Statistics for the trip across Kjölur and Sprengisandur

The table below summarizes the statistics for each day of our biking trip across Kjölur and Sprengisandur. We rested one day on the 11th of July whilst the road authorities cleared the mountain road across Sprengisandur.

Statistics for the trip across Kjöl and Sprengisand
Day	km	moving time h:m		tot. ascent
8.7.2011	43,59	4	40	581
9.7.2011	46,78	6	43	753
10.7.2011	38,9	3	47	237
12.7.2011	43,11	5	56	721
13.7.2011	21	4	14	791
14.7.2011	48,41	5	36	399
15.7.2011	56	5	53	794
total	297,79	32	289	4276
		time:	37 h
	Average speed:		8,05 km/h

Nineth day Saturday July 16th

We had intended to bike down to Hrauneyjar today some 50 km down the road. The wind was still blowing hard and the conditions to fix the bikes not good. In addition I got a phone call offering me a week’s job of guiding but I needed to fly to Akureyri at 7:00 AM Sunday morning. We decided to call the pickup team and drive ASP to Reykjavík. We were at the end of the actual mountain road anyway and had succeeded in the task we aimed for. By the time the car came to pick us up we had finished repairing the bikes and were in fact ready to continuo but time was of importance so we took the car to Reykjavik. We were very pleased with our accomplishments. I am sitting now on Sunday at noon in a Coffee shop in Husavik NE-Iceland writing up these final blogs. In the next days I will probably have time to post the final statistics and post some picture. My group is however about to finish their Whale watching and I need to go work.

Eight day – Friday July 15th

When we woke up in the morning the wind was even stronger then yesterday. We did not much feel like leaving this nice hut but the trip needed to be continued. We were ready to go at 11:30 in the morning. Only 2 km down the road we needed to wade the first of many rivers this day. Most we could bike but others we needed to wade.  But we hardly needed to use our feet. The wind was our engine. In fact we made most use of our hands holding the breaks. If this would have been a paved road we could easily have done 50 km/h but this was a rough road and the most we could do was 15 km/h. On those occasions where we tried going faster something broke on the bikes and we needed to use time to fix the problem. Three times we needed to do minor repairs to my bike and twice to Gudjons bike. Our max speed this day was 31 km/h and we travelled 57 km in 5h and 53m with a still time of 1h 51m which was mostly wading rivers or fixing the bikes. Towards the end of the day the temperature dropped and the we were getting cold. About 2 km from our destination Gudjons bike had a flat and mine had a minor breakdown. We walked the last 2 km. It was difficult to find a place to put up a tent at the Versalir, a closed hut at the end of the mountain road. The terrain was very rocky and the wind was blowing like never before. In the end we put the tents on a wooden porch in front of the hut using nails we found lying around as pecks for our tents and a stone for a hammer. The next task was to create shelter for our stow so we could cook. It was a cold and difficult night. Temperature went close to 0°C and we were wet after all the wading we had done in the rivers.

Seventh day – Thursday July 14th

After putting up camp yesterday and eating we went to sleep. During the night the wind came down. It was a difficult night. The thin mattresses offer little protection against the rocky terrain underneath. Some comfort was taken in the fact that the winds had calmed. I was however terrified to wake up at 7:00 in the morning to the roaring wind. But great was my joy when a looked out and realised that the wind direction hat changes and it was blowing in our backs! We broke camp, eat breakfast and were ready to go at 9. We would surly use this wind whilst it lasted. And what a fantastic and effortless ride it was that day. We were swept by the wind along straight and good roads and eventually downwards towards Nýjidalur.  Occasionally sand would slow us down but for most parts the ride was a fantastic one. Like all the other days on this trip the weather was clear and the view of the mountains was fantastic. Most of the rivers we could ride but when we came to the first big one near Nýjidalur we realised that we had lost one pair of wading shoos! I had to cross in my biking shoos. The water is to cold to wade barefooted in large glacial rivers. Two km further down the road waited the biggest glacial river of the trip. We did not want the water to go over the axels of the tires so we had to carry the bikes with gear and all over the river. On the other side awaited us a warm hut with a shower and friendly greetings from the hut warden Sóla. We cooked the best meal of the trip to celebrate that we had crossed the most difficult part of this desert. The statistics of the trip: We biked 49 km in 5h and 36m. We stopped for 1h and 11m. Average speed moving was 8,6 km/h. Total ascent was 399 m.

Sixed day – Wednesday July 13th

Woke up to the hurling wind at 7:00. I decided that we would stay put for the next hours in the hope that the wind would come down. At 9:00 I made us breakfast after which we started taking down the tents and packing. The wind was much stronger than before (probably 15-20 m/s) and we decided to bike to a hut that was supposed to be some 8 km away and seek shelter there. We never found that hut and just continued onward against the sandy slopes and the wind. After 21 km we were exhausted and had to make camp in the middle of this vast sandy desert. But not before we had crossed one cold river on foot.  There are three types of rivers in Iceland: glacial with temperature of 0°C, pluvial with temperature close to the air temp (6-9°C) and spring rivers with temperature in the highland of Iceland between 2-3°C. All the rivers we crossed were of the first and third kind. Our tents were literally sitting in the middle of nowhere with no shelter and no vegetation to be seen as far as the eyes could see. The dinner that night was pasta with tuna and sand. Very grinding on the teeth. Trips statistics: we biked 21 km in 4h and 14m. We rested for 2h. Our max speed was 19,3 km/h but our moving average is 5,1 km/h. Total ascent was 643 m. We have now 47 km to go to Nýjidalur if this weather continues it will take two more days to get there!

Fifth day – Tuesday July 12th

After a hefty breakfast at Hotel Kiðagil we had out at 10:45. The first 20 km to Aldeyjarfoss were on a good gravel road but we were going uphill with a slight breeze in our face. It was a lovely and clear day. We had our breakfast at Aldeyjarfoss and enjoyed this one of the more spectacular waterfalls here in Iceland. Onward we went on to the actual mountain road which had not been open to traffic at that time. It was recently graded and we were the kings of the road. Not cars, no dust. Just us two. The only problem was that in some places the road was very sandy a problem which would continue to cause problem throughout the rest of the trip.  This problem was especially difficult since we were ascending some 800 m this day. Loosing tire grip in the slope is not good. As the day progressed the wind picked up. It was in our face at 10-15 m/s. At the end this had become a difficult struggle against the sandy slopes and the wind. We had intended to bike 50 km this day but gave up after 45 km and put up our tents in the only green patch in a 20 km radius (near an area called Fremstu mosar). It was difficult to put up the tents in this wind but with teamwork we were able to succeed in that task. The statistics for the day: We biked 45 km. We were moving for 5h and 56m and resting for 2h and 42m. Max speed was 29 km/h, the moving average was 7,1 km/h. The total ascent was 730 m.

We did it!

Today me and my son Gudjon finished our 8 day biking trip north Kjölur and south Sprengisand. I have not been able to update the blog like I wanted to do but I will do so in the coming days with some nice photographs and the final statistics for the trip.

Day 5. We start our journey accross Sprengisand

We have finished packing and will leave in 5 minutes. We estimate that it will take us 2-3 days to bike the 150 km to Nýjadal. We need to climb up some 800 m today. The conditions are not good - sun +20°C and clear skies. We will be cooked. I won't have the seatalite transmitter on continouesly but I will send a signal when we make camp each night.

New photos in my album

Have a look at the latest addition to my albume

Day 4. Monday 11th of July: Kiðagil a day of rest

I called the road authorities this morning they have not finished clearing the snow of the northern part of the Sprengisandur route (which they had intended to do this weekend). They sent the snow plows up today (they went past our hotel this morning on the way up to the highlands). We therefore decided to wait one day here so we would not need to cross long snow banks on our bikes.  We will continue our biking tomorrow.  I will upload some pictures today from our travel across Kjölur. I had decided to bike to Nýjadal in two days but will do it in three since we need to bike from the hotel some 25 km to the starting point and we are making a climb of 800 meters the first day. If the road is rough then that will take some time. One always has to allow for time to tent and cook before the nights rest.  Since the phone concection is not as good as I had hoped up in the mountains I am not sure when I will be able to post my next blog. But eventually they will all make it.