UPDATED July 8, 2026 BY Henry Gold IN Road to Valhalla no comments Paalo Nurmi, Emil Zatopek & The Road To Valhalla Cycling TourMind is everything. Muscle pieces of rubber. All that I am, I am because of my mind. Paavo NurmiGreat is the victory, but the friendship of all is greater. Emil ZatopekHave you heard of Paavo Nurmi or Emil Ztopek? Helsinki connects these two remarkable people. I am here for the inaugural Road to Valhalla Cycling Tour which will take us from the capital city of Finland, Helsinki, to Stockholm Sweden, onward to Oslo, Norway and then past some amazing fjords to our final destination, the city of Trondheim. But this blog isnt about cycling.As is my habit when I come to a place I know little about, I take a walkabout. It is not that there is no cycling in Helsinki. The city has an extensive network as well as great routes such as the Seuirasaarenslka trail which is part of a 130 km long public waterfront system. This 14.4 km cycling and walking route runs through four delightful islands. To top it off, the city had just finished building the amazing Kruunuvuorensilta, or Crown Mountain bridge, for cyclists, pedestrians and light rail at a cost of US$373 million.Oodi Central LibrarySo, if I am not writing about cycling, what else should I focus on? There is certainly no shortage of subjects here, starting with world-famous Finnish design. Since 2014, Helsinki has been a UNESCO City of Design and one could easily spend a day in the Design District and still be eager to have more time there. A blog or two can easily be written about Finnish cuisine, ranging from game bear, elk, reindeer or grouse to the Finnish staples of herring, smoked fish, or the iconic whitefish vendace, eaten whole and accompanied with tasty rye or sourdough breads.Kampi Curvilinear ChapelIn Helsinki a city designed for walkers you can wander around, admire and write about architecture, ranging from remarkable churches such as the contemporary curvilinear wooden Kampi Chapel or the Temppeliaukion Kirkko church hewn from solid rock, to buildings such as the Oodi Central Library or the Musiikkitalo, the glass and copper fronted Helsinki Music Centre. And lets not forget Finladia Talo, the landmark concert hall designed by world famous architect Paulo Alto, known for his concept of Well Being and Human Environment.I could dedicate a blog or two to Helsinkis 10 million metre underground network of sports fields, art installations, swimming pools, museums, tracks for go karting and running, tunnels, the metro, parking and much more, initially built during the Cold War. To get a feel for it, consider watching Architect Tapi Snellmans film, Helsinki Underground.Instead, I will write about a couple of long-distance runners whose achievements and personalities made an impact on their countries and the world far beyond running. Paavo Nurmi, considered to be a national symbol and know as the flying Finn, set 22 world records, won nine gold and three silver Olympic medals and was undefeated in 121 races. If you are interested in finding out more about his impact on Finland and its identity, check out the Wikipedia entry. Without a doubt, a truly legendary figure. And on my walkabout, I came across his statue in front of the Olympic Stadium where Emil Zatopek, a Czech runner who visited my school when I was a kid became a running legend at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics.Emil Zatopek won the 5 km and 10 km gold medals and, at the last moment, decided to run the marathon as well for the first time in his entire life. To everyones surprise, he won that as well, the only athlete to ever win the three races in one Olympics. If you like sports, there are many fascinating stories about these two amazing athletes.My favourite story, however, is not about running. Zatopek was an officer in the Czechoslovak army in 1968, by then retired from athletics, when the Soviet army invaded the country. Zatopek, along hundreds of thousands of citizens expressed his displeasure with the invasion. For this gesture, he was dismissed from the army and to shame him, the functionaries decided to make him into a garbage collector in Prague. It didnt work out well for the party. When the public heard that Zatopek was collecting garbage, people waited outside their doors and didnt allow him to touch the garbage. It was the functionaries who ended up looking embarrassed. So they gave Ztopek another job, as a forester, to keep him away from the public eye.As a youngster, I was consumed by athletics and read the sport pages from A to Z. Neither Nurmi nor Zatopek have crossed my mind in decades but in Helsinki memories of distant times have come back. Paavo Nurmi became a cultural icon in his country, representing perseverance and excellence, and Emil Zatopek inspired many athletes and non-athletes and is remembered for his generous spirit and camaraderie with fellow athletes. These are good thoughts to have for our challenging cycling from Helsinki to Trondheim.RELATEDTOURRoad to Valhalla Valhalla, also known as the Hall of Heroes, was the goal for all real Vikings. Ruled by the Norse God, Odin, only the bravest and fiercest of warriors... Related Posts:Leave a Comment for "Paalo Nurmi, Emil Zatopek & The Road To Valhalla Cycling Tour" Cancel reply

After three Tour de France sprint finishes so far, it seems only two-in-a-row stage winner Tim Merlier is the only one sleeping well as several of the sprint rivals and teams have launched into criticism of each other after stage 8. In a typically hectic sprint finale, the Soudal Quick-Step rider de...

UPDATED July 6, 2026 BY Guest Author IN The Odyssey no comments What Is The Perfect Day On A Bicycle?Sara Frenning was the Content Creator on the 2026 The Odyssey Cycling Tour.I asked the riders on The Odyssey this very question. Most of the answers started in an expected way. Sunshine, tailwinds, scenery, descents. But as the question lingered, the answers started to shift. Some uphills, some unexpected turn of events, some rain, even some traffic started to seep into this imaginary perfect day on a bike.Somewhere in between, with a balance between the good and the hard, was where most of the riders landed. A subtle agreement that easy does not always equate to good when it comes to cycling. That the descents are sweeter after a gruelling climb, that the sun feels a little warmer after a heavy rain, and that a deserted mountain road fills you with more freedom after you battled some traffic to get there.One exceptionally rainy day in Germany proved this. It was raining buckets from the moment we left the hotel until we reached the lunch spot, 70 km later. I kept my head down and battled against the elements, stopping only occasionally to take a photo or two of drenched riders, while trying not to cause permanent damage to my camera. Despite the freezing rain and a dark cloud that seemed to stretch to the size of Germany itself, almost every rider that passed my plastic bag, wrapped camera, smiled and joked about our situation. Even those who did not smile but simply endured were part of the collective suffering. We felt more like a team than on any of the other days. We all felt the same pain and suffering that day.Perhaps more importantly, we all felt the same joy when the cloud of doom lightened by just a few shades of grey. Suddenly, the flowers smelled sweeter, the grass was greener, and the otherwise rather mundane landscape seemed like the most beautiful sight any of us had ever seen.The thing with suffering is that it makes joy easier to find.A couple of dry socks for drenched feet, a cup of tea for cold hands to hold, an extra layer of protection when Germany decides to dump a record amount of rain on you. All these things are nothing special, nothing you would think twice about on a normal day, but things that, after a long day of suffering on a bike, feel like nothing less than pure joy.I think this is why so many of us like to ride our bikes. We choose to suffer to remind ourselves how sweet a downhill can be, that bliss can be found in the simple absence of rain. To remind ourselves of how easy pure joy can be.Its a privilege to choose our suffering in the form of bike riding, but just like in life, a good day is not only one where everything is easy, but one where we get to practice the art of spotting and enjoying the simple joys life offers, even on a day with many hills.RELATEDTOURThe Odyssey The original Odyssey by Homer followed Ulysses, King of Ithaca, on his grueling ten year trip home from the Trojan War during which he faced and... Related Posts:Leave a Comment for "What Is The Perfect Day On A Bicycle?" Cancel reply

Sepp Kuss is riding the Tour de France with an unusual injury, one that would go unnoticed not for teammates Victor Campenaerts pointing it out and poking fun at the American rider. Riding stage 6 of the Tour de France, Sepp Kuss rode well in service of Visma | Lease a Bike leader Jonas Vingegaard o...

Good morning and welcome to the Tour de France liveblog. Stage 9 is set to be dominated by scorching temperatures, prompting the French authorities to raise the country's heat alert level and forcing the race organisers to implement drastic measures. Although the stage has been shortened, its diffic...

Tadej Pogacar's 2026 Tour de France so far after eight stages can be summarised in one way: dominance. The Slovenian has soared to a commanding 2:42 lead over nearest rival Jonas Vingegaard in the general classification in a single stage raid. That stage was a Pyreneean beast as the world champion s...

After two sprint stages in a row, the Tour de France is serving the peloton exactly what they ordered on Sunday's stage 9 - a breakaway feast for attackers to sink their teeth into after a few days of waiting for their chance. The past two stages have been all about Tim Merlier and Soudal Quick-Step...