WG2015 - #2

It's been quite a while since i lost posted because the World Gymnaestrada is INSANE. From the opening ceremonies to closing it's non-stop activity. It doesn't help when your team is part of two groups and also does an outdoor performance and is in a national evening. My group performed 9 times when most only do 3. I'm not even sure where to start. I guess i should correct something i said last time. I had said that Switzerland, with their 3,800 participants had the most of any country. Actually, Finland managed a couple hundred more.

Monday was the first day of the performances, and my team didn't perform so i was able to watch whatever i wanted. I had tried to go through the guide book the night before to pick some groups that seemed like they might be good. I got to the Herning hall a few minutes after the first group started at 9am. The first group was from the Netherlands and pretty awesome act with what i call "wall tramp", where they bounce on their backs on the trampolines and run up a wall.

I watched 9 performances in this hall before moving to Zurich at noon. It's a good thing i had a decent breakfast because once i started watching i didn't want to stop and missed lunch! I probably looked pretty silly watching these shows. I'd have a GoPro on a tripod, with another in my left hand and my phone in my right to take pictures. I have over 1,500 pictures to go through. Here are a few from the first day:

Norway 11 - Team Kangaroos

Denmark 20 - Talent Team Greve

Germany 17 - TV Ludwigshafen-Bodensee / SFN Vechta

Mexico 12 - UNAM Team

Germany 11 - SC Melle and stedinger Turnerverein

Canada 18 - Toronto Gymnastics International

Netherlands 17 - Apeldoorn, Ruurlo, Ermelo

Switzerland 18 - Dock's Alive

Switzerland 18 - Dock's Alive

Denmark 19 - Ringsted Boys DK

??

Austria 25 - Tecnoplast TS Hoechst

The next day, Tuesday, the team had a performance at 2:00 and another at 3:40. I was able to watch some performances in the morning but i must have slept in because the first one i saw was Mexico 12 at 11:00, which i had seen the day before. The performances seemed to go pretty well. I had never seen them before but with having to help with the equipment i wasn't able to record it. The second performance didn't have any equipment so i got that one! (when i post it on YouTube i'll add a link here!)

USA 18 - Columbia (i had another camera in the other hand so the framing is terrible)

One of the highlight performances that i saw (three times) was a group from Germany (GER16). They deserve many pictures:

Tuesday evening was the Nordic Countries National Evening, where the best of the best perform in an arena with lights and stuff. It was a great show, and you can watch it here! (there were some copyright issues with the music (as in almost all of the WG2015 videos) so sorry for the ads, and if there are silent bits).

Wednesday was even more hectic than Tuesday. The team had three performances, with two of them being an hour apart and 30 minutes away. USAG was great and found us big van taxis to get the team from the Messukeskus halls to Paavo Nurmi Square for the outdoor stage show. Once we got there we had to wait for a while before going on, but if we had to walk it'd would have been a lot more stressful and tiring. Wednesday evening was the "Midnight Sun Special" which was new for the WG and had large groups (over 200 people) from 6 countries and a piece from people all over the world. Here's a video of the group from Switzerland (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Ni3m7j_NFU). It's amazing how they get so many people to move so synchronized. It's no surprise they're skilled at making time pieces.

I have no idea what happened on Thursday. We didn't have any performances, but i didn't manage to watch... oh.. no. I remember now. Thursday evening was the Pan-American evening performance! My team was performing in it so we had rehearsal starting at 1:00. There was a closing dance that i was going to be in so i needed to be there too. We were supposed to be at the Ice Hall at 12:30 but i went to Messukeskus at 11:30 or so for lunch. We were at the Ice Hall from 12:30 until after the performance (it started at 6pm). I video taped the Skyview part of the performance but had GoPro issues after that so all i got of the rest is a time lapse video (which honestly might be the best way to watch it since our show was nowhere near the amazingness of the Nordic evening). If it looks watchable i may post it to YouTube.

Friday was the last day of the group performances. Again, my team again had three shows but they were more spread out than on Tuesday. That's great for resting and moving between venues, but it made it hard to watch anything else. Friday evening was the FIG Gala evening performance, which is the best of the best of the best. I have that recorded and will put it on YouTube eventually. Suffice it to say, it was obviously amazing, especially the final act.

Saturday was the closing ceremonies. It was boring. Super boring. From beginning to end; boring. Usually after the closing ceremonies there's a huge party where everyone celebrates how fun the week was. There's music and dancing, drinking, showing off, trading clothes and hats and bags with people from other countries. This time, it started to rain right after the closing. Maybe there was still a party, but it hadn't started by the time we gave up and headed to the hotel. My family went out for dinner at an asian restaurant. I'm not sure if it was because i was starving but the food was FANTASTIC. Everything from the wonton soup to the weird thing my dad ordered was amazing, and it wasn't expensive either. If you're ever in Helsinki and want Chinese food, go to Basilika. It's right next to Vapiano's.

My family was flying out the next morning, very early in the morning. Actually, their flight was at 9:30 or something, but for some reason there was a bus picking them up at the airport at 4:05am. Seemed pretty silly since we had free access to the trains and one left for the airport every 20 minutes from the train station that was about 5 minutes walk from the hotel. But whatever. I wasn't flying home until Monday so i got to sleep in. I got out of bed around 9 and finished packing up my things. I had a nice breakfast at the hotel and then checked out. It was somewhat of a pain carrying my bicycle across town to the hostel but it really wasn't that far, and it wasn't raining.

I was able to check into the hostel earlier than i should have so i started walking around, seeing parts of town i hadn't seen yet. I took a trolley over to this bar, Sivu Kirjasto (http://www.sivukirjasto.fi/), where i am RIGHT NOW. It's a pretty cool place. Relaxed. As i got off the trolley it started raining and i just now remembered that my bike is outside. It didn't rain a lot, but i'm pretty worried that my box is ruined, or is at least unsuitable for air travel. Oh well. If it is messed up hopefully i'll have time tomorrow morning to find another one! My flight isn't until 3:30pm so i'll have all morning if i need it.

A bunch of drag queens just walked into the bar.

Anway, WG. There were so many good acts throughout the week. I don't want to bore you here with more pictures so I'll be posting a link to a Google Photos album with the ones worth seeing. For videos check out my youtube channel (https://www.youtube.com/user/j0nthegreat/videos). It takes time to process them so it'll be a little while before i get all of them up there, be patient. i may be reposting them to the JTG Tours channel, but i'm not sure yet. The week went by so fast. I feel like i didn't get to see as many performances as i wanted to but it must have been about the same as the previous WGs. The 2019 World Gymnaestrada is going to be back in Dornbirn, Austria (where it was during the 2007 flashback story) so i'll need to do some thinking about how i can get to new countries or do something new to get there (maybe a motorcycle trip from Greece?) Who knows!

I'll leave you with this, a picture from one of the most entertaining performances of the week.

:)

WG2015 - #1

So i've been in Helsinki for a few days now. When i got here on the ferry i had to wait a while before i could check into the hotel so i hit the grocery store for some breakfast then just chilled while i waited for my family and the rest of my team to arrive. They should have just been an hour or so behind me but they had some difficulties at the airport. I got to the hotel around 9:30, everyone else showed up after 1pm. It didn't really matter because we couldn't check in to the hotel until 3.

After checking in we sat around for a while waiting for dinner time. All 25 or so of our team invaded a nearby pasta/pizza restaurant, Vapiano's. I hear they have locations in the US. It was pretty good and pretty fun. Everyone was pretty tired for the journey so it was a pretty early night for everyone.

The next day, Saturday, we had breakfast in the hotel then had a small practice to learn the choreography for the closing piece of a performance Thursday night. This was the first bit of dancing i've had to learn since the last WG and it was a little rough at first. It's a really easy piece, there are only 8 moves to it, but i'm an idiot and can't dance so it's not easy for me. We practiced for 2 hours or so then headed back to the hotel. We all went our separate ways for the afternoon then were going to meet up in the evening for a team dinner.

I went around town with my parents. They enjoy geocaching so we took some time to locate some caches along the way to some of the different WG venues. We were able to find 4 or 5, actually, my mom actually found most of them; I found 2. We made our way from Senate Square up to the Olympic Stadium.

The seagulls all took turns sitting on the guy's head.

Our family restaurant

We found a pair of our teammates and grabbed a margarita and some nachos at a nearby restaurant to hold us over until dinner.

Dinner was at a rather nice 10th story restaurant, Ravintola Loiste (http://www.raflaamo.fi/helsinki/ravintola-loiste). The food was expensive, but great. I think the whole team had a fun time, except for Kayla who's meal got forgotten in the rush. It took forever to get out of there so we all pretty much headed to be afterwards.

Sunday was the opening ceremonies for the World Gymnaestrada. In the morning the USA teams had a group photo down at Senate Square in the morning,

then we had a couple hours break before we needed to head up to the performance halls for lunch.

We met outside the hotel at noon to take the train one stop to the hall, that's where the full force of the World Gymnaestrada first hit us. All of the participants needed to be there for lunch, and we all seemed to be there at the same time. Our first stop at the hall was to get our water bottles. I was sent in ahead to scout out exactly where we were supposed to do that. When i entered the building it was indescribable. THOUSANDS of people. I tried to make my way through the building to where the water bottles were supposed to be but it was very slow going, even with my superb crowd-traversing skills. I eventually found where to go and made my way back to the group to lead the whole team. We got our water bottles then got our lunch, which turned out to be less of a hassle than i expected. After eating we waited a few minutes in the hall for the rain to hopefully stop. When it let up a bit we headed to our staging are for the opening ceremonies walk-in.

It might be hard to tell exactly what's going on there, but the USA along with Switzerland, Germany, Canada, Finland, and a couple others were waiting for the ceremony to start and to get lined up for the walk-in. All those red jackets are the Swiss contingency, 7 people wide, lined up across the field  and around the track, with many still sitting in the stands. And that's not counting the other 2/3 of the group that had already exited the staging area. There are 22,000 participants in the World Gymnaestrada and Switzerland has, by far, the biggest showing with 3,800 participants. If there was ever going to be  a good time to invade Switzerland it's now, because most of the country seems to be here.

Once all the countries made their entrance and found their way to their seats the official announcements were made and then a few performances by some, presumably, Finnish groups.

All of the Swiss were sitting behind us...

This is my third WG and it's still amazing to see how big this thing is, and surprising how virtually no Americans have any idea it exists. The real fun starts tomorrow. My team doesn't perform until Tuesday so tomorrow is a full day where all i have to do is enjoy other groups performing.

Nordic Cycle Trip - Post #16

More rain :(

I'm not sure when it started, but it rained most of the night. I was sleeping on a bed of moss so i wasn't really worried about avoiding a mud pit like the other night. And i certainly wasn't going to get up just to have a miserable morning riding in the rain. I just tried to ignore it. I was mostly concerned about my sleeping bag getting wet. My bivy sack should have been quite water proof, but everything inside felt damp. Or my hands were damp. Or it was just cold. I couldn't figure it out.

It was around 6:30 when i decided to get up. The mosquitoes were still around so i packed up as quickly as i could then started riding. Within the first couple miles i decided that was it. For real. About 6 miles in i made it to the town of Sparreholm and found the bus stop. There was a bus to Gnesta arriving in 20 minutes. I waited patiently and crossed my fingers that they allowed bicycles.

The bus arrived on time and the driver helped me put the bicycle on the back. I sat and relaxed on the bus while the rain came down on a hilly, windy, poorly paved road. I may not have completed my cycling goal, but i was content with my choice. When i got to Gnesta i almost had a problem getting a train ticket with the bicycle. Apparently zero bicycles are allowed in the Stockholm Central station, and you can't take bicycles on the train during rush hour inside some area. The guy figured out what i had to do and i got my ticket. i looked around the shop for some breakfast and when i checked out i asked the guy where the train would be. He said "it's right there, and it leaves in two minutes."

Holy moly. I grabbed the food and rushed outside. i had my bags with me but i nearly forgot to get my bike! It was quite stressful trying to run over to the bike, unlock it, and make it to the train before it left. I did make the train, and made it to Sodertalje. This is where my hatred of trains comes in again. The guy didn't tell me i needed to switch trains. I stayed on the train till the end of the line, which was only one stop passed where i needed to switch. But i was confused. The sign outside said it was going towards Stockholm. I eventually figured it out and made it to the Stockholm Sodra station where i had to get off. The central station is only a few hundred meters from the hostel, but i didn't mind having to walk the two miles from the other one. As long as i didn't have to ride in the rain.

I got to the hostel around 11:30 and checked in. i took a shower and put on fresh clothes, then headed out to look for some food. I found a grocery store and got some mini baguettes and some brie. It was magnificent. I walked around the city a bit and i must say, it seemed like my kind of city. I suppose it was just like any other European city, but compared to Oslo and all the smaller towns i'd been through, Stockholm was refreshing. I didn't really see anything exciting on my walk. I took pictures of some statues and some of the cool buildings. I went to a bar and had a beer and some french fries. The sauce they served with it was some sort of seasoned mayonnaise. I couldn't quite tell what the flavors were, there were green things in it and i swear i tasted nutmeg.

The next day i walked around the city some more. i had to watch my time though, to make sure i had time to get back to the hostel to collect my things, and still get to the ferry on time. My phone says i took 26,878 steps, 405% of my goal. 13.8 miles. I walked a lot.  I pretty much just wandered around. I saw some more parks, more statues. Around noon i had to decide if i had enough time to walk over to the museums, see the museum, and walk back to the hostel. It was a strange situation. If i walked over i'd have just an hour or so to see anything before i had to walk back. But if i didn't walk, i had too much time with nothing to do. So i went.

I went to the Vasamuseet (http://www.vasamuseet.se/), a museum about this boat that sank 400 years ago. It's a pretty strange thing to have a museum about. Don't get me wrong, the boat was pretty fantastic. Apparently what's in the museum is 98% original and it looks to be in excellent shape. The strange thing is that the ship was a HUGE failure. The king at the time had ordered this boat to be built, and provided the dimensions for it. It had 2 decks of cannons and 10 sails. The problem was it was designed all wrong, and within the first mile of actually sailing it it tipped over and sank. Seems a weird thing to honor with a museum. Cool ship though!

I walked back to the hostel, grabbed my bags from the luggage room and hopped on the bike to head to the ferry. This is my first time on a 'cruise' ship. It's pretty neat, except my cabin is below the car deck. There are 4 beds in the room and a bathroom that smells worse than a porta-potty on the 5th day of a music festival in India. I think i have the room to myself though. I put my bags in there when i boarded, then went back after exploring the ship and no one else has anything in there. It's pretty boring being here alone, but so it goes. At least there's free wi-fi. We've been at sea for over three hours now and there's still all sorts of cool looking islands everywhere, and i think it's raining again.

Tomorrow i'll be in Helsinki. I'll be with people i know and have lots to do and see. I guess this is the end of the "nordic cycle trip". It was mostly a success, but it certainly wasn't ideal. Part of me never wants to ride a bicycle ever again. Another part wants to find somewhere flatter and dryer to try it again; with some bike shorts and a better adjusted seat. I guess we'll see where the next World Gymnaestrada is going to be. I'll be almost 40 by then (holy crap) but who knows!


**I'll be adding pictures of the trip to the google+ and facebook pages, and videos to the JTG Tours youtube channel. Stay tuned for some posts about the WG and some day trips i might be taking. I might make a quick trip to Estonia or i might try to see if i can set foot in Russia without getting abducted.Oh, and don't forget about the end of the 2011 flashback! there's some fun stuff about to happen. Belgium, 11% beers, finns.

Nordic Cycle Trip - Post #15

**i posted twice today so if you haven't read about the rain yet, read #14

I slept in the next morning. I actually woke up around 6, toes still numb and said a mental "nope", and went back to sleep until 10. After i woke up i took my time getting packed because i had looked at the train schedule and the train for Stockholm wasn't until 13:37. I got online and modified my hostel booking for Stockholm to say that i was going to get there a day earlier and be staying two nights. I gingerly rode my bike to the bus/train station and got there around 11:30. I'm not sure why i didn't just stay at the hostel and relax, i guess i didn't want to risk getting lost and missing the train. When i got to the ticket booth i told the man i needed a ticket to Stockholm and that i had a bicycle with me. He looked back and said "that's impossible".

No bikes on the express trains, only the local ones. And no bus options either. He said i could try to get closer to Stockholm and see what i could do but i was out of luck. Obviously i had to suck it up and ride, there was no other option. I changed my clothes, checked my map, and headed out. I had looked at this part of the route pretty extensively in preparation so i knew where i wanted to go; Degerfors, Svarta, Kumla, then a long way on one last road to Katrineholm.

I was pretty annoyed with the whole situation though. If i had just sucked it up from the beginning i would have already been on the road making my way to Stockholm. Now, it was noon and i had a LONG way to go to Stockholm. I wasn't sure if i'd be able to find wifi anywhere along the way to call the hostel to tell them i might not make it there tonight after all. And i was worried that if i didn't show up that they'd cancel my reservation for both nights.

So i rode. I rode fast. I'm sure the flat roads and the wind at my back helped, but i rode FAST. With ease i was hitting upwards of 25mph, 35 down hills. I still stopped every 20 miles or so to replenish my water. When i made it to Kumla i stopped at a grocery store for a 'lunch' of bread, 2 clementines, and some Haribo. From Kumla it was about 50 miles to Katrineholm. I had alread done 50 miles from Kumla, and some estimating on the maps it looked like it would be another 60 or so to Stockholm. I was making good time so i was pretty optimistic i'd be able to make it.

As i was leaving Katrineholm i stopped at a Burger King (for the wifi, i swear. i only got the fries to be a customer). With Google hangouts i was able to call the hostel and tell them the situation. I was hopeful i'd make it on time, but if i didn't i would certainly be there the next day. While i was easting i met a guy that was bicycling his way from Stockholm to see his girlfriend somewhere west of Katrineholm. He had about 15 more miles to go. We had a fun chat, complained about our bikes to each other. He was on a single speed with a ridiculously low gear ratio, giving him a top speed of maybe 12mph. And he had to pedal downhill to maintain speed because the tires were so fat with a lot of rolling friction.

I asked him how far it was to Stockholm and he thought it was about 100km (~60 miles). This was at about 9pm and i did the math, if the wind stayed behind me and i rode strong i would probably get to the hostel before 2am. I made a quick phone call to my mom, letting her know i was still alive, and headed up the road.

I made it about 20 miles before it starting getting kind of dark. i had to take my sunglasses off to see, but then i'd get bugs in my eyes. After i made the turn from rt. 55 to rt. 57 i passed a sign that said it was 75km to Sodertalje. Now, i had already gone about 20 miles. another 50 to Soldertaje meant that Stockholm was NOT 60 miles from Katrineholm and i was absolutely not going to make it there by 2am. It was dark. I was tired. I had stopped next to a pretty nice looking wooded area so i decided that was it. 120 miles on the day was pretty good, especially since i started so late.

There were a ton of mosquitoes eating me so as fast as i could i set up the bivy and inflated the sleeping pad. I was so tired i didn't care about being sweaty, i just wanted to sleep.

Nordic Cycle Trip - Post #14

Rain :(

There i was, trying to sleep in this dirt field on the edge of Arvika and at around 3am i started to hear the drops of a light sprinkle of rain. I laid there for a few minutes trying to decide what to do about it. Should i try to sleep longer and risk the rain getting heavier? Or, should i give up some sleep and pack up before the entire field turns to mud. I had already gotten my brand new white shoes pretty dirty just from walking cross the dirt, i didn't want to make them any worse trying to deal with mud.

So i got up, i packed up my sleeping stuff and headed to the road. My goal for the day was to get near Katrineholm. I wasn't going to make it all the way there, but i wanted to make some good miles towards it. Over the first 20-25 miles the rain got harder. The road i was on was hilly and the rain made everything worse. It was the most miserable thing i think i've dealt with (even worse than old men snoring in an echo chamber of a building all night long). Riding in the rain doesn't have to be horrible. But at 4am with all that gear and over annoying hills on a roughly paved road with cars and trucks passing every couple minutes it's completely miserable.

So after 20 miles or so i came to a sheltered bus stop and figured i'd wait out the rain. There was a bus schedule posted and it said (i think) that there was a bus coming at 10:45 that goes to Karlstad, the next big city. I made a deal with myself, if the rain stopped and the sun came out before the bus got there i would get back on the bike. If not, i'd take the bus to Karlstad and decide what to do from there. That was at 6am. I had FIVE hours to wait in the rain. Luckily the bus shelter was facing with the closed side towards the wind and rain so i laid down and repacked my bags that i hurriedly packed in the morning. I took some video of the rain falling and the wind blowing. I listened to some podcasts. The 5 hours went surprisingly fast. At around 10:30, when the rain showed no signs of stopping, i changed my clothes and got everything ready for the bus. I think i mentioned my fear of buses before. I hate them. I never know which one to take, or what the rules are, or how to pay for them, or when to get off. I was afraid this one wouldn't let me take my bicycle on it.

At 10:43 i saw a little van-bus thing, marked like the sign with the right number on it and it said "Karlstad". It drove right past. I waved at it and the driver waved back. What the heck.The next bus was scheduled for 2pm or something and i sure wasn't going to waste another three hours for a bus that was just going to ignore me. I sat back down and looked at the time. It wasn't quite 10:45 yet. Maybe that wasn't the right bus. I still wasn't ready to ride in the rain so i sat back down and gave it a few more minutes.

Then i saw it. The big green and yellow bus. He flashed his lights at me and i waved back at him. He flashed his lights again and i got up. He wasn't slowing down. I waved frantically and i saw the driver make a  "why'd you wait so long to flag me down" look. He had passed the bus stop but jammed on the brakes and was able to stop before the merge lane. I apologized to him for not doing whatever i was supposed to do to signal him and i guess he forgave me. I was able to put the bike in a compartment under the bus and relaxed in a seat the rest of the way to Karlstad. So there's 25 miles i didn't bicycle.

When i arrived in the city the roads were still wet but it seemed to have stopped raining. I got my bearings and started walking east. Eventually i found a McDonald's and figured i'd use the free wifi to figure out what to do, at least download some new maps. The rain had stopped but it was already after noon so I decided i would ride to Kristinehamm, about 30 miles away, and stay in a hostel for the night. My body was not doing great and i thought a night in a bed and a shower would be helpful. The beginning of the ride was annoying. Bike paths in a city again. So frustrating. Eventually i found my way out of town and past Skattkarr, finally onto open roads. Wonderful open roads. Flat roads. The scenery was so beautiful my spirits were rising. The sun was back out and i felt like i was riding fast. Until i had to head south. (https://goo.gl/maps/IbM31)


All day long the wind had been blowing in from the south. That's where all the rain came from. When i had to head south, into the wind my spirits dropped again. It was only ten more miles to the city but they were such a pain. And when i got near the town i had to use bike paths again. I made it to the hostel (http://www.lusaskens.com/) at 4:15, but the reception people weren't going to get there until 5:00. If there was a bench in sight i would have just sat there and relaxed until they showed up, but there wasn't. I figured i'd use the time to walk around town and look for a grocery store or something to get dinner. I walked a good mile and a half but never saw anything but houses.

I walked back to the hostel and checked in. The guy was pretty weird, his answers were very vague. Like when i asked where my room was he just pointed down the hall. And the bathroom, just pointed down the hall. Didn't explain anything about what was where. I found a grocery store online and headed back out, apparently i didn't walk far enough. Aside from the pleasant riding through farm land this grocery store was probably the best thing to happen all trip. Even better than seeing a moose, and better than those orange ice pops. They had chicken. Warm roasted chicken. I got a package of 8 or 9 chicken wings for around 3$. Not 8 or 9 individual wing pieces like in the states. Whole wings. I ate the heck out of those right outside the store. I walked back to the hostel and thought about what to do the next day.

I think i mentioned earlier that my body wasn't doing well. My ass was hurt from chaffing, my hands were getting blisters, both big toes were numb, and there was a pain in my left knee. I checked the weather for the next day and it said clear, but 20mph winds. I made the decision that i was going to quit riding and just take a train to Stockholm. The only thing that would get me to change my mind was if nothing hurt when i woke up, and the winds had stopped.

Nordic Cycle Trip - Post #13

I fixed my laptop charger thing! The problem was that the stupid prong adapter is a Chinese piece of garbage and it wasn't making a solid connection. Bent a little metal, fixed. So here we go, after i review where i left off ...

I walked around Oslo a little after i checked in at the hostel. I usually make expanding circles around my home base so i can keep track of where home is and avoid getting lost. I was half looking for something to eat, half just wasting time, half just seeing the city. Yes, three halves. Get over it. I'm never going to say i was one-third blah blah. Somewhere in the city i found this guy:

I think i had heard something about "the tiger" when i was searching the internet for things to see or do. But i had no idea it would be THIS big. there were a lot of people around so i didn't get a picture of myself with him, or try to climb on his back like i did with a lion in Brussels.

So i kept walking around some more. Passed a Subway, a McDonald's, and a TGIF. I kind of have a habit of eating at McDonald's when i travel, but was trying to make an effort to avoid it for you all. It's surely a comfort thing. You know the food is going to be what you expect though i have no idea how to say "no pickles or onions" in any language but English. Why don't they teach you "pickles" in high school Spanish? Eventually i found a grocery store and fell into my other international food rut of bread,fruit, and beer. They don't seem to sell cold beer over here so i had to go with a coke instead.

I actually got two of everything but saved the second nectarine for the next morning

And then i went to bed; at around 10. I'm trying to figure out how long i was awake, but i can't do it. I came up with 31 hours but that doesn't seem right. From 6am PDT to 10pm UTC+1, anyone? Anyway, i should have been super exhausted and slept like crazy. It was so dang hot in that room though! I forgot to mention it last time but I stayed at the Anker Hostel (http://www.ankerhostel.no/en/); it was okay. Not being able to sleep, i gave up trying at around 4am. I packed up my things and loaded the bike. I added more air to the tires because there was barely enough on the ride from the airport, every time i hit a little bump i could hear my bike cry a little. I took my time so it was around 5am when i actually left.

My route was going to take me back the way i came, to Lillestrom and then west.. Here's a map:

I wanted to get as close to Karlstad as i could, but i didn't really know how i'd do. i had hoped that the beginning of the ride would be familiar since it was just backwards from the day before. But that didn't work out so well. I got lost several times and wasted a lot of time stopping to check my phone every couple minutes to make sure i was going the way Google wanted me to. I eventually made it to Lillestrom and things got WAY easier. Riding on bike paths seems nice; they're away from cars, they go places you want to go, they're easy to follow. They're none of those things. Bike paths (at least in cities) are terrible. I could complain about them for paragraphs but i'll resist for now. The only good thing about those bike paths (and not actually being able to follow them) was that i found this sign:

giggle

When i got onto rt. 22 at Lillestrom everything opened up. there were no unnecessary bike path hills, no worrying about where to turn. All i had to do was ride the road. After about 20 miles (not counting all the u-turns and the stuff my bike computer spazzed out on) i got to Fetsund. There was a weird thing in the road and i wanted to check the map so i took a brief break for some breakfast (that other nectarine and a granola bar). While i was eating i heard a 'ping' noise and saw that my speedometer sensor was laying on the ground. Apparently the rubber band holding it on gave out. Pretty darn convenient it happened while i was stopped! I couldn't find the rubber band but me, being the preparedness master that i am, rigged up this fix:

I always carry some string with me. Wrapped it over the hook bits, used a surgeon's knot to keep it tight then
followed up as a square knot of sorts. I Cut the ends so they'd meet back up and melted them together.
It's stayed perfectly since then

Break over, i got back to riding. I wish i could remember what the riding was like. I know it was nice to ride on a road, but there were a heck of a lot of hills that i was not expecting. Big hills. Long hills. After another 20 miles or so i reached Bjorkelangen and stopped for another rest and a water refill at a gas station. While i was taking a break a car pulled up next to me and asked where i was coming from. I told him Oslo and he seemed surprised i had gotten that far by 8:30 or whatever time it was. I told him it was about 3-3.5 hours and then he was surprised that i started that early!

The next 20 miles were the ones i was anxious to see. If you look closely at the map above there's a right turn that takes me to Skillingmark. I had looked at this road many times in Google Maps. It's a different line that the other roads, and looking at the satellite images i couldn't tell if it was paved or gravel. If it wasn't paved then i'd have quite a number of additional miles to go up to Skotterud then down to where the two roads meet again in Amotfors. This is what i saw when i got to the road:

Gravel :(

I was pretty bummed. but then i turned around and opposite that intersection was this:

Pretty darn scenic if you ask me

So, to Skotterud i went. Keeping with my 'break every twenty miles' routine i stopped at a gas station in Vestmarka for a cheeseburger. I ordered the small one (though it was still quite big) but i couldn't finish it. Two other cyclists rode up while i was eating. I think they pointed at my teddy bear but they didn't speak to me and i didn't try to talk to them (they were old and sorta weird looking). I took off before they did and never saw them again. There were SO MANY hills; big long ones. My legs could do it, barely. I'd shift to the easiest gear and sing to myself "just keep pedaling, just keep pedaling". I also found myself talking to Girl Bear and Cookie Monster. I'd tell them how steep each hill was and why i was going so slow, how far it was to the top, that i had already shifted up to the easiest gear i had. I may be crazy, but i never had to stop on a hill. No, that's a lie. There was a section of road just after Bjorkelangen that seemed slightly more treacherous than the rest. There were blind turns with a railing on my side. There was a bike trail on the left. Taking it was a terrible idea. That stupid bike trail went up this short, but super steep hill that i could not do. I got off and walked the bike up the 30 yards or whatever it was.

Anyway, Skotterud and then on to Sweden! It was somewhere around here that i saw a moose! It was on one of those 'watch out for moose here' signs. I think it was around 11:30 or so when i got near the Swedish border. Right before the border there was a RV campground and i decided to pull over for a rest. Exhausted from the super long first day and then not sleeping well, i actually tried to take a nap. It wasn't really a nap because there were ants crawling around so every few minutes i had to brush one away. I was there for at least a couple hours. When i left, these 3 boys waved to me and yelled something. I couldn't understand if it was good or bad, but i waved back anyway.

I guess i should have expected this, it being Europe and with everything that didn't happen at customs when i landed in Norway, but i was expecting to have to show someone my passport when i crossed the border, or at least have to explain why i was on a bicycle. Nope. Just rode on through. Sometime after crossing the border a car passed me with a large teddy bear waving at me from the open window. I smiled and waved back :)

Rt. 61 from the border to Arvika was probably the most uncomfortable i felt riding all day long. There was hardly any shoulder (maybe 12" at most) and there was a lot of traffic going both ways, including large trucks. Nothing happened, but there was one point where the tiny shoulder was especially horrible, a truck was passing me and there was a car coming the other direction so the truck couldn't move over at all. Not the situation. But like i said, nothing happened. I just held on tight and tried to get as close to the crappy shoulder without getting a wheel turned. Eventually i did make it to Arvika, i think it was just before 7pm. The grocery store i found was about to close but i managed to get some food; a banana, some Haribo, an orange ice pop, a roll, and a yogurt. Everything tasted fantastic but that orange ice pop was so good that i actually went back inside to get another. They didn't have any cold drinks, which i found annoying, but there was a gas station right next door so i headed there next for more water and a Fanta. #fantaisWAYbetterineurope

After the gas station my butt was pretty sore from the 100 miles on the day. Even with the breaks i took my butt still hurt and my big toes were going a little numb. I thought i'd take it a little easy, and i had already put my walking shoes on to go in the stores, so i took a walk through the town to relax a little. By the time i got to the other side i must have decided that that was it. I hit over 100 miles and it was going to get dark soon. It was time to find somewhere to hide for the night. It didn't take very long to find a good enough place, it was just an open farm field that seemed only accessible by some weird trails that no one would use. The ground was dry clumpy dirt though. It was a pain to walk on, let alone guide a bicycle laden with a ton of gear. i eventually got to the back of the field and set up the bivy sack, here. Even though i had cooled down with the walk across town i was still pretty sweaty and trying to go to sleep was uncomfortable. It was really nice to get away from the mosquitoes and biting flies though! So off to bed i went, i think it was around 10. What a super long second day. What a super long two days.

One last thing. I said earlier that i saw a moose, on a sign. Well, that is true but a few miles later i saw a real one:


I thought i was a lot closer to it than it seems, maybe the camera makes it look further away. It was huge, and impressive looking. It's a shame the sun is where it is and you can kind of only see a silhouette.

Nordic Cycle Trip - Post #12

I made it. Eventually. I apologize in advance if this post is a bit .. nonsensical.

My intention was to stay up pretty late Thursday night and  sleep in on Friday because i knew i was in for a long day. Annoying thing about getting up at 6am every day for work, it makes it near impossible to wake up later. So not only did i not wake up around 9:30 or 10 like i had hoped, but i also got less sleep than i wanted because of staying up late. Lesson 1, don't expect to sleep in.

So i woke up around 6. i didn't plan on leaving until 10:30 or 11 to drive the three and a half hours to Seattle, with a stop at Chipotle (because that's pretty much the closest one to where i live), then catch my plane at 4:30. I had 4 hours to waste so i turned on a movie. The movie i wanted to watch was Idiocracy, but my computer went through a thing a while back and some file names got switched around somehow. What started playing was NOT Idiocracy. Instead, it was some weird French film. And it didn't have subtitles. I watched it anyway; it turned out to be pretty okay. There were a few parts where i really wish i knew what they had said, but over-all you could get the idea from the tone and the reactions. I think that actually makes it a pretty great movie, if they can get their point across without even understanding what they're talking about. Oh, and i'm not sure it's really French, it could be Canadian. Later in the movie you see that their cars have Quebec license plates. I didn't catch it if they showed the title of the movie in the beginning, so i'm not positive but i think the movie is called C.R.A.Z.Y. or some variation of that. Actually, the internet exists so let's see ... yeah.

C.R.A.Z.Y.

Luckily it's a pretty long movie so after it i didn't have much time left. I just started packing up the car and headed out a little earlier than i planned. The drive went pretty well. Google took me some weird way to the parking lot, but it worked. Basically everything else went according to plan. I had a window seat so i took some pretty awesome pictures and video of the mountains and stuff.



We landed in Iceland, got off the airplane (directly outside. that's always fun. As i was waiting for the people in front of me to disboard? unboard? get off the airplane i saw they were taking the luggage out and my bike was the first thing off! At least i knew it got half way there. It was a pretty short layover, just an hour (until they ran a little late). Eventually we got back on the plane. The same plane i was just on. I had a middle seat this time so i was pretty bummed that i wasn't going to be able to get any pictures. It was going to make my 'getting there' video pretty crappy. Then, right before we were about to push away the flight attendant told my row that there was an EMPTY row just in front of us. I'm not sure if i did the I Dream of Jeannie head bob thing, or if it was Samantha's Bewitched nose twitch but i got to that window seat magically fast.

The flight to Oslo went pretty well. I got a bit concerned when, right before we were about to land they announced that everyone needed to collect their bags and go through customs, even if they checked their bags through to somewhere else. I was concerned because i didn't know if that applied to the Keflavik airport too. I certainly didn't get my bike and check it back in. Nothing to be done about it at this point. I was sitting just a couple rows in front of my last seat so i could see them getting ready to unload the luggage. I kept changing my glance from the crowed leaving the plane to the luggage guys. Luckily people take forever to deboard? and i got to watch fr a while, but all of a sudden everyone was gone! Apparently on Icelandair they have front doors AND rear doors. I never got to see if they had my bike or not. I went down to the over-sized luggage area and waited. After a few minutes i decided i should probably change my clothes before i had a huge box to look after.

Not long after i got back to the over-sized luggage area the siren beeped, the conveyor started rolling, and my bike came down the chute. I grabbed it up and headed to customs ... then walked right by everyone and never got checked? i don't know if i didn't need to do anything, or if i just broke some international law. But no one stopped me. I took the box outside and set up my camera to film the assembly process. Lesson 2, put your bike together in a shady area. It was HOT. I'm not sure what the temperature really was, but that sun was staring right at me.

After the bike was assembled (which went just fine, except for me wasting a ton of time digging things out of a bag, then putting everything back in the bag, then taking it all out again because i needed something else) i had nothing else to do but get on it and ride. I wasn't exactly sure where i was going, and the first couple hundred meters seemed like it was going to turn into another 'bicycling on the autobahn' situation. Fortunately the first exit to a non-highway came pretty quickly. I rode a short while before i noticed i wasn't seen any signs for the road in intended on taking. i stopped and got out my phone to check the offline Google map i had saved. i was pretty close, but it sort of looked like i needed to cross the highway or something to get to it. Not a good option. Not too long later i saw a brown sign with a bicycle on it. It said "Oslo" with an arrow pointing left and 52.9km or something. Perfect! a bike rout to Oslo. I followed the "Oslo" signs for a few miles, until they ran out. or i missed a turn. or who knows. maybe some crazy person just put up some random signs to confuse me. that's probably it. they knew i was coming. Never give information away on the internet!

Anyway, i must have made about 15 u-turns on the ride to the hostel. I'd be following some good signs to Oslo, then they'd make no sense or disappear so i tried following signs to Sentrum (which i assumed was like the downtown of Oslo). The same thing happened. I generally kept trying to go south and west. Luckily i had that offline map saved and that the GPS on my phone worked. Lesson  3, get offline maps! I'd have to stop and check where i was every few miles once i got closer to the city because while bike paths are everywhere, they don't go everywhere and they are not well marked.

My first thoughts about Norway, on the ride from the airport to Oslo, was that the landscape looks a heck of a lot like Maryland. Aside from some architectural differences and road signs being different, i could have just as easily been riding some back road in good ol' MD and not have known it. My second impression was that (and i don't know if it's just because it's the Fourth of July and Norway has some connection to it for some reason) almost EVERYONE had some sort of American muscle car or motorcycle. I even saw old Cadillacs with American flags stuck to the hood like the President does. it was crazy.

There's a lot more to the story of the first bike ride (Lesson 4, have LOTS of water at the start and during the ride) but my laptop battery is dying and apparently my charger doesn't work here. It's supposed to take 120-240 volts but something is wrong. That's why there aren't any pictures in this post, and no video either. I.. just. don't.. have the power, captain. So i got to the hostel and tell them i have a reservation. They say, "are you sure?". I checked my gmail and apparently i never actually made the reservation? I swear i did. but i have no record of it. I'm not sure what happened.They seem to have plenty of beds, but still. I'm not sure what went wrong a few months ago.

After today's ride i am not feeling psyched about tomorrow. Hopefully i can get out of Oslo a lot better than i got into it. Once i get to Sweden the roads are a lot more just .. roads. And hopefully that actually have signs. It's annoying trying to follow the bike path along a road, then the road turns one way but the path turns another. Or the path disappears on one side and reappears on the other. Guh. Oh, and one last thing. i am SO glad i didn't bring the yellow bike.

Hopefully i can post something tomorrow. I'm not sure what to do about the laptop battery. If you don't see anything don't get worried. Don't expect i'm dead. But if two days go by ...