When the weather got better, it dawned on me that I have not rode my bike in almost a year, I did not even commute to work. There was no point to it either. What would be the point of riding my bike if I had to come back to the same place afterwards, my apartment. I felt spoiled from being able to be on the road for weeks. I craved moving over the planet on a bike.

I knew it wouldn’t be the same, but I left anyway. It wouldn’t be long enough for my body to adapt, nor it would be wild enough to write about it. But it would be something.

I am retracing parts of my route which I travelled with my friends last year, through the Danish West Coast. It’s raining currently, and it’s windy and cold. I am in one of those shelters that the Danish government lovingly maintain. It’s not dark yet, but will soon be. I am prepared. I will miss the orange glow of kerosene tent lamps from my teenage years. Modern camping gear makes me feel unstoppable, my stove is windproof, my lights are probably as bright as the sun, my mattress is rated for -10 celsius or something. It doesn’t even feel particularly exciting camping out. Or maybe, I am home.

Started somewhat early today. Resupply runs have been plentiful, had two apples from two different stores instead of my usual one, even kept one spare for tomorrow morning. The route was a little bit problematic, mud, gravel & fences. I got stuck multiple times around fences and whatnot, had to throw my bike over them, but eventually managed to come to the tent spot I planned. Another night of “wild” camping. Also went through towns from last year, saw a church that I remember from the tiny town of Oksbøl.

My knees hurt a little by the end, but prompt application of Ibuprufen fixed it right away.

There’s a table at the campsite and firewood. So I thought I’ll see the sky tonight, so I stayed up until now, even started a fire in the firepit.

But then it got cloudy.

Something has been scrunching up the trash bag outside my tent, but I am not going to get outside to check what it is.

Good Night.

At first I thought maybe a small animal was going through my pasta salad container. It took me some time but I realised it must be the wind.

That made me ignore the sound and fall asleep only to face howling winds a few hours later. My tent was bending under its pressure, so I had to get up at 3AM to put up the storm lines, those extra bits of rope that you see in the corners. When I got outside, I saw my garbage bag was nowhere. I tracked the trash bag, and picked up the coke bottles and such, very thankful for the Norwegian heavy duty rain jacket.

Even though, now that the tent lines are put up, not sure if it’s any more stable than before.

Good Night, for real.

I pondered if I should change my route today, specially after the wind reports. But I eventually decided to go for it. It wasn’t the best riding on horse tracks and people’s backyards. It took me about half an hour, to leave the forest.

Once I reached the coast of the Fjord however, I realised the strength of the wind. I could barely keep my bike straight in the sidewind, and the cold was starting to creep in my bones.

So I stopped for the night a hotel in Ringkøbing, to recover my knees a little as well. If the weather report is accurate, tomorrow will be entirely tailwind. Let’s see.

Pretty long day today. Managed to reach the second corner of my route, so South bound from here. Found a shelter to camp at. Let’s see how the temperature will be in this open shelter; now that the wind has died down a little bit.

Multiple times today I went through farm backyards and random tractor tracks, which I am fairly certain is not meant for riding a bike. But I suppose that’s bikepacking.

My knees hurt a little bit, but nothing that’s unmanageable. Met a couple who is scouting camping location for their grandchildren in summer, they also referred me to a lot of old bike / hike routes in Denmark, something for the future.

Today I visited the shelters that I would have stayed last night if I hadn’t chosen the hotel; I must say, it was a really nice spot.

Took me forever to light a fire today in the pit, I could blame my wet firewood, but I think it’s my skills. So decided to write this post until the fire goes out.

Good Night.

P. S. Also spilled tuna oil on my camp pants.

Short day today. Knees aren’t particularly good and I felt a little bit tired. So came next to Engelsholm lake, and found a shelter. Last night’s one quarter open shelter wasn’t particularly good for sleep, and today’s shelter at least barely fits my tent.

When I was rolling up to the shelter, I found Finn. He told me about King Harald Bluetooth, apparently he had his home in Jelling, the town I passed today. Harald is responsible for official adoption of Christianity in Denmark; as can be seen by a rune stone that he erected. And Denmark is also “the fields (mark) of the Danes”; Harald apparently called it Denmark. He also told me more history of the Hærvejen, an early iron age route that connects North of Denmark to Hamburg; I learned about yesterday from the grandparents. Turns out, this route is right where the ice edge was during the last Ice age, the Jutland ridge (Jyske Højderyg). We also talked about some history of violence in the region, an effect of Roman Empire pushing up against Germania. I think I will travel the Hærvejen next; I did get on and off of it this time.

The sky was good today, and the cold morning eventually became a toasty day. As I am sitting in the shelter, the sky is open to me; I keep thinking of an interview with ultra-endurance athlete Sofaine Sehili. He said, “I need the sky above my head”. When I watched the interview, my first thought was about a relative, who told my Mother that God had taken his sky away, after he got bed ridden. I wonder if that’s the reason why I love to be on the road, because I love the sky. When the Sun is low, or when the stars are out, it’s almost a dream. Last night, I woke up multiple times, trying to adjust my clothes to the cold, at some point I went outside to look the sky. It was clear.

Also a horse said hi.

I decided to end my trip here. My right knee almost exploded. It’s also particularly unfortunate that I realised my saddle height was too low today morning, after looking at old wear marks, a measly 1.5 centimetres adjustment made a world of difference. But it was too late, my knee wouldn’t work until recovered.

The knee pain not new to me, my first bike tour in Denmark, I had the same knee problem, at that time I attributed it to my lack of fitness. When I finally got a new bike, I realised the old bike’s geometry wasn’t right for me. And for the entirety of my 3500km trip on the new bike, I didn’t have any problem. I realised when I reassembled my bike after flying with it once, I never took the time to readjust my saddle height, something my bike-shop handler, Pierre graciously did with me when I bought it last year. Some people are smart, they put tape to indicate saddle heights for future reassembly.

What is sad is that I could do the route that I initially wanted to do within the time period I wanted to do it in. I think part of me set out to make a point about long-distance cycling. In retrospect, I did manage to get much more efficient with my time and planning for long distances, something I am I happy learned. I went through so many gravel roads, hiking trails, tractor tracks, all were reasonably painful, but good use of my bike. I had to carry my bike over multiple fences and ditches, true bikepacking style. And I learned I have zero problems with shivering in cold, spending nights alone in the woods, wearing broken shoelaces and having tuna for dinner. All of it felt oddly normal. Only if I could be under the sky a little bit longer.

At least, I have plenty to tuna and crackers in my bag to eat when I get home tonight.