Michael Ho - Personal Website

Day 13 of my Iceland cycling trip. A day to sightsee on the Golden Circle.

Saturday, 5th of August, 2023

Tired, I slowly packed up this morning, with no real concern about speed or distance anymore. I was so close to Reykjavík, there was no risk of failure anymore. I made some chit-chat with a Taiwanese bikepacker in his starting phase to cycle around Iceland. He had brought a road bike which seemed like a risky bet and I hope it worked out for him.

I decided to cycle along the Golden Circle route and visit some popular tourist sights. The Kerid crater, the Geysir and the Gullfoss waterfall were on my list.

geysir

The road quality was very high and although traffic was heavy, I had become very comfortable with the situation. At one lookout point I had a chat with an older Estonian man with an old steel bike. I asked him how the traffic was going and he said it was not a problem! He had experience cycling in places like Indonesia and Patagonia and so Iceland was not a problem for him. He had been around the world on his bike and even cycled in Australia! I saw many bikepackers on this section of my tours, it was exciting to see them all headed out to start their trips. Iceland is an amazing place to encounter the bikepacking community.

As I finished up my sightseeing, I was cycling back down from Gullfoss when the rain started. It was the first real rain I encountered in my entire time in Iceland and it was an intense storm that quickly formed. I strapped on my shoe covers and rain jacket and hiking pants and decided to push through it. That was when I learned my rain gear set up was a failure. The hiking pants were letting water in and eventually it dripped into my socks and soaked my shoes.

This was a learning lesson and I had been extremely lucky with the weather so far in Iceland. If the weather had been more typical, I’d have been cycling around the island in damp shoes for certain. Next time, I must spend the money on upgrading the pants situation to purchase truly waterproof solutions.

I set up camp at Laugarvatn, which was nothing too particularly special but at least let me get out of the rain and into a hot shower. There I bumped into four Chinese cyclists with very impressive bikepacking setups who were starting their trip into the highlands. They had titanium bikes which were not common and meant they were prepared for real gravel bikepacking. When we discussed the upcoming terrain they’d face, they told me they had been cycling in Tibet the previous year so they were ready for the elevation profile. Again, very cool people out there.

That night I bundled my wet shoes into a plastic bag and cuddled them in my sleeping bag. Hoping they would dry up enough for the next day.