Blog
Farmers party
At a farmers party. The invitation said to dress up as a farmer. What more naturale for me than to dress up as a farmer from the alps. And what do you know, I met a friend. Cool party, good times!!
Attacking Vikings
Today I thought it was time to bring out the Attacking Vikings term again. We did a full Ironman test today, and I´m extremely impressed by the drive, the guts and the physical condition of the whole group. I´ve never experienced an Ironman test with as much power and guts as the one we did at Olympiatoppen today.. From the world cup team we were only two guys that did the test, but the young guys were all there, and they were all impressive. From the 9.00am 3000m running till 4 hours later when the test ended with the 90 sec box jumping test. Between those we have been trough lots of lifting, jumping and core. All tests were done with an intensity from everyone in the group that I´ve never seen before. So to all you out there cheering for the Attacking Vikings; I think we have a bright future. This kids are tough!! Notice that I brought out the old Skifederation logo. That´s because I think this one represents the Attacking Vikings better. They look more like vikings. The weapons are removed on the new logo, for some political reason… Anyways, these guys were tough. The story behind the logo comes from around year 1200. These guys were Birkebeiners and they were at war with the Baglers. The Baglers had killed the birkebeiner king Haakon Sverresøn, and now they wanted to kill his son Haakon Haakonsøn. So the Birkebeiners carried the future king across the mountain from Lillehammer to Rena. And thats why the famous Birkebeiner race is right there. The 3.5kg backpack you have to carry during the Birkebeiner race represents the 2 year old prince that they carried to safety across the mountains. So long story short; today we were the Attacking Vikings. We showed the intensity and the power of vikings and birkebeiners!
Its that time again
Aching muscles. The start of the weight training is always brutal barely able to walk down stairs after a couple of good lifting sessions. I love it. Healthy and being able to work out so hard that it hurts! Good times.
Norway vs Hawaii biking
We left Røldal as the bad weather made it impossible to get speed training done. I was hoping for some summer weather, but that’s not really the case yet. First I went to the coast in Sweden, and the wind was freezing cold. Now back in Oslo it’s far from summer. Biking sure is a lot warmer in Hawaii. I’ve already got some rides on my road bike there, but this was a different story. Not only is there still snow in ski resort, but biking in the woods I ran into snow everywhere. Must have been a good winter. Too bad I wasn’t around to enjoy it. And by the way, even the runs that seem super flat in the, are a lot of work to bike up in the summer. Some of these runs are so flat you can hardly get enough speed to get a fee turns in. And still biking up them in the summer, they feel very steep. Surprises me every time.
Weather change in Røldal
First three days in Røldal were epic. 0530 downhill start with blue sky, and then ski touring up to different peaks in the afternoon. But now we have had a weather change. No skiing today and skis were switched with spinning bikes and weights. Hoping for another good day tomorrow. The service here in Røldal has been great. Thanks for a great camp regardless what happens tomorrow.
Vanskelig å begripe
Noen ganger får man høre en nyhet som det er umulig å ta inn over seg. Slik var det da jeg fikk høre nyhetene om at Alexander Dale Oen hadde gått bort. Jeg registrerte det, men det virket umulig å begripe hva som egentlig hadde skjedd. Hele alpin laget er på samling i Røldal og jeg tror inget av oss egentlig vil forstå det før vi kommer til toppidrettsenteret og treffer mennesker som sto Alexander nær. For det var det ingen av oss som gjorde. Jeg har truffet Alexander flere ganger i forbindelse med trening på toppidrettsenteret. Alltid blid, høffelig og ikke minst positiv. Positiv utstråling og en holdning som gjorde han til et forbilde for alle idrettsutøver. Jeg har bare positive ting å si om Alexander Dale Oen. Allikevel er det vanskelig å svare media i dag. På en dag som denne vil media vite. Hva føler du? Hva tenker du? Hva kan du si om Alexander? Sannheten er at jeg ikke vet. Jeg opplever dette på avstand. Det er helt umulg å sette seg inn i hvordan dette oppleves for et lite landslag på samling i Flagstaff, og ikke minst hvordan familie, kjæreste og nære venner har det her hjemme. Jeg og Alexander har det til felles at vi var to av Norges mest profilerte idrettsutøver. Jeg kan si at jeg hadde enorm respekt for han som idrettsutøver. En stor utøver i en stor idrett. Men jeg fikk desverre aldri sjansen til å bli skikkelig kjent med han. Akkurat nå går tankene mine til de som sto Alexander næmest. Norge har mistet sin kanskje største idrettsutøver, men de har mistet mye mer.
Røldal downhill camp
Freeskiing last week, this week its time to shred through the gates again. Weather and conditions are looking good! And we have the whole place to our selves. Early morning sessions starting at 6.00.
Helmet cam view
Check out my view from the one of the peaks in Lyngen. It’s a narrow spine with a good line down the front face. The back is a different story though. Cliffs that drop off almost 500 vertical meter. Just standing there is almost more thrilling than the skiing part.
Leaving Lyngen
It’s been a magical week in Lyngsalpene(The Lyngen alps) and the fjords around. Now we’re on the old fishing boat bound for Tromsø. It was a fun crew and the Canadian Eric Hjorleifson was a great new addition. One of the worlds best freeskieres, a hardcore mountain man and great company in the mountains. Hard not to get excited with this kind nature. I have a feeling we will see him back in Norway next winter as well.
