DBR Iceland 2026

As the great philosopher Lucille Ball said, "The more things you do, the more you can do." Then you get old and discover you can do a lot of shit. So you do it.

The route.

For those interested in planning, here's the discussion for our team.....

The route:

762 miles North to South and then North to the Westfjords, taking 21 dates to get to the site for viewing the solar eclipse.

The people:

Tom, Gary, Kate, Kenyon (and maybe four others.) Gary is our pacer, and Tom, Kate and Kenyon are the future brain trust of doing crazy ass adventures.

Elements of the trip:

• There will be a student piece that involves University of Iowa students traveling to Iceland to do art, science and engineering research. They will intersect the ride in two places, possibly.

• There will be two groups: Tom, Gary and Steve will start in Akureyri on July 22.

• Kate and Kenyon (and maybe three more) will join either August 5 or 6th, at Gullfoss (mile 512) or Þingvellir (mile 556) (fat tires are not needed here).

• Riders are pursuing bikepacking the most beautiful location in the world.

• Tom, Steve and Stratis will coordinate the student piece.

• We will arrive at the eclipse site August 10, and we will be prepared to move to the lee side of the peninsula (where there is the strongest possibility of clearer skies) in time for the eclipse on the 12th.

• We'll be riding at a pace that allows stopping and taking photos etc.....

Important considerations:

• Everyone will have put in the proper preparation and training (Gary will have dragged me through three ultra races in one month and I have other riding.... )

• Everyone will be self-sufficient (repairs and physically conditioned)

• Everyone will have their bike tuned prior to departure

• We will stick together, always within site distance

• Each of us will know how to navigate and have the RIDGEWITHGPSMAP (I'll go through this).

• Given the probability that the solar eclipse will draw tons of people to the island, we will be prepared to camp each night (but in the interior we are shooting for emergency huts and in the west in two locations, we will look in advance for accommodations)

• The plan is to have a support vehicle, including driving the route, where possible, from Þingvellir (mile 556) to the finish in the Westfjords.

• There will be no support vehicle for the fist 450 miles through the Highlands

• If you can speak one sentence on Icelandic (Old Norse), you will officially be the coolest person

• Prior to traveling we will take a short (weekend) bikepacking trip as a shakedown (maybe incorporate the Prairie Burn in June)

• Gary and I will have our inReach and SPOT tracker for an emergency.

About a support vehicle. On any wilderness trip, a support vehicle can prove to be challenging for the driver and riders. The idea would be nothing for the first 11 days, and then in the west, for an emergency and then meeting at the destination for the day ( five or six days). In 2022 there was not a support vehicle and things went exceedingly well (though one day we thought we might die). In 2023 we had a film crew and a second vehicle to work for them and as a recovery vehicle incase of the film crew getting stuck. As it turned out, the second vehicle needed to sweep the route a number of days to pick someone up. We won't have this option this year, as we won’t have support. The Highlands this time around will be challenging per pace and route.

Taking Stock

Wilderness Liturgy