DAY 29

They head from Corryong to Kosciuszko National Park. The boys stopped at the information center in Corryong to get some maps and tips for most suitable routes, but the visit didn’t make them any wiser. Assisted by a research crew back in Norway Anders knew more about how they could cross the mountain than the woman at the information center. The woman also told the boys that they had to pay to spend the night in the wild there, but Anders pretended he never heard that an thought that it’s no way he pays for sleeping in the wilderness.

The start is pretty flat but then they pretty quick meet a steep hill that takes them over a hill and on a similar long downhill. The same they have to do one more time. After 25 k’s they get to the boarder of the National Park. A bunch of road workers is having lunch and one of them says to Lasse “you are a better person than I am” when they hears about his plans to cross the mountain on a push bike. Little did both Anders and Lasse know what an enormous task they had taken upon themselves. They stop in the beginning of the hills to drink and it would be a long time until they would see each other again.

Anders starts walking and pushing his bike early and the steepness and how far and hard this will be already scares him. They are gonna do 60 k’s into the mountain, close to Australia’s highest “city” Cabramurra. They are at 350 meters above sea level and are going up to 1600. It is hot and the bikes is heavier than normally since it is loaded with more water and food.

There is no flat parts, just up up up and up. Lasse walks his bike and that is his lane for the next hours. Anders cycles, but many areas are so steep it is impossible cycle. The lactic is constant and the sweat pours down from the head. The sweat mixes with the sunscreen and runs into the eyes. Anders gets temporarily blind on tone eye before he washes his eye.

Kilometer after kilometer they walk and cycles with no idea how far it is left. It is no service on their phones. Anders stops and waits for Lasse for 25 minutes but no signs of him. After a while Anders and lay down to eat melted chocolate and read, accompanied by 150 flies. After an hour and no sight of Lasse Anders decides to continue. He thinks it is better that one person set up the tent than both being stranded with no tent possibilities when it gets dark. Some cars passes but they are very few. Anders thinks that in worst case they have to hitchhike, as this is getting close to irresponsible.

New kilometers and hours goes by. Anders and Lasse have no contact, but they both are heading upwards. They get higher and higher and the wind gets stronger and colder.

Lasse pushes his bike and is getting closer to running out of energy. Behind every turn he hopes to see Anders and the idea that he might have passed Anders also comes to his head as this has happened before on the trip. Anders realizes he is getting closer to the top with fewer and fewer leafs on the trees. It is cold and Anders must but on a jacket. Anders is worried he will not be able to set up the tent before the sun goes down. He wonders how far behind Lasse is and sends him several messages. No answers.

16 kilometers before Cabramurra Anders sets camp in the ditch close to the road. He has then cycled and pushed the bike for 70 k’s and most of them steeply upwards. He scouts for Lasse and sees that the us is not far from going down in the horizon. Crisis Anders thinks as he waits both one and two hours. No Lasse.

A bit down in the mountain Lasse stops and eats dinner. A can of cold spaghetti before he continues. He is exhausted and have started to worry where this will end. The fear of not making it is genuine.

He comes to a small rest area where it’s four small buses but no people. Lasse seriously considers to break one of the windows and sleep in a bus. It’s cold and Lasse puts on wool clothes and extra layers. Totally exhausted Lasse decides to continue. It starts to get dark. Anders who is in his 3 hour of waiting thinks now we fucked up.

Anders texts with those home in Norway on what to do if Lasse don’t show up. He explain it is cold, dark and that Lasse have no tent, no gps, no service, and little food and water. When Anders gets a reply with advices he sees Lasse 300 meters down the road. “YES!!” Anders thinks, “I do not have to describe this unfortunate death of Lasse to those home”.

“That is TOO far ahead Anders” is Lasses first words when he comes walking with his bike. The relief is huge over having arrived safely. Lasse says “this is by far the heaviest, most exhausting and toughest day of my life”. Anders believes that as he got pretty exhausted himself and have to go ten years back in time to remember doing something similar. Anders agrees that he was to far ahead but he struggles with stopping when he sees a hill. The routines have changed a bit and they do not cycle so far from each other now.

Due to more walking than cycling On this insane leg Lasse have now gotten a sour in his butt. He looks in the medicine bag and tries to find something he can use. “Strips is what you use to fasten cuts?” Lasse asks Anders. Anders don’t asks for details but confirms. “If you want to finish that spaghetti you need to turn around, I must do some surgery on myself”. Anders with a fork of spaghetti turns around and sees in his sideview that Lasse goes down in a squat with his long Johns down. Anders goes twenty meters away and looks down in his sad empty can, that surprisingly that’s okay after 10 hours in a physically and mentally hell.

They lay down in the tent and eats chocolate. Anders have 3 liters of water left and Lasse 2,5. They are on top of the mountain 1600 meters above sea level with nothing nearby. They are alone. Tomorrow another 55 k’s awaits in the same mountain.

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DAY 30

3 cars that drives in on the same dirt road the guys are going in on wakes the boys up. They are going off the main road that goes to Cabramurra and onto Happy Jacks road to cross the national park as efficient as possible. That turns out to become another insane day on and off the bike.

They start by walking and pushing their bike upwards for 15 minutes before they are at, what they believe, the highest point of today before it all will be downhill. Correctly it starts with downhill, for 20 minutes. The road is horrible and closed for all other than authorized vehicles. In other words, regular people can’t use this road unless they are cycling or walking. Cycling this road is it probably not many people that do each year. It is by far the worst road they have ever seen. It is humping so much downhill that Lasse says they should take out air of the tires. That they do and crossing their fingers that they will not get a flat tire, that would be catastrophic here in the middle of nowhere.

At the bottom of the downhill they come to a dam. The company SnowyHydro operates the are and has dams everywhere. They built the dams in the sixties. Before that it was only small rivers and forest, that they turned Into lakes and energy.

After cycling downhill for 20 minutes they look up at another mountain and realizes that this day will be just as tough as the other, just with less food, less water and much worse road conditions.

Lasse admits he has to take a bite of the sour apple and sends Anders in front as a an informer if any cars show up, which is not very likely. Anders has carried a roll of toilet paper for more than 1500 kilometers, that finally will have its purpose. The natures way in the nature, what could be more beautiful? (A lot can Anders inform whom sees it all from 100 safety meters away).

The boys are pushing their bikes uphill and Anders simply doesn’t understand why they haven’t got a flat tire. The rocks in the road is large and sharp and nothing indicates that this will end well, nothing.

The hours goes by and the only thing that carries them is that they don’t have a choice. They are on a deserted road in the middle of a national park that is closed for the average joe. It is the boys against the nature, the boys against this horrible dirt road. It is the boys against the clock.

It is getting colder and the wind increases. Lasse fills water in a tiny river, assuming it will be alright. The nature reminds them a bit about Norway and the breezes are cool just like Norway. Anders runs out of power. From 37 % to 0 in the blink of an eye. They are coming to a crossroad Anders haven’t seen while navigating. They take a left as the sign indicates “Eucumbene”. They are rolling down for 5,5 kilometers before it turns out the road has a dead end. It makes them wanna cry. They should have taken a right turn and now pushing of 45 kg bike uphill for 5,5 kilometers awaits. They meet a SnowyHydro car that gives them water and feels sorry for them. The man says it is easy to misread the sign. “Yes” Anders thinks and thanks him
For the water. Very necessary.

Anders is angry although angry is one of the saddest and most primitive words he knows. He is angry at the phone that suddenly died and he is angry at himself for trusting the sign and not his gut. He carries on upwards without a single stop. Imaging pushing a bike steep uphill for 5,5 kilometers, irritating? Yes.

On the top of the hill Anders lays down to breathe and read. Further down the hill Anders is fighting his own battle, but is getting closer. When they are gathered again 25 k’s remain. They continue cycling upwards, higher than ever it feels like. Suddenly they are at the top and are rewarded with a scenery few will ever experience. They can see for miles over the mountains and the lake far down there is so beautiful. Goosebumps on legs, arms and backs. A view they will never forget. To bed the best camera was without power. The best possible photos were never taken but they got some with the GoPro camera.

They got a message on the gps-tracker. It is team Kjensli that have followed the tracking and seen that they took a wrong turn. Some messages are sent and they manage to find a caravan park with help from Norway. The last 15 k’s are downhill, something the breaks get to experience and the tires survives. The time is 19:30 when they arrive at the Caravan park at 1200 meters above sea level. They go to bed early for some much needed rest.

Awesomestralia – a normal life is boring