David Dermott wrote:
On 26 Jun 2006 wrote:

In Norwegian, rides like the Swedish Vätternrundan, and the
Styrkeprøven, and numerous other rides are called "Turritt" which
means "tour ride" and they are more or less the same as any organized
timed "Century" type ride in the US. Usually the start is done in waves
of 100 riders or so every 5-10 minutes. Often there are prestigious
club team competitions for the best cumulative time for a 10 man team
(or the best 10 out of how ever many you have). These events draw all
sorts people from all age levels and fitness groups. For example the
"winners" this year did the 540km in 14:02, my 19:02 was good enough
for 587th place, and there were about 1800 finishers in all, with times
up to 40 hours or so.

Congratulations Joseph on your Styrkeprøven finish! I considered
entering (for about 10 minutes, entered Swedish VR instead) on my
first trip to Norway (1994). My estimated time would have been
just under the 40 hour limit.

Thanks! Here's a pic of me when I was still happy at about kilometer
210:

http://tinyurl.com/lyxsv

The main start is on Saturday morning, but there is an option of
starting either at 9pm or midnight on Friday for those planning to take
a longer time. With these start times there is also an option of
sleeping at km 200 I believe. It's not a particularly scenic or
pleasant route, so the only real reason to do it is "because it's
there". So unless you are interested in doing it fast (as a personal
thing of course, speed is relative) I wouldn't bother traveling a great
distance to participate. There are other more fun/scenic rides to
choose from.

The organization of the Swedish VR seemed similar to the club
"century" rides I've done in Canada (on a much larger scale!).
But it seems that there is no official time ranking of finishers,
results are listed alphabetically.

I have never done it, but as I understand it the VR is more of a ride.
The Styrkeprøven is certainly a race. Albeit similar to a race like
the NYC Marathon where only a select few are racing to win, but a race
none the less.

Styrkeprøven's official site is:
http://www.styrkeproven.no/styrk2003/index.shtml (Norsk, English,
Deutsch)
I also noticed that there
is a new book about Styrkeprøven:
http://www.cappelen.no/main/katalog....id=3988&f=1340

The book is an amusing easy read. The author is a "real" author who
just happens to be a cyclist. He took contact with Steffan Kjæregård
(previously of US Postal) and asked him to be his "domestique" for the
ride. He documents the experience in an amusing way.


PS There are full Wikipedia articles on Styrkeprøven in both Norwegian and
German, but none in English. I put in a "stub" article. Are there
any volunteers (preferably with personal experience) to fill it
out? :-)

http://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Styrkepr%C3%B8ven
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Styrkepr%C3%B8ven
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Styrkepr%C3%B8ven


I could give a shot at translating the Norwegian entry. It's pretty
staight forward.

Joseph