The Great Trial of Strength 1996

Trondheim - Oslo

Preparation

Since I have had some problem on the tours to Oslo the two previous years, I thought I had to train a bit different before this years tour. The problem the two previous years has been related to fatigue and (lack of) strength. I had no problem with hanging on the other cyclists on flat road in the beginning of a long tour/race, but on longer climbs and fast descendings I had problems with keeping up the speed. On the end of longer tours I also had problem keeping up the speed on the flat. I also needed more time to recover than usual.

To train much on the roads before Easter is more or less impossible (with a road bike) due to snow and ice. Only chance is to use a mountain bike with studded tires, but then I have to clean the bike often. Some years we do get good conditions, but the general rule is cold bad weather with snow and rain.
I always use to have vacation during the Easter, so that I can use the days for easy training. This year I manage to get 5 short trainings. After Easter our team get together and do one weekly training (66 km long). We also try to do some LSD training (Long Slow Distance) in the weekends, but these tours are not very organized. Due to bad weather I only had 4 LSD trainings before the tour to Oslo. One of them was a 200 km long single ride in heavy wind (head wind in the beginning and the end of the ride).

The day before the tour was mostly used for preparation. I picked up the start number, did the last checking on the bike and made it ready for the tour. I use to carry two spare tubulars and tools in the seat bag. The front bag contain extra clotes (if I not wear them from start), food, personal information, money etc. I also have a pump under the top tube and two CO2 bottles mounted on the seat tube. A white front light powered by to C batteries and a flashing red LED tail light. The rear light has been modified so that it flash so fast that it looks like a constant light (flashing tail lights is annoying).

Inger, the woman I live with, took the car and drove down to Ås (a place south of Oslo) on friday. The plan was that she should pick me up at Valle Hovin when I arrived early Sunday morning. The ride to Oslo was the first day of our summer vacation.

The tour to Oslo

At 6 am my clock-radio told me that it was time to stand up and get ready for a trip to Oslo. My bike, currenly parked in the living room, was almost packed. All I had to do before the tour was to eat properly, make some good and tasty food for the tour, pack a few things, get dressed and ride down to the start area.
A quick look out the window told me that the weather was not the best. The sky was covered with clouds and the ground was wet from rain showers. The good thing was that the temperature was good and we would get a light tail wind. On my way down to the start area I was wearing a Gore-Tex rain jersey too keep warm, but I took it of and put it in my rear seat bag before the start.
On my way to the start area I noticed that something was wrong with my back wheel. I discovered that I had forgotten to lock the seat bag (for the Nth time!). The sock with the tools in had fallen out and into the spokes in the rear wheel. No damaged was done.

Before the riders can start, they have to get through a control where the bike is checked. The bike have to work properly (both brakes must work) and both the front and the rear light have to work before you can start. I always use to buy new batteries for my front light the day before, and I check it several times the day before. But when I should show them that the light worked, it did not work! No mather how much I checked the light, the light was dead. I got one of my team mates to take care of my bike while I took my wallet and ran back to the tents where you could buy clothes, tools and lights. I bought a new light with new batteries equival to the one that I had, and went back to my bike, mounted it and passed the control post about 10 minutes before I should start.

The first group of riders started on the "race" to Oslo at 7 am. It was the "record group" that started, a group for those who are trying to set a new record. The next group started 30 minutes later. Our group started 8:05 am. After us, two more groups started 5 and 10 minutes behind us. Then there was a new pause before the slower groups started.

Every year our team get togeter a few days before the tour, and talk about how to get to Oslo. And each year we agree that we started too hard the previous year and that we must take it easier this year. The reason for riding so fast in the beginning was that we wanted to catch up and ride together with the groups that started before us. The result has been that many riders get tired too early. The fact that the start interval was longer and that the previous groups was stronger that us must have been the main reason for the more reasonable speed we had in the start.
After a few kilometer we increased the speed. The father to one of my team mates told us that we was only 4 minutes behind the previous group. We slowly reduce the difference between them and us. Before we reached the first major climb, we saw the group that had started 5 minutes befor us. We joined the group and we became a large peleton that pedaled up to the mountain.

The weather forecast for the day was some rain showers and tail wind most of the way down to Oslo. We didn't get many showers, and the showers we got was very light. Most of the road up to the mountain was almost dry. The tail wind helped us a bit up the hills.

My main problem with longer tours is the stomach. After a some hours on the bike, I use to get problem with eating. The longer it take before I get problem, the better. Sofar I did not have any problems. The food I had with me this year was the best I have ever tasted while sitting on a bike. I fear the climbs up to the mountain, but it went very well. I did not have any problem with keeping up with the other riders and I did not feel tired.

The plan was to stop on the food station at Hjerkinn, but on the way up, some of my team mates told me that they wanted to continue, since the group we had joined earlier should not stop at Hjerkinn. They had cars that followed them and gave them food and water bottles. I did not know what to do. I had enough food and water (two large bottles and a CamelBak) to continue, but I wanted to stop anyway, since I wanted to rest. I was warried that I would get more problem at the end of the tour if I did not stop at Hjerkinn.

About an hour before we reached Hjerkinn, some of us desided that we should stop at Jerkinn. Only two of my team-mates wanted to continue with the other riders. We were only a few people who stopped at Hjerkinn, two of them was my team mates. A few minutes later another team mate joined us at the food station. I filled up my CamelBak with fresh wather, my back pockets with bananas and my stomach with bread with salami and vørterøl (a non-alcoholic beer).

Before we got on our bikes again, we took on more clotes. The temperature was lower on the mountain, and standing still does not make things better (warmer). I began to freeze, and the Gore-Tex jersey helped a bit. On the way down to Dombås the temperature rised and we had to take a short stop a few kilometer after Dombås to take the clotes of again. A few kilometre later I noticed a strange sound behind me. One of the other rides told me that I had lost something from my bike. I thought I recognized the sound. I looked down my seat tube and noticed that one of the CO2 bottles was gone. It must have unscrewed itself.

Later down the valley we joined a few other riders. I began to get tired and needed to take it easy. The speed we maintened suited me fine. I managed to recover a bit while crusing down along the river. I ate and drank, but the heat began to get more and more annoying. My feet hurt a bit and my body was too warm. I wanted to stop to take off more clothes, but I knew I had to follow the other riders to the first food station. The only problem was that the next place we could stop on was only serving things to drink - no food. I knew that the other riders would ride right through the stop. I just had to stay with them.

We reached Ringebu after 9 hours and 38 minutes. We were three who wanted to stop for a hot meal. The first thing I did was to get off some of the clotes. It felt good to get rid of the shoe covers. Before I went inside for a hot meal, I went to the toilett and washed my face and hands. That felt good.
After the hot meal I walked over to the red cross and asked them if I could make a phone call. I wanted to phone Inger and tell her that she could come and pick me up a few hours later than planned. They showed me where the phone where, but when I should make the call I discovered that I had forgotten to write down the phone number to her friends at Ås (where she was staying). Well, I hoped she didn't mind waiting a few hours extra...

We left Ringebu and continued down the valley heading for Lillehammer and the food station at Vingerom. I talked with the other team mates that was still in my group about where to stop. We agreed to stop at Vingerom, but after that stop they did not know where to stop. Some wanted to pass some of the food stations without stopping. I began to get rather tired, so I wanted to stop on all food stations.

When we reached Vingerom, I saw Leif Grimstveit and Anders Follvik (who was doing the tour for the first time. Leif was guiding him to Oslo). He had passed us while we was eating at Ringebu. I also saw many other team mates from the 19-20 hour group.
I left Vingerom alone, but only a few kilometer later a group of riders passed me. I tried to join them, but they kept a speed that was too high for me. I managed to ride with them for 5 kilometer before they lost me.

When I arrived to the food station at Saug I meat one of my team mates. I was a bit surprised since he had told me erlier in the race that he should not stop here. After a short talk with him, I went to the tent to get some massage on my legs. Last year I also stopped here for 2 1/2 hours rest and massage. It helped me a lot last year, so I wanted to try it this year too. After 30 minutes on the food station I went for my bike and left alone.

Shortly after I left Saug a police motorbike approached me. A few seconds before he passed me, the driver pointed with his finger at his tail light. Guess he tried to tell me it was time to turn on the lights, and so I did. After all I had to buy a new front light to be able to start. It would be a shame to buy and carry a light without using it.

When I passed the Minnesund bridge I was so tired that I had to stop before I could ride up the short climb after the bridge. I also used the stop to get rid of some extra fluid in my body. While recovering, a large group of riders passed me. I whished I could have joined them, but the speed they kept was too high for me. If the group had passed me after the climb from the bridge, I might have had a chance to hang on for a few kilometers. After the bridge I was on my own again. Not much happened. All I thought of was how tired I was and how many kilometre I had left. The thought of giving up was on my mind. I counted every kilometer and tried to find a reason for not giving up.

The last climb up Gjellerårsen is famous. This was the climb everybody told me about before my first tour back in 1991. The previous years this climb had not been any problem for me. Now I had to stop several times to recover before I reached the top. At each stop I ate jelly-men, and it was something of the best thing I have had with me on this tour. From now on, jelly-men will be in my front bag on all long tours.

Crossing the finnish line

After 20 hours and 41 minutes (the official time say 21h 42m and some seconds, but both my cyclo-computer and my heart rate monitor showed 20h 41m) I finnaly crossed the finnish line. The plan was to use between 17 and 18 hours, but I'm satisfied with completing the tour. After all, the two last years I had to stop before reaching Valle Hovin. Inger was waiting at me. She did not recognise me at once because she was looking for someone in a yellow jersey. I was wearing the red Gore-Tex jersey over the yellow one. After the organisor had recorded my time I walked over to Inger. She took my bike while I went inside the Valle Hovin school for a hot meal.

After the meal and a quick chat with other riders who I knew, Inger and I went over to the car, mounted my bike on the roof and drove down to Ås, where we should stay a few days at some friends of Inger. Before I went to bed I had a long and good shower.

The day after

The next day, the young boy in the house wondered why I had a bike with me. I told him that Inger and I began to argue a lot on friday when we should begin our vacation. After the argue, Inger took the car and drove down to Ås without me. My only chance to get down to Ås was to ride my bike. He believed the story!

- "Are you going to argue when you are going home?" was his question after we served him the story.
- "Yes, and now I will use the car and Inger has to ride the bike." I replied.

A picture of me at Valle Hovin.

Passing times

The table below show the passing times or in/out times from the different food station along the track, as well as the distance to each food station.

Location        dst.         Time
Garli          71 km      2.12.51
Driva         126 km      3.52.31
Hjerkinn      165 km      5.15.18   5.34.17  (18.59)
Dovreskogen   215 km      7.05.19
Kvam          260 km      8.21.11   8.32.12  (11.01)
Ringebu       296 km      9.38.06  10.02.01  (23.55)
Vingrom       358 km     12.07.11  12.34.48  (27.36)
Saug          388 km     13.47.14  14.16.43  (29.29)
Tangen        432 km     15.59.29  16.11.24  (11.54)
Mogreina      483 km     18.12.32  18.24.09  (11.36)
Valle Hovin   548 km     20.41.00