Amazing Race Day 3 - Fight to the Finish Line

        I completely forgot to mention, but my last post was my 100th post!!!!! I never would have expected to blog as much as I did, or that so many people would consistently follow! Thank you! Now back to business. Here's one of the videos that didn't load on my last post, that basically highlights the entirety of Day 2:

         On the morning of the third day, I knew that I had to get out of bed, but I was way too cold! The fire had gone out and the cabin was absolutely freezing. Ananda wasn't there when I woke up, so I assumed she'd gone to the bathroom--a public restroom across the bridge, and the only place with heat and wifi. Turned out that she and Heiden had both woken up early and just hung out in the bathroom for two hours, charging their phones and warming up.

        Tomimaru and I still had hotdogs left that we were going to eat for breakfast, but we needed the fire to cook them. I knew that nobody else would bother lighting it, so I crawled out of my sleeping bag and got to work. (If I've gained one skill this year it's making a roaring oven fire!). I cooked a hotdog while I waited for the others to get up, and when I went outside I was shocked because of how warm it was! Much warmer than inside the shack. 

        Before the race, we'd had to pack two backpacks. The smaller one with our provisions for the first two days, and the bigger one with the sleeping bag and anything we'd want day three. We were told that we'd be able to swap them out, so when Marianne said that we needed to fit our bags in one and carry them on the bikes, we were shocked. Shocked and not a little upset. The night's sleep hadn't been great, and we were all tired from the hard work of the days before.

        Ironically, I was more sick of the rest of the class than I was of my teammate--it's hard being crammed in such a small space together, especially when you're already tired. That morning was definitely the most difficult part of the race. The thought of carrying such heavy bags was disheartening, and we were anticipating another day on the Barnevandrersti, which we knew meant walking the bikes through the woods. Eric, Tommaso and Valeria all started talking about taking the bus, and if I wasn't so damn competitive, I might have considered it. 

        Instead, we all decided to stick around and see what the day had in store for us. A woman met us around noon and took us to a little museum in Konsmo for Barnevandrerstien. We were given a challenge to find a historical person and send a video to Marianne where we talked about their life. Tomi recorded me ad-libbing about a woman, and when we were finished, all of the teams met outside for another challenge. Using 6 matchsticks, we needed to create four triangles. We completed the challenge by making a pyramid, and waited with anxious anticipation for Marianne to send us on our way up the trail. 

        However, the challenges kept coming! We had to take a photo with the museum woman, then we needed to find a stranger to drink tea with and ask about the hike. We were all a little confused about where the day was leading us, and anxious about the ticking clock. A few of us found a stranger who worked for the local newspaper, and before we left he interviewed us and took some pictures. Apparently random folk high school students on the Barnevandrersti is hot news in Konsmo!

        While we waited for info from Marianne, a bunch of us went to a little coffee shop that had offered us some free coffee. It was nice sitting inside, and Tommaso, Valeria, Heiden, Ananda, Tomimaru and I took advantage of the free wifi and power outlets. Finally, Marianne sent another task: to guess her weight exactly. I don't know what she was thinking, because the next minute her phone must have been buzzing like crazy as we all started guessing one number after another. When we got it right, each group was sent to take a picture of something--the church, the cabin, the museum etc. 

        After taking the pictures, we got our next clue. A code: 62+VQ96. We went back to the cafe to try and puzzle it out, and met up with the other two groups again. We tried putting it in maps, changing the numbers to letters and vice versa. While we struggled with that, we received another photo challenge with all sorts of objectives. I wasn't too hung up on getting the code, so I made a game with myself to see how many of the photos I could take within the cafe. (Nearly all of them actually). 

        We sat there, sending Marianne everything we could think of--in Maps the code led to a troll factory so we thought we might be headed there, but no. Suddenly we got a text in the class group that said she was dealing with an emergency, and immediately we all thought Bjorn and Sofia had gotten lost again. (They hadn't, and everything was fine). After trying and failing for some time, Tomimaru and I gave up and got ice cream. 

        Finally, Tommaso figured out that the code backwards led to a cabin nearby, and Marianne confirmed the address. It seemed like such a simple solution, but we were all trying insane combinations and going above and beyond the necessary codebreaking. We'd been working together for hours, yet when they cracked it, they left without telling us. Tommaso must have felt bad however, because he came inside again a moment later and told us the trick. It didn't matter though because Marianne sent the code backwards in the chat. Apparently it had taken way longer than she'd expected. 

        Since none of the other legs had been actual races, Tomi and I weren't concerned, and continued to casually eat our ice cream. Ananda and Heiden left, and it wasn't until we received a text that said "hurry, this is a race!" that we started thinking we should get a move on. Our competitive spirits took over, and within a minute of biking we had passed Tommaso and Valeria, and five minutes later overtaken Ananda and Heiden. We figured that Sofia, Bjorn, Alina and Eric must have already gone, so we were just satisfied to not come in last. 

        Tomi and I followed along google maps, through some flat, empty country roads, and it seemed like an alright ride until we came to the bottom of a hill. Since beginning Amazing Race, I have learned that hills are under no obligation to end. They do not care about you, they do not care about your bike, or you heavy backpack. They simply go up, and up, and up. 

        We walked our bikes up the hill for a little over forty five minutes, taking breaks and complaining about our bags. At one point, we passed a sign that pointed up a different hill, with a name similar--but not identical--to the cabin we were headed to. We contemplated going that way, but the map told us to continue, so we did. After walking upwards for what felt like forever, we saw Bjorn, Sofia and Eric in front of us, heading our way. As they passed, we asked if we were going the wrong way, but they told us that they'd reached the cabin, and were just searching for Bjorn's missing glove. Bjorn and Sofia had been messing with people the whole trip, so we were immediately suspicious. 

        While we discussed turning around, we saw Alina; she and Eric had been quarreling quite a bit, and apparently Eric had left her behind once they'd realized they'd gone the wrong way. Tomi and I were extremely annoyed--we'd been walking for over an hour and had been lied to. This made us angry, and even more competitive. We knew Alina was pissed at Eric, so we asked her to join us, but to let us reach the end before she did, so that our team could secure second place. She was more than happy to oblige, and we were happy to have made our way from 5th place to 2nd!

        We backtracked--it was much easier to go downhill--and made our way to the hill that we'd passed by. This time we went up, leaving Alina with Ananda and Heiden who were slowly but surely making their way towards us. Mentally preparing for walking the bikes for another 20 minutes, Tomi and I set a good pace. When we were nearing the end, we heard voices and saw Sofia, Bjorn and Eric in front of us. Eric was heading back to get Alina, and--like karma--Sofia's bike had broken down again. 

        The final stretch was downhill, and Tomi and I raced passed the other teams to meet Marianne and Emilie at the finish line! Team number 1! After starting last from the cafe, walking the bikes for miles uphill, being tricked and discouraged, and working our asses off, Tomi and I were overjoyed to come in first! 

        When Sofia and Bjorn arrived--seconds later--we did one final challenge and were off to explore the cabin, finally done with Amazing Race. The final destination was something off of hipster instagram. It was an amazing, treetop cabin with a sauna, hot tub, and balcony, on a lake with fairy lights everywhere. Absolutely gorgeous! Once all of the teams had arrived and settled in, we ate a dinner of tapas and immediately got changed for the hot tub. We spent the night switching between that and the sauna, and it was a fantastic way to end the race!

        We headed home the next morning, excited to tell everyone about our adventures. We got to bike down to the hanger, which was much more satisfying than the walk up. At that time, we still didn't know who had technically won, since it was both a speed, and point based system. A few days later, Marianne announced to the class that Tomi and I had officially won Amazing Race! We have not yet picked a prize. 

        A little funny story is that when we got back, Marianne got a call from NRK, the Norwegian government broadcasting company thing--it's very big and important--and they asked to do a segment on us and our barnevandring. We were all very excited, but we weren't allowed to change out of our dirty clothes until we received their confirmation. Unfortunately, they decided that since we had concluded our walk, they were no longer interested. Still cool to have been considered!

        While it wasn't always fun, I'm very glad that I participated in Amazing Race with NLC. I still know almost nothing about my partner, and we're back to just nodding at each other in the hallways, but I couldn't have chosen anyone better! It was a lot of hard work, but it was an accomplishment, and the feeling of defying the odds and coming in first at the end made the whole trip worth it!