Anybody Out There?

Curlylox and Kris, did you make it OK? 

WE MADE IT!!!!!

Sorry it has been so long since an entry but we had been biking like crazy through the heat of Portugal...

WE MADE IT TO LISBON! For all those of you who thought we could not do it... ha! For all those of you that believed in us... you are amazing.

I am now back in the United States; the journey is not over for the Kristoffers, they must make it to Faro, another 500km or so, and I wish them well along their journey. I am sure they are enjoying having a tent with one less guy in it!

Thank you everyone for your contributions thus far, but do not think for a second that it is over if you wish to contribute a little something to Opportunity! There are still a few days left.

I will upload a ton more pictures on the blog from the entire trip, as well as a full review of our daily journal entry when it is done - Kris has been taking a great record of daily events.

Thank you all,

Scott

Congratulations Marte!!!!!!!! Congratulations... Salamanca!

Marte (Kristoffer´s sister) gave birth to a baby girl - Yay!

Salamanca... we are here! Do you know what that means? There is a possibility we will reach Portugal tomorrow!

Hot, Hot, Hot, Hot! Some like it Hot, Not I Says the Bicylist

Spain is hot. Could you tell that by the title of this post? Ok so I think it´s about time for a ¨this is really not as fun as it looks on the blog¨ post...

1) We have biked at least 100 kilometers a day in 35 degree heat (95 F)
2) Spain is so dry that our throats feel like they have infections by the end of the day
3) We have eaten more bugs than food in Spain. Why? Simple answer, there is NOTHING to eat in Spain before 9:00 at night, and there are more bugs here than stars in the sky.
4) I (Scott) have a pulled groin - needless to say it hurts.
5) We slept under a shack roof last night, where we had little sleep and woke up realizing an ant farm was nestled between my head and Curlylox´s - we literally did have ants in our pants for our journey today.
6) The water you get from tap (which is gross) or even mineral water becomes bathwater in lets say 15 minutes? Nothing like sweating yourself to death and cooling yourself off after with a nice warm bottle of water.. mmmmmmmmm
7) Roads -Let´s just say that Spain does not have a copious amount of roads to choose from; we took the highway for a while which was scary enough, until the police told us to take another road, which in turn led us into the middle of nowhere, death valley California anyone?

PYRA - KANEES!

If you figure out what that title means you are a saint. I except postings on this subject.

We crossed the mountains! We are now writing from a hostel in Vitoria Gasteiz, where the hot dry arid climate of spain is beginning to be quite palpable to us.

Yeah, in case you are wondering, the mountains were great fun! Up, Up, Up, ... and Up... and... wait... is it over? Nope... Up some more... yay.

We are on our way to Burgos, and then valladolid, and puis Salamanca, and then Portugal!!!!!

It´s a Spanish keyboard this time, so i´d like to take time out of this blog posting to do this: ¿ Ñ Ç ¬ ª º ... yeah, I think thats about all the cool things you can do on this keyboard.

Pictures of the mountains and the absolutely beautiful coast of Southern France and Spain are on their way, just as soon as we can get to a computer where cameras are allowed.

Thats all for now, we will continue to ride on into the desert, until sundown, singing ¨can you feel the love tonight¨until our voices are lost and are love has sweated itself dry.

Love to you all, amigos

Yeah Were Tough... Real Tough... No I Swear...

Spain: Here We Come

Yes yes, for all of you who thought we would not make it this far, we have made it to the border of Spain! Take that society. We are now staying at the lovely apartment of Kris's aunt in Anglet, right next to Biarritz. We had a pretty rough last few days: woke up in pouring rain at a disgusting campsite, Curlylox lost his wallet, all our clothes were wet, etc. Yes I've come to realize after speaking to my father that this blog has looked like we have had such an easy time of all this, but that is more because I thought we would spare you of some of the less romantic aspects of this trip and instead paint it as a lovely trip across Europe. No no, we will not tell you (yet) of the physical ailments, or the rain the does not cease, or the dirty dirty clothes that at points I swear have created new organisms never discovered, or the intense heat that makes you want to lose your mind, or the 200 km bike rides that make you want to never get on a bike again, or the money you see drain from your bank account just in order to eat enough not to fall over on your bike and kiss the road, or the flat tires, or the untrue tires, or the brake failures, or the honking of horns, be them bad or good, that play with your nerves, or the highways with cars whizzing past you that make you realize you are going way slower than you could, or the pot holes, or the road kill, or the intense smells of cow and horse and goat, oh and just biking at least 80 miles per day ...no no, we will not tell you of these things...

Instead, here are some lovely pictures of the beach and smiles! YAY!!!!!!!!!!

Thank You Turid and Marte!

While in Paris we all received beautiful care packages with a new shirt, boxers, socks, and headband, courtesy of Gronlie`s sister and mom. You made our day with those care packages, and we thank thank thank you!

Dont think - Just Swim

Though we were depressed to leave Paris, we quickly made all kinds of progress, yesterday we biked around 170k to Alex`s place right outside of tours, where we are currently enjoying the sun and his lovely pool after a great breakfast.

With the help of a French friend we met along the way, we made it here; he took us halfway from Blois. Thanks!

Here are some pictures, enjoy!

Dont Think - Just Bike

Well ladies and gents, it's time to "partir." We are about to leave the beautiful city of Paris and get back into the rhythm of sore butts and uphill battles.

Thanks so much again to Alicia for having three smelly guys (but good looking I must say) stay with her for the weekend. Thanks for all of our friends who saw us this weekend, and yes, we will cry today on the road for you!

Here are some pictures of our last night here, can you tell which one is when Kris realized we have to leave tomorrow and I have to console him?

A Special Thanks To Our New Host, and those who helped us along the way!!

We are now at Alicia Karpetsky's place in Paris. Needless to say... its quite nice of her to take the three most smelly men in all of France into her home!

here is a cute little picture of us with Alicia, thanks again you wonderful person you!

Can You Guess Where We Are?

Thats right! France and... we have reached Paris! Lets just say that France is a lot "hillier" than the other countries we've faced thus far, but we made it nonetheless.

Here is a short itinerary thus far of the trip:

1) July 13, Goteborg Sweden to Halmstad - 154km
2) July 14, Halmstad to Copenhagen Denmark - 165km
3) July 15, Copenhagen to Koge, Denmark - 60km
4) July 16, Koge to Vordingborg, Denmmark - 74km
5) July 17, Vordingborg to GroBenbrode, Germany - 81km
6) July 18 - Rest Day (Injuries)
7) July 19 Rest Day (Injuries)
8) July 20, GroBenbrode to Bad Segeberg, Germany - 96km
9) July 21, Bad Segeberg to Wischhafen, Germany - 99km
10) July 22, Wischhafen to Bremenvorde - 97km
11) July 23, RAIN AND PAIN, Bremenvorde to Cloppenborg (hotel :)) - 99km
12) July 24, Cloppenborg to Nordhorn - 94km
13) July 25, Nordhorn Utrecht - 196km TEN HOURS ON A BIKE PEOPLE
14) July 26, Utrecht to Breda - 87km
15) July 27, Breda to Herentals, Belgium- 73.4 km
16) July 28, Herentals to Wavre - 75.89km
17) July 29, Wevre to Hirson, France - 128km
18) July 30, Hirson to Mareuil-sur-Ourcq - 153km
19) July 31, Mareuil-sur-Ourcq to Paris! - 88.23 km

Total Kilmoeters thus far: 1795 km

We will now enjoy the weekend and shuffle off on Sunday... or perhaps we may never leave Paris, we'll see...

What You Have All Been Waiting For

Booking It Through Belgium

Here we are in the lovely town of Herentals, at Kris's friend Tim's house, where we were fortunate enough to have an actual bed to sleep in, and more importantly, some amazing Belgium beer! Oh come on now, we deserve some :)

We have kept up our renegade camping sites, because to be honest the thought of sleeping one more day in that tent that now smells like je ne sais quoi... i'd rather sleep under an art gallery as we have pictures of below...

Today begins our long "push to Paris," after we have a delicious breakfast here and recuperate a little more.

Renagade camping in Nordhorn

Woke up in the german city Nordhorn at an improvised camp site yesterday morning. Rain had been pouring the day before that and it was still going. As almost every morning we made coffee on our beloved camping stove under some roof along the way. After a half an hour of biking we crossed the dutch border as our bike computers counted the 1000th kilometer of the trip.

We had second lunch in Arnhem, or first dinner if you will, sat at the big square for yet another cup of coffee.

At 8:30 Kristoffers friend Gert-Jan met us on his bike to escort us the last 35 km to his apartment in Utrecht, where we have now spent the night after setting the record of 192 km on one day. Right now we are resting after breakfast, listening and singing along to Scotts guitarplaying. Next stop Belgium.

/KF

Yes - We Are Alive

Hello all, so its been a while since our last post. Why you may ask? Well lets just say that tiny German towns do not hold a wealth of internet cafes, let alone any at all.

We are alive! We decided to get hotel rooms last night: we biked all day through pouring rain, our bodies tired, and our clothes completey soaked, we arrived in a lovely little town called Cloppenburg, where we got rooms and sampled our last German beer before we reach the Netherlands! So much has happened in this week, and we have many pictures to come once again, however these internet cafes dont let you plug anything in (sad face)

For now though let me give you some of the highlights of the past week...

1) We accidentally went on the autoban, which led to the German police meeting us and escorting us off of it, and they were so nice!

2) I got my third flat tire... yay!

3) We camped in a church sight and a very determined black lab ate all our english muffins, which led to the family bringing us a lovely array of cheeses and meat on freshly baked bread... mmmmmm

4) Woke up that morning at the church and a really nice blacksmith made us hot coffee in his shop.

5) Took two ferrys, and afterwards ended up camping out on a local volunteer firedepartments land where we were greeted by a gentle giant of a german fireman who offerred us fresh fruit

6) Rain and Pain - Biked through terrential downpours (pardon all the grammatical errors by the way I am not adept at this whole German Keyboard) and finally arrived in Cloppenbourg, where we will now head out from to reach Holland!

Pictures of all these things will be up as soon as we stay with Kris´s friend in the Netherlands, where we will actually be able to plug in our cameras!

healthwise, we are all feeling fine, well except our butts are a bit sore, but what are you going to do?

PS. Sausages and curry = yum

Ciao Ciao

Convalescence: A Necessary Thing

Well, I like to give the bad news first: we are still in Daytona Beach aka Großenbrode

Good news: Kris´s knee feels a bit better, and Forshfvud`s health has improved! We just want to take one ore day to make sure that they are in tip top shape for biking tomorrow. So do not worry families, things are looking up, we just have to spend one more wonderful night here... which to say the least once again, is far from wonderful.

Keep you updated, in the meantime, we are well working on getting our tan equal among are upper bodies, since all of us have pretty bad biker tans... oh yes, there will be pictures

Cheers

Scott

Stranded in Limbo

Hi all,

first to warn you we cannot upload any of our wonderful pictures at the moment, because we are at a campsite in northern germany on a computer that does not let you plug anything in... ps german keyboards confuse me.

But we are here in Germany! We took the ferry over, and found a campsite near the water.

Now for the bad news...

The reason we are resting here is twofold: Curlyloxs health appears to remain the same: not so good. Were hoping he just needs rest, and wish him a quick recovery.

On the other hand, Kris's knee continues to worsen, and we are worried that it will continue to do so despite rest. We expected these things to happen, we just wished it did not happen so quickly!

Last night, we have sourkraut and Sausages for dinner (which we have great pictures of if only I could put them up)

We will continue to push on and hopefully reach Utrecht in a couple of days, though it all depends on the knee and the throat of curlylox.

A ongoing thanks to those of you who donated so far, we have been spreading the word about Opportunity to those people we have met along the way so far, including a wonderful Danish farmer who let us camp on his land, brought us beers, and took us to a swimming hole on Denmark! Pictures to come

As for my health, I am doing fine. No problems yet, and I hope to remain that way, but one never knows when the knees and joints will begin to buckle.

By the way, yes mother, we are wearing suncreen!

Hi to my cat Merlin.

Thats all for now... RIDE OR DIE!

Scott

Wish I could be, Part of Your World

Today we visited the Little Mermaid statue, depicting the famous little mermaid from H.C Andersens fairytale... that was turned into a movie!

Cycling Update

Here is a little update of our life on the road...

July 14, 2009: Day 2

1) Woke up in Halmstad, Sweden at our campsite around 8:30, started biking around 11:00

2) Biked around 65km (45 miles) to Angelholm where we met Alf and Nanna, who bought us snacks (thank you!) and said they would meet up with us later "Chez Ida."

3) Our rumps and knees are not doing the greatest; this is the price you pay for being so foolish and doing almost 95 miles the very first two days of the journey...

4) Taking the Ferry from Helsingborg to Denmark.

Ridetime: 8 1/2 hours

Average Speed: 19.57 Kilometers/hour

Trip Length: 140 Kilometers

Odometer: 289 Kilometers

Denmark: Quick, Easy, and Absolutely Perfect

Here we are in Denmark, at Ida's house, who is the sister of Kris´s uncle´s (Alf) wife (Nanna). We are living like Kings at this beautiful house.

How perfect, we were met by some wonderful Danish people, who fed us danishes in the morning, and to top it all off... we were met with dinner waiting and great company, including our friend below...

















In other news, we leave today for Rødby, in Southern Denmark, and then we will be in Germany by tomorrow!

Away We Go!

Well, It is 9am and raining and cold outside... though it was tempting to stay in Forshfvuds comfy apartment, we are ready and underway... below is everything we are bringing with us, along with a few cute pictures to please our families and loves. Yay!

The Day BEFORE Tomorrow

Well The American is here, and it is the day BEFORE the day that will live in infamy...

We are all packing and repacking and what not, but lets get to the more interesting things.

We, as stated below, went shopping yesterday, and then did a bunch of preparation on the bikes while Curlylox cooked a wonderful meal of sweedish meatballs and salad and some unknown product he claims is "organic."

As for Jet lag... well the picture speaks for itself...

FYI... right after that picture was taken, I awoke myself because I poured the beer in my hand while I was sleeping all over myself.

We saw the great sights of the city yesterday, and met a bunch of Curlyloxs friends who were awesome. It is a beautiful sunny day here, we may going sailing... we may go biking... we may go into the city...

But one thing is for certain, tomorrow it begins

Forshufvud and Grönlie in Billdal

Friday July 10th 2009.

Its Friday night!! Forshufvud and I are "practice packing" in his moms place in lovely Billdal (a hole-in-the-wall suburb 20 km south of Göteborg). I got here yesterday with a train from Oslo, and forshufvud came with his bike to guide us home. It is flaaaaaaaaaat here, at least in the city. Hoping it will be like this all the way to France :-S

Coincidently, Forshufvuds mom is also packing for a bike trip. She is biking for a week on the islands of Tjörn & Örust with her friends so we've all had a cyclotron to share. She leaves tomorrow morning so she wont get a chance to meet our third wheel, Scott. We hope she gets good weather and some happy trails :-)

We pick up Scott from the airport tomorrow at noon and scramble to do some last minute shopping before everything closes on Sunday. We plan to start moving on Monday morning and it is expected to rain :-(

Thats all for now.
Grönlie

Gøteborg-Lisbon-Faro

Vis Goteborg-Lisbon-Faro i et større kart

Grønlies Bike

I ride a Norwegian made DBS Street Track Alivio, just like Forshufvud, I bought it of the streets :-) or Finn.no, from a man named Peder. The bike roles like a dream. This green almost glows in the dark. 21 gears, 53" frame, 28" wheels. Im ready like Rock Steady and Bee Bop!

Scotts bike

Scott rides a bike actually designed for what we plan to do. It is a Surely Long Haul Trucker. This puppy has it all. Lots of gears, clipidoodles, TWO BOTTLE HOLDERS, cool gear flippers....the whole 9. The scandinavians are as green as this bike with envy.

Forhufvuds bike

Forshufvud rides a fine piece of Norwegian engineering. Namely a DBS Street Track Alivio.
She has 21 Speeds and 28" wheels. Kris Grønlie found the bike for sale by some shmuck on the internet and forshufvud bought it for 3000 swedish moneys. Sweet.

Kristoffer Bengt Gabriel Forshufvud

Like the Norwegian Kristoffer, the Swedish Kristoffer (aka "Forshufvud" or "Gabriel" or "Curly" or "Blondie" or "Forshy" or "Goldie lox") doesnt want to write his own bio thingy. So I'll just write some factoids about him.
Forshufvud is from just outside Gøteborg in Sweden.
He was raised by wolves but then he ran away from home.
He went to highschool on a boat that sailed around the world. He had to make coffee for the skipper "8cm kaffe, 1 cm melk" and saw french legionaires do one-arm-pullups which changed his life. He said it was fun.

He is more of a maratime man so the transition to such a terrestrial form of travel for him is a big step.
He has a severe bird phobia. Even the smallest, cutest and harmless of birds scare him.
He showers for an hour at a time when he gets the chance.
He only eats happy organisms.
He Studies in Sweden.
Scott Norris is his nemesis.
He says "carpe diem" at least once in every conversation.
He talks about his emotions 90% of the time.
He bikes for science.

A shorter bio...not an autobiography

This is written by John Ruffino

Kristoffer Gronlie was born and raised in Northern Virginia . A son of Norwegian emigrants and world travelers. A true international man of mystery, he has lived in many unique places, including Egypt, France, the United states and Norway during his lifetime. He split his years between his motherland and the Northern Virginia up until his graduation from high school.

Upon graduating from George Mason High School, Kristoffer left behind his gray volvo station wagon and moved to Paris, where he studied International Affairs at the American University of Paris. The fruit of his labors fermented into a fine wine and after his graduation in 2008, he left Paris to live in the family flat in Oslo (a family rite of passage).

Kristoffer rides in honor of: his older brother, Sverre Gronlie, who recently past away, his friends Helge & Helga, who will be getting married in the fall, and his sisters unborn daughter.

Please help support the bike trios morale on their journey by sending donations to Opportunity International through the "donation thingy" located just below on this blog.

With hugs, kisses, snuggles and love.

John Ruffino

Please Help Raise $5000 for Opportunity International!

Please Help raise $5000 for Opportunity International, and help others pursue their own dreams: a better life

Sverre Grønlie - 22/01/73 16/05/09

A brief Bio: Scott Norris (American)

I am a 22 year old from Fairfax, Virginia. My life that lead me to this bike trip was quite a journey in and of itself!

I went to school at James Madison University for two years, which is located in Virginia's country side, however my interest in French and Arabic was telling me it was time to go abroad for a while (I have had excellent internships at the Middle East Institute in D.C. and as an Arabic Analyst for the government). I was accepted to study abroad at either Oxford University for a year, or attend the American University of Paris, France. Deciding that my english needed no real improvement, and also realizing that Paris is one of the most beautiful cities on earth, to Paris I went! 

Arriving there, knowing not a soul, I chose to rent a room in Paris's Latin Quarter, in my eyes, the most beautiful section of Paris. Notre Dame could be seen from my window, and I was only a few blocks away from the famous Saint Michel fountain, where cafés and shops abound. Yes, I was living the high life (quite literally as well, I had a room on the top floor of a French apartment building). 

My roommate: oh boy. Kris Gronlie, who will be going on this trip with me, shared my interest in biking. The fact that he is Norwegian but lived 15 minutes away from me in Virginia, and we never met each other until I randomly chose that specific apartment in Paris is strange enough, however realizing that we both shared a common love for the outdoors and biking added to the strangeness! 

Consequently, we decided over our spring break to bike from Paris to London, which only wet our appetite even more to do an even bigger trip, one that would encompass many countries and indeed, many challenges. 

Our friend Ramsey also inspired us greatly, doing a trip from London to Istanbul, Ramsey not only wet our appetite for this kind of adventure but more importantly, proved it could be done without dying. Thank you Ramsey!

I met other Kris, the infamous Kristoffer Forshufvud of Sweden, through Gronlie; Forshufvud actually lived in my room in Paris before I did - scary? Yes. Note of refrence, as you will see in pictures, Forshufvud has lovely long blonde hair, so if you see someone being called "goldie locks" in these posts, it is a reference to the lovely Swede. 

We all have our reasons to do this trip, as you shall see in the other guys posts. I am fortune enough to have teamed up with Opportunity International, which is a non-profit microfinancing institution dedicated to helping the poor. I will be setting up a link soon for people to make donations to Opportunity, for I hope to raise more than $5000 for the organization!  I hope to inspire others to do what I am doing to help Opportunity, their institution is incredibly successful, as I have had a first hand account when I visited Nicaragua with my father, and saw that a little money can go a long way towards helping the poor - it really made an impact on me. Not sure what micro-financing is? Go to their website, and become a supporter!

Thats all from the American for now...