The Great Trial of Strength 1991

Trondheim - Oslo

The history

In 1967 121 Norwegian riders waited on the start line in Trondheim ready to go to Oslo. 540 km (336 miles) with road laid in front of them ready to be conquered. This was the start of the world longest one-stage ride where everybody can participate.

Erik Gjems-Onstad is the father of the Great Trial of Strength. Back in 1940 he and Odd Westbye planned to ride from Trondheim to Oslo, but the German invasion of Norway stopped them.

During the World War II, Erik was a member of the Norwegian resistance group, and was reporting troop movements back to England. On the 28. of december 1944 he sent a telegram to London saying "25. of December 200 soldiers going south on bikes". This was germans soldiers who was returning from Finland. They was not the only soldiers on bike. 1st of Februar 1945 another 280 soldiers was seen on bike riding to Oslo.

People had been riding from Trondheim to Oslo before 1967, and the record was held by Per Digerud at 16:23:05. To try to break this record was an encouragment for the 121 riders who stood on the start line back in 1967.

Of the 121 on the start line, there was one woman who had just finished school; the 18 year old Astrid Loe Johansen. She saw the advertisement in the newspaper and decided to go. With an ordinary bike and no training (except the training she got by going everywhere in Trondheim by bike), she was told that the trip would be real hard. But in spite of all those who warned her about how hard this would be, she started. 45 hours later she passed the finish line in Oslo (at this time 48 hours was the maximum time a rider could use).

It took 13 years before there were over 1000 riders on the line, and in 1982 there were over 3500 riders. This year (1991) over 5200 riders had announced their entrance before start, but only 4686 were starting. Of those only 6 riders were starting for the 25th time. They are called "the six invincible".

The ride in 1981 was probably the coldest ride ever; the temperature dropping to under 0C (32F). One rider told me that on the descending down from the mountain to Dombås, the water in the waterbottles froze. Many riders got frost-bite. Some riders wanted to use a sledge to go down from the mountain to Dombås ;-). But a lot of blankets, warm drinks and massage helped to get the riders warm again so that they could continue.

Three years ago (1988) Karna Lium and Jan Haakon Borge got married during the ride. The stopped at Hjerkinn where they got married in the Ejsteins church. A lot of their team-mates stopped and joined them in the ceremony. They both finished the ride in 20:12:54.

The track

The start takes place close to the Trondheim Cathedral School near the well-known Nidarosdomen. This is the lowest part of the track, about 10 meters above sea level. Most of the track is following the main road from Trondheim to Oslo. The first 60 km (37 miles) is easy without any large hills. Some kilometers south of Støren, the climb up to the mountain begin, first with a long steep hill, followed by about 70 kilometers (43.5 miles) flat before the last hill up to the highest point (1030 meters (3400 ft) above sea level).

At the edge of the mountain is a very steep hill down to Dombås, where the riders can get really high speed (70 to 80 km/h is normal for those who are in a pace-line). After Dombås the track continue to go down, but slowly until Otta. Here the track is almost flat to the finish line - no long steep hills, and the height (above sea level) is between 150 and 300 meters (490 - 990 ft). But there is a lot of small hills during the last part of the ride, so many riders find this part of the track hard. The worst thing about some of the small hills is that you always know when you go up a hill, but sometimes you don't know that you are going down. This make you believe that you are going up, up and up - never down. The accumulated climb is actually higher than the climb up to the mountain.

The maximum time a rider can use is 40 hours. The track will be closed at different places at different times. All riders who has not passed these places within the maximum time, will be stopped by the orginaizer. Support is allowed but not while in a pace. A car can not give any food or drinks to a rider while the rider is on the bike riding. Cars are not allowed to stop at the foodstations.

The record

During the 25 years, there have been several attempts to break the previous record. Some have successed, but many more have failed. The current record is held by Gilbert Glaus, Switzerland. He broke the previous record last year when he passed the finish line in 13 hours, 54 minutes and 11 seconds.

This year he was on the starting line again trying to go even faster than he did last year. Together with Arild Hustad (NOR) he tried but did not succeed. During the race, they were over 13 minutes before schedule, but at the end they did slow down to much. They were 3 minutes and 30 seconds to late to set a new record.

The preparation

I start the training already in January. At this time of the year training with a racing bike is almost impossible. With snow and ice on the road, it will be like asking for somebody to kill you. So I had to use my MTB. I did a lot of off-road biking, which help me build up stronger thighs and calfs.

The last three months before the race, we (our team) trained a lot just for this race. As a rule of thumb, a rider should have about 2000 km (1250 miles) in the saddle before the race. We trained together once a week and we also participated in weekly competitions and other rides. Needless to say, but a lot of individual training is also required for such a race like The Great Trial of Strength.

April turned out to be a month with lots of good weather, but May and most of June gave us a hell of a time on the bike. We got the worst weather for over 17 years. A lot of rain, wind and wery low temperature wasn't any good encourage when you was suppose to go out training.

The last week before the race, I didn't bike at all (exept to work), and I ate a bit more than usual. I also washed and cleaned my bike, changed the cog, the chain, the chainwheels and put on new tires (Wolber NeoPro SP-1). I removed my aerobar ((almost) baned in this race), and mounted a font bag for extra clotes, some tools, food, etc. I also mounted a front and a rear lights, which all riders must have before they can start. To check the equipment is important, not only because you want to avoid trouble during the ride, but also as a part of the psychological preparation.

There is always things that you can't control. Few days before the race, I got a fever and I didn't feel quite well. But since I had trained so much, spent so much money on equipment etc. for this race, I more or less ignored the fever. I knew that I would get even more fever after the race - but I didn't care less about the problem at that time.

The race

Last year (1990) I was one of those who stood on the sideline watching all those brave men and women on their bikes. One week later I bought my first racing bike with one goal in my mind - to join them next year. And so I did. On the 29th of June 08:22 the clock began ticking and I was in the saddle. At this time I didn't know exactly what was in front of me. I just had to keep in touch with my team-mates and do the best I could.

We where over 20 in our team, but only 12 of us wanted to go as fast as possible. Our goal was to use around 16 to 18 hours, with the first stop after 180 km (112 miles) (Dovregubbens hall). Since this was my first appearance in the race, I didn't know how hard it would be. In a long race like this, a lot of things can disturb me. Accidents, flats, headwind, too cold or too warm weather or rain are not what we want.

Just 5 km after the start, one of my team-mates got a flat and we had to stop while he was changing tire. But in spite of the flat, we managed to catch up with a very strong team who started before us. Riding together with this team helped us a lot. They (the strong team) didn't allow any rider without their jersey to go up in the front of the pace and pull. So we was forced to stay behind them (and I didn't mind :-). It saved us a lot of time (maybe some hours). We was about 150 in this group riding together up to the mountain where we (our team) stopped to refill our waterbattles and to get something to eat. The last 30 minutes before the stop I was without water, and I began to get a little bit dehydrathed. It took us about 5 minutes to fill up our bottles, put some bananas and bread in the jersey pockets and to get back into the saddle again. Not exactly a sunday trip!

The weather was rather good for this race. Cloudy, about 5 to 10 deg. centigrade on the mountain and almost no wind, and the wind we got was from behind. But before we were half-way the rain came and it continued to rain for several hours. This caused that me and many other riders got chilled, which resulted in a lower speed. The next stop was in Lillehammer (location for the winter Olympic Games 1994). Some of my teammates that has done this race before complained about the missing Coke. The only had Diet Coke (or Coke Light as it is called in Norway). Diet Coke isn't exactly full of calories, and noone is doing this race just to loose some pounds!

After Lillehammer I began to feel really bonked (read "severe fatigue"). At this time I was dreaming about my bed, and I told my self "Never again!". I almost decided to give myself in, and take the first train to Oslo, but I just kept on pedaling (didn't want to spend any money on a train ticket to Oslo;-). It was not the strength that kept me going, it was the willpower. I didn't remeber much of the things that happend around me exept that I kept on pedaling.

But things turned to the better at the last food station. Suddenly I felt great, and together with a large pace, the last 60 km was over before I knew it. The biggest problem was to see the back wheel of the rider in front of me and the side of the road. With no light (the one I got was a to-be-seen-type light), it was almost impossible to see anything. Gee, my nightsun on my MTB would have been great now! Some of the riders didn't bother to turn on their taillight, which made thing even worse. But I survived, and 17 hours, 17 minutes and 15 seconds after the start, I finaly passed the finish line - I HAVE DONE IT! Never has a warm shower felt so good!

After such a long ride my stomach didn't feel quite well. Even if the dinner I got after the shower tasted good, my stomach didn't like it wery well. Never have I struggeled so much to get the food down. I guess a lot of riders had the same problem with their stomach.

What I remember best from the ride is the good support from all the spectators. There were several barbecue parties along the track, especially close to Oslo. The shouting and applauding from the spectators really help a lot when you are totaly exhausted. The great feeling of the victory of just finnishing the race was just great. Even today I get this great feeling when I think back to the last 20 seconds of the ride - when I saw the finnish line comming closer and closer. Gosh - I don't have word for it, it can only be experied.

One of the car from the organizer got a huge loadspeaker mounted on the car roof. During part of the ride, they played music - even good music too. The purpose of this loudspeaker is to give notes to the riders during the race, not to play music, but there wasn't many messages ;-).

The track was marked well, I had no problem with finding the way even if I was riding alone in the dark some part of the track. There was people in all crossroads who stopped all cars and showed you the right way. Those who had participated in the race the previous years, told me that they have never seen so many people along the track who was directing the traffic.

No riders were stopped by the organizer due to closing of the track or because they had broken any rules. There was only a few minor accidents.

Foodstations

There are several food and drinking stations along the track. They have bread with cheese, jam and smoked/salted sausage (salami). The serve coffe, tea, sportsdrink (U-nik) and water. They also got different kinds of soft drinks, coke, sprite and a non-alcohol beer (wery good and contain a lot of energy). And of cause they got the most important things of all; a lot of banana and oranges.

Most of the food stations also offer bike maintenance, if you should get any trouble during the ride. You have to pay for all parts that need to be changed and for the service. However, every rider should have spare tires and some tools to do the most basic maintenance on their bike. I carried three spear tires, allen wrence and a chain cutter.

Awards

All participators that complete within 40 hours will be awarded a remembrance medal and a jubilee diploma. Traditional badges can be bought. The winner of the record group (the 1st starting group) will recieve a gift token valied NOK 3000 (about $430), nr. 2 a gift token valied NOK 2000 (about $285) and nr. 3 a gift token valied NOK 1000 (about $140).

General information

As far as I know, registration is unlimited. The registration fee was NOK 600 (about $100). Each rider must also have some kind of insurance. A single insurance can be bought at the start for NOK 50 (under $10). There is also a registration fee for supporting cars (don't remember the price). Since part of the ride will be night riding, all riders must have a front and a rear light. A helmet is also required before they can start. Aerobars are not encouraged, and they will probably be baned next year (together with disc-wheels).

Some numbers during the 25 years

         on the
year     start line   finished  best time
-----------------------------------------
1967     121          115       16:36:28
1968     167          137       17:37:16
1969     139          120       18:48:08
1970     130          119       17:27:21
1971     145          119       18:16:33
1972     167          130       19:36:55
1973     226          192       17:40:08
1974     315          267       16:53:12
1975     368          NA        16:00:13
1976     427          375       16:51:49
1977     585          520       16:53:07
1978     906          602       16:38:40
1979     1163         1036      16:38:31
1980     2492         1952      16:04:07
1981     3318         2494      15:23:06
1982     3498         2953      15:26:24
1983     3660         3140      14:53:41
1984     3489         2996      14:06:04
1985     3667         3141      14:42:09
1986     3847         3293      14:45:50
1987     3775         3225      14:32:23
1988     4222         3703      14:05:49
1989     4548         3697      14:20:36
1990     4832         3900      13:54:11  Gilbert Glaus, Switzerland
1991     4686         4027      13:57:40

Of the 5242 people who had announced their participation in this years race, 273 came from Denamrk, 213 from Germany, 156 from Sweden, 155 from Netherland, 27 from Finland, 19 for Austria, 15 from USA and 6 from Switzerland. Only 225 were women.

"What did I learn at school today"

Since this was my first race, I was'n "dry behind the ears" (as we say it, in other words; I was a novice in this race). Even if I pick up a lot of advice from those who have done this race many times, I can't get everything right. I, like everybody else, have to learn by experience and mistakes. So, what did I learn from this first entrance?

Well, I did learn some things. The most imortant thing was the way I have mounted the third waterbottle cage, I couldn't use the bottle in it as long as I was biking. The cage was mounted under the down tube just above the bottom bracket, and with a large bottle in it, the clearence between the bottle and the front tire was about 5 mm! If I want to drink from this bottle, I was forced to stop. But I was trapped in the paceline; there wasn't time to stop. The first and the second waterbattle was emty about 30 minutes before the first stop. To be 30 minuts without water will cause some dehydration, which mean that I get tired much faster. Next year I will use only a small bottle in the cage under the downtube, or I will try to find another location for the third cage. The cold weather helped me. If it has been warmer, then I would have had bigger problem with dehydration.

Since half of the trip was in rain, I got some problem with the chain. Hours in the water washed away almost all lub'ing (on the chain). I talked about some other riders about this after the ride, and they told me to put grease on the chain before start. The grease will not be washed away so quickly as thin oil.

Next year I will be able to plan the eating and drinking better during the race. It is important to get enough food and water at the right time during a long race like this. It is best to eat in good time before any hard parts of the trail, so that some of the food is digested at the time I have to work harder. This will prevent any stomach problem and I will probably feel better. I will also try to drink more. I don't think I drank enought the last part of the race.

I will also make shure that the magnet (for the Cateye computer) on the rear wheel is fasten good enough. At the downhill to Dombås, the magnet moved out of position, which caused the readout to be wrong. The average speed was dropping, since my bike (from the computers point of view) "stood still" and the clock was running. To watch the average speed going down wasn't any good feeling.

Those who use contact lenses know that dust is a big problem. To get dust on your lenses can cause great pain. And to got dust on your contact lenses while in a pace-line ain't fun. It can be really dangerous. Since I normaly use contact lenses, I wasn't shure if I should wear them during the race or not. I know that if I got dust in my eyes, I would have problem with keeping my eyes open. Good cycling glasses help a lot, but does not remove the problem 100%. I wear the contact lenses during all training with almost no problem, so I desided to wear them during the race too. And I did not have any problem at all with dust in my eyes. If you are going to use contact lenses and cycling glasses, remember to use clear glasses, since you will be riding in darkness some of the time.