On Sunday, August 18, our guides picked up everyone in Reykjavik in two vans and drove us a couple of hours to Dragsnes in the Westfjords to start the tour. We got our stuff into our rooms, put our bikes together, and took our first ride of the week. It was a 25 mile ride to get warmed up and ready to ride the following days.
Day 1, gravel already!
Part of the road that we rode.
A preview of more to come.
We would see a lot of landscapes like this during the week, and they were all just as beautiful. Water on the right, hills on the left, clouds overhead.
More!
Right: water, left: hills, above: clouds, below: road.
My bike for the week.
My Kona Rove DL just before our first ride. I didn't realize at this point that my front brake rotor had gotten bent and so was dragging the entire 25 miles of our first ride.
Porch
Each room in Dragsnes had one of these entry/porch/mudroom spaces. The doors were double-glazed so it was marginally insulated, but when the room got too hot in the middle of the night, we were able to open the door between and cool things down.
Our hotel room in Dragsnes
This bed arrangement turned out to be pretty common–two twins pushed together, although most of them had a single sheet over the top. All the hotels had separate quilted covers for each person, though, which turned out to be really great, since I radiate heat like a stone at a spa when I sleep.
Rock wall
This slab of stone was outside our room. It's part of the landscape, not something that was stuck there by people. It's about 15 feet tall.
Log + chrome stool, side
Perfect.
Log + chrome stool, top
I love it when someone follows through on a questionable idea.
Icelandic Rubber Ducks!
Four Icelandic-themed rubber ducks on display in the dining room of our hotel in Dragsnes. From left to right, a sheep duck, a male viking duck, a female viking duck, and some kind of green monster duck that I think must be either a sea serpent or a shore laddie.
The day's route as planned.
A screenshot of a map showing our planned bike route on August 18, 2024 in Iceland.
The day's route as ridden.
A screenshot of a map showing my bike ride on August 18, 2024 in Iceland.
Ride Day 2: Drangsnes—Heydalur
Monday we got up and got ready for our first big ride of the trip. Planned to be just over 76 miles, it included a 6 mile hill with a grade that varied from 4% to 9%. It was a big challenge, but we both got up it, though at different speeds. The top of the climb was a massive plateau with an old, no longer used hiking hut about 100 yards off the road. I poked my head in for some photos and it was in much better shape than I expected.
The descent from that plateau was even longer than 6 miles, but not as steep. As it turned, out, it was not very fast either, because of a several mile-per-hour headwind that meant getting down the hill required almost as much pedaling as getting up. But in the end, I finished my climb down and made it to the lunch site.
Top of the climb
The plateau at the top of the 6 mile climb. This flat section was about a mile long, then started into the long descent.
Another view of the hiking hut.
Now imagine this landscape completely covered in snow.
The front of the hiking hut
The front of the hiking hut at the top of the mountain pass. The walls don't look in any danger of coming down, but there's nothing between the stones, so the wind blows through.
The interior of the hut.
As you can see, the floor is damp, so snow or rain or something is getting into the hut.
Icelandic wildlife
This grub was making its way across the plateau outside the hiking hut. I have absolutely no idea if it should have been there or if it will survive.
Lunch fjord
The fjord shoreline where we ate lunch.
The day's route as planned.
A screenshot of a map showing our planned bike route on August 19, 2024 in Iceland.
The day
The very straight vertical line is where Amanda and I got in the support van to skip ahead a little and finish the day's ride on the gravel section.