One week trip from Oslo to Bergen via the new Gravel Ruta 5 and the Rallarvegen

Route (corrected to avoid unnecessary hike-a-bike sections) here: https://www.komoot.com/tour/3072144446

I filmed everything with my new Osmo Action 6. Quality seems amazing even during the worst rocky downhills, where my bike was shaking. I'll post the video here once I find the time to go through the 2 hrs of rushes and put together something for YouTube.

With Mathew from Cycle Norway releasing the new national gravel routes in Norway, I thought it would be great to go back there and do more of these legendary gravel routes with 2 friends new to multi-day bikepacking.

A few years ago, I went from Oslo to Gol, then rode the Mjølkevegen towards Ålesund. There was a lot of tarmac involved. But this time, the promise was to stick to gravel and trails as much as possible, except for the last part from Moss to Bergen. One cannot avoid taking the train and busy roads.

We took the bus from Berlin last Thursday night (July 2nd) to Copenhagen, hopped on a ferry to Oslo, and started riding on Saturday morning.

Route #5:

I have already followed (more or less) Cycle Norway's route #5 last time, and made some changes to be able to start from Oslo center via the Akerselva instead of going west and following the Lysakerelven.

I used Komoot to connect my trail and Cycle Norway's: big mistake. We ended up having to carry our bikes through slopes that had been ravaged by the logging industry. The old hike-a-bike path was no more. One must be very careful in the remote Nordmarka around Oslo as the logging alters paths constantly, and neither Komoot nor Ride With GPS is up-to-date.

The route #5 was a lot harder than expected. Lots of MTB trails, carrying the bike through swamps, the mud, then a constant succession of climbs and downhills, as you slowly climb up from 0 to 1000m before hitting the plateau of Gol. Lots of cat #3 and #4 gravel. Some of these got me shaking so much, plus the branches and the roots, I lost not one, but two water bottles in my frame cages. If you find Canyon 750ml bottles between Nordmarka and Gol, these are probably mine. I bought a better cage in Gol and a new bottle before going on.

There you can choose to go north-east to the Mjølkevegen (don't do it that way, trust me, better start in the north and go south) or to go north-west to the Rallarvegen and ride all the way down to the village of Flåm and the Sognefjord.

Route #6, Rallarvegen:

We connected Geilo near Gol to Flåm in one day (110km-ish) despite the cold and the constant headwind. Nothing could have spoiled that part of the trip. Simply my best biking experience, ever. A bit of snow, but mostly good cat #1 and #2 gravel.

-> Going from snow and glaciers around Finse, through insane mountain canyons with pristine water, arriving in the valley of Seltuftvatnet (this is the end game of "I want to buy a cabin and grow old there"). It was like going from the icy landscapes of God of War Ragnarok to Red Dead Redemption 2's lakes.

Then you end up going down the insane gravel hairpin bends of the Myrdal's svingane, before going down over 17 km to Flåm. You're riding, alone (it was 8 pm), through tunnels, by the river, hopping from one side to another, while you're descending deeper and deeper in this canyon. From an altitude of 800 m to sea level, reaching the biggest fjord of Norway. Meanwhile, the cliffs around you slowly rise to 1000 m+, and waterfalls almost as high grab your attention at every turn. I cried a bit when I reached our campsite at the end of the day.

Sadly, we had to cheat a bit due to the complicated booking system for bikes on trains. We had planned to climb back up with the train to Myrdal, then to Upsete to avoid a tunnel forbidden to bikes, but we could only get bike spots if we booked to Stanghelle, further down our road, after another section where there's no other option than the train.

Because of that, we couldn't bike in the valleys around Voss, and ended up going through Arna and then to Bergen earlier than expected. We got one extra day to visit Bergen, and for that I am thankful. What a great city and great people.

It was my first time in Vestland, and I left a piece of my heart there… Oslofjord seemed like a pretty flat landscape once we came back with the famous Bergen-Oslo line during the night.

About our gear:

I was riding my Canyon Grizl 7AL with Tufo Thunderos 48mm (tubeless). Except for a tiny puncture in Copenhagen due to a tiny shard of glass, these tires took a beating and really delivered. Best tires I've ever had. Not a sign of wear.

One of my friends was riding his Cube with my Vittoria T70 in 45mm. He went through trails and mud as if it were tarmac, but had a stupid puncture dropping his back on a slab of bedrock that required the use of 2 bacon strips then a tube. THEN he drove on a fricking drill bit back in Copenhagen that just RIPed the rear tire. Dear Danish people, please clean your bike lanes better. Anyway, the tires were almost new, and after these 500km, you could see the rolling band knobs had seriously worn out. The compound is grippy but not very durable.

The last of us was riding his Orbea with a set of Vittoria Terreno Dry (the T30 now) in 38mm, with tubes!!! He had absolutely no problems, though he did drive a lot slower on the rocky downhills since he had a lot less grip than us.

PS:

We want to praise Michał, the older Polish guy who didn't speak any English but followed us down the Rallarvegen with his old school road bike, rubber brake pads, and slick 28mm tires. You're a legend, mate. I hope the rest of your trip northbound is going well.