Iceland trip.

[Gari]

Finally got around to writing the trip blog for my ride in Iceland. Longer than I was planning, still, done now. Great place to ride bikes, but I think most of us know that already!

https://racksonracksoff.wordpress.com/2 ... land-2016/

[jam bo]

Nice. Stayed in that hut just north of gulfoss.

And there is a bike shop in selfoss.

[bearlymoving]

Very interesting, cheers. I'd been thinking it was "the bigger the better" on the tyres front, so it's good to hear that 2" tyres would do the job.

What about the grit wearing through your tyre though? That doesn't sound like it'd be particularly easy to avoid, regardless of what you're running.

[Blair512]

Enjoyed that, sounds like an vaguely exciting trip

[whitestone]

We drove along that road below Hekla in September - we got overtaken at speed by a 4x4 and a short while later its brake lights went on. When we got to the same point we found out why: washboard! Really, really bad washboard. Even in a 4wd vehicle it was 10kmh territory. Sounds like it's a constant battle on that bit of road as the other graded roads we drove on were nowhere near as bad. The southern bit of the Reykanes peninsular is very other worldly even by Icelandic standards, unfortunately the weather had really closed in when we were there.

A great place, would like to go back and hopefully see blue sky!

[Gari]

I have flights booked for early May so am deciding where to go next. Wester Fjords and Sneafelnesse look interesting.
That section of rte26 was awful, especially on 700 wheels, I walked a few km it was so uncomfortable. If the amplitude of the dips/peaks were shorter or longer than the WB it was just about bearable, but if it matched it was absolutely brutal.
Re the tyre, in fairness it was pretty worn already, given the last minute nature of the bike swap it was one of the things I overlooked I am pretty confident that a set in good condition wouldn't be anywhere near as problematic.
For any one thinking about it, it's seriously worth the hassle(not that it's MUCH TBH) I flew from Edinburgh and it was less then £200 Inc bike. For May it was £135 Inc bike, insurance and pre booked seats!!

[fatbikephil]

Nice one. I did a trip around that same area in 2012 and recognised many of your photos. The mobile bridges weren't there at Thorsmork then and we too failed to get across the big river by the hut and campsite. We were running nanno 2.1's and they didn't deal with the washboard very well either! 29+ or fatty next time I reckon

[JohnClimber]

Enjoyed that Gari.

On my to do list.

Is this any good in planning http://www.vegagerdin.is/media/upplysin ... ng-map.pdf

[whitestone]

Enjoyed that Gari.

On my to do list, are there any cycling routes maps of Iceland anywhere online please.

I've not come across any cycling specific maps of Iceland either in print or on-line but there are generic paper maps similar to our OS though not as clear (IMO), they are also pretty fragile - ours are almost in tatters after just a few uses. One point to note is that bridleways really are just for horses, they are made up of the cinder/ash composite that you might find on all weather horse training circuits or race courses. It's hard enough to walk let alone ride a bike on. On the other hand riding on footpaths is permitted.

Given that Iceland is the home of Lauf you really ought to go there John

[Bearbonesnorm]

Iceland always appears very barren whenever I see pictures and I think I've just realised why - trees, I never see any trees, don't they have any trees?

[Dan_K]

Iceland always appears very barren whenever I see pictures and I think I've just realised why - trees, I never see any trees, don't they have any trees?

Very few. More shrub like than tree.
Very few animals either. The place seems so sterile. When we walked the Laugavegur, I was amazed that we could smell sheep for a good mile or so before we actually found them near the trail.

[whitestone]

Iceland always appears very barren whenever I see pictures and I think I've just realised why - trees, I never see any trees, don't they have any trees?

About 1% of the land surface is trees (according to my Lonely Planet guidebook). As Dan says most are more like shrubs than trees and with the high latitude you don't have to gain too much elevation before they thin out and all you get is moss (or lava). Think of native woodland in places like northern Scotland but without the Scots Pine and that's what much of the woodland is like: a little sparse, some shrubs with intermittent trees up to around 10 metres tall. The plains in the south between Selfoss and Thorsmork have quite a lot of big trees along the field boundaries presumably as some form of wind shelter. You don't have to go too far inland and it becomes barren. The area around Hekla, roughly all the northern and western slopes, is lava fields as Hekla is one of the more reliably destructive volcanoes - when you arrive in Iceland your mobile is automatically added to the volcano early warning system whereby if the authorities think something's going to blow you get an automatic text.

http://northernwoodlands.org/knots_and_ ... ry-iceland is a quick overview.

[JohnClimber]

Just had a quick look on my phone (note to self to look later on the laptop)
Strava heat map shows there are plenty of cross country trails.
I'm thinking 29er+ territory.....
Now which time of year for the "best" and driest weather