As a cyclist, especially when you are on a longer tour, the weather plays a great role. Sure there are clothing and technical options for every situation, but you still have to ride and cope with it. Luckily the weather seem to like our Tour de Skandinavia and so it stays wonderful most of the time. The third day makes no exception. Again, we tried to get up as early as possible, had a foggy breakfast together and packed our van. We are getting used to this daily routine and got the job done quickly.
Our route guided us to the dykes again, where we had to ride some gravel roads. Those caused flat tires again, but we are getting used to it. At least it gives some time to check out the surrounding and landscape.

I rode the full stage, approx 154 km!The beautiful view at the waterfront and to our first longer stop behind Esbjerg shortens the waiting time.
Entering Esbjerg we where amazed by all those mansions directly at the beach and the road right next to it. In a small village behind Esbjerg we took a short longer break and enjoyed some coffee and cappuccino next to the beach.

It was hart to leave and continue our route. The rest of todays route was characterized by strong head and cross winds, the stronger riders battled it out for the rest until we splitted in different groups for the last 15 kms and finished with our prefered speed. In my case – I rode a 32-35 kmh pace with Henne, had a nice conversation and a ice cold coke. Probably the best way to end a stage. With just some minutes behind the last riders arrived at the camping site and we cooked some noodles together, drank some beers and faded away the evening.
Tomorrow will see our longest stage, let’s see how this will turn out.
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Well, the first day was full of rain and not really the best start. But we were looking forward to the 2nd stage and the first boarder to cross. The weather forecast was way better than yesterday and it proved to be right, a beautiful sunrise behind our tents helped to get up early and start our stage.

Even our mechanic and faithful driver Luke wanted to get on a bike. So we changed the driver, Ingo took over the steering wheel, and Luke started with us. Sadly after just 15km he got stung by a wasp and had to break up the stage. The rest of the crew continued the stage and we rode our route to Denmark. Besides 4 (!) flat tires, both of our camera guys riding 75km of the stage and crossing the boarder with the best weather we could wish for, nothing really happened on this stage.

I rode the full stage, approx 151 km!
We arrived at our camping site as we planned and splitted up in groups – one prefered a fresh burger meal and the rest was cooking some noodles.
In the end we all were tired after this long stage and went to bed early.
There is another long stage to come…

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Finally the day was there, after two month of planning, many things to keep in mind and a lot work – 16 people where meeting for breakfast in the heart of Hamburg.
The excitement was visible in every face and everyone just wanted to start our journey.
After setting up all the bikes, packing the van for the first time and getting ready for the first stage – it also started to rain.

The first approx. 130 km where really wet and nothing you’d expect from a vacation trip. But the team battled it out with the elements. Sadly I had to resign the first stage after approx 75-80 km, being in the lead for the first kilometers and with a hurting knee, I decided not to exaggerate. There are more stages and kilometers to come. But the route compensated for everything.

As said above, I rode just 80 km of the 120 km of this first stage!


We had some wet cobble stones, empty field roads with great pavement, sheeps and in the end the north sea, the dykes and also the sun bid welcome to use while we arrived at our first camping site.
In less than 15 minutes our eight Heimplanet tents where set up and our home for this night was prepared. A shower, the bikes where cleaned, som warm cloth and we made our last stop for this day and visited a weird italian pizzeria to get some food.

Let’s see what the 2nd stage from Büsum to Skaerbek has to offer. The weather forecast looks pretty good so far….

See more impressions after the jump and also head over to www.rad-race.com for even more insights.
Day 1 on rad-race.com.
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Our Tour de Skandinavia starts today and it’s going to be a great adventure for all of us. We will spend the next 1,5 weeks mostly in the scandinavian outdoors and need to be well prepared. To give you a idea about what we take with us, this is a glimpse on our Tour de Skandinavia team gear. Well, it’s not really everything, there is much more.
This selection shows a package we made for each and every rider to make sure everyone is well-prepared for the weather in scandinavia in september.
Besides our AURORA x Rad Race Teamkit, which was Made by Bioracer, there are some T-Shirts, a Longsleeve and two Hoodeds to keep everyone warm – especially off the bike.
And last but not least, Ahrberg top this off with his genius “Loop”, which will definitely keep us warm on colder rides/days, and his comfy Cycling Cap.

It’s time to announce something really big!
Together with Ingo, founder of the Rad Race, I worked the last two month to organize a very special journey. Both of us where dreaming of a tour like this for long and it was time to finally realize it.

TOUR DE SKANDINAVIA 2014

We will ride from Hamburg to Oslo in 9 days and sleep in our Heimplanet tents between every stage.
Our crew consists of sixteen people and thirdteen of them will ride the approx. 1200km on their road bike or track bike. The rest of our crew will follow in our tour van and take care of us and the equipment. We will also try to document the tour as good as possible with our cameras and hope to get back with some nice visuals for you.

This is going to be a really interesting experience, a challenge for everyone of us and a beautiful journey with stunning landscapes. Riding with the nature and see what it has to offer, no matter if it’s rain, wind or sunshine. On 1st of September we start the tour in Hamburg, will ride our way on the west coast of denmark and arrive in Frederikshavn, there we cross over the Kattegat with a ferry and reach Göteborg. The tour continues on the west coast of Sweden, we cross the Oslofjord and finish right in the heart of Oslo.

Check out this graphic to get a idea about our route.
These are the scheduled stages, if you are around somewhere, contact us and feel free to join us!

1. Stage – 01.09.14: Hamburg – Büsum / 117 km

2. Stage – 02.09.14: Büsum – Skaeberg / 151 km

3. Stage – 03.09.14: Skaeberg – Ringköbing / 137 km

4. Stage – 04.09.14: Ringköbing – Nibe / 167 km

5. Stage – 05.09.14: Nibe – Frederikshavn/Göteborg / 109 km

6. Stage – 06.09.14: Göteborg – Kungshamn / 158 km

7. Stage – 07.09.14: Kungshamn – Sarpsborg / 143 km

8. Stage – 08.09.14: Sarpsborg – Hokksund / 140 km

9. Stage – 09.09.14: Hooksund – Oslo / 105 km

Besides a lot work and our privat effort, we are very happy that some friends/companies help us out with gear and support. As mentioned above – Heimplanet takes care of our sleeping-place, Ahrberg covers us with eco-friendly cycling accessories, together with Bioracer we produced our limited Tour de Skandinavia Teamkit, CLIF Bar provides us with the best energy bars available and helps us to keep our stamina during every stage, Kenda supplies us with all the rubber we need and last but not least Bombtrack provides us with two of their bikes!

We can’t wait and just want to get on our bikes and start this tour.

During the whole tour you will find updates, pictures, thoughts and much more in the AURORA blog.

Follow us on our journey!

Sebastian

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