Michael Ho - Personal Website

Day 3 of my Iceland cycling trip. A day where I fought back against the headwinds and steep climbs to try to build up more slack time on my trip.

Wednesday, 26th of July, 2023

I woke up very early at 5am on day 3 to try to compensate for the bad day of cycling on day 2. I wanted to set off before the traffic picked up so I could cycle in peace without the stress of the cars forcing me to keep constantly alert and perfectly straight. I was not the only one up at this time as some other campers were enjoying the hot tub but for me I was busy and hard at work getting the bike re-packed to go. Two hours later, I was off and back on the quiet road.

I skipped a turn off to Hvammstangi which would be a small detour to a touristic town. Since I was only on-schedule, I felt a strong urge to not detour too much and to stay focused. I think I was worried especially about another bad day of headwinds that could blow me behind schedule. I pushed on to Blönduós and re-supplied at the N1 service station and rested for lunch.

The N1 service stations are the most important landmarks to be aware of in Iceland. These are sometimes the only source of food and supplies for long stretches of road so they make for great resting points. I even used online maps that showed the locations of these service stations to help plan out my cycling segments. Many of them (but not all) have a restaurant attached with a decent menu of burgers that I can recommend for lunch/dinner to restore energy to continue cycling.

burger

I could have detoured around Blönduós to instead cycle on the No. 724 at Gilja and save some kilometres but a cursory glance at the elevation maps swayed me to stick to the No. 1 with its flatter profile. I believe it’s vital not to always take the shortcuts off the main route because many roads in Iceland can be of poor condition (which is slower to cycle along) or features slopes that are more effort to climb.

Before I knew it, I had reached Varmahlíð. It had not been an easy day, I had strong headwinds and hills to climb, but my early start had made it possible to reach this city with good time. The conundrum I faced was whether I should continue and leverage this good day or stop early and rest. The problem was that after Varmahlíð, the next place to stop was Akureyri which was over 100km away on the other end of a valley. There was nothing between the two except for a random restaurant/hotel.

This was risky, if I pushed on I would have to commit to the entire additional distance within the same day after having already cycled over 100km to Varmahlíð. There was also no supplies along the route until reaching Akureyri, meaning no ability to refill on water. I decided to take that risk, the reward was worth it. If I made it to Akureyri, I would’ve built up an additional extra slack day which could be vital later.

Cycling to Akureyri was very hard. There was extremely strong headwinds and a the road was a steep climb to start. I was exhausted and had to rest several times along the way at some view points but with the warm sun it was a nice way to enjoy the journey. Eventually night began to fall and I found myself cycling into the dusk. While this might seem stressful, it was the opposite. The roads became almost empty and the uphill climb had ended and I was soaring down the valley. With no traffic, I could cycle further away from the edge of the road which I found had a different texture and my tyres had better rolling resistance so I could cycle faster with less effort.

valley

I consumed the last of my water while still short of reaching Akureyri and with no possibility to re-supply, I had to force myself to cycle onwards. I felt dehydrated but this was within my capabilities so I was not worried.

It was close to midnight when I reached Akureyri. The city was large and there were grocery stores open still but I was focused solely on the campsite in the south of the city (Camping Hamrar) and didn’t let myself stop to get water. It was a five to six kilometres cycle through the city to reach the campsite, a short distance that I normally don’t account for in my planning but torturous when exhausted. I made it there just shortly after midnight and found a major campsite with a late night reception still open and ready to welcome me.

There were some other bikepackers set up on the campsite but at that hour everyone was already fast asleep. The night was not particularly dark, It felt like it was the moment before dawn when the sun rose. The day cycle in Iceland is weird like that. I got washed up, hydrated, and decided to sleep in as a reward for cycling over 220km despite all the headwinds, mountains, and traffic.