Why So Slow?

If you've been looking at our daily mileages (kilometerages?), you might be wondering why we're not racking up the distance very quickly at all. Frankly, we've been wondering the same thing. When I planned this portion of the ride from my dorm room, I figured we'd average 100km a day. So what gives?

The first answer is, obviously, the terrain. The first few days were relatively flat, but ever since Tananger the hills have been steep, winding, and unrelenting. When you combine that sort of geography with unpaved cycling paths, you end up with really, really slow riding -- since our downhills involve white-knuckle grips on the brakes and our climbs are sometimes as slow as 5km/hr. So the landscape is definitely more difficult than expected, and that's one cause of our slow pace.

But I think there are other factors at play. For example, the daylight here is essentially constant (it does get dark at night, but never so dark that we can't pitch a tent or easily find our way around.) That gives us very little incentive to set up camp at a reasonable hour -- in fact, it gives us very little incentive to arrive in town at a reasonable hour. So we've ended up on a bizarre sort of schedule where we finish cycling around 9PM, eat and sight-see until midnight, and then go to sleep between 1 and 2AM. We might pull out of town the next morning at 11, take a long lunch (and nap) around 3PM, and then the whole cycle starts over again. It's actually an extremely enjoyable routine, but it's not one that's conducive to the long hours in the saddle that are necessary to really pump out the miles.

Another pace-breaker is the fact that it is so unbelievably beautiful here. Every turn reveals a new vista that we stop to admire and photograph. If we really like the view, we'll get off our bikes, plop down, and enjoy it from ground level for a while. So while we're certainly not complaining about the scenery here, there's no doubt that it slows us down.

Of course, the last reason we cover less ground is that we aren't really in that great of shape. My dad says that cycling muscles are unique, and that the only way to train for cycling is by cycling. I have no idea if that has any scientific grounding, but it's always struck me as true. So even if you're amazingly fit (like Joe), you'll still get worn out just as quickly as the out-of-shape guy you're cycling with (that'd be me), assuming that neither of you did much cycling in the weeks before the trip (we didn't).

We're getting stronger, though, and we're hoping that a rest day in Kristiansand will give our muscles a bit of time to recuperate -- and then step up their game for the second half of the trip. We've also realized that it doesn't much matter how far we go -- we have nowhere we need to be and no deadline to get there.* So chances are we'll keep on stopping to smell all the roses we see.

Check out the pictures below if you haven't seen them! We'll try to keep uploading them as often as we get the chance.

Until tomorrow,
-Ben.

*Joe needs to be in Copenhagen on the 20th, of course, but can take a train from just about anywhere. I'm shooting for Hamburg by the 22nd, but there are many options for route and ferries.
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