Cycling: Iceland Ring Road Day 2: Borgarnes to Hrútafjörður

on cycling

Day 2 of my Iceland cycling trip. A day where I was introduced to the hellish headwinds and steep climbs of Iceland.

Tuesday, 25th of July, 2023

I woke up relatively early and enjoyed the peace of the campsite and managed to charge my phone with a power socket hidden above the communal fridge that the campsite owner gave me a hint about the night before. Despite waking up early, I started my cycle relatively late (˜9am) because I first made a detour back into the little town to buy a camping gas canister for my stove. This was vital because spending that morning without a hot coffee left me realising that I absolutely needed my stove to be functional.

lake

I had had an excellent first day of cycling so I was ambitious. I was thinking to push hard and go much further than the planned ˜100km this day, to build up more slack time and allow for more sightseeing and tourism later in the trip. But the harsh realities of Iceland were about to school me and I was going to learn about the difficulties of cycling in Iceland.

I returned to the traffic heavy No. 1 road and found my rhythm moving at a reasonable pace with the slight elevation slowing me down. The road condition was very poor with no shoulder in general and at some points the road was deteriorating away on the edges making it dangerous to cycle too far to the side. Overall though, cycling here was fine, just traffic heavy.

I made a lunch stop at Grábrók crater in Bifröst and made some chit-chat with a friendly Icelandic woman travelling in the reverse direction (but by car). She raised concerns that my jacket was not bright enough for the road conditions in Iceland and I took it seriously. I made a mental note to buy a high-vis vest at the next chance possible. I had a new blue jacket to prepare for the rain conditions in Iceland but I hadn’t expected that I would be cycling so embedded into the car traffic that I would need to be highly visible.

crater

We wished each other good luck on our travels and I made a quick hike up to see the crater. Afterwards I set off with the bike again and detoured onto the parallel No. 528 road. It was a gravel road which meant slower cycling but I had good weather and so I took the opportunity to enjoy the peace and lack of traffic. It was short lived however and I returned to the No. 1 road only to discover a nightmare.

I suddenly found myself climbing up a slope and the temperatures plunging down. I stopped at some points to put on my hiking pants and layer up to keep warm after already losing some heat. The winds had picked up and I found myself pushing against headwinds while trying to cycle uphill while negotiating with the heavy traffic. This was the tough reality of cycling in Iceland. I can cycle uphill, I can cycle with traffic, and I can cycle against headwinds. But putting all three in combination at the same time? That’s a challenge for me.

I felt drained of energy when I finally reached the peak, I was cold and exhausted but thankful for a downhill slope however short-lived it was. The headwinds and climbs disrupted my cycling timing for the day and it was already close to 8pm by the time I reached the ˜100km mark. I was not cycling uphill anymore but the headwinds were extremely strong and punishing so I abandoned my ambitious plans and returned to my original itinerary plan and set up camp at Sæberg - Environmentally certified hostel, camping and cottages.

I pitched my tent and spent some hours warming up in the communal kitchen. I was in quite a bad mood from the weather and uphill climb, exhausted and saddle sore. At around 10pm, the campsite warden came through and collected payments, so I was free to pack up my coffee mug and returned to my tent.

That night the winds were extreme and whipped my poorly pitched tent continuously but I slept well.

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This recap is broken down into multiple posts. Follow the links below to read through the series.