How on earth did you convince anyone to join you on a 530 km, two-day adventure?
Apparently the people I ride with are as silly as I am, and all it took was the idea being brought up.

Why this ride around Zealand?
I have always had a bicycle curiosity thing, a “what if…”. Starting out on a BMX bike when I was five it could be seeing what would happen if you jumped down a flight of stairs, or experimenting with how you lean into something at a certain speed. It’s always been a bit of a “I wonder what would happen if…” thing for me riding bikes. The “what if’s” on BMX evolved into all sorts of bikes and corners to investigate. Go see what would happen if you go ride for four hours on the coldest day of the year, ride your gravel bike through the rockgarden or taking off the gears on the mtb would make a difference. Bikes for me is a more general term, and I ride all types, not just mtb or just road but just bikes. The same curiosity made me go on this ride also. “What if we tried to ride our bikes around the island we live on”.

Were your bikes more prepared than you were?

None of us had really ridden that far before, so it was a bit hard to prepare both bikes and gear. A ride that was difficult to prepare ourselves for. I just brought a lot of candy.

What essential gear did someone forget?

Miklas didn’t bring gloves, but that got sorted with a pair of work gloves from the supermarket. Steffen said he’d bring a new brew of beer from the brewery he works at, but back pain meant he didn’t go on the ride at all. It wasn’t something that someone forgot as such, but in some ways it was probably for the better that we didn’t have a beer to start out with at 05:00 in the morning heading out for a full day on the bikes.

We like numbers - How many km did you ride on day 1? Day 2? What other numbers can you give us?
We headed out at 05:00 in the morning on 2 cups of coffee. Rode 340 km and arrived at 21:30. 0.75 liter of beer for lunch. 0.66 liter in the evening (then we fell asleep), not enough coffee altogether. Next morning we headed out at 08:15 on no cups of coffee. Rode 190 km and arrived at 18:00. No beer for lunch, 2 cups of coffee at Allan’s. We can improve those numbers next time. More coffee, more beer. Think average speed was around 29, but that was not something anyone cared about. 6 people in total. 7 flat tires and a lot of sealant splash from the tubeless guys. Too many (or just enough) lame jokes.

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Bikes for me is a more general term, and I ride all types

Niels Thanild

At what point did you stop thinking and just become movement?
It’s all rather simple on rides like this. Not a whole lot of thinking required all together. Hang out on your bike, make sure you take it all in as you pass through the scenery and through the day, and make sure you eat a lot of snacks and joke with the lads. 


What’s the best motivational phrase someone yelled during the ride?

Big beer for lunch!
And all the lame jokes would lift spirits as well.

Would you call it suffering, freedom, or something in between?
Freedom. Two days out with the boys.

Would you ever do this again - if someone paid you?
Certainly. There are many “What if’s” to work out. It’ll be a different ride next time somewhere else, possibly on other types of bikes, but there’s plenty of bike riding to be done.

What advice would you give other people considering this, besides: “Don’t”?
Do! If you happen to live on an island you can ride around, do that. You might find it more convenient and a bit less of an effort if your islands circumference is less than 530km in total. You could also just lap a smaller island if there’s one around, or just lap something. Go ride your bike and make a little everyday adventure. It’ll be fun!

What's next? Around Denmark on a single speed?
Well, one of the previous “what if’s” was doing all six MTB trails north of Copenhagen in one go on our singlespeed rigid MTB’s. An idea almost as silly as this one, with 180 km of riding, mainly on the trails. There are no major trips or rides coming up. Just the normal mtb rides in the woods, gravel rides out and about, roads to explore, bmx in the concrete park and some MTB in the bikepark.
I am sure someone will come up with something silly for an autumn ride.

How good did that finish line beer taste?
The beers on this ride were good. Beers are good. I think we all felt we deserved beer. We did. Beer, cake and lame jokes are key ingredients to our rides. Cheers lads, thanks for the ride!

By Martin Paldan
Photos by Niels Thanild
© GripGrab 2025