Life In The Saddle

How far can we ride into the frozen wilderness? Will we experience comfort or despair under a blanket of snow? Will we find grip and traction on ice rink roads? Will we freeze? These questions, and many more alike, flash through our minds as we leave the port of Copenhagen — our ferry steaming ahead towards Oslo, the Norwegian fjords and the snow-covered forests beyond. An adventure into the unknown for three intrepid bikepacking musketeers. It is thick fog as we cruise into the Oslo fjord the following morning. The sun rises low in the sky, and we catch glimpses of the snow-covered landscape on the horizon. This is the land of the Vikings, and we'll need to summon their courage to ride out into the frozen wilderness. Our spiked ice tyres rumble on the tarmac as we head north west out of the city and into the hills. The roads soon empty of cars, and the snow deepens on the verges. It is not long before we leave the tarmac behind, ducking under a barrier that signals the start of a ...

Boundaries were made to be broken. Comfort zones made to be crushed. Three days of diverse and incredible riding on the Italian Dolomite Giara… The idea for this adventure was born at the end of the #5MaratonasChallenge , when my host Igor Tavella from Holimites gave me the GPX file for a ' wild card ride ', which took me on several sections of gravel road — it opened my mind to a great opportunity… Igor said that when I returned to the mountain range I should bring a gravel bike; so that we could further explore these ' roads less travelled '; roads that can take you high above the asphalt, onto the plateau of the UNESCO World Heritage Site. The idea of a three day adventure was born: starting from Badia, we would complete a figure of eight loop of gravel passes and paths in the Alta Badia region; stopping overnight at two remote alpine rifugios, which themselves perfectly complement the idea of a 'back-and-beyond' far-flung adventure. Ideas became p...