I write this as I sit on the plane flying back to Canada from Iceland. The passenger sitting beside me is a big fellow and I don’t have much room to get comfortable. Although I could really use the sleep, my discomfort gives me a chance to look back on a great trip with some awesome friends.

Our Iceland trip had all the aspects of a great adventure. We had challenges, some bad luck, and we had some amazing fortune. There was solitude and mountains and weather and there was crazy dancing and party crashing. We had mechanicals galore with our big diesel van and my bike performed flawlessly. Water flowed in the doors as we crossed deep fast glacial rivers on the way to remote trails. We patched and cursed at the tires on our van. We were the first bikes to touch and slash unsuspecting hiking trails and we rode through the steam of hissing geysers. The sun peeked through the clouds when we needed it to and the rain poured down, turbocharging the green of the moss for us.

We played some serious practical jokes and had epic laughs. It’s hard to describe the comedy but anyone who has been on a real adventure with great friends understands how funny even the simplest jokes can become.

We had an interesting discussion about the trails in Iceland. They aren’t built for biking. There are hike a bike sections on the climbs, and there are some corners that just don’t work. But the landscape overcomes these imperfections. Being out there in those amazing hills, feeling like you are riding on a different planet… It’s so special that the trail seems less important. It’s more about the mountains. There are glorious sections where the trail flows and there are natural berms and jumps, and those sections are what you remember when you are sitting in the hot springs.

Sterling shot really amazing photos. There will be magazine articles about our trip with all-time pictures. It’s exciting to go out and shoot images that will share the beauty of that place with people who read the articles. We rode all the trails we could but I feel like we barely scratched the surface. There are some real epics that we didn’t have time to hit. We were teased by the sight of the trails on opposing ridges disappearing into the horizon. I absolutely have to go back and explore those places.

Iceland is a tough place to score good conditions, it’s way way up there on the planet. Some of the trails we rode are only open and rideable for 3 weeks of the year! Go too early and they are super soft and muddy with the snow still melting off them, and a week too late and they will be covered up again. I feel so lucky that we had the weather and conditions that cooperated and we had the crew that we did. So stoked.

Keep an eye out for the photos and story to run in your favourite magazine in the next few issues.

Matty