Norseman: Travel to Rjukan (Zombie Hill and Gaustatoppen)

Norway is beautiful. After an uneventful day of traveling (yippee!), Robert, Mom, Dad, and I landed in Oslo yesterday and made our way to Rjukan, the town where the race ends. Every single view on the 2.5 hour drive was as scenic as the photo above.

We packed everything I need for the trip into these 2 bags (plus this little camelbak). The helmet was a fun airport conversation piece. So was the multi-tool in my carryon that was investigated thoroughly at security in San Antonio. They didn't have anything to say about the giant bag of white powder (Infinit) that I was also carrying.

Robert relaxing for a few minutes with all our stuff. Traveling with the bike was a little scary but it all worked out. It cost $100 to fly with it on United. Someone with the exact same bike box as me traveled from Newark to Oslo on the same day - but not for Norseman. Their box was somewhat crumpled when it came off the plane, which scared me, until I saw a second one (mine) come out unscathed. Yippee - everything was awesome...

...until we couldn't fit it in the rental car. So we took everything out of the box and checked the box at the airport to pick up when we leave. Multiple trips to Arizona with Dawn prepared me to pack luggage for 4 plus a bike into the back of a tiny wagon.

Over the next couple of days we'll drive the point-to-point race course backwards to get to Eidfjord, where the race starts. I spent my time on the drive to Rjukan staring out the window and listening to an inspirational mix on my iPod that Dawn made for me. Smiling and thinking Nothing But Positive Thoughts. Many of them revolved around "this is kind of like Mt. Lemmon."

For the first 160 lucky competitors who reach the cutoff at 32k of the marathon, the finish line will be at the end of a 3-mile hike up to the top of Gaustatoppen. But first, all the competitors "run" up Zombie Hill - a 3-mile climb up a paved, switchbacky road. We saw both for the first time today.

Our first view of Gaustatoppen. You drive through a beautiful valley with giant steep cliffs on either side, and then the mountain appears. I'm keeping the word "scared" out of my vocabulary...so instead I just started giggling when I saw it.

The first part of the run course is supposed to be relatively flat. Until you reach this signpost and take a left to start the climb up Zombie Hill.

...which was marked on the ground right after the turn. I made Dad pull over so that I could take a photo. 

We drove up Zombie Hill and turned left towards the cabin where we're staying, instead of continuing straight along the race course to Gaustatoppen. We're staying just a little way down the road from where the race will end for the folks who don't make the cutoff - if you don't get there within the first 160 participants, you end the last 3 miles of the race on what had been described as "a flat road in the valley below." Having now driven it a couple of times and run along part of it once, I can say without hesitation that It Is Not Flat. 

After settling into our very cute cabin, I went out for an easy 30 minute shakeout run. I couldn't stop smiling the entire time. It was so ridiculous to be running along this gorgeous, scenic road with Gaustatoppen constantly in my view.

Gaustatoppen: the view from my run. Amazeballs.

The view from our cabin. How crazy to wake up (too early) in the morning and see the mountain that I've been thinking about all summer.

Robert built my bike last night and I took it out for a quick test. This photo was taken at 10:30 pm. That's snow on the mountain behind me.

After my run, we drove down to Rjukan to shop for groceries. I realized that we'd be driving up and down Zombie Hill quite a bit over the next couple of days - I'm determined to make friends with it. Dad and I are going to practice a bit on it today - we're thinking he'll pace me on this section of the race.

Today I'll also take my bike for an easy spin along the flat-ish part of the run course in the valley. My support crew will be hiking up Gaustatoppen while I do this, and they'll be instructed to come back with Nothing But Positive Comments. 

And finally for today, a few more photos: 

This is posted next to the front door of our cabin. I've looked for the fox but haven't seen any sign of it - I haven't seen any cats or coyotes either. ;)

And after all our joking...apparently #norwegia means "cheese?"

This brochure gives me hope. If a baby can do it, so can I.