Ten days of exploring the wilds of Iceland by bike has come to a close. What an incredible adventure. Very few people ride their bikes here, for a variety of reasons. But the opportunity is massive. With only 300,000 residents and a huge diversity of landscapes, Iceland is a mountain biker’s dream come true. Geologically young dirt, unpopulated hiking trails past hot springs and glaciers, with waterfalls cascading through black lava rock covered in thick, fluorescent green moss…it’s all here. And so much has yet been discovered by bike. Here’s a sampling of my humble pictures, edited of their mountain bike action. You’ll have to wait for that. Right now our feature story, which will showcase photographer Sterling Lorence’s massive bank of Iceland images, is scheduled for the December Issue of Bike Magazine. Click “read more” to see the gallery.

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So, sometimes I get a little crazy in the mountains. And this place is so weird and wild, I guess it deeply impacted me. -Mitch, Kona Communications Dude

Four hours by car northeast of Reykjavik, through lush ocean meadows and arid moonscape plains, we arrive at this tiny outpost hotel. Basically Atco trailers in the desert. Another hour on rough, rocky, volcanic plains and the earth explodes into one of the wildest landscapes any of us has ever seen. Broken lava, mountains colored everything from black to pink, with fluorescent green and blood red thrown in for good measure. Incredible moss flows down beach hued ridgelines like streams, while giant glaciers loom in the distance. Throw in grey muck spewing geysers that steam away in every other valley and you’ve got yourself Landmannalagaur, Iceland. But that’s not all. How about wicked singletrack that no one ever rides. Too good to be true. Look for the feature Bike Magazine in the next few months.

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