The Great Trial of Strength 1993
Trondheim - Oslo
FactsThere are nine food stations along the road which have different types of drinks and bread with cheese, jam and salami. You will find personnel from the Norwegian Red Cross on all food stations. Several bike shops in Trondheim, Oslo and other cities have people offering service at the food stations. There are also several service cars and ambulances driving forth and back in the trail.
The riders can use up to 42 hours to complete the race. The trail will be closed at Dombås after 18 hours and Lillehammer after 32 hours. Two cars will pick up those who have to give in or those who haven't reached the two places within time. The cars will drive them to the nearest train station so that the riders can take the train to Oslo.
PreparationsCompared to last year, I had more time and milage on my racing bikes that on my mountain bike. One of the reason was the rather bad weather we have had this year. The off-road trails has been almost inaccessible until late May due to much snow and ice this winter. The total since January was about 5600 km (3480 miles) with 1300 km (807 miles) commuting, 3900 km (2420 miles) on my two racing bikes and only 420 km (260 miles) on my mountain bike.
The weather this year has not been as good as I expected. A lot of rain and cold weather. Only on three training's has the temperature been high enough so that I could wear a short sleeve jersey. June has been the coldest month in 32 years, and snow in the mountain was not uncommon during the days before the race.
Five days before the race I got the first forecast for the weekend, and it didn't look too good. Wind from the south (headwind), showers and rather low temperatures. The forecast two days before was a bit better, and predicted less showers, hardly any wind at all and temperatures close to 20 C (68 F). The night before the start, the forecast was worse again - a higher possibility for showers, lower temperature and possible headwind.
Previous this year I bought a Vista Light flashing tail light (modified so that it flash so fast that you can hardly see that it is flashing) that I had mounted on a home-made aluminium bracket. The bracket was fasten to the frame using the same screw as the rear brake. I've tested the bracket on a 240 km (150 miles) race 12 days before so that I know it was OK. Three days before The Great Trial of Strength, I was out riding my bike just to check if anything needed to be adjusted. Just before reaching home again, I heard something falling of my bike. I looked back and found my Vista Light laying on the road. The bracket has failed. The next day I made a new one using stainless steel.
I took a vacation day on the day before the race. This give me a lot of time to get everything right. What to carry on the bike, what to wear and what to put in the bag that I was going to pick up in Oslo. I also picked up my number and bought a new head light since the switch on the old one wasn't good (hint: don't buy cheep lights - they fail sooner than later).
The Big DayI took may bag and my bike and rolled down to the start area, which is only 3 km from where I live. The first group of riders had started when I arrived, but since my group should start 42 minutes after the first group, I had enough time to deliver my luggage and to visit the mens room before heading for the start line.
While heading for the check-in area I looked for my team-mates, but I was one of the first one in my team that was ready to go, but it didn't took many minutes before the rest of them showed up. Our team consist off three different groups, one 17 hour group, one 19 hour group and one 22-24 hour group. It was still some minutes before we could check in and go to the start line. Before you are able to start, they check that the bike got lights that works and that the bike is OK. Since it was a bit cold when I left home, I was wearing gloves with long fingers. But the temperature has increased, so I changed to gloves without fingers before the start.
At 8:42 am on the 19th of June 1993 the organiser wished us a good ride down to Oslo. I started my bicycle computer, my heart rate monitor and the timer on my watch, locked my feet in the Look pedals and began pedalling. The fun had begun. For one of my team-mates, Mr. Leif Grimstveit, this was the 27th time he stood on the start line in this race. He is one of only four people who have ridden The Great Trial of Strength all times (before this race).
Since I stood up, the weather has changed a bit, some clouds and a light tailwind, which speeded us up. The start was rather hard, something we found out later (and too late). The average speed was over 37.5 km/h (23.3 mph) after about two hours, so we began to slow down a bit, but some of us already began to feel that we had been pushing too hard in the beginning. During the two hours, we passed several large fields with riders.
Just before reaching Berkåk (83 km from start), on of the member of our team had an accident. While passing a field, one of the riders in the field he was passing acted in such a way that he hit the front wheel of my team-mate. The result for my team-mate was some broken spokes and a stop. But he managed to continue and he later got a new wheel.
On the last climb up to the mountain (Dovre) I began to get some trouble with my stomach. It was difficult to eat and the feeling in my stomach wasn't good. I also felt that I didn't had enough energy in my body, but I managed to keep going. Two of my large bottle was empty and the third one was almost empty when my only accident during the race happened. I got a forth bottle (small one) in a cage mounted under the down tube. While passing a road construction area, the bottle cage broke in two and half of the cage and the bottle just disappeared. Funny, I was looking down at the bottle when it happened. The good thing is that it hit something on the road which caused the bottle to change direction. It headed to the side of the road, so it didn't cause any problem for me or the riders behind me. The bad thing was that it was still some time before the next food station where we planned to stop, and I didn't have enough to drink after I lost the bottle.
The first stop was on a place called Hjerkinn. It's a mine which has been closed recently. The government planned to use it for deposition dangerous and poison waste, but the planes has been put away now - and forever. And that is good, because this is a part of a national park. We reached the food station 5 hours and 4 minutes after the start. The first thing I did was to fill up two large bottles with energy drink (something called U-nik) and one large bottle with water. I ate two pieces of bread with jam before my stomach told me not to do such things. It was just before I vomited. Guess I ate them too fast. I also drank a bottle with a non-alcoholic beer which contain a lot of energy. Before we headed for our bikes again, I took four bananas with me.
Just before we reached the food station, the tailwind has been replaced with a very light headwind. And as were going down from the mountain, the headwind began to get more annoying, and since many of us was beginning to get tired, the speed dropped. Down in the Gudbrandsdalen valley the temperature raised and it began to get hot with all the clothes on. The long sleeve jersey I got have a zipper from top to bottom. So I managed to open the jersey a bit so that it get a bit cooler. But there was nothing I could do with my black neoprene shoe covers while riding. My feet got hot, very hot.
The next stop was not planned before the race, but since many of us had to drink more than usual due to the heat, we stopped at the food station at Kvam. The first thing I did was to get the tights and the shoe covers off and to relief myself. I filled up my bottles and drank a bottle of beer before we left the food station. Feeling the wind blowing through the shoes cooling my feets was great.
It didn't happen much after the stop at Kvam. The sun was still shining, the headwind was still annoying and I was still tired. But things worked out better after I got the tights and the shoe covers off. Most of our 17 hour team was still together. But some of us was struggling to hang on. Without eating it was almost impossible to keep pedalling at that speed we did. For me it was just a question if I could hang on until the food station at Vingerom (close by Lillehammer) where we should stop again. Even if the only thing I have been able to eat for the last four hours was some bananas and a slice of bread, I had enough energy to do some of the work in the double paceline.
We finally reached Vingerom and the food station. We stopped and took a rest. My stomach was a bit better now, and I was able to eat two slices of bread with salami. My plans before the stop was to take a longer rest even if my team-mates in the group wanted to go. But everyone must have had the same thought. The rest, about 20 minutes long, was enough for me. I joined the group again and we left.
I managed to stay in the group until Rundshøyda where I stopped at the drinking station. The rest of my team-mates continued. One student at the university also stopped and we talked together about what to do next. I got a bottle of beer and laid down for 5 minutes. It was getting late and colder, so I took my tights on before the student and I left heading for the next food station. A group of 15 to 20 riders was passing the drinking station just when we left, and we managed to join them. 15 minutes later I found out that it was even colder than I thought, so I changed gloves to the one with long fingers (the one I was wearing when I left home). The group worked fine, everyone was working to keep the speed up.
Some of the riders in the group had cars following them for support. It is illegal to get support directly from the car while riding. The rider can only get food support by grabbing a bottle or whatever from someone standing along the road, from another rider or by stopping. Normally it is bottles, bananas and bread that the riders get, but this time they got pieces of cucumbers and tomatoes, and one got an ice-cream. I just wonder, what will be the next? Whole watermelon?
The next stop was on the food station at Vikselv, and most of the riders in the group stopped. The student from the university told me that he wanted to take a short nap and I should not wait for him. I ate several slices of bread, drank a bottle of beer and took some bananas with me before I left on my own. I didn't want to wait until the rest of the group wanted to go, because I did not know how long they intended to stay there. Looking at some of the riders gave me the impression that they intended to stay there forever. About two minutes after I left the food station, one rider catched up with me, and we kept a high speed for about 10 to 15 minutes. We managed to catch up another rider and the speed dropped, which was good because I felt that the speed I had been keeping was too high.
At this time it was getting dark. I had turned my head and tail light on before leaving the last food station. The tail light worked fine, but the head light was not working very well. It was a bad connection in the switch, so the light was flicking. I had to knock the light several times to get the light back, but it got worse and worse. Nothing to do about that except to get or make a better light next time.
After about 30 minutes with easy riding I began to feel stronger again. At the same time a small group of riders catched up with us and the speed increased again. We continued to ride until we reached the last food station before the Valle Hovin. All of us stopped to get more food and something to drink. The previous years I have had good experience with the good tasting food at this food station. This year the food was as good as expected. I drank bottle of beer and ate several slices of bread.
Even if the clock was passed midnight, it wasn't completely dark. We didn't have any problem seeing the road and the dark clouds in front of us. I didn't like the clouds since they was too dark, and that mean rain. The first raindrop hit my face when we had about 50 km left. About ten minutes later the road began to get wet and so did I. I then realised that my shoe covers, which was in one of my jersey pockets, should have been on my feet. The water from the road made my feet very cold. It was only the thought of a long warm shower at Valle Hovin that kept me from stopping so that I could take the shoe covers on. It was more important to keep up with the rest of the riders than to keep my feet warm when I didn't have much left to ride.
The organiser has changed the trail close to Oslo. At Kløfta the trail did a 90 deg. turn which came as a surprise for many of us. Last year we rode straight through the intersection. It was dark and we, about 10 riders, was approaching the intersection at high speed when I saw an arm waiving in front of me. I didn't know if it was a rider signalling us to brake or if it was some of the spectators waiving (there was a lot of spectators along the trail at this place). Since I was the last rider in the group, I could brake up without having to think of someone behind me. When I came closer to the intersection I saw that it was a MP (Military Police) that was waiving with his arm to direct us in the right direction. I was the only rider that managed to ride through the intersection without any problem.
About ten minutes later I felt that I could not hang on the rest of the group. I watched how the distance between me and the red tail lights on the bikes in front of me increased slowly. Soon after I stopped to eat three pieces of cookies I had with me. It gave me some energy so that I could continue without too much problem. I was riding along for the rest of the ride except when three riders passed me on the way up last hill before Valle Hovin.
I crossed the finish line 3:05 am Sunday morning, 18 hours and 16 minutes after I started in Trondheim. The first thing I did was to pick up my luggage, lock my bike before I walked over to the changing room to get a shower and to change. I used about 20 minutes in the shower while I slowly increased the temperature on the water. What a good feeling getting warm and clean!
After the shower I discovered that I had forgotten to bring enough clothes with me. The only thing I had was pants, socks and a T-shirt. It didn't cause any problem since the temperature in Oslo was high enough. I got dressed and walked to the canteen to get something to eat. This year they had some sort of pasta food. I'm sure that it tasted good under normal conditions, but nothing taste good after 18 hours on a bike.
When the dinner eaten, I found a sofa where I felt asleep for some hours. I woke up at 6 am and walked outside to take a look. Some of the first thing I noticed was that I had forgot to turn of my head light. It hasn't worked during the night, but now it was shining bright like a sun on my parked bike! And it was the only parked bike with the light on. I began looking for my team-mates. Some of us was going to take the train back to Trondheim. At 8 am Sunday morning, 24 hours after the start, we left Oslo - this years Great Trial of Strength was over. One long year to wait before I can do this again.
After the raceI was a bit curious how my new Cannondale R900 would be on such a long ride. Some people say that the C'dales are too stiff for long rides, but my experience is that the bike was perfect for me. It didn't feel too stiff at all. The bottle cage that broke was the only problem I had with the bike. Cannondale cannot be blamed, since this is one of my own design. Well, the design was OK, since it was the cage itself that failed. Half of the cage was still mounted on the bike.
The police did a very good job this year. The police in the Oslo area used this event to get more experience with bicycle races before the World Championship in August. So it was more police cars and motorcycles on the road this year. Maybe that is why we didn't have much problem with the drivers.
Two riders was involved in a serious accident. I noticed that something must have happened behind me. First a police car was approaching us in the opposite direction, then, some minutes later, an ambulance came. I got the story about the accident on the TV news when I came home. A rider in a large group had lost control (unknown reason) and the two riders who was riding behind him tried to avoid him by riding over to the opposite field when they crashed with a car. Both suffered from broken legs and pain in the neck and back area. A helicopter picked them up and brought them to the hospital in Trondheim. According to the Sunday evening news, the two rides could leave the hospital 24 hours later.
One of the TV stations in Norway made a 30 minute long program about The Great Trial of Strength, which they broadcasted a week later. It was a program that didn't focus on the best and fastest riders, but on the all the riders who thought it was (hard and) fun. At the end of the program, they filmed a German rider who came in to Valle Hovin Sunday morning. He used more than 24 hours - not exactly a good time you may say. But since he got only one leg, I must say I'm impressed with his effort.
The TV program also showed a group of Norwegian soldiers riding on old military bike (single speed). They rode, of cause, in military field uniform and was wearing military helmet. The waterbattels was of the military field bottles type. Cycling shoes? They where wearing military boots - what else? Some of them had to give in, but over half of them made it to Oslo. Not bad on those heavier water-tubed bikes.
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