Hunderfossen Family Park

On race day, the kids and I waved goodbye to Cameron and, in spite of a rainy forecast, headed for the Hunderfossen theme park. The rain kept the crowds away and we had a fun day in spite of the weather.

The Jeeps were a popular ride for us because it was one of the few that Lucy could go on.

Trying out the remote controlled cars. 

Digging for fossils

It's tough being under 120cm.

Maddie and James loved this ride. It came with a little traffic school at the beginning, probably in norwegian. Maddie was zipping around with the pack and although James spent most of his time in the weeds, he still came away thrilled.

Along with trolls and petroleum, agriculture was a strong theme featured at the park.

Taking a salami sandwich break.

I'll be honest, this picture was the low point of the day. Maddie and James are riding the semi-trucks (below) and Lucy is shivering and eating her rain-soaked sandwich. Did I mention I had a head cold and we left the Advil at home? It was about noon, but I was seriously considering packing it in and heading back to the cabin for a Chip and Dale: Rescue Rangers marathon.

The semi-trucks, complete with a little tunnel (not pictured) were James' personal favorite.

We sought refuge in the new, indoor science exhibit. It was the perfect place to dry off and boost morale. We spent almost two hours in this building, starting off with the Lego tables.

The water table. It was much bigger than this, but this was the best picture I could get. We also went into an exhibit that, I think, was supposed to take us on a journey of water traveling through the pipes. I found myself wandering a pitch-black maze with Lucy on my hip and Maddie and James clutching my pockets. The kids were all very brave, but we didn't do that again.

We finally decided it was time to face the rain, but walked out of the building into sunshine! The mountain farms around Lillehammer are beautiful and charming. The pictures can't do justice to the little fields and sheep-filled pastures all along the hillsides surrounding the park. We stayed at the park until the last possible minute before we had to meet up with Cameron. Although the kids were still going strong, I was ready to call it a day :)

Racing The Birkebienerrittet

On Saturday I competed against approximately 17,000 other mountain bikers at the Birkebeinerrittet. I wrote about my preparation in my previous post Preparing For Birkebeinerrittet.

Our Race Accommodations

We decided to make a vacation around the race. So on Thursday we packed the van and headed for Lillehammer. We stayed in a cabin that felt like a miniature version of our house grass roof and all. It was at a resort with a nice amusement park adjacent that Janet took the kids to while I was racing. She plans to write a post about their day out.

Heading to the Race

On Saturday morning I met up with a colleague from work who was also signed up to compete. From our cabin to the race start turned out to be a two hour drive. It was really neat pulling into Rena and seeing all the people.

The Start Line

In Rena I collected my start number, ate some food, weighed my bag, made some last minute clothing changes and proceeded to the start line. My start time was 12:20 and I was in group 65 of 66. Each group had about 300 people and started in 5 minute intervals. What that meant is that by the time I started the town felt almost like a ghost town. Leading up to the race I was bummed that I was starting so late, in the end I really liked it because it meant I didn't have too many people to pass me. The fast guys in the last group had pretty much all passed me in the first half hour of riding.

The Race

Weather is a funny thing, it had to be Saturday. Friday was beautiful, Sunday was beautiful, but Saturday was raining. The result was a course with just enough mud to slow things down and add and element of awesome.

The race started with a 17 km climb that really quickly established how things were going to go during the race. I set an even pace that I was able to maintain over the entire course. I was hoping to go out a little easier so I could pick up the pace during the middle of the race, but since I am not a rail thin cyclist the difference between a slow pace and a faster one are about the same (painful) so I went as fast as I could maintain. 

The day was long and tiring. From the start until kilometer 70 the race was almost always moving up. The downhills were always so brief I never had a chance to enjoy them. Throughout the day I was passing people, which was motivating and equally motivating was not too many people passed me. Had I started earlier it would have been a different story.

Once I reached kilometer 70 the course turned down and everything was a blast to the end. The coolest part of the race was making a left turn onto the hill that paralleled the ski jump. The hill was as steep as the ski jump. The wide, steep, bumpy trail was littered with tentative riders trying to make it down in one piece. I just dove in and rode down as fast as I could. I passed 20 riders along the way.

In the end I crossed the finish line in 4 hours and 44 minutes, a respectable showing.

Yes it was a hard day on the bike, arguably one of my hardest, but it was the most rewarding day as well. I am looking forward to next year. I am already starting to put my training plan together and hoping I can knock an hour off this years ride.

Summer Photo Dump

Now that Maddie is back to school and James and Lucy are spending a few hours a day at barnepark, it's time to give an update on our summer. We had Aunt Rissie here to visit for a good part of the summer. She ended up taking most of the pictures of our adventures, so if you want to see all that we did check out her tumblr: www.rissiegrace.tumblr.com. July was a fun busy month that included a sister trip to London and an overnight cruise to Copenhagen with the kids. When we weren't spending time with Aunt Rissie, we squeezed in a few other summer adventures. Here's a few:

We found a wild raspberry patch near our house. Maddie loves raspberries and was a motivated picker. James does not love raspberries and was not a motivated picker. Lucy skipped the cup and put the berries straight into her mouth. Maddie and I went back by ourselves a few times. We got pretty good at dodging the stinging nettle and enjoyed fresh berries on our cereal the next day.

A swing built for three.

Building a barn at the "sandbox"

Near our house, there are some trails through pasture land. Norway is a refreshingly non-litigious society, so the sign on the pasture gate says something that roughly translates to "behave yourselves and don't feed the animals."

The local preschools close for the month of July. This meant dozens of enclosed, abandoned playgrounds just begging to be visited. On any day with good weather, I would pack a lunch and a book, latch the gate behind us and relax while the kids explored the park.

We went to the beach a few times with some friends from school. They are from the UK and have similar expectations as the Norwegians regarding water temperature. I learned that "the water's nice" translates to "the water is frigid, but we're going in anyway because it only goes downhill from here." Maddie and James went native and got in, Lucy and I just went for the sunshine and the company.

Maddie trying out a mountain lake. She's borrowing a suit from her friend because it was a pretty brisk day and I hadn't even considered packing one. James really wanted to get in, but his only option was to skinny dip and he was too shy.

Near the lake, hunting for raspberries.

Lucy doesn't nap anymore, but a long day at the lake will wear anyone out.

Admiring the sand volcano. You can't tell from the picture, but there's smoke coming out the top. James is NOT in the picture because even after he had been assured that this volcano had no lava, he kept his distance. A guy can never be too careful, right?