Trollstigen
my wife, Judith and I are huge fans of Scandinavia and especially Norway with it's beautiful landscapes. Late summer of 2017 we drove all the way up to the province of Norway called "Møre og Romsdal" from Vienna via ferry from Denmark. As we had some space in our car anyways, we of course brought our bikes to ride some epic norwegian roads. The most famous road/climb out of Norway is for sure the so called Trollstigen so it was also the number one on our bucket list. The weather was rather wet and cold, as it is a lot of times up in the North but as our route wasn't planned to be to long it didn't really matter that much. One thing in general with ridings bikes in Norway and most of the other northern countrys is that it is really hard do find moderate distance loops to ride. Because of all the mountains and Fjords there simply aren't that many roads and especially paved roads around. That means that if you want to ride loops you mostly end up with at least 100km plus rides. You can just ride up to some point and then the same way back again that was the case on our ride up Trollstigen too. We started our ride close to the town of Andalsnes where we parked our car. From there you ride around 10km into a vally on a hilly road always slightly going upwards until you reach the switchbacks of the Trollstigen. The climb itself is medium hard I would say and it is about 10 switchbacks only but the scenery is just stunning. There is a waterfall which you cross via a bridge at one point and from the top you have an awesome view over the valley. On Top of the climb there is also a little museum, a small restaurant and a platau to enjoy the view. This isn't the highest point of the road yet. It continues to go up towards Valldal for a little bit but never to steep. The "peak" is really just a small parking spot next to the road, so nothing special. From there you could continue towards Valldal where they filmed the movie "Ex Machina", but doing a loop that way would mean over 160km with more than 4000 meters of elevation. Nonetheless this part of the road is really beatiful because you have the "Reinheimen nationalpark" right next to the road. We just turned around and did the downhill in the rain. Here is the route on strava if you are interested.
Dalsnibba
Not that far by car from Trollstigen is the Unesco world heritage town of "Geiranger" at the end of the stunning Geirangerfjord. This was also our starting point going up to the mountain "Dalsnibba" starting from sea level. This climb was way more intense than Trollstigen with around 1500 meters up to the top it was about twice the elevation gain compared to Trollstigen. It started with a few switchbacks through the small town before arriving at a first short plateau where there was also a viewing point for the fjord. Just after the viewing platform we reached a part of the historic old road called "Knuten" which is basically a tunel/bridge/loop combination which served as a way to manage the elevation back in the days with their vehicles. The road was constantly going upwards from there with a few more switchbacks coming up at the second half of this part that takes you to the second plateau at around 1000 metres sealevel. You are going from pretty green and in our case orange vegetation of bushes and all sorts of plants to a high alpine like scenery of just pure rock and only some lichens. On this second plateau you reach a clear mountain lake before turning into the last part of the climb, this time up to highest point. Another 500 metres of pure climbing with a few swithbacks to get done. Once you made it up to the top you get rewarded with one hell of a view over the whole region, the Geirangerfjord at the very bottom and you can even see the middle parts of the road you somehow just managed to make your way up on. The cool thing about this peak is really that it is so extracted from other mountains around and that makes it apear even higher. After enjoying the view and having a coffee at a small shop at the top, we went back the same way again as it got pretty cold up there. It was early september but you could still see some snow on the mountains around. Same as with the Trollstigen it is also rather difficult to plan a roadcycling loop here because there is no other roads that bring you back to Geiranger anywhere near. But what you could do if you would like to ride a bit longer and aren't afraid of a bit of gravel, to go to the historic road called "Gammle Strynfjellsvegan" which means basicy "old mountainroad at Stryn" and ride it down towards Hjelle and than take the new road back up towards Geiranger or viceversa. We did only check out the road with the car, but it is also a beautiful area and as the name says you are passing the Stryn glacier. Here is our strava roadmap for the Dalsnibba.
Atlantic Ocean Road
The "Atlanterhavsvegen" is besides the Trollstigen probably the most famous road out of Norway or at least that one particular arc like bridge that basicly everyone might have seen a photo of already at some point. After two climbing rides we decided to check out this road for a more mellow third ride. I am gonna keep it short with this one same as the ride was. So the road is about 15km long going from island to island via small bridges and all flat besides that one famous bridge, which is about 10 metres of elevation. You are basicly always riding right next to the ocean which is nice and the road really looks cool on photos, but it isn't really that spectacular in reality to be honest. Especially compared to Dalsnibba and Trollstigen. So I wouldn't recommend travelling there just for this road, but if you are in the area close to it as we were then you can definitly check it out. We did only ride the Atlantic Ocean Road and a bit further and then the same way back again because we didn't have that much time but you could definitly plan some various loops around that area as it has way more roads to offer than the more mountainous regions. Here is the strava route for the Atlanterhavsvegen only.
