but somebody's driveway.
Another one close to Drammen centre indicated that the walking/cycling path would be 5km into the centre. I sent Eileen a message saying I'd easily be in the pub by 1830hrs. As I got closer I didn't see another sign until I ended up in a railway sidings with no obvious route out to continue. Bugger. Not good. I had to back track to the 5km sign and find another route using the main roads instead.
Even once I'd found a set of bike signs they weren't consistent. I eventually had to ask somebody and use The Force.
I only just made it to the pub by 1830hrs. 5.5hrs in total for 38miles.
http://my.viewranger.com/track/details/NTA4OTE4 .
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