Flying into Norway, I was expecting a complete culture shock. To be honest, I had no idea what to expect, all I thought was that it would be completely different from anywhere I had ever seen before, so when we touched down in Bergen we were all a bit shocked. Norway looks like home. Not just a little bit, a LOT. If there weren’t so many blonde people and Norwegian signs everywhere, I could have sworn that we had landed in British Columbia!

At this point in the trip we had all been away from home for quite a while, so this resemblance came as a very pleasant surprise. My Norwegian stereotypes of reindeer running through the streets, snow and ice everywhere, and people eating sheep heads (oh wait, that stereotype was accurate), from what I saw, were completely wrong!

As we drove from the west side of the country inland farmer style in our 3-seater cargo van, the breathtaking scenery made me lose sight of the stick shift digging into my kneecap and the claustrophobia I initially felt pinned in between Dylan and Cory.

Finally, we made it to Voss – the site of Ekstremesportveko, an international extreme sports festival with more crazies competing in sports like base-jumping, skydiving, longboard skateboarding, and white water kayaking than I had ever seen. These people made us mountain bikers look tame!

One of the big things we learned right away about Norway is that when they do something, they put in %110 and they do it right. There’s no half-assing in this country. The festival was no exception.

We were lucky enough to stay on the mountain next to the slopestyle course that had been beautifully built, but claimed a few over-eager Norwegian locals during training. We met up with Cam McCaul, Andrew Shandro, and Matt Hunter and we were all looking at each other in shock because the Norwegian kids seemed to have no sense of self-preservation whatsoever when they rode the course. Most had never done jumps half the size, yet were sending themselves down the hill on hardtails with only a back break! It was scary and the paramedics had their work cut out for them that day! Dylan rode the slopestyle and I rode the jump jam, and thankfully both of us made it out of there unscathed. 

After a great Gimmie Gimmies concert and seeing how crazy Norwegians are off the bike (equally crazy as on), we headed to do some sight seeing on the way to Lillehammer. That’s when we hit the fjords. I’m happy this website has pictures to go along with the blog, because words can’t describe how beautiful the fjords are. Ok, I’ll leave it at that.

Lillehammer was one of the highlights of our whole Europe trip for two reasons. 1) Hafjell bike park is the best bike park in Norway, if not Europe. Dylan and I had both been dreaming about riding A-line in Whistler, and Hafjell was home to the Norwegian version…needless to say it was the most fun I had on my bike the whole trip!

2) We went bobsledding on the Olympic bobsled track. Imagine the most fun rollercoaster you’ve ever been on, add to the danger factor because somebody is actually driving it, increase the speed, and add so many g-forces that you can’t hold your head up. That’s what bobsledding feels like! I couldn’t stop laughing for a few minutes afterwards.

            Oslo was the next and final stop on our Norwegian journey and the perfect way to end our trip. Although it poured rain for 80% of the time, our guide Eirik took us on an amazing biking journey that started at the central train station downtown. We piled in, bikes and all, and spent the day doing shuttle laps with the train as our shuttle on super fun single track just outside the city. It was definitely the best shuttle system I’ve ever experienced! Way better than a chairlift!

            That wound down our biking time in Europe and Cory and I began to re-adjust to North American lifestyle by spending our last day of our European tour shopping in the heart of the city. Besides, what’s a trip to Europe without buying some clothes that are the same, but way more expensive than at home?

            Although Norway was nothing like how I thought it would be, it was an absolutely incredible place full of beauty, culture, and really fun people. I can’t wait to go back…and maybe next time I will see reindeer walking through the streets!