Norway & Traktor Bike Park – Practice
After a bit of help with the tracks and a little riding in the afternoon yesterday, today was all about practicing and trying to tame these mad Norwegian trails.
If any of you have ridden Laggan Wolftrax, just south-west of Aviemore, this is like that but even more rocky. It’s like all the rocks you’ve ever seen, put into one trail, and there are 6 of them. In the most part they ride really well and have a great flow to them, even through the rocks. There are parts though which become a little more challenging, all the more rewarding when you make it through alive.
Last night we made great use of our host’s amazing wood fired pizza oven. We made twenty pizzas and even introduced the Norwegians to the stuffed crust pizza. In this case, the hot-dog stuffed crust.
Sign on with a smile, that’s what we like to see, our host and race organiser, Peter.
Route map for the race, six stages, four from the top, one from half way and one from race HQ down to the fjord. The total stage distance is 12km, with the longest stage being 3.4km.
This has to be one of the best race starts I’ve ever seen, from inside an old hay loft.
A lot of the larger north-shore features aren’t included in the race, a few smaller bits are though. Hopefully we’ll have time to ride it all while we’re here.
One of the tamer rocky sections, it’s been great to ride trails that aren’t easy. It’s fair to say that anything becomes hard at speed, but trails which are just challenging in the first place, aren’t common enough in the UK. Anyone in the UK that complains the enduro races are too easy, come here next year.
This dude sent it a little too far off the larger of the drops to the top left of the picture. I think he regrets that decision now. Saw him riding later in the day but he looked a little sore.
At least I made it all the way to the wall-ride.
This section out in the open was spectacular, if you could concentrate and not be put off by the view. It led into, what in the UK, would probably be frowned upon.
This is the bit of trail that would probably be questionable in the UK, it’s within 6ft of an 80ft cliff into the bottom of a quarry. No tape, no netting, no marshals, no medics, just get on with it.
This is from the base of the quarry looking back up. The trail traverses along the top of the cliff and then drops down a scree slope to the right of this picture, along the base of the quarry and out the far side.
Our accommodation for the week isn’t too shabby, in fact, it’s spot on.
Michael has to take dive of the day. Not a bad way to round off a great days riding. Now time to get the Elk on the BBQ.
Race day tomorrow, so early night and early start. That’s the plan anyway……..
