420 blaze it
We finished!! While my body recovers and my brain remembers how to function again, I can’t quite put together a whole blog post to explore the trip in its totality.
Instead, here’s a little of how it feels to finish.
I can’t believe it. 50th overall! And 4th woman! In 16 days and 4 hours I made it from Rovereto, Italy, to North Cape, Norway. 4100km (plus 120ish km of misdirection). With 420km for the final day... that wasn’t even planned!
After hastily declaring it would be “insane” to attempt the last 420km in one go, the comfortable 290km plan was ignored.
The morning clouds kept the warmth of the sun at bay for the first 40km of the day. My bare fingers sheltered from the cold Finnish air behind my gear shifters.
At the supermarket, familiar bikes lent against the entrance with their race numbers muddied by the gravel tracks of previous days. What started as a shop for second breakfast soon morphed into supplies for “just in case” I ride to North Cape. More cyclists arrived. Coffees and juices, pastries and snacks, were packed into bags, or devoured when they didn’t fit. With the drizzly weather, motivation was mixed. Some were going only 230km, others were pushing for North Cape. I spotted a friend at the checkout and confessed - “I’m thinking of doing it in one”. He swore at me and rolled his eyes as we bought painkillers for our disintegrating legs. At this point it felt like an unrealistic peak in my optimism.
But we rode on at a comfy chatty pace while the clouds loomed and occasionally leaked. Then the first sign came, “Nordkapp 343”. With my butt bones already burning through my bike shorts a 290km day felt like a push.
But the skies brightened and the steep climbs from Norway to Finland brought exhilarating hills to race down. 250km came and the seeming insanity of cycling to North Cape was erased by the sunny determination of the riders around me.
I slathered peanut butter on tortilla wraps, chowed down bread rolls, and refilled my water with electrolytes. Three of us started in line. The sea to our right and lush forest to our left. But soon my nose started to bleed and my one handed cycling was too slow for them so I lagged behind while my garmin beeped every 5km. The sun got lower, and the temperature started to drop as the sea turned from blue to pink - a perfect mirror of the expansive sunset.
Soon the tunnels came. Boring through the hill faces to reach the northerly islands and towns of Norway, they required stopping before entering to don every layer I could. Leg warmers, arm warmers, long sleeved tee, a puffer jacket, a rain coat, and gloves. Still the windchill got to me. But the pale pink 2am sky appeared at the end of the final tunnel, waking me a little after kilometres of lightly iced, dimly lit white washed walls.
With the final 40km to go, I was filled with emotion. My tiredness made it impossible to control. Frustrated with my slow pace and the winding hills, a mix of concern and annoyance with my pulled thigh muscle, excitement to reach the end, awe at the beautiful landscape and orange tinted sunlight. I attempted to tame them with deep breaths and handfuls of dried apricots and gummy sweets.
The last 20km were the hardest. They always are, but the elevation was soul crushing. Steep winding hills dwindled my pace from 22kph to 8kph. I crunched the numbers in my head to distract from height of the hills ahead - 20k at 8kph would be 2hr30 of cycling. Each second spent speeding down the hills felt wasted on these endless winding climbs. My speed dropped to 5kph on the steepest segments. With frustration and impatience I hopped off my bike and ran with it until it levelled out a little. Still 15km to go. And two more massive climbs.
Disbelief set in. I couldn’t believe I was so close. There hadn’t been time to imagine this part of the ride - it had all been daydreaming about hugs at the end and planning where to find food and shelter. All I could do was pedal but with each mini summit, disappointment and despair grew at the realisation of how many more kilometres of climb there were. Tears of frustration caught on my eye lashes. I just wanted to be fast. Be better.
With the final few kilometres the car park of North Cape came into view, small tents peppered the grassy hill sides, and the visitor centre stood between me and the global statue that marked the finish. Then I spotted an arm waving to to me - my dad! I stood on my pedals and pushed harder up the hill, bike swaying as I rounded the building to see my mum and boyfriend stood by the finish point! Finally! Exhausted joy flooded over me and reality felt distant.
05:35am. 4240k ridden. 50th place! 4th woman! After a round of hugs, my boyfriend carried my bike up the monument steps for photos. In my exhaustion I didn’t know what to do - just stand with my bike smiling and laughing at the ridiculousness of riding for 20 hours under endlessly day light, after riding 200-300km every day for 15 days.
The champagne cork popped itself free from the bottle, and we sipped a glass under the rising sun. I felt lost without a new destination set, but ready to shower and sleep. Surrounded by my parents and boyfriend in such a stunning place I couldn’t contain my gratitude. For my parents and boyfriend for coming all this way. For the enduring support of friends and family at home. For the kindness and generosity of the North Cape riders. For the brilliant bike from Enigma Cycles. To be lucky enough to have the time and opportunity to cycle all this way. For all the sunny days and silver linings of every mishap. Just so grateful to be living.
