It’s summer and time for adventure beyond the local trails. After having crossed the Atlantic every summer it’s time for enjoying, exploring and just play around in the Nordic nature and it’s bike parks. We got the trailer loaded and left the Swedish west coast for Gesunda
Two bikes per head should make any type of biking possible – like pedaling up the bike park in the evening of arrival.
Makes you this happy!
The lift is closed at this hour. Silence and views… mmm…
And… a Thomas classic
More than OK accommodation, some beers, whiskey… New day… The sun is out. Time for good flow on ”Xellerator”.
Micke is leading the way
And I get the chance to be in the pics also
MTB porn…
Nowadays Jonas is in charge of the construction and these days are busy days. Two excavators on the mountain and you see big progress every day. The beginners trail is almost done. Drainage is being fixed and “Magic Carpet” will have a start already from the top
Micke is taking the ”Olsson Airlines concept” from Whistler into practice
Woods and woods, epic riding and even taking a piss is worth capturing on a picture
”Skogsmys”
The mountain and the trails are awesome and after two days of hammering you realize that the trails need some maintenance. In the evening we took the trail bikes up the mountain to clear some loose rocks. We met up with Jonas and the crew at the top.
Unfortunately the hydraulics on one of the excavators broke, so instead we went full speed on Magic Carpet. Worked out fine also on trail bikes, and no loose rocks. Two days have passed out of a week. We have already had a lot of good riding and more is to come. That’s a nice feeling. I’ll round it off for today with a nice DH tan:
Part 2
Here are some pictures from yesterday’s biking on the trails close by. We had Lugnet in Falun in mind but Mårten at Björns Skidshop was insisting on the local stuff and that’s what we went for. Sunshine, blue sky and some leftovers from the winter. Pretty nice view
We started off doing trails in Hemus, the area around Mora ski stadium. First the ”MTB-rundan” and then we just went where the flow was taking us and it turned out being even better. The trails are anything but technical, but fast and winding. A bit strange for guys with the roots in Buhuslän (read: very technical trails).
Thomas on the MTB-rundan
Some snacks by the ski jumping facilities and we get the landing prepared
I get the pleasure to try ski jumping with a bike. No V-style yet though…
Most things are ridable and jumpable
More trails
The crew
After a nice lunch in Mora (”Vi på Hörnet”), along the greasers strip (prettty much anywhere in Mora I guess), we head back to the Gesunda mountain ready for another trip. We went counter clockwise around the Gesunda mountain on a marked trail to Ekorrberget and then back on Siljansleden all the way up to Rossberg Fäbodar where we took the gravel road up to ”Mali Bambo”. Then back again to Rossberg (awesome trail) and finally back on the gravel road to the lift. So, second ride this day was a nice three hour ride.
This is how good it was
The gravel road up to Mali Bambo and the trail down
I hope you all see the potential of the area – we had a bit of a positive surprise. And… thank you to Mr NN on a TREK that we met close to Övre Borrberg, who gave some good recommendations!
After yet another epic ride a beer is like healing medicine for the beaten body
Part 3
One more day in Gesunda. We tried out the beginners trail ”Caroline”. A blast. Fun for everybody and well built. At full speed the inclinations in the berms are maybe not enough, but after all it’s a beginners trail. Well done Jonas, Per and Christer!
We enjoyed all the trails. Here are some pictures from Magic Carpet:
The weather guru Micke made his analysis and made this plan of hanging out in Gesunda all day before leaving for Hafjell. Seemed to be spot on. We had sun, Hafjell rain and at the border some showers. Thomas is clinging on to the last part of Sweden
…and in Hafjell: sun! Our friends Veronica and Lisa had already arrived and more people on the way.
Part 4
Blue sky and Olympic views
Thomas:
In Whistler we got used to seeing bears on the slopes. Here too. They are white and they call them sheep
We used the first day to get to know the mountain even though Micke had been there before. Actually it started with a disappointment that the machine built trails where poorly maintained with a lot of loose rocks and too much break bumps. The lines are nice though. We checked out the ”Rollercoaster”, a double diamond track with huge jumps and gaps. Would need some practicing… We started with the awesome trails New school, Old school, Gresslöypa and a lot more. We couldn’t have enough. In the lower parts there is a nice section with smaller jumps with an awesome flow. We went all in and didn’t take a single picture…. But we’ve done some filming, but we save it for later.
We hammered down the mountain between 10 and 4pm. After a quick energy refill and change of gear we set off for a small trip on the mountain with the trail bikes by using the last Gondola up. The small trip became 3,5 hours and totally epic. The gondola took us to 750 meters above sea level while changing cleats and angle on the stem
From the Gondola we followed the piste up to the plateau
The feeling just got better and better the further away from the lifts we got
Thomas is now politically correct and is wearing a helmet:
We reach the Hafjell peak at 1065 meters and time for a picture of the crew
From there down to Pellestova and up on a hiking trail to Slåsäterfjellet
But where the hell are we?
After a fair amount of biking on something looking like a huge rock garden – but manageable, exciting and fun – we reach Nevelfjell at 1089 meters. There is a nice view from the cabin up there
From Fjelldokka to Krokmyren we were stoked by the most awesome part of trails so far. First a lot of technical stuff and then just full speed on a flowy single track with some rocks and roots here and there
We pass Sagteighytta to get back to gravel and asphalt and actually into some of the trails of the bike park. 400 meters from home Thomas gets a flat tire
6 hours of DH and 3,5 hours epic trail riding on top of it… 5th day in a row…
Let’s see if we can squeeze something more out of our poor bodies tomorrow…
Part 5
Bit of a slow start to be honest. Got onto the lift at 11 on Saturday morning. We did all the trails. The sun was shining on us between the clouds and later on just from a blue sky. Here’s Thomas and then Veronica on Gresslöypa.
Old School:
Nameless:
Desert:
I don’t know what it is with the Norwegians and their love for drops… They just love it and build it into the trails. Could it be so simple that they are into ski jumping so much that it’s rubbing off to mountain biking? Good thing that I tried also that in Mora. Anyhow, we got going with the drops on the Nordic Championship race track ”NM-Löypa”. After two awesome drops with two berms in between there is a 10 meter long table top to enjoy. Hm… we start understanding why they like it… Flying is nice…
We pushed it hard for 5 hours and then repeated the concept from yesterday: went home and changed the gear and fueled up to make it up the mountain on our trail bikes. This time it was me and Thomas going for a 4,5 hours ride. Ok, we were tired, but check out the pics and I think you get what it was that got us going beyond the lifts again.
Hafjell, Reinsfjell and Hitfjell:
Thomas pose:
I know… A lot of pictures, but I couldn’t refrain myself from sharing. On Sunday we rode until lunch and got the first run with some rain – but it was the last run, which doesn’t exist ;-)… We had the lunch, packed and when leaving the rain was pouring down. OK timing for leaving I’d say.
I week of riding: epic and no one injured!
Part 6 – some vids
At home again and film clips are uploaded to Youtube. It’s a bit shaky and personally I think it’s a bit boring watching head cam clips for too long but they give you an idea of what the trails are like. No edit, just some music to avoid too much chain sounds
First clip: Local Track to Magic Carpet in Gesunda
Skogsmys to Excelerator, Gesunda
Älgspyan to Magic Carpet, Gesunda
The 4X-track, Gesunda
And yes, it was hip hop from Greenland in the last clip.
Hafjell: From top to bottom… first part is “Moe’town” to “Old School” and then on the gravel to the chair lift. Second part is from the chair lift to “Nameless” to “Råbölstien” to “Brattlykja” to “Desert”.
Part 1
Part 2
One more clip… Beginning of the ”NM-löypa”, or actually a bit into it as it starts further up. Air time caught on picture in the beginning of this report gets more flowy when on film.