Summer vacation in Norway - Part 1

July 7-8: Trondheim-Oslo by night train, Oslo S to Høybråten by bike

We started the trip on a glorious sunny evening in Trondheim. We were ready a bit early, so we took a short detour next to the coast on our way to the train station. It was quite simple to get the key to our cabin and get the bikes loaded, so we were curled up in bed before the train started moving. I am a total convert: the night train is the best possible mode of travel (if you have a sleeping compartment). We woke up to a cool but dry morning in Oslo and tried to follow the cycling superhighway to Marit and Jabus’ place for breakfast. We did fairly well until Haugenstua, but got a bit off course at the end. Google Maps put us back on track, and we were able to enjoy a few hours in good company before the next leg of the trip.

July 8: Oslo-Horten by train and ferry

After a walk in the forest with Marit and Clara, and a bit of extra food, we took the train to Moss and the ferry across to Horten. The wind was pretty strong, and I was feeling a bit nervous about the swim after seeing how far it really is. The evening was primarily dedicated to race preparation. We went out to Tjøme with T and G to pick up a kayak for Dražen to support me with. On the way, we passed through Tønsberg – Norway’s oldest city – and enjoyed the flat/rolling farmland. The cabin at Tjøme was really beautiful. It is set back from the dirt road with a lovely view of the fjord and craggy coastline. The king has a cabin in the area, and I can understand why!

July 9: Horten-Moss, swimming and kayaking

The alarm went off early on Saturday morning, and we gathered all of the necessary equipment for the big event. The hotel was kind enough to put out a special early breakfast for swimmers, so we got a bite to eat before registration, the kayak briefing and the pre-race briefing. After that, it was time to wait and watch the first wave of swimmers, as well as put on a wetsuit, etc. The first part of the swim is a straight shot across to Jeløy, but the first wave of swimmers drifted quite far south right from the start, which was a bit of a concern. I positioned myself on the left side of the starting group – seeing Dražen on that side as well – and tried to point my head in the right direction. At the very beginning of the race, I could see Dražen on my left (exactly as we had planned) and T’s flag out front. I tried to follow the flag as long as possible, but I soon found myself unable to really identify anything in front of me that would give me directional information, and started just trying to align myself with Dražen.

At one point, I saw that the organizer’s speedboat came alongside to chat with Dražen, and then I got a bit concerned. I think I was the last swimmer at that point – but I felt like I was swimming well, even if I constantly had to adjust my point. We took a quick water break and Dražen confirmed that I was at the back of the pack and less than halfway across. My watched showed 2.5 km and 52 minutes at that point – which meant that I was not on pace for a 3 hr finish, and was in fact a bit too close for comfort for the cutoff at Jeløy. I put my head down and tried to just keep a reasonable pace, even though it was hard to convince myself that I was getting any closer to land.

I started to get really frustrated: I couldn’t see the boat at Jeløy, my cap was falling off, and I felt the time limit creeping up on me. When I was at the point of maximum frustration, I stopped to get information from Dražen and to fix my cap. I was only 200 m from the boat, and everything suddenly seemed better. After some nice cold water from the boat, and confirmation that I was within the cutoff, I really enjoyed the stretch of the swim which followed the coastline there. The water was calm, though Dražen had to keep motioning me back to the left, and I think I made quite good progress through that section. I had expected there to be a second checkpoint, but it turned out to be a free swim in to the finish. I could finally see my point – which also (at last) seemed to be getting closer!

In the end, I swam the race in 3:18, which put me just in the top half. Everyone was a bit slower than expected due to the strange currents, so I decided to be happy with the time as well. Most of all, I am really glad that Dražen was there by my side!