“Ultra Birken” is part of the Birken bike weeken in the Norwegian city of Lillehammer, in the course of which among others several mountain bike races are held. Every year, this event attracts thousands of cycling enthusiasts. Due to the impressive course parameters (120 kilometers, 2,400 vertical meters) Ultra Birken, that takes place on Friday, is an appealing endurance test for international top-class riders. Therefore, Sören Nissen, Danish Champion of 2015, was at the starting line of the event on his STEVENS Sonora SL on a cool and rainy morning at the end of August – together with 600 other participants.

While Norwegian elite riders set the pace on the first flat 20 kilometers, the leading group was dissolving more and more in the following hilly section and on the many single trails until – with 40 kilometers to ride – only six riders remained, among them Sören Nissen. “The weather was really bad at that point of the race: rainy, cold and very windy”, he said after the race. But instead of hiding in the slipstream of his competitors, the Dane took the opportunity to attack on a long ascend. On the first ten kilometers of his escape he did not manage to set more than 30 seconds between himself and his chasers, but succeeded in enlarging the gap the closer they got to the finish line at the Olympic stadium of Lillehammer which Sören Nissen crossed first after 4:35:23 hours.

Non-stop Birken for Nissen
But he did not lay back and relax. Nissen had announced before that he’d aim for a double victory and try to win both Ultra Birken on Friday and Classic Birken on Saturday.

He came in as runner-up at last year’s Classic that covers 90 kilometers and 1,000 vertical meters. Until the field reached the final ten kilometers things looked good for Sören. In a strong group he was chasing a single rider who had escaped and “despite my legs were tired from the race of the previous day and I really suffered I could keep the pace”, Nissen said.

But when another rider crashed in front of him on the last, very fast tarmac part of the racecourse, he lost the group and finished eleventh. „It was not what I had in mind, but my performance shows that I am in very good shape again“, he summarized.

Finally a double victory: Nissen wins Skaidi Extreme
He confirmed his good shape the following weekend at Skaidi Extreme in a very impressive manner. This race covers three laps with 15 kilometers each and 1,500 vertical meters. The real challenge, however, were the location – Finnmark in Norway is probably the most northern spot you can bike at – the rain that made the difficult course even more difficult, and the strong competition.

Besides Sören Nissen a top-notch field was at the starting line, among others Karl Platt and Stefan Sahm, winners of South-African stagerace Cape Epic.

“I knew I had to ride very aggressively right from the start in order to beat Karl Platt”, Nissen explains. Therefore he sped up from the very beginning and attacked in every ascend no matter how small. Tactics that made him drop one rider after the other until, after 15 kilometers, only Nissen, Karl Platt and Norwegian rider Lars Granberg were riding together.

After another five kilometers the former Danish Champion on his STEVENS Sonora SL stroke the final blow: another pace increase that his competitors could not respond to. And tactics that awarded Sören Nissen with the win in 2:07:42 hours ahead of Platt (2:26:06 h) and Granberg (2:17:37 h).

“I felt very good so I just kept on pressing until I’d won with more than eight minutes ahead of the runner-up”, Nissen enthused after the race. His next race will be Vulkan Eifel Marathon in Daun, Germany.