Gaustatoppen Rundt — The 172km Loop Around Norway's Most Prominent Peak

Gaustatoppen Rundt does what its name says — it goes *around* the mountain, not up it, and the shape of the day is set by that decision. The mountain you're circling — Gaustatoppen, 1,883 m — is one of Norway's most prominent peaks, with a clear-day view said to reach a sixth of the country; the road tops out at 1,255 m, well below the summit. You start high at Gaustablikk, lose almost everything immediately, earn a long middle section on the plateau, and then the route saves its hardest 33 km for when your legs are already 130 km old. Knowing that structure before you roll out is the difference between riding it well and getting caught out.

The first 8 km are pure descent. You leave Gaustablikk at 916 m and give all of it back down Zombie Hill into Rjukan on the valley floor near 90 m — check your brakes before you commit to it, because once you're moving you don't stop. The valley floor doesn't let you settle: the climbing starts almost straight away on Stallbakken (Strava segment 4839329) — 11 km averaging 5.1%, 567 m of height gained, the day's first real test. Its full name, *Stallbakken - toppen etter fjellstua*, tells you where it ends: at the mountain lodge. The KOM sits at 26:51; we took 45:41, which is the honest pace for this climb 10 km into a 172 km day, not a number to chase. Low on the climb the view opens across the valley to the Vemork hydrogen plant — the Tungtvannfabrikken — best known as the target of the Norwegian heavy-water sabotage of 1943. It's a useful marker as much as a sight: it tells you how far you've already lifted yourself out of the dale.

Above Stallbakken the route opens onto roughly 50 km of high plateau. It reads as flat on a profile but rides as a series of stiff little ramps — *kneiker* — with the surrounding peaks in view the whole way and not much shelter from the weather. It is genuinely beautiful riding, and it is also where you should be eating and drinking, because the next guaranteed stop is Rauland at around the 60 km mark. The café there has changed hands enough that the name isn't worth committing to memory, but the Esso station does hot food — treat it as your refuelling point, not an optional one.

From Rauland the route tips downhill and stays there for a long time. It is close to 70 km of descent from roughly 700 m down to Sauland at 87 m — never steep, just a patient, shallow gradient on quiet, low-traffic roads where you carry good speed for very little effort. Enjoy it, but don't switch off: Sauland at 132 km is where the day actually begins.

The climb back to Gaustatoppen is 33 km long, 1,168 m of gain, 3.6% on average — and that average is the trap. Plenty of riders see 3.6% and relax. The first 20 km are full of flat sections and false flats that take more out of you than the number suggests, and they get materially worse into a headwind — we rode it in late May with strong wind and had to dig hard through this part. After Tuddal, about 20 km into the climb, it bares its teeth: roughly 4 km averaging 8.5% with ramps kicking to 20%. Then, near the top, the landscape opens out into long bare plains with no vegetation to break the wind — the steep ramps are over but the exposure isn't. Over the high point at 1,255 m it's a fast descent back down to Gaustablikk and the afterbike. The climb is the whole story of this loop; ride the first 130 km with that in mind.