“ my mechanic told me, “ I couldn’t repair your brakes, so I made your horn louder”…
Please watch the Relive video here: https://www.relive.cc/view/vZqN1GGzZG6
On the Road: 26 miles/ 42 km. I Elevation 2,867 ft / 905 metres
A short but magnificent ride as we headed to our first Fjord and one of Norway’s finest – Lysefjord. It was a ‘Planes, Trains, and Automobiles’ day but with cycling attached…oh and bus rather than car and ferry instead of a train!
A 7 km rolling descent from the hotel led us to a 20km climb that was broken up into 4 sections with a short flatter areas in between.
After more beautiful mountain plateau scenery,
we arrived at Kjerag and enjoyed a coffee while taking in the epic view down over the enormous valley and fjord below.
Above right is the cafe at the top of the Lysebotn, the left photo is a portion of the view looking down into the fjord and dock.
Then…off we rode…. on the 5.4 mile/8.7km, 27 switchback , average 10% descent that is Lysebotn!
One of these switchbacks goes directly into the rock, a tunnel boring 328 ft (100metres)before turning back out again to ride into the light at Lysevegen
our final stop before we boarded the ferry and our shuttle to Stavanger Airport from there we flew on to Bergen for our finish of Vikings Stage 1.
A few of our group took on the ‘Lysebotn Challenge’, which was to climb up the switchbacks (and tunnel). Since we approached Lysebotn from Fidjeland, that meant riding the descent first, then back up and then back down a second time to the ferry dock.
For a beautiful video overview of the Lysebotn Challenge, check out this YouTube video: https://youtu.be/Q4YkojtC14Q?si=jFosLAQYKJ237fio
But the reward for this effort was a spectacular 2 1/2 hour ferry ride through the Lysefjord fjord.
This got us to Lauvik and we transferred to a motor coach taking us to Stavanger. Here we boarded a Wideroe Airlines plane for a short flight to Bergen.
We checked into our hotel, The Charmante, in the city centre.
For those who were leaving the group tomorrow, the last 2 days gave them an excellent taste of the challenge of riding in Norway.
Tomorrow we rest our weary legs and psyched for the more difficult Stage 2 of Vikings…..but Bergen is a beautiful city, so who knows if I will get much rest.
Life is Good in Bergen!