Pedal to Peaks 2: Norway

compose Cass Gilbert
time Jan 24, 2017
comment 7

A small team of skiers strapped an obnoxious amount of gear to bicycles and rode through arctic Norway. Connecting craggy islands by underwater tunnels, they climbed and skied mountains along the length of the Lofoten archipelago. Gear failed, partners bailed, and spirits wavered. But after camping on snow-covered beaches, what they found at the end of the peninsula made them look deeper inside themselves and their motives…

Film by Joey Schusler, Photography by Kt Miller.

In this latest human-powered Brody Leven instalment, there’s more crazy bike touring capers and (eventually) extreme skiing to be enjoyed. Ultralight bikepacking this is not!

In fact, Brody tells us their bikes weighed a couple hundred pounds each, given that the team were entirely self-contained, hauling winter camping, ski mountaineering, glacier travel, cooking, and bike gear around. And if that isn’t enough, did we mention the broken derailleur on Day 1? Or the horn-blasting semi-trucks that whooshed by, just a razor-width away… down tunnels 6km long?

“We rode SKLAR bikes, handmade for each of us in Bozeman, Montana. Joey had a wild amount of production equipment on his bike (without a trailer) and his personal gear, while I carried my gear and the group camping and cooking gear.”

“We rode for 2 weeks, covering about 300 miles, and skied 5 days, including the highest peak in the region.This was a follow-up to a couple of other Pedal To Peaks trips that I’ve done, both of which have been so hard. The riding on this one was much, much easier, and we enjoyed decision candy at every gas station we encountered,” says Brody. “I love Scandinavian candy,” he adds, as if clarification was required.

Something of a glutton for punishment, Brody’s past Pedals to Peaks endeavours include riding bicycles from Portland to Seattle in 2014… the hard way. Loaded with a similar payload, Abe Greenspan and Brody climbed over 55,000 vertical feet throughout their 500-mile trip. En route, they skied Mount Adams, Mount Saint Helens, and Mount Rainier.