General considerations
(for those who contemplate imitating us)
The Intinerary
We took the anti-clockwise direction having read on some Internet sites that
this was the way to take to have a maximum chance of tail winds. I have no
knowledge of a serious statistical study on this subject. And for us, we pretty
well had as many head winds as favorable ones! Nonetheless, we had no regrets
in having taken this option: after a first day which was a long climb to the
top of a plateau and down the other side, the 4 or 5 following days were very
flat allowing us to get acclimatized to the long days of cycling and also
getting ahead of schedule. This advance allowed us to envisage days of rest
in the more interesting spots. That could have been the case with Skaftafell
(the camp ground in the glacier park). It was the case at Myvatn Lake where
we stayed a couple of days. Had we gone the other way around, we would have
right at the start battled against very undulating terrain making it difficult
to get ahead of schedule.
The state of the roads is excellent: no surprise potholes when one screams
down a slope to over 50 km/h with vision clouded by the wind in one's eyes.
(Don't mention this to Anne. She would have a retrospective panic attack.)
The dirt portions of n° 1 road are also of excellent quality, making it
possible to ride comfortably safely often at up to 20 km/hour. (Usually the
biggest rocks are smaller than peas.) On the other hand, the sections being
rebuilt are a nightmare for cyclists, especially those with small front wheels.
The gravel is very course (with stones up to the size of a plum) and soft.
Pedalling on this surface was impossible and according to those we crossed
on mountain bikes, very difficult for them too. The following Internet site
details what sections of road are undergoing roadworks as well as indicating
the state of the montain roads: http://www.vegag.is/vefur2.nsf/pages/english.html
Our bicycle, because of its 20" front wheel not being adapted to off
road terrain, we deliberately steered clear of the inland routes to avoid
mechanical problems due to the bumps and jolts of the tracks accessible only
to 4 X 4. All the same, we had the impression of having seen practically all
the most spectacular sites while on n° 1 road with the exception of Geysir,
Gulfoss, Dettifoss, and Landmannalaugar. If you are two or more, it is more
flexible and less expensive to rent a small car in Reykjavik for the day than
to take a bus. For Dettifoss, there are daily buses which leave Myvatn Lake.
And buses leave from several cities to Landmannalaugar, a very popular place
and boasting what is reputed to be the most beautiful landscape of Iceland.
Clothing
We covered ourselves with the very latest hi-tech textiles which are light,
breath, keep one warm, dry more quickly than conventional fabrics, and are
bacteria repellant. They did their job wonderfully. Our Gortex raingear was
much more efficient against wind than rain. A half hour downpour left us soaked.
But if they weren't really waterproof, they were extremely light and they
dried in record time thus efficiently protecting us from intermittent drizzle,
the most frequent form of rain in Iceland. We talked with other cyclists equiped
with Gortex rain gear who said they were dry for a maximum of 4 hours under
heavy rain but their clothing was much thicker and heavier than ours.
Food and cooking
The Icelandic supermarkets are completely lacking butcher or fish departments!
Thus, finding a good beef steak or a sole filet is quite difficult. Maintaining
our french eating habits was thus hardly possible unless we had brought our
food with us. Taking into account the prices that are at least double those
on continenal Europe, this option is not to be excluded even in freeze-dried
form. We were equipped with two multi-fuel burners which work well with unleaded
gas (found all over the world). But Camping Gas is well established on this
island and one finds the appropriate cartridges in many service stations.
One burner would have been amply surfficient since the greater majority of
the campsites are equipped with dining rooms equipped with hotplates. Sometimes
it is necessary to queue up to put one's pan on a free plate but being on
holiday's, who's in a rush. In the larger towns, the supermarkets are well
stocked. And in the small villages, practically all the service stations have
the essential minimum (milk, bread, ham, canned goods). One exception was
the one and only gas station on the 162 km stretch between Egilsstadir and
Myvatn: a self-service station open 24 hours a day which only sells gas or
diesel oil providing you have a credit card. (Iceland is a credit card country
where this form of paiment is accepted even for an ice cream cone!) Therefore
it is necessary to stock up with three days of food before leaving Egilsstadir.
Sleeping
We chose a double air mattress, not much heavier than two selfinflatable mattresses
but much more comfortable and also more isolated from the cold of the ground.
The problem of the large volume of air needed to inflate this matress was
solved by the use of a small barbecue blower which blows at very low pressure
but high volume. 5 or 6 lung fulls before inserting the plug gave us a nice
firm bed. After reading accounts of violent winds, we bought a mountaineering
tent: relatively low to offer less wind resistance and with flaps around the
edges on which we could pile up stones (volcanic) to avoid being carried away
by severe gusts. During our trip, we never felt threatened to this point by
the elements and we were regularly surrounded in the campsites by much more
ordinary looking tents. In the event of a true storm, we would undoubtedly
have been in less trouble than our neighbors but was this precautionary purchase
really necessary? The official campsites are laid out irregularily on the
n° 1 road, sometimes close together, sometimes far apart. A look on a
detailed map (that one can buy at the Keflavik airport or in many shops in
Reykjavik if one can't find one before leaving home) makes it possible to
have a precise idea of the feasible stages. In addition to the roads and their
mileage, these maps show the 3 indications essential for the cycling camper:
the campsites, the service stations (for food), and the swimming pools. We
found the 1:500000 scale quite adequate. The rumours disagree concerning the
legality of camping outside the official campgrounds. What is certain is that
it is a definitely not allowed in the national parks. But elsewhere, it appears
to me unlikely that the state authority would require an exhausted cyclist
to fold his tent and move on. For the Youth Hostel, we reserved two months
in advance for the two first two nights in Reykjavik but this was too late
to have a double room. And one month later, all beds were already reserved
for end of August. The night that we spent in the other Youth Hostel in Berunes
was reserved the day before at noon. By chance, we succeeded in having the
very last free room. Morale of this story, it is to best to reserve well in
advance, especially in Reykjavik.
Why a recumbent
tandem?
Firstly because of the advantages of the tandem:
- our energy and therefore our speed and stamina is the average of each of
our strengths. On single seaters, the stronger cyclist must await the weaker
one
- it is much easier and safer to talk together since we are close one behind
the other rather than being obliged to ride side by side to converse
- aerodynamics: the "stoker" is sheltered from the wind by the pilot
and therefore struggles much less against wind resistance.
- the tandem reinforces marital bonds (or consolidates divorce proceedings!)
And secondly because of the advantages of the recumbent:
- comfort: NEVER any back pains, buttock pains, wrist pains... On an upright
bicycle, our trip would have ended with our fall on the second day since Anne
would have been incapable of continuing.
- aerodynamiques: battling against head winds is definately easier than on
an upright bicycle, the wind resistance in the lying down position being obviously
less than standing up.
- panoramic vision: riding a recumbent is like sitting on a deck chair on
the beach (or slouching on the sofa in front of the TV). The view is ideal,
especially for looking at mountain peaks or birds flying overhead. On an upright
bicycle, especially when one is bent over forward against head winds, craning
one's neck to keep an eye out for obstacles in front soon becomes a pain (in
the neck of course).
The disadvantages:
- the small 20" front wheel (some recumbents have 26" wheels making
them more suitable for unpaved and off track terrain but to my knowledge,
no recumbent tandem has such big wheels)
- the long frame and length of chain (compared to upright bicycles) diminsh
mechanical efficiency somewhat but this loss is more than compensated by the
aerodyanamic advantages.
- the pilot must earn the stoker's confidence on a tandem, must stop when
the stoker wants to stop, must slow down when the stoker wants to slow down.
And each must warn the other of gear shifts, especially shifts to a lower
gear which may cause the loss of balance if they come without warning. (On
our recumbent tandem, the pilot changes the gears on the chain wheel and the
stoker rear derailler. For braking, the pilot has the front disk and caliper
brakes and the stoker the rear caliper brakes. The reason for dividing the
roles is not only to make everyone happy with having his own chores but also
to permit dividing the tandem in two for transportation purposes without being
obliged to undo gear (or brake) cables or hydraulic tubing.)
Why does not everyone ride a recumbent? In 1934, a frenchmen named Mochet invented this bicycle by cutting a 4 wheeled 2 seater in half! He modified the result slightly and entered his invention ridden by an amateur in cycling competitions against professional cylclists. Not only races were won but also world records fell which threw the UCI off balance. To put matters straight, a vote was held to determine the legitimacy of this strange new bicycle: 48 for, 58 against. Had the result been the opposite, The Tour de France would undoubtedly be held on recumbents and mass production techniques would result in our finding them in our supermarkets at more afordable prices!