A 1000 km solo brevet around the south of Norway

[Tor Hovland]

Last week I spent 3 days to do the longest solo ride of my life, the 1000 km brevet starting and ending in Stavanger, Norway, and encircling the entire south of the country.

The major event of the year was going to be the 1001 Miglia in Italy, a ride that literally translates to 1001 miles, or 1611 kilometers. That event has of course been postponed until next year, due to the pandemic, and I was eager to find an alternative. One event that stands out on the Norwegian randonneuring calendar is the 1000 km in Stavanger. As I've never done a 1000 before (except for PBP), that sounded like a proper challenge. And speaking of challenges, this one is also particularly riddled with steep climbs. Going uphill is definitely my major weakness.

Logistically, it would work out nicely, because we would be going on vacation to my parents's house in the south anyway, and because my brother lives near Stavanger with his wife. And amazingly, the route passes through the village where my parents live at exactly the 2/3 mark, making that an obvious sleep stop. The 1/3 mark lands in Seljord, which have cabins for rent with 24 hour reception.

Five years ago, Oscar Hellström achieved the unbelievable feat of completing this ride solo in 44,5 hours, with just 35 minutes of sleep! Let me be absolutely clear that under no circumstance did I fall into the illusion that I could do something similar. After all, Oscar went on to set the record across the length of Sweden the following year, along with two others, covering 2165 km in 105 hours!

So I definitely wasn't planning to break any records. But I wasn't keen on simply touring the route either. Because my family would be waiting for me in Stavanger, I wanted to see how efficiently I could complete the brevet. Within a modicum of reason, however. I wanted to get 3-4 hours of sleep for two nights, and I wanted to take time for a longer meal break per day, etc.

I used Plotaroute.com to make a time schedule, based on my usual speed and adjustments for going uphill and downhill, and out came a forecast of 43 hours moving time. Then I added 7 hours of sleep, an extra hour for various tasks before and after sleep, as well as additional breaks ranging from 5 to 45 minutes. The total schedule came out at 61 hours.
The day before the start, we drove the 270 km from my parents's house to my brother near Stavanger. The 6:00 start was a 20 minute drive away, and my brother volunteered to give me an early morning lift.





After getting the bike set up, I took off through Stavanger and Sandnes, and on to Ålgård, where I stopped for an extra breakfast toast before heading into the sparsely populated Sirdal.



Ahead was 74 km of gentle uphill reaching 700 meters above sea level before the first control at Sinnes. I had a quick sandwich break at Byrkjedal, and just minutes later I got to a road works section where all traffic had to wait for a convoy lead car. I think if I hadn't stopped at Byrkjedal, I would have been able to go with the convoy that just left. Now we had to hang around for 20 minutes. Oh well. When the lead car came back, I was told to go directly behind it, with the long line of cars behind me. Luckily, there was no problem keeping the pace, otherwise it could have been awkward.



According to the Plotaroute schedule, the first section to Ålgård should take 1 hour and 11 minutes. It actually took... 1 hour and 11 minutes. The next section to Sinnes should take 3 hours and 23 minutes. Guess what? It took 3 hours and 23 minutes (despite the road works)! If only the rest of the ride could proceed like this. Then again, if it was that predictable, it wouldn't be any fun. For the rest of the day, I was always a little bit behind. The nice thing about that is that it motivated me to not hang around and waste too much time at the stops.



I was actually slightly hoping to go a little faster than the schedule, but I felt a little sluggish on the bike. To some extent that may have been due to some headwind, but mostly it was probably due to the few kilos of luggage and the slight incline. Sometimes I thought I could feel the drag of the dynamo, and a couple of times I stopped to check the wheels, but they always rolled nicely.

Now it was time to tackle the biggest climb of the ride, Suleskarvegen, reaching 1050 meters above sea level. This is a narrow, winding road, where caravans get in trouble when they meet oncoming traffic. In Oscar's ride report this was described as not as steep as the climbs toward the end, because he didn't use his lowest gears. This worried me, because I definitely used my lowest gear, and would have used even lower if I had.


I met a cyclist near the bottom. He later overtook me on the climb, and seemed to go quite hard. At the top of the steepest bit he talked to a friend in a car before he headed back down again. It looked as if he was Everesting or something.



The Suleskard road is closed for most of the year, and only a month earlier there would have been 10 meter high snow banks on each side of the road. Now, however, there was hardly any snow at all.

 

[Tor Hovland]

Eventually I started descending down to Valle in Setesdal. The last 3 km descent was a steady 10 % gradient. I felt thankful I wasn't going in the opposite direction, although, to be honest, this mountain was steep in either direction. Somehow, I often don't realise how long a climb has been until going down. I'm often taken by surprise by just how long the descent is.

At this point I had a 76 km long continuous incline in front of me, from 250 meters up beyond Hovden at 900 meters. I could see another cyclist appearing in my mirror, and I powered up the camera, intending to film him passing me. After all, this ride is so solitary that any human encounter is an event in itself. But he never made the pass. Sure, I had upped my effort a little bit, but I was still surprised that he chose to stay 5-10 meters behind me until he took another turn shortly before Bykle.



I was beginning to feel the fatigue enough that I couldn't just keep going without breaks, so there was both a water filling stop at Bykle and a waffle stop at Hovden until I started descending to Haukeli. When I got there, I bought some bread and cheese that would keep me going through the evening as well as the next morning, all the way to Kongsberg 180 km later.

I now needed to tackle the final 86 km stretch to my cabin at Seljord. It's on an international E-road, with quite a bit of freight transport. I started out in good spirits, but 86 km at the end of a long day is pretty tough. About halfway, at Åmot, I needed to make a stop and start eating that bread. When I got going again, the time was 21:15, and eventually I started feeling sleepy. I realised that my urgency at the stops meant I had never taken the time for a cup of coffee, not since in my brother's house before the start. Although this final stretch is mostly downhill, my drowsiness meant I had to focus to stay upright on the bike, and I was unable to really enjoy the descents. In addition, I got the first rain at this point. When I finally reached Seljord, I was wet and tired, but I got my cabin and could get some much needed sleep. I must admit I was worried I wouldn't be able to get going again if it was still raining when I needed to move on. But I set my alarm to 3 hours and 20 minutes, and when I woke up, I was feeling much better. And it wasn't raining.



I set off at 04:30, and after a 40 minute warmup, I entered the first steep climb of the day, going up 250 meters, then down the other side. I was still a bit sleepy, and longed for a coffee. I also needed to eat more of that bread, but that proved difficult. I had to wash it down with water. Eventually I could start the main climb of the day, going up 400 meters over 30 km. That stretch took me over 2 hours. But from there and down to Kongsberg was easy enough. Finally, I could have a baguette breakfast with Coke and coffee.



In my experience, I tend to struggle in the early morning after sleep, until daybreak and a proper breakfast. Today was no exception. I was now two hours behind schedule. After Kongsberg I felt better than I had done the entire ride. The 37 km to the next control at Hvittingfoss were easy.

What was becoming a problem, however, was that my Garmin Edge would no longer charge. It was only a matter of time until I would have to use my mobile phone for navigation. Luckily, I had avoided moisture in the phone's USB port. When that happens, it will also not charge. Then I would be in real trouble.

The first hour toward Skien was also fine, but then, at the halfway point of the ride, there were another couple of steep climbs. At least they were less than 200 meters high.



At Skien my Garmin was all but dead. Luckily, I also had the course loaded in the OsmAnd phone app, and I could use Google Maps for navigation with turn-by-turn directions using earphones. This works OK, but far from perfectly. Often, it would tell me to go right, and it was impossible to know if it meant into a minor pathway to my immediate right, into a larger road 100 meters ahead, or simply on to a bike path to my right. This caused a series of misnavigations and false starts through Skien, Porsgrunn, Brevik, and Stathelle. At the control in Bamble I was almost 5 hours behind schedule.



It had started raining, but as I left Bamble I was in "getting home" mode and feeling pretty good, although I still had 120 km left for the day. But this was on familiar roads, and that helps. The roads were narrow and winding, with little traffic. They were also dark in the evening and early night. My Busch & Müller IQ-X 100 lux headlamp was literally working brilliantly, and made the ride quite enjoyable. As I entered the proper south of the country, the weather improved, which is so often the case. I got a late night stamp at a petrol station outside Tvedestrand and was quickly on my way through Arendal and to my parents's house in Fevik, where I could rest for a few hours.

I had strategically left some snacks, some change of clothes, and some charging equipment in the house. I checked the state of my Assioma Uno power pedal. As it was about half full, I didn't bother charging it. It turned out later I should have. I still couldn't get my Garmin to charge. It was great being able to lube the chain, which had been bone dry all day. The final day would feature the 9 steep hills, and I had considered changing to a compact crank from another bike, but in the end I decided not to bother. If it got that steep, I might as well walk.

I allowed myself to sleep for 3 hours and 40 minutes. When I woke up, there was already sunshine. The weather forecast looked pretty good, so I decided to leave my jacket, my rain pants, and some other stuff behind. It was great having less stuff to carry, as I set off at 07:30.

The ride through Grimstad and Lillesand to Kristiansand was also on familiar roads, and went very well. I even felt fresh enough to hang on to a young time trialist who passed me. But as soon as he noticed me drafting him, he stopped pedaling and let me past. After a short while he overtook me again and I hung on. But very soon, he took a different turn and disappeared.



After Kristiansand I soon turned northwest. Two fit veteran riders came up from behind, and I was happy to draft them in the headwind for a while. They didn't seem to mind. But soon the first climb started, and I had to let them go. The first climb wasn't too bad and took me to Laudal. The second one was similar and took me to the control at Konsmo, where I had an ice cream, six hours behind schedule.



The third climb to Kvås was also OK, but then the fourth one started, and it felt like a wall. It had a 10 % gradient that was 2,5 km long. Also the plateau on top had several short, steep climbs, and it took me about an hour and a half to get over to Kvinesdal on the other side. I stopped at the viewpoint before the final descent, though. As I stood there, it got chilly and started raining a little. Luckily, I did bring my rain jacket, just in case, but I was still shaking on the way down.

 

[Tor Hovland]

I was getting hungry, so when I got the chance to stop for a sausage with fries, I did. Then the fifth climb was a detour around some tunnels on the E-road not open to cyclists. After that, there was a short stretch on the E-road into the control at Flekkefjord at 19:15.

That fourth climb had taken its toll, and I was now 7,5 hours behind schedule. I had realised long ago that it would be night before I got to the end in Stavanger. I called my wife to tell them not to wait for me, but to put the car at the finish area so that I could drive home myself. I seemed to remember from the route plan that the final four climbs were less imposing, and that the worst was definitely over by now. I did get a little bit of that "get home" feeling that I had the previous night, although I still had 150 km to do.

It was nice and sunny in Flekkefjord, but shortly after it started raining more. In fact, the rain came in a series of short downpours, each one a little more intense than the one before. Despite the weather forecast, I had the most intense rain shower on this day. It wasn't very cold, though. The sixth hill before Åna-Sira took about an hour. The next one is a very spectacular one with switchbacks that also took about an hour and led to Jøssingfjord, easily the most scenic place on the entire route. The eighth climb goes up from Jøssingfjord, through a hairpin and into a spectacular tunnel which is actually two parallel tunnels, one for motorised traffic and one for cyclists and tourists on foot. The latter is only partially inside the mountain, and there is a spectacular view into the fjord below. When I got there, a family had decided to camp inside the tunnel. I had to duck under a pair of hammocks, and they also had a fire going.



When I got to Hauge a little past 22:00, there was a Thai fast food place open. As that was likely to be my last chance to buy any food, I stopped. There was one hot dog left, and it looked like it had rolled around on the grill all day. Still, I took it. I also bought the hottest cup of coffee I have ever experienced.

This is also where my Assioma Uno power pedal stopped transmitting. It wasn't actually dead, but apparently when there is only about 25 % battery left, the signal seems too weak to get picked up by my watch.

It was time to tackle the final big hill before the route would be mostly flat to Egersund and until the end. I kept thinking Egersund would be just around the corner, and found it rather frustrating to keep going for one and a half hours until I was finally there at midnight, 8,5 hours behind schedule. Egersund was in full party mode, due to an outdoor concert. I found a petrol station still open and got my final stamp.



The Google navigation led me the wrong way out of Egersund, but the navigation home was really as simple as following a road number along the coast of Jæren, and I was soon on my way. Although this final bit was flat, it was still mentally challenging, because it was a chilly, windy, and dark night, and because 80 kilometers is a substantial distance when you just want to cross the finish line. I checked the map after an hour, and was disheartened to see that I was still closer to Egersund than to anything else.

The next 45 minutes featured a new challenge. Seemingly endless stretches of straight, flat roads, like the ones you expect to find in the US or Australia. This is where the drowsiness crept in. My mind was entering a zombie state, but somehow I was still conscious enough to understand the importance of staying awake whenever there was a passing car. Eventually, I realised I had to do something to keep from falling asleep, so I stopped to stretch my legs a little. As I got back on the bike, I did feel sharper. A bike path also appeared, and all anxiety of crashing into oncoming traffic faded.

Half an hour later, a car came up from behind and slowed to drive alongside me. When I turned my head to look, I saw it was my own car! With my wife and brother in it. That was a nice surprise. They had planned to meet me all along, and just pretended they would leave the car at the finish area. It was helpful too, because as I entered a more populated area I also needed the Google navigation. My brother knows the area well, and could help whenever I got confused by the turn-by-turn directions. My wife later told me that both my front and rear lights were very good, which she found reassuring. There was still 1,5 hours of riding left, but by this time it was beginning to get light, I was wide awake, and I had a good speed on the flats. There were just frequent navigation stops.

At 04:30 we finally rolled down to the Swords in Rock monument outside Stavanger, where I had set off 70 hours and 19 minutes earlier. I was 9,5 hours behind schedule, but well within the 75-hour brevet limit.







I put the bike on the bike rack and we headed home. I slept solidly until past 14:00 the next day.

I logged 11.500 meters of elevation. I have a feeling it might actually have been more. Oscar logged 15.000 meters. When I enable elevation correction based on geographic survey data, I get 16.500 meters.

My moving time was 50 hours, and non-moving time was 20 hours. This is pretty similar to the 50,5 and 22 hours I had at PBP last year. Of course, PBP is 200 km longer, but also a little less in elevation, and with other people to draft.
I had no particular physical challenges on this ride, except for the drowsiness and the feeling that hills were steep. I could feel a hint of ankle pain, but it was very manageable. My knees were fine. I did begin to reach the comfort limit offered by my stock seat and seat pad. It would be nice to try a perfectly fitting carbon seat with cushion pad.

There were also no technical issues with the bike, apart from a dry chain. I didn't have a single puncture. My bags with dry bags in them worked flawlessly, as usual. The failing Garmin was of course not ideal.

I've tended to use High5 sports drink with protein on longer rides. On this one I just used standard sports drink about half the time, and High5 zero calorie tablets with electrolytes on the rest. That seemed to work fine. I mainly ate rolls with egg and bacon or hot dogs at the rest stops. No chocolate or energy bars.

The best feeling of the ride was after breakfast in Kongsberg on day 2, the evening ride from Bamble to my parents's house the same day, and the sunny ride to Kristiansand the next morning. The lowest points were the sleepy night ride to Seljord on day 1, the climbing before Kongsberg the next morning, and another sleepy night ride from Egersund to Bryne near the end.

Oscar's ride report kept popping up in my head along this ride. Completing this brevet in 44,5 hours with just 35 minutes sleep is an incredible accomplishment to begin with. But having done the same ride myself, I have developed a deeper level of respect for his achievement. A moving time of 39,5 hours is impressive, but probably not out of the ordinary. What's really unbelievable is the non-moving time of less than 5 hours! I need frequent stops, partly for the physical rest, but mostly to keep the individual stretches short and manageable mentally. It also helped a lot to break 1000 km into 3 stages of 333 km. The thought of not stopping at Seljord, but to just keep going, seems incredible to me. Sure, Oscar also divided his ride into two riding days, but can 30 minutes of sleep on a bench in a cold bus shelter really function as a sufficient reset button? And on his second day, to power over all those hills without stopping for more than a few minutes at the controls is really amazing. Machine!

There will be a video on my YouTube channel as soon as I can manage to sift through 2,5 hours of footage.

 

[LarryOz]

Fantastic ride and report as always Tor! Your rides are always Awesome! - So great that your wife was there to lead you at the end - what a great lift I am sure!

 

[3bs]

totally excellent.

the work to remain upright when super fatigued is one of the biggest reasons why i like my trike on long arduous rides. i can just put my brain in neutral and mindlessly pedal without worrying about crashing.

have you ever tried caffeine chewing gum? easy to store. i find this to be a great means to sharpen a dull mind without taxing my bladder. there are a lot of brands in the market these days. in the old days you had to know someone in the army to get the stuff. one piece is 100mg, just like a cup of joe.

 

[Greg S]

Nice report! 70 hours for 1000K with that much climbing is a very good time.

Like @3bs I also find caffeine chewing gum to be helpful on long brevets. I don't use it very often since I don't usually have a problem of feeling drowsy but on those occasions when I do it works pretty well and doesn't upset my stomach.

 

[Tor Hovland]

Thanks, guys! I haven't tried caffeine chewing gum, I suppose I should look into that. I have used these gels, but they only have 30 mg caffeine, and I can't say whether I have felt any effect or not.
On PBP last year, I actually stopped drinking coffee for a week or so before the event. I had a 17:15 start, and didn't have any trouble riding through the first night, and then all through the second day, with only a 20 minute power nap, until I reached Brest a little before midnight. At that point I had been awake for 40 hours. But of course I was full of adrenalin from the excitement of the event.

 

[Greg S]

I didn't use the gum at PBP either. In all of the 1200K's I've done I think I've only used it twice. Nice to have it when you need it though.

 

[3bs]

okay so maybe i am sleepier or a caffeine addict or both. i use the stuff all the time. in the car....on the bike when i am dragging... at work......my kids steal some from me on exam days....

when i was in college i used to drop extra caffine tablets in my moutain dew.... then i drank jolt for a while.....it keeps me awake, but it also makes me calmer....
hmmm

 

[cpml123]

Great report Tor! Makes me wanting to visit there for biking because it looks like no one is on the road and the road looks smooth! I live in Seattle and there is NO long flat stretch of roads here. It's either up or down but seems like mostly going up.

 

[Tor Hovland]

Great report Tor! Makes me wanting to visit there for biking because it looks like no one is on the road and the road looks smooth! I live in Seattle and there is NO long flat stretch of roads here. It's either up or down but seems like mostly going up.

Sure, the US is very diverse, ranging from the very flat to the very alpine. Washington is beautiful. An emigrant from the place where I'm from kept traveling west in the US until he found a place that looked like home. He ended up west of Seattle and founded Poulsbo! I visited once, and it really did look a lot like Norway.

 

[Lief]

Here I was enjoying the ride story, and the chatter of caffeine gum and in the end it comes around to my backyard (Seattle).
Puts a nice cap on the read.
I recognize the name Stavanger too, pretty sure my uncle (surname Jacobson) has family in Stavanger.

 

[egervaswatson]

Amazing ride, Tor. Thanks for sharing!

 

[Joe]

Inspiring stuff -- ty for this account.

 

[paco1961]

I was getting hungry, so when I got the chance to stop for a sausage with fries, I did. Then the fifth climb was a detour around some tunnels on the E-road not open to cyclists. After that, there was a short stretch on the E-road into the control at Flekkefjord at 19:15.

That fourth climb had taken its toll, and I was now 7,5 hours behind schedule. I had realised long ago that it would be night before I got to the end in Stavanger. I called my wife to tell them not to wait for me, but to put the car at the finish area so that I could drive home myself. I seemed to remember from the route plan that the final four climbs were less imposing, and that the worst was definitely over by now. I did get a little bit of that "get home" feeling that I had the previous night, although I still had 150 km to do.

It was nice and sunny in Flekkefjord, but shortly after it started raining more. In fact, the rain came in a series of short downpours, each one a little more intense than the one before. Despite the weather forecast, I had the most intense rain shower on this day. It wasn't very cold, though. The sixth hill before Åna-Sira took about an hour. The next one is a very spectacular one with switchbacks that also took about an hour and led to Jøssingfjord, easily the most scenic place on the entire route. The eighth climb goes up from Jøssingfjord, through a hairpin and into a spectacular tunnel which is actually two parallel tunnels, one for motorised traffic and one for cyclists and tourists on foot. The latter is only partially inside the mountain, and there is a spectacular view into the fjord below. When I got there, a family had decided to camp inside the tunnel. I had to duck under a pair of hammocks, and they also had a fire going.

View attachment 9727

When I got to Hauge a little past 22:00, there was a Thai fast food place open. As that was likely to be my last chance to buy any food, I stopped. There was one hot dog left, and it looked like it had rolled around on the grill all day. Still, I took it. I also bought the hottest cup of coffee I have ever experienced.

This is also where my Assioma Uno power pedal stopped transmitting. It wasn't actually dead, but apparently when there is only about 25 % battery left, the signal seems too weak to get picked up by my watch.

It was time to tackle the final big hill before the route would be mostly flat to Egersund and until the end. I kept thinking Egersund would be just around the corner, and found it rather frustrating to keep going for one and a half hours until I was finally there at midnight, 8,5 hours behind schedule. Egersund was in full party mode, due to an outdoor concert. I found a petrol station still open and got my final stamp.

View attachment 9728

The Google navigation led me the wrong way out of Egersund, but the navigation home was really as simple as following a road number along the coast of Jæren, and I was soon on my way. Although this final bit was flat, it was still mentally challenging, because it was a chilly, windy, and dark night, and because 80 kilometers is a substantial distance when you just want to cross the finish line. I checked the map after an hour, and was disheartened to see that I was still closer to Egersund than to anything else.

The next 45 minutes featured a new challenge. Seemingly endless stretches of straight, flat roads, like the ones you expect to find in the US or Australia. This is where the drowsiness crept in. My mind was entering a zombie state, but somehow I was still conscious enough to understand the importance of staying awake whenever there was a passing car. Eventually, I realised I had to do something to keep from falling asleep, so I stopped to stretch my legs a little. As I got back on the bike, I did feel sharper. A bike path also appeared, and all anxiety of crashing into oncoming traffic faded.

Half an hour later, a car came up from behind and slowed to drive alongside me. When I turned my head to look, I saw it was my own car! With my wife and brother in it. That was a nice surprise. They had planned to meet me all along, and just pretended they would leave the car at the finish area. It was helpful too, because as I entered a more populated area I also needed the Google navigation. My brother knows the area well, and could help whenever I got confused by the turn-by-turn directions. My wife later told me that both my front and rear lights were very good, which she found reassuring. There was still 1,5 hours of riding left, but by this time it was beginning to get light, I was wide awake, and I had a good speed on the flats. There were just frequent navigation stops.

At 04:30 we finally rolled down to the Swords in Rock monument outside Stavanger, where I had set off 70 hours and 19 minutes earlier. I was 9,5 hours behind schedule, but well within the 75-hour brevet limit.

View attachment 9729

View attachment 9743

View attachment 9731

I put the bike on the bike rack and we headed home. I slept solidly until past 14:00 the next day.

I logged 11.500 meters of elevation. I have a feeling it might actually have been more. Oscar logged 15.000 meters. When I enable elevation correction based on geographic survey data, I get 16.500 meters.

My moving time was 50 hours, and non-moving time was 20 hours. This is pretty similar to the 50,5 and 22 hours I had at PBP last year. Of course, PBP is 200 km longer, but also a little less in elevation, and with other people to draft.
I had no particular physical challenges on this ride, except for the drowsiness and the feeling that hills were steep. I could feel a hint of ankle pain, but it was very manageable. My knees were fine. I did begin to reach the comfort limit offered by my stock seat and seat pad. It would be nice to try a perfectly fitting carbon seat with cushion pad.

There were also no technical issues with the bike, apart from a dry chain. I didn't have a single puncture. My bags with dry bags in them worked flawlessly, as usual. The failing Garmin was of course not ideal.

I've tended to use High5 sports drink with protein on longer rides. On this one I just used standard sports drink about half the time, and High5 zero calorie tablets with electrolytes on the rest. That seemed to work fine. I mainly ate rolls with egg and bacon or hot dogs at the rest stops. No chocolate or energy bars.

The best feeling of the ride was after breakfast in Kongsberg on day 2, the evening ride from Bamble to my parents's house the same day, and the sunny ride to Kristiansand the next morning. The lowest points were the sleepy night ride to Seljord on day 1, the climbing before Kongsberg the next morning, and another sleepy night ride from Egersund to Bryne near the end.

Oscar's ride report kept popping up in my head along this ride. Completing this brevet in 44,5 hours with just 35 minutes sleep is an incredible accomplishment to begin with. But having done the same ride myself, I have developed a deeper level of respect for his achievement. A moving time of 39,5 hours is impressive, but probably not out of the ordinary. What's really unbelievable is the non-moving time of less than 5 hours! I need frequent stops, partly for the physical rest, but mostly to keep the individual stretches short and manageable mentally. It also helped a lot to break 1000 km into 3 stages of 333 km. The thought of not stopping at Seljord, but to just keep going, seems incredible to me. Sure, Oscar also divided his ride into two riding days, but can 30 minutes of sleep on a bench in a cold bus shelter really function as a sufficient reset button? And on his second day, to power over all those hills without stopping for more than a few minutes at the controls is really amazing. Machine!

There will be a video on my YouTube channel as soon as I can manage to sift through 2,5 hours of footage.

Inspiring report. And kudos to your wife and brother for meeting you on the road. As I was reading along I was secretly rooting for them to show up. Nothing like family support during a hard ride. Congrats!

 

[Tor Hovland]

The video is out now. Watch it here:

Make sure you select the highest YouTube quality!

 

[Greg S]

Hi Tor,

Really enjoyed the video (and ride report), thanks for posting!

I'm curious about the camera you used and how you used it to film the video. In a lot of the shots you have both hands on the bars so you're clearly not holding the camera and it appears you're being shot from the side. Is there some sort of boom or attachment? If you could post a picture of how the camera is mounted on the bike it'd be great.

Thanks.

 

[Tor Hovland]

Hi Tor,

Really enjoyed the video (and ride report), thanks for posting!

I'm curious about the camera you used and how you used it to film the video. In a lot of the shots you have both hands on the bars so you're clearly not holding the camera and it appears you're being shot from the side. Is there some sort of boom or attachment? If you could post a picture of how the camera is mounted on the bike it'd be great.

Thanks, Greg!

It's really simple, actually, and at the same time mindblowingly amazing. See that black bracket on the right hand side of my handlebar? It's visible most of the time in the video. That's what's holding my camera. The camera itself is invisible! You can see the setup on several of the photos in this thread. An amazing feature of 360 cameras is that you can mount it on any long stick, and the stick will also become invisible. Then you can film yourself and make it look like a drone is hovering above you, or flying around you! There's even an accessory that looks like a paper airplane, so you can literally throw your camera through some action while it's filming. Combine this with the other awesome feature of 360 cameras: perfect image stabilization.

 

[Greg S]

Combine this with the other awesome feature of 360 cameras: perfect image stabilization.

Thanks Tor! I remember your PBP video and being really impressed with how the camera stabilized the images when you were riding over the cobblestones at the start - which were pretty jarring! I have to say though the cobbles weren't as bad at the start as they were at the finish, something about having 1200K behind you that made the ones at the finish feel a lot rougher! Good thing this was offset by the exhilaration of the finish!

 

[Greg S]

A couple of follow up questions about the camera. I'm watching the video again and notice in a number of shots that there's a cable that runs over the handlebars and then "disappears" (I've attached a screen shot). Is this a control cable for the camera that s/w makes invisible? Also, I noticed a number of times where the view in the camera changes and yet it appears both of your hands are on the grips. How is this done?

The reason I'm being such a pest about the camera is I've always carried one on long brevets and I never use it - never. I carried one all through London Edinburgh London and took exactly one picture - at the start. When I'm riding, I'll see something and think "that'd make a good picture" but either I'm moving fast enough that by the time I'd get the camera out I'd be past it and don't want to turn around or I don't want to stop. I'd really like to have more pictures from my long brevets and am trying to find a better solution than carrying a camera in a pocket or tank bag as I've done in the past.