CITY Exploro Bergen, Norway

This ride is one of my favorite rides, and I do it quite often. As I live in the suburb of Nesttun, this is my starting point. This is a circular route which takes you around mount Ulriken which is the highest of the seven mountain summits surrounding Bergen. You can start the route wherever you like. If you stay in the city center of Bergen it is very easy to find a nice starting point for this trip. What I like about this trip is that it takes you through rural farmlands, different suburbs of and directly into the city center of Bergen. This route will give you a taste of everything as you ride through the different part of the city.

The ride is all pavement, but the road surface is quite rough on parts of the ride. I have recently set the wheels up with Compass Switchback Hill tires. This really transforms the Exploro into a fast and comfortable road bike. It feels very fast with the Zipp wheels. The cassette is the SRAM 1175 11-42. This gives more than enough gearing range for this trip, as the terrain has no very steep hills – just nice rolling roads.

On my starting point, I head out on the old railway path that has been made into a bicycle path. The first 10 km is nice and flat but always feels like a kind of transport ride before you turn off from the main road and into the farming area in Langedalen (the long valley). This part of the ride is about 12 km and takes you through some nice rural farmland areas. The road is nice and on this stretch, you seldom meet any cars. The terrain is nice and rolling, mostly flat with a few short up and downs. The descent down towards the northern part of Bergen is quite steep with max decline above 13%, but it is just about 1 km. After some more farmland sightseeing, you finally reach the suburb of Aasane. You know you are in a suburb when you pass IKEA. Just a couple of km and I can see the sea which I will have on my right for most of the time into the city center.

Along the ride, there are a couple of nice bakeries for cafe stop stops, but today it is 1st May and all of them are closed. The weather on this particular ride was an overcast and a bit misty, so it was colder than expected. Looking down I saw the mist turning into raindrops on my Superghiaia bars. Time for a short break! Luckily the XY petrol station in Aasane was open, and I stopped for a cup of coffee and a chocolate bun.

After about 12 km through nice suburb roads, I am in the middle of the city center of Bergen. It always feels kind of nice to come around the turn at the harbor in Bergen and find yourself directly on Bryggen road in Bergen. This view from here is probably on most tourists bucket list when visiting Bergen. Then I cycle over the fish market and ride slowly through the park and along the beautiful Japanese cherry trees which are in full bloom.

Going out of Bergen city center to my home is easy. There are nice cycling paths all the way, and after 10km I am at my starting point again, 2hrs 15min after I started.

A nice trip has been completed again. This trip is always an excellent cycling experience.

Find the route here: www.komoot.com/tour/65526678