North Cape - Gibraltar  
2000


Why the trip?

  The trip was an attempt to beat Fritz Hansens record from 1999. He did the trip in 20 days and nights, 3 hours and 12 minutes. I also went for his average of 289 km a day.

Why alone?

  It gives you some satisfaction, to know you did the trip alone, and without any help. If you bike in a group, you have to adapt yourself to the group's choice of route and daily distance. When you are alone you are completely free to follow your own rhythm.

Preparations

Training

  I bike the year round, except when there is too much snow to bike.
From April to departure I have been training seriously, seeking out any hill of importance, and attacking them several times. I have biked an average of 80-100 km each day, and to get used to longer trips I have biked a few long trips, 200-300 km.
The speed on the trip was much slower in order to keep up for so many days, my average speed on the trip was about 23-24 km an hour, so with 300 km a day I have been in the saddle about 12-14 hours each day.

The route

   I have spend a lot of time studying maps in order to find a rapidly and easy route to go. I found a route that was about 300 km shorter than Fritz Hansens.
Instead of following the coast line, it went right across Spain, which is quite mountainous, so I had my doubts about which route was best. But I ended up choosing the short route.



Bike

  My racing bike, A GT ZR 2000, is partly sponsored by Scanbike in Silkeborg, Denmark, and the same I used on my Canada trip in 1999.

Click here for photo and details

Tent

  A Thule Mini pack tent, a very cheap ( 25$ ) but light and fine tent which I also have used on my other trips.


Kommunikation

   To send E-mail to family and newspaper I have purchased a small computer and a mobile phone, which made me able to send and receive from my tent.
It was a great relief not having to find a place to send from.



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