Birkebeinerrittet 2009

Birkebeinerrittet (lit. The Birkebeiner cycling race) is a long-distance mountainbike cycling race held annually in Norway. It is the worlds largest bicycling race in number of contestants. In 2009 17164 riders signed up, and 15140 cyclists competed the race. Compare this to the population of Norway of under 5 million inhabitants.

The race starts at Rena ends at Håkons Hall in Lillehammer. Birkebeinerrittet is 94 km long along fire roads, with some paved and some single/dualtrack segments.

2009: The worst condition in race history ... mud, wind, cold. You can see a few pictures copied from the web, hope nobody will mind if I show here a few of the photos taken during the race. The last pictures are taken on Saturday night and Sunday morning ... it took me about one hour to clean my bike.

The last picture was taken just a few meters before the finish line and I paid about 27 euros for it. So have a good look at it :)

And yes ... well ... my time ... a lot ... not too proud about it, but at least I've finished the race ... 7 hours 28 minutes. But don't forget the race conditions :) Who will join me next year?

Race history:

There was a civil war in Norway. Faction pitted itself against faction in fight for the throne. One faction was the birkebeiners. They were the underdogs, often in such dire need that they had nothing but the bark of the birch-trees as foot-wear. The word birkebeiner, birch-leg, has come to mean a man strong in adversity, never daunted by trials and hardship. 

The birkebeiners had gained ascendancy over great parts of the country, but the rival faction, the baglers, prevailed in the East of Norway. After the birkebeiner chieftain Haakon died on New Years Day in 1204,  the baglers saw a dangerous rival pretender in his son Haakon Haakonsson , who was born in 1204, a few weeks after his fathers death. His life was at stake, and the birkebeiners wanted to bring him to safety in Trondheim. On Christmas Day in 1205 the party came to a small farm at Lillehammer, where they stayed in hiding over Christmas. They found it too risky to follow the route up the Gudbrandsdal valley, so they cut across the mountains to the neighbour valley in east, Østerdalen. Due to bad weather and difficult snow conditions the two best skiers, Torstein Skevla and Skjervald Skrukka had to go ahead with the two year old prince. 

"On this trip they suffered much from the cold, snow and wind". Behind this succinct account of the saga lies a deed of valour and strength with an appeal to skiers of all ages and nations. The 3,5 kilo pack carried by the present day birkebeiners symbolizes the prince, who later became king Haakon. He made an end of the civil war, and under him Norway had a heyday in the Middle Age. The birkebeiner expedition made history. 
Good luck to you in that royal trail across the mountains !!