Bryant in Norway

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Oslo, day 1 In front of the "world famous" Holmenkollen ski jump in Oslo. It was so warm today (+10) that I wore my "Arnold for Governor" t-shirt skiing. bt
cereal boxes I guess that this is the Norwegian version of "Flutie Flakes". I hope it's good; I have two boxes of the stuff.
poster Find Bjorn and win a prize.
tailgate I skied the Holmenkollen 50km course today (the race is 3 16.7km loops!). There were all sorts of these little pits dug out along the course by spectators. The Norwegian version of tailgating, without the fat guys with painted chests? bt
Morning fog The scene before skiing on day 2. It was better than day 1, because the sun was not out to turn the snow into slush. Note: people here speak VERY good English - an example: I was screaming down a hill today, and a woman coming up made a strange move in my direction. I shouted (to myself, I thought) WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?.....and was reprimanded on the return trip when I passed her - "watch your language, please". SORRY! (really)...... bt
Frequent r.s.n poster Terje Mathiesen, shown admiring my Sony Vaio Picturebook computer.
I didn't know they had Ikeas in Scandinavia!
Day 3 In Lillehammer now. I recommend it to anyone looking for a quick "weekender". Lillehammer gives a hearty "OL-byen" (?) to sknyski as he rides into town. (photo taken with Canon Powershot S110. Tripod: copy of Michael Moore's "Dude, Where's My Country" which this Republican bought only because it was one of the few english books he could find).
Lillhammer from across the lake. I'm not sure where they ran the downhill event, since there's not much of a hill there. Wait - I vaguely recall that they had competitors take a run, climb back to the top, take another run, and add the two times. Both skiing and math skills, as well as one's ability to run uphill in two ton plastic boots, were tested in this event. (trusty Ford Focus rental car shown at left of photo)
A fender bender on the E6 heading to Lillehammer. I did not cause this by shooting pictures while driving 100kph. bt
Race Day Here is the staging area for the race. Because the normal start area was a big puddle, we had to stampede up to a start line further on the course. At this point, I was sure that I had the wax "dialed in".
Waiting for the start Waiting in the holding pen to be let loose for the stampede to the starting line. I'm smiling because I KNOW that I have the perfect wax.
Wherever you go, triple-A is there You know how when you (those of you who ski) buy a tube of klister and it has that black plastic scraper in it? And 20 years later, the black plastic scraper is still in the box? (I think they multiply) Well, I had three boxes of klister with me, and no black plastic scraper. So my AAA card got the call when disaster hit on the course. bt
just missed the wax.... ok, maybe I missed the wax by a bit......ok, maybe by A LOT. Ho-lee cow. On the climbs the trail was lined with people doing that one-ski-over-the-other-scrape-the-snow-off-the-bottoms thing. I was no exception...
weigh station weighing the pack at the start. everyone has to carry a 3.5kg pack during the race. this is supposed to represent the baby King Hakkon (sp) who was ported to safety by some (considerably swifter than me) Norwegian folks, a long time ago (apologies for my lack of knowledge of Norway's history). Had it been my job to port the kid to safety, we probably would have been caught in the first couple of k's and the king would now be working in a sweatshop in Malaysia sewing something for Nike.
Finally, a comment on the price of things in Norway. A bottle of coke, for instance cost me 20kr, or about $3. FOr a bottle of coke. If you ever plan to go to Norway, make a budget and double it. No, triple it. And then take out a home equity line. You, too, can pay $60 to fill your car (ask me how!) At right, the offending bottle of Coke.

Ranking	Name	Club	Startnr.	M1	M2	M3	Time	Medals	Completed
Class: M35, (Menn 35 - 39 år)				Makstime: 03:59:50
290	Tolles, Bryant		10236	00:46:51	02:22:31	03:26:23	04:13:28	0	0