Beautiful Gravel Cycling in Norway’s Forests | Ride to Kikutstua #gravelcycling #cycling

Beautiful Gravel Cycling in Norway’s Forests | Ride to Kikutstua
Join me on a peaceful gravel bike adventure through Norway’s stunning Nordmarka forest, riding from Oslo to the historic Kikutstua lodge. This ride takes us past Maridalsvannet, through Hammeren, and up winding gravel climbs with over 400m of elevation gain. Along the way, I test the DJI Osmo 360 and Insta360 X5 to see how they perform for cycling content, and share moments that make gravel cycling so special.

We’ll pass lakes, forest trails, and classic Norwegian gravel roads before reaching Kikutstua — a lodge that’s been welcoming visitors since 1926. Coffee, baked goods, and endless trails make it the perfect reward for the ride.

Whether you’re here for the cycling route details, the camera test, or just to enjoy some peaceful riding footage, I hope you find a little escape in this vlog.

📍 Ride Details:

Distance: ~25–30 km to Kikutstua (plus return)
Elevation Gain: ~400 m
Route Highlights: Maridalsvannet → Hammeren → Kikutstua → return via Sognsvann & Majorstuen
Surface: Gravel & tarmac mix
Difficulty: Moderate, steady climbs

🎥 Gear Used:

DJI Osmo 360 (loaned by DJI Store Norway)
Insta360 X5
Tailfin bike bags
Drone shots from [Your Drone Model]

🎵 Music from Pixabay:
Early Morning – LoFi HipHop Background Music
Coffee LoFi – LoFi Music
LoFi Study Calm – Peaceful Chill Hop
Go Wild
Midnight Synthwave

📸 Follow for more ride vlogs:
Instagram → @gravel.vibe

#gravelcycling #cycling #gravelbike #cyclingvlog #oslonorway #nordmarka #kikutstua #gravelride #gravelbikeadventure #cyclinglife #cyclingtour

packing up the bike. There’s so many things I have to carry today. So, today feels like it’s mini adventure time. Life has been pretty busy lately, so I don’t feel I’ve actually had any longer rides. And today I thought I’d uh take you guys with me on a trip up to Shikits Dua, which is an old cabin, which is roughly about 25 to 30 km away from home. I also got a little special thing with me today. I’m going to be filming with the Osmo 360 as well as the Insta 360 X5 and try to compare them to see which one is actually better for cycling content. I’ve been able to borrow the Osmo 360 from the DJI store in Norway. So, this won’t be like a full review or anything, but I thought I’ll see how they cope with cycling and how they’re actually to use on the bike. It has been saying that since it has this DLOG M profile and 10 bit colors that it’s vastly superior, which I have no idea about, but I thought I’d give it a shot and see. I’ve been fortunate enough that uh the DJI store in Norway has been willing to borrow it to me. This is their uh show, how do you call it, showcase model, but they literally picked it off the showroom floor and gave it to me. So, these bags from Tail fin. Now, I understand why they cost so much. You will not find anything as custom and as premium as these bags. They’re so well made. They’re so well like cut off so it don’t rub on your legs and it’s impossible to like bulge it out so it becomes super big. But it’s so roomy as well with two pockets, one on each side with plenty of pockets on the inside as well. They’re really nice. I think that one of the best things about Osla is that no matter which side you live on, it’s always really close to Mara. So, for instance, I’m traveling now to the opposite side of where I live. It takes me about 10 minutes. The reason I always go to the north side is because the east side is really, really hilly. But maybe eventually I’ll show that off a bit as well. But for now, we’re sticking to the north. So, right now we’re climbing up the Shelos from Studu, which is about 3 and a half km, classified as a steep hill, but it’s not that bad. Now we’re on top of Shos and in the distance over there we have Malama which is probably my most ridden patch of gravel in Norway because cuz it’s so close to the city and it’s so manageable that that’s the place I started cycling and that’s also a beautiful way to get to so many other connection points further out to Mad. I’ll show you soon, but it’s like this beautiful crossing near a beautiful water which is Oslo’s main source of water. You’ll see soon. So, I don’t usually stop here, but I thought I’d try and get some drone footage of Marana and the beautiful trail that is right over the water. So, I hope my drone actually has the range to get out far enough to that side so I can show the path. So, I think that madama is also main water source. It’s not allowed to swim here, but it’s always beautiful, especially when the lights hits it. But the sunsets are most beautiful in my opinion. Over there you have some de which we’ll cross going here. And all the way across there, that’s a little tarmac section. And then we’re at Hammer. Heat. So we just turned off at Hamang which is basically the gateway to all the good gravel. It connects to everything. And from here basically you can go anywhere around Oscela all the way around basically all the way up to Shikutu now is climbing but it’s luckily not that steep but it is consistent. Pretty steady climb. It’s not super gradienty. I think it’s about 6% after that. some pretty perfect gravel before you meet the three last climbs, I think. So, it’s pretty manageable. And on the way home, you just fly. It takes about an hour to get up and 20 minutes to get down, which is kind of funny. We’re sitting up at Bernholt, which is a cabin before you get to Shikut. There’s only one more climb and then uh basically big descent before we get to Shikut. I’m just sitting here exporting some footage from the DJ Osmo 360 to test how the footage looks in 10 bit log and it uh kind of takes forever since the file sizes are huge. But uh I couldn’t wait to be honest just to check how it compares to the Insta3. Look at this nice place to be doing that at. So here at the Bernhol you have a coffee shop over there and they sell a lot of baked goods and they also have warm dishes and there’s a toilet. So not uh not many months ago I was cycling here in the rain and I was basically soaked through and through and then I remember sitting inside there by the fire eating some soup with flatbread. It was pretty amazing. It’s like one of those core memories. We headed to the last climb before we get to Shikut. And it’s not a long climb by any means, but after that, there’s something called the death hill. At least that’s what the segment is called. But the good thing is it’s not the death hill in the way we’re running it. It’s the death hill in the opposite direction because it’s so steep that people die on it figuratively. This is the so-called death hill which is from the bottom and towards the top. But uh going down here is not that bad. But going up this hill is uh pretty pretty painful. So this is the last descent fishy kit. And if I was not holding the camera, this will be where you just pump it all out and then you get rewarded when you get to Shikut with some coffee, soda, and some baked goods. And finally we arrive at tickets. What to order? Shikisu has actually been here since I think it was 1926 and uh it’s really popular especially in the winter. A lot of skiers cross this lake with the cross country skis and there’s also a couple of cyclists from Oslo Dump Patrol that regularly cycle up here through the winter across this lake. Now, I’ve never tried it, but perhaps this year is the year with the Riley. At weighing 112 kilos, I kind of still feel it’s kind of risky. But yeah, this place has like beautiful food. You can actually sleep here as well. You can rent a room. Yeah, it’s a place you always kind of end up staying for a little bit. Here you even have a little tool station if you need to tighten any bolts. Just remember to put stuff back. And there’s also charging here for ebikes. It’s pretty decent. Can’t beat this though. There’s literally endless gravel roads. It’s all beautiful. You also see some wildife. I’m so happy I discovered gravel cycling about four or five years ago now. This really is the best. The crazy thing about wood is that it covers 23 of Oslo. There’s literally thousands of kilometers of trails, country roads, just endless beauty just like this here. Like these small waterfalls. This is I think the biggest reason why gravel cycling for me at least isn’t that much about speed, but it’s more about the destination. It’s just like how can you speed by all this and beauty and not take it in? I don’t get it. Of course, I like riding my bike fast as well. I mean, look at this thing. This thing is a rocket bike. Honestly, it’s super fast. The better the bike you’d have, the more time you get to basically just chill out, go easy, and just coast and enjoy it. I’m uh mentally preparing myself for the death pill that is to come over here. And after that, it’s basically just downhill back to the city where I hopefully will make a coffee with a friend and end this ride. But first, we got to do some climbing and then we got to do some descending. And I hope perhaps to get the Osmo 360 and film a little bit of the descents and also with the Insta 360. See if I can make some cool shots with them. I thought what better way to showcase my suffering than with 8K 50 fps on the DJ Osmo. All right. Yeah, finally 4 minutes 28 seconds of torture. Like I know I’m not the fastest of those times, but the thing is like I remember a time where I actually couldn’t finish those climbs. and I had to walk up those climbs. So, the thought of just actually finishing them, although slow in comparison to many other people, I’m able to actually finish them, which for me is winning. 360 X5, ND 64, shutter speed of 100, ISO max 400. Let’s see. I have always been a time optimist, but I think even I have stretched it too far today. So, heading home. I’m an hour late. know what I said to my wife. I’ll be home. So, I don’t know, guys. We’ll see if there be more ride logs. Not looking good right now. All right. Thanks for following along. Love you.