Norway
Wild landscapes meet perfectly smooth roads for the adventure cyclist’s dream destination.
Norway will take your breath away, and it won’t be just from the exertions of riding its steep inclines and demanding gravel sectors. A land of astounding natural beauty, the mountains and water combine here in the form of the unforgettable fjords, and the vastness of this landscape can’t fail to inspire you as you ride.
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History and Culture
Norway become an independent country in 1905, and Norwegians today are a strong and patriotic but peace-loving people living in a progressive welfare state rooted in egalitarian ideals.
The capital city Oslo is in the middle of a massive waterfront development programme which aims to turn the city into a world-renowned cultural centre, and the Opera House and Astrup Fearnley museum are two results. Cycling is also high on the public agenda, and almost a billion dollars will be invested as the country aims for zero growth in car use between now and 2030.
Food and Drink
The cuisine of Norway is undergoing a quiet revolution centred around the rise in local and organic produce, and the results are increasingly impressive.
Many Norwegians enjoy cooking what they harvest themselves, and the word kortreist, meaning ‘short-travelled’, refers to a method of producing and cooking with foods that haven’t been transported far. The vast, unpolluted countryside is ideal for the growth of organic fruit and vegetables, while the tender lamb meat that Norway is famous for comes from grazing in outlying pastures and protein-rich vegetation. Given the thousands of miles of coastline, seafood is hugely popular too: Rakfisk, or ‘fermented trout’, is one traditional dish, as is Røkt Laks, or ‘buried salmon’. Fine wines aren’t a feature of the drinking in Norway, however, and while beer has typically consisted of uninspiring lagers, there is a growing trend in craft microbreweries.
Cycling History
Road cycling hasn’t historically been a popular sport in Norway and the country’s first star didn’t appear until Knut Knudsen rode from out of the Arctic Circle in the 1970s.
Despite his wintry upbringing, ‘The Norseman’ enjoyed his greatest success as a pro in mediterranean Italy, where he won six stages at the Giro. Until the great Thor Hushovd then won the world championships road race in 2011, Norway had only sporadically produced great riders (Dag Erik Pederson and Dag Otto Lauritzen to name a couple), but now the sport is growing faster than the mighty Thor’s sprint. Edvald Boasson Hagen and Alexander Kristoff lead the current charge, while the Tour of Norway and Arctic Race of Norway are two recently formed UCI races that always deliver spectacle to go with the scenery.
Geography
A long, narrow country with hundreds of islands, and an unpredictable, varied weather, Norway has huge reserves of oil and gas under the North Sea, making it a very rich country in recent years.
The mountains that tower vertiginously over Norway’s enormous fjords provide a stunning, jagged coastline for miles and miles - and we’ll enjoy the very life-affirming pleasure of riding along parts of it. These deep valleys filled with water were formed when the last ice age ended 10,000 years ago, melting the thick ice sheet that covered the country and water is indeed the dominant feature of the landscape. Head north, and if you’re lucky you’ll see the Northern Lights, while the Arctic and its midnight sun are like nowhere else in the world. Truly, a unique country.
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