Must one participate in the Trondheim-Oslo at least once? This and other more or less important questions could be mulled over by my teammate Andres " Don " Sicken and myself, last weekend during the long distance bike ride Trondheim-Oslo over 335m/540km. We had the time.

Since there are enough articles about the "Styrkeproven", "strength test" in english, all over the net, I want to answer some different questions after my first participation.

1: Does it really not get dark at the Arctic Circle during the summer solstice? Answer: no, it really doesn't! Even though I had paid attention in geography class and a few people have actually told me that there are days without darkness, I couldn't really imagine it. I couldn't really sleep even in the night before the race and I kept looking out of the window at 11pm,midnight, one, two and three o' clock:
it was just light out. The natives' delight over this annual phenomenon was made quite apparent to me. The Scandinavians party all night long and are really loud.

2: Does the race really begin after 224m/360km, from Lillehammer on? Answer: no, the starting shot is fired in the mornings - depending on the starter block, between 7 and 9:30am.
The starter number is on the jersey (mine being a lovely pink!!!!) and you start trying to realize your goal, over this extremely long distance.
It was 10:30 in Lillehammer, Germany had beaten Sweden in soccer and my legs hurt pretty bad. The time between mile 260/km 420 and mile 309/km 499 was borderline. You're kind of in a state of nothingness...
The beautiful countryside has been gazed at long enough, you've said all there is to say to your teammate, you're used to the pain, the energy bars have lost their taste, there's still a long way to go to the finish line, but you've gotten used to the monotony of the movement.
At some point in the morning the last batch of food is distributed, suddenly you've made it to 310m/500km and the rest will take 2 hours max. Then there's the last ascent on the closed highway and the last 6m/10km. The rest takes care of itself.

3: How much are you prepared to pay for a beer?
Answer: 10 Euros easily. However, despite the extreme prices in Norway, you end up getting just as hammered for 20 Euros as you do watching soccer at home, due to the strain on the body.

4: Should you do this often? Answer: not really. Some have gotten addicted to it, but we had great weather - almost no rain, a pretty good end time (gross 21:48h - net 20:08h), no falls, no defects, an awesome team organizer - thanks Markus !!!! -
so it can't really get any better and you shouldn't provoke the weather gods during a trial like this.

5: I come to the first question posed. Yes. You can always go on. And those who don't believe me, can experience it for themselves at Trondheim-Oslo. The borders are being moved around a bit up there, but that won't do any harm.
On that note, chain to the right,

Stefan "ZimbO" Zimmermann