21.-24.3.16

As the temperature finally rose over 0°C for a longer time and the snow slowly started to melt it was time for some self-organized daytrips during the easter break. For me, this meant it was time to explore the Norwegian forests for some mountainbiking suited trails. So in this week I went for three longer bike trips around the local area. As Julian was away skiing in Tromso, Max accompanied me on Julians’ bike.

Day 1: To get into the feeling again, Max and I went out to explore Jegersberg and play around on some short trails. There was still some snow laying around, and especially on the former cross-country lap the uneven snow was challenging. But biking a downhill S-turn over snow is really exciting and one of the best technique trainings you can have. We raced criss-cross through the forest searching for rideable trails. We found some awesome, flowy spots as well as some technical challenging parts with a lot of loose gravel. While having fun on the bikes we met two Norwegian women who gave us some tips on where to look for good mtb possibilities. This was the first impression of how nice Norwegians react when meeting other people in the woods. Many more should follow and impress me during the week. After powering over sticks and stones for over 3 hours we took a rest at a small lake and enjoyed the sun for some minutes. On the way back home we came across a steep and wet flat rock. I stepped off the bike because I saw some wood logs laying in the way making it almost impossible not to crash. For twenty seconds I thought Max would do the same, but he decided to go for it. When he approached the boles and the front tire got dangerously close to one of them I already saw him falling, but miraculously he stayed on his bike and passed the wood. What a high risk manoeuvre!

Day 2: After the first day I was on fire to go for more trails and even Max, who normally isn’t too much into mountainbiking, was motivated to cycle a bigger lap on the second day. From a local bike shop I received a map showing some cycling tours around Kristiansand and we decided to go for a 25 km lap starting at Jegersberg and then going North to Grostol and to pass Justvik on the way back. As the marked route only followed boring dirt tracks, we went onto some trails following the same direction every now and then. The longest extra lap led us towards Den omvendte bat, which we knew from the last daytrip with the Norwegian students. After one hour of carrying the bike uphill, Max got too annoyed and wanted to get back on the saddle, so we took a shortcut and went downhill again. On our way back to the tracks we found some decent parts of the trail, riddled with wood logs, stones, snow and sometimes even ice. As we carried the bikes down a short, rocky part we again met two friendly Norwegian women (but not the ones from the day before) who warned us about some ice on the following trail. Luckily they were a little over-dramatic and we had a lot of fun shredding on the long trail back to the track. At Gillsvann lake, where we had made more than half the distance for the day, we found a really nice spot for a lunch break. We even attempted to jump into the water, but the wind and some ice on the other side of the lake gave us a good opportunity to pull back without being labelled too whiny. For the last 12 kilometres we just followed the streets and dirt roads and had a nice and easy way back to Jegersberg, where I took the chance to power along the trails we found the day before to close the day.

Day 3: For the last planned trip Max and I separated as I wanted to go to the Radesund area and bike around in the forest looking for trails which also meant to carry from time to time. I followed the street for a few kilometres to get to my destination and then decided to head into the forest to find some nice trails. The first one wasn’t really accessible, but also pretty muddy. I stopped in front of a 2m big puddle, thinking I was safe. I wasn’t, and my left foot slipped into the mud until even my ankle was fully covered. Although there was no snow left, and the air was quite warm, I had to realize that the mud in the forest wasn’t thawed so long ago. My bad.

Luckily I met another mountainbiker who gave me some hints on where to go to find good and accessible mtb trails, and that’s where the real fun part started. I just went east to west, north to south, south to east and west to west through the recommended area and had a lot of fun on the partly steep and rocky trails ending up at Dvergsnestange which delivers a beautiful view on the North Sea. Here I decided to rest a few minutes and eat my lunch before heading back to Kristiansand. I had three awesome days exploring the Norwegian forests on my beloved bike. The days with Max were pretty nice as I had some company to share the fun with and I was happy that he joined me although he isn’t really into mountainbiking. And in the end he also had a lot of fun. I also enjoyed riding on my own, because you can choose to go wherever you want and rest in the peaceful and quite nature, living the moment to forget the hassle and stress of everyday life.