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Iceland Divide

Road to Iceland - Part 1

By TheBikepack

October 26^th, 2022

We are The Bikepack, a Gothenburg based bicycle crazy adventure seeking duo.

Our core belief is that it doesn't matter how far, steep or fast you go as long as you ride a bike – we ride to inspire and promote this awesome way of traveling, commuting, exercising and having fun.

We have dreamt about crossing the great volcanic deserts of Iceland for a long time, plotted our adventure, gathered our resolve and grit and wow what a trip it turned out to be! Writing this, looking back at our ride makes us feel proud, happy and thrilled. The Iceland divide taught us a lot about ourselves, friendship, hardship and inspired a whole new definition of “bad weather”. This is our first adventure journal in our series about our Iceland divide endeavor and we are so glad to share this amazing adventure and hope you find inspiration, joy and fun while joining in.

The idea was to cross Iceland from north to south, a 600 km bike ride with an estimate of 7 000 meters ascent. A self supported voyage where we would need to carry all food, equipment and gear to maneuver the wilderness, conquer the glaciers and outride the storms for 10 days, give or take. This was not going to be your “out of the book” Iceland experience but a trip that had even the locals asking us why we were doing this.

Off we go!

It was the 22th of August 2022 and we, The Bikepack, were on our way to Landvetter airport and our flight to Iceland. It was a bit of a “pinch me in the arm” feeling as this had been a day we had looked forward to for a very long time. It was a calm start of a nice summer day in Sweden as we zoomed through traffic on the highway. The past few days had been stressful, to say the least, as we came closer to our departure date and grew more and more aware of the approaching test of gear, grit and resolve.

Flying with bikes is always a bit of a pickle, and this occasion did not disappoint. We finally managed to get our bikes and gear checked in after visiting three different “odd sized luggage” gates. We had to, at the end, scan each part of the bikes and gear separately as our cardboard boxes did not fit the x-ray, kudos to the personnel at the gates for making everything work so great.

We were watching nervously from the gate while the bike boxes were making their way to the airplane and the staff were shaking and scratching their heads when they saw the size of our bikes – were they gonna fit?! To our great relief, – yes! The bikes entered the plane and we, together with all our equipment and gear were now safely on our way to Iceland and our adventure.

The flight from Gothenburg to Keflavik took us only about 3,5 hours but the warming embrace of the Swedish summer was long gone when we exited the airport into the cool Icelandic wind and drizzling rain. We, nevertheless, greeted Keflavik with big smiles and excitement as we faced our first task in Iceland… finding a cab. Our cycling didn't start here in Keflavik and we now needed to get a ride to Reykjavík to catch a bus to our starting point Akureyri, in the north of Iceland.

After a tough but fair negotiation with the 75 year old local taxi driver we were on our way to Reykjavik, or rather to our friends at the bike shop Ofsi, the nicest bike shop gang on Iceland, (https://ofsi.is) to assemble our bikes and get them ready for our adventure. We managed a quick inspection and assembly of the bikes, verifying that all things had survived the flight intact, packed our bicycle bags for the trip and got a ride to the Reykjavik city center where we boarded the bus for Akureyri, our starting point.

Akureyri at 23.51

We arrived in Akureyri at 23.51 in the evening, some 6,5h hours later, after a majestic bus ride along part of the Icelandic coast and a taste of the amazing landscapes that were to come. We strolled through the dark and desolate streets of Akureyri on our way through our hostel, enjoying the fresh and crispy air and the excitement of what tomorrow was going to bring.

Last preparations before sneaking into bed was to make sure all things with a battery were put on changing cause this would be the last time in a long time we would get the opportunity to charge.

Happiness on two wheels

We almost woke before the sound of our early alarm clocks and flew out of bed once they rang. Excitement, anticipation and adrenaline made for a really good start to an even better day. It was the day we began our adventure, Iceland Divided, from north to south crossing the majestic landscape of Iceland.

So, after a solid breakfast we left Akureyri with spirited hearts, strong legs and great moods. The first part of the day was a 50 km tarmac stretch, we got introduced to the Icelandic hills/mountains, a taste of the landscapes to come and absolutely amazing weather. Always nice to have a good start! This day was a result of years of preparations and the joy of realizing this had us flying up the hills with no effort.

Stairway to heaven

At least until we faced the longest climb in our cycling careers. Luckily it was followed by the greatest descent! It was a long and winding road down the valley and we flew down the smooth tarmac reaching speeds that we could only dream about for the next several days.

The sun smiled upon us as we continued on our way and we agreed that this probably would be the best weather and roads for a while. One of the best parts about riding on the roads was that when we met cars and trucks who we waved at and did the international “honk your horn” signal to, it worked surprisingly well. All to our very big delight.

Lunch was prepared and served in the sun and we were strongly starting to wonder if this was perhaps one of Iceland's hottest days of the year. Once we were Full and happy our journey continued. We reached the mighty Godafoss. A miniature of the Niagara Falls with beautiful water and a lot of it. This was a classic tourist attraction with a big parking lot and a lot of people – and also a bunch of the happy drivers we had cheered on, on the road going here.

This was also where we took a turn off the beaten path, trading the smooth tarmac road for a bumpy and uneven gravel route. The clouds had started to come in but the rain stayed away as we rushed onwards. We wanted to take advantage of the lovely tailwind and our fresh legs and inspiration, we were also aiming for a hut. To reach the hut we needed to do 110 km our first day, so it was a long day in the saddle ahead. However, the heavy clouds convinced us and it was not a difficult decision as we sped up and kept to the road.

Road to nowhere

We passed the last farm, closed the cattle gate behind us and the dirt road changed to packed mud as we headed into the void of the Icelandic highland and left the last pulse of civilization behind us. Our Orbea bikes flew over the dirt – this was what they were made for! There was open and wild landscape and solitude as long as our eyes could see. The barren volcanic landscape was like nothing we had seen before.

The hut was a sight for sore eyes once we finally spotted the rooftop in the far distance. We had realized that our perception of speed and how far we could travel in a certain time had been gravely challenged as the vegetation and the tracks made it harder than we had anticipated to keep up the pace. It had started to rain when we arrived and we had been on the road for about 11 hours, arriving right after 08 in the evening.

The hut was made out of two barracks, with bunk beds and room for eight people in each. You could almost hear the wind howling around the corners but it had for sure withstood in days harsher than this. It was located right next to a stream with crystal clear water, where we could re-fill our bottles and fetch water for cooking.

We parked our bikes and gave each other a big high five, ringing out loud. Day one of riding was done and, wow! Next up was unpacking the bikes, prepping dinner and our beds, hanging all the wet gear to dry and going through the bikes to make sure all was well and functional for our next day of riding.

We finally sat down for dinner after a long first day of riding. 110 km behind us and a myriad of new impressions. We were tired but happy when we opened our oriental chicken with couscous and enjoyed the meal – nothing tastes better than a hot meal after a long day outside. We called it a day and crawled into our sleeping bags and fell asleep to the sound of raindrops on the roof and a wonderful feeling that the first day of cycling was completed without mishaps and too many blemishes.