As a solo woman touring cyclist, I can honestly say I have felt all those emotions you shared. So nice to hear someone say it out loud. Well done...on your journey both geographically and emotionally.
1. Long live that pink helmet 2. Cinematography is a 10/10 3. Mollie is a true one 4. Thanks Jenna for sharing parts of your life, easy or hard. It’s been fun to grow up along side you through high school into adulthood. You’ve come so far and I’m proud of you and this incredible journey through Iceland! Much love from your neighbor in Minnesota 🫶🏼
This is such a sweet comment, thankyou 😭♥️ it’s wild to me that we are able to connect over the internet like this and “grow up” together. Weird but wonderful! Thankyou for watching and for your kind words ♥️
"grow up along side you through high school into adulthood"? is this a secondary channel or something? i saw she's only been uploading videos for the past year or so.
As someone who makes silent films of my adventuers I've only just discovered you, thank you so much for taking us on this journey with you and sharing your insights. The "Why do I like the things I like?" monologue is one I've had with myself after every multi-day wild camp hiking with 16kg on my back, but I wouldn't have it any other way. You're a beautiful badass, please continue to have and film these epic adventures!
I've accepted that I do things for the story you earn by completing it, battle scars, near death experiences and all. Nothing is more satisfying than testing and exceeding your percieved limits. And on your 'being present' monologue, I purposefully don't listen to anything to force myself to be mindful and experience my emotions. When you've hiked 30km on your (birthday) second day of three with no signal and just your thoughts, you get to know yourself very well haha
I remember first following you years and years ago for your journal flip thrus and hair dye vids and to watch you get to this point in your life has been beautiful ty for sharing
🥺🥺🥹thankyou for watching (then and now). Crazy to me that you even remember those old videos! That’s such a trip to think about and like So crazy to think that lil version of me had no idea I might end up here lol I hope you’re doing well!! Thankyou again
I understand what you say about feeling alive. I live in the mountains in Switzerland 🇨🇭 and during rides I actually hate cycling downhill, I'm always really focused and scared to fall. I mostly feel alive during a climb, I feel thankful what my body is allowing me to live ! Thank you for having documented your trip !
As an Icelander it's fun to see one's own country through foreign eyes, you even cycled close to my families summer house - I must admit I don't think I would have the energy or will to cycle the ring road, Iceland has a such a tendency to be cold, windy and rainy.
This made me so happy to read! I live in the Canadian Rockies and I get the same feeling seeing people come from all over the world to enjoy the natural beauty of the area! Reminds me to appreciate the nature around me! thanks for watching, It definitely was windy cold and rainy but all part of the adventure :)
If for some reason I dont get the chance to travel the world or live my life freely and authentically as myself I would like you to know that I (and many others surely) find inspiration and joy from the videos you post.. it’s awesome seeing you enjoy/challange life. Cheering you on as usual and sending all the good energy to you and whomever this comment speaks to😊
Ahh Sandra Thankyou so much ♥️ glad I could take you on this trip with me, I love to live vicariously through other peoples videos, and it makes me happy that I could do the same for you
Wow, that summer sunset scene gave me the chills, what a beautiful moment just for yourself. This is inspiring AF, thanks for sharing such an adventure and from such an honest and personal point of view!
Jenna, what a stellar accomplishment! Writing from Hamilton Ontario here. Thanks for taking us with you! When camping in New Brunswick, we had relentless wind. I found that I couldn't sleep. I can't imagine how you coped with that for days! Thanks too for keeping it real, showing us the whole spectrum of emotions! I particularly liked the honest self reflections that prompted me to think about distractions/ diversions. You have a lot to be proud of and huge life lessons/experience that no one can take from you! Absolutely loved your front bike rack hack!! Improvisation on the fly is what it's all about when you are in the middle of nowhere. I'm subscribed now.True grit indeed! Lael Wilcox would be proud too!
Yay 🇨🇦❤️! Great vlog and attitude. Iceland is magical but hats off to you for doing it. We were there in July, and as a cyclist, hats off to you for cycling there. The hills, wind and rain plus narrow shoulderless roads and one lane bridges are crazy!! Good on you!
🙏 Beautiful, thank you. I was in Iceland in 1988 and I recently I saw some youtube-video’s from photograhers viciting Iceland. But your video is far more real to me. The landscapes and the bugs, the wheather and the struggles. The joy and the emotions. So thanks for your impressions. 🙏🦋❤️🦋🙏
The fact that you are out there doing it and I am living through your dream makes me more of a cheater than you ever are. So ride that bus and enjoy the sight-seeing ride. There is no shame in all the riding that you have done in that horrible weather and all the riding that you will continue to do. A summer day in the land of ice is pretty awesome. The bugs are attracted to your odor. $250 CAD = $184 USD. That is too much money for a night at a hotel.
@@jennalexisko You are so tough physically and mentally. I can't believe you did all that riding all alone in a far away place with lots of cold, rain, and ice, and even no place to use the bathroom. What a spirit.
Wow, just wow! What a beautiful story in beautiful landscapes. You’re truly talented. Iceland is one of my number one places to go. Thank you for sharing this and here’s to being in the present.
Congratulations on completing the loop by bike. You displayed strength and fortitude as the roads and wild camping alone take a lot of bravery, let alone riding on narrow roads. Thank you for sharing your adventure!
I so appreciate your thoughtful reflections and sharing your internal journey. Well done completing a trip that was a substantially larger challenge than you have taken on previously. I'm sure you have a bright future.
Congratulations, this looks like the ride of a lifetime. Visited Iceland for the first time myself in October ‘23 and I’m taking notes from your story on how to return and ride at least part of the ring road, someday.
You're literally living my dream. I've been in love with Iceland since I was a kid, now I'm 30 but unfortunately never visited it... yet! Love those landscapes, it's Mother Earth in its most revealing state.
Well done dude. Amazing. I really cried when you made that big downhill descent. Thanks for sharing, you inspire me. RU-vid recommended you and this is the first vid of yours I’ve seen. Glad you learned some beautiful lessons with presence. Blessings 😌🙏🏼 oh ya and your music choice and dedication to this little film hit the mark. Good job (:
I did a similar 2-week tour around Ring Road with my brother and a close friend in the summer of 2021. Beautiful video, it's been really fun reliving some of those memories through your experience. I shot a bunch of iPhone footage while I was out there and always planned on editing a short video but somehow never got around to putting it together, you've inspired me to revisit some of that footage. Congratulations and thanks for the nostalgia!
Wow very cool. We drove around the ring road back in 2015 and did a bunch of hiking across 14 days. Iceland is such an amazingly beautiful country and so diverse in landscapes. Thanks for taking me back there.
I did not expect to hear Grieg but honestly not only was that perfect it instantly got my sub. Thank you for sharing this, I truly enjoyed it, glad the algorithm led me to you.
Jenna this was incredible and thank you so much for sharing your experience. Iceland beautiful, your thoughts clear and so real. I'm building up to my first bikepacking trip (just a quick trip out, camp and back home to start out) and it's so amazing to see what the hobby can become. 18 days is truly incredible.
I watched your video while killing time to go to work. I'll definitely watch it when I get back home. I really loved the way you did this. Going to the island is one of my goals (I'm not far away). I just want to finish by saying that I think you are super brave to do this alone... I am a 44 year old man who would think twice before embarking on an adventure like this. Good luck on your future adventures in life. Enjoy it.
Nicely done, Jenna. And yes, I agree with the bus decision. Smart. You'll be getting plenty more biking in. Btw...totally digging the soundtrack of this trip. 👍🏾👊🏾🖖🏾
wow jenna, i have been following you over 7 years and i am so proud of you and to be a part of your amazing journey is special. thank you, you are a beautiful soul
Great job! Awesome video! I was in Iceland in late July 2023 hiking the Laugavegur Trail and the Fimmvorduhals Trail extension. I recognized the Skogafoss waterfall near Skogar and the campground in Reykjavik in your video. I also got to see the volcano eruption when I was there. I really enjoyed Iceland and would like to go back. If you ever go back, I highly recommend hiking the 34 mile (55 km) Laugavegur Trail and the 15 mile (24 km) Fimmvorduhals Trail extension. I think you would enjoy it and crush it too like you did biking the Ring Road. Looking forward to seeing your next adventure on RU-vid!
Ahh very cool! The laugavegur trail has actually been on my bucket list for a while now! Hopefully will find my way back to Iceland eventually to complete it! Thanks so much for watching :)))
Just finished the video. Jenna I am amazed. The whole video was excellent. You are so strong and put together, I'd be all over the place. I'm proud you did it! Iceland looks breathtaking; I didn't know there were so many waterfalls. I don't know how you could cycle so many hours a day; I get tired just cycling to the shops! But I feel better when I do; like I'm taking care of my health a bit. Have you experienced any physical changes since you started this journey and cycling in general? Thanks for sharing with us. ❤❤🎉
Thankyou so much for the kind words ♥️ and yes the scenery was unlike anything I’d ever seen! And of course I had to do a bit of training to be able to cycle for such long hours but I found that I got used to it as I went on! It was definitely a mental challenge to keep pushing. And yes There were some physical changes I could see in my physique when I returned home but those all evened out when I went back to my “normal” routines haha nice while it lasted though. Enjoy your rides! Thankyou so much for watching all the way to the end it means a lot to me ♥️
I really admire you for so many things, especially your strength, honesty, consciousness and wholeness, as well as beauty. 😊 I feel so itchy now to get my own summer trips planned! I'm as a girl very passionate about solo traveling, and I'm so glad to see and recognize some of the feelings I felt before too! Yet in your beautiful film there's so much of the unknown for me. And I doubt that I will ever be able to go so far, but you show me the direction and the ultimate goal, I guess. I even got some practical tips from the video. Thank your so much for this expirience!
SO SWEET! I felt like I was on a journey of my own (albeit much smaller and stationary) as I carved along with you cycling through the beautiful scenery!
It was great to hear about your mental battles on the road. They sound really familiar, having fought with similar feeling myself when cycling across Finland, Sweden and Denmark. Good to hear I'm not alone with them!
Good freaking job. I don't really comment on YT. I've done a 14 day bikepacking trip in Norcal and this brought back the feels. Loved ur description of climbing and descending. Keep it up.
I can't imagine how stressful and liberating this adventure might have been for you. Super proud of you Jenna. I'm sure you will cherish those memories forever :)
I'm amazed with you and can't believe I've been watching your videos since we were both teenagers and now you're here, making almost an hour long amazing video!! Also this one is especially wild for me because I just went to Iceland in September as well. I just uploaded my own lil 3 minute video of it, good old 2016 style (your old old OLD videos have inspired me a lot haha) and like 90% is just the waterfalls I swear the nature there was CRAZY. You really accomplished something big. So proud!!
Hanna I just watched your video and I loved it!! Such beautiful shots! What a coincidence we were there like a month apart 😭 crazy that you’ve been here since THOSE videos hahah who’dve thunk we’d end up here huh
Great video! I’ve been watching a lot of bikepacking content lately and yours has to be one of my favorites. Iceland looks amazing. I’d be cool to see a bike setup video with some more info about your bike and other gear you pack!
AND you did Iceland - amazing! Bucket list place for me. It was this place that made me quit my office job so many years ago and enbark on the journey I wanted to go after. This is too cool
Congratulations on this big adventure, journey and accomplisment and thank you for sharing it with us. I really resonate with the part about the two struggles - the physical one and the mental one. I felt the same while walking Camino de Santiago. Even though I am not a sporty person, my body behaved surprisingly well. It was the mind that insisted on not being there, in the moment, especially in the beginning. We are big headed creatures... But these experiences are enriching and sometimes we do get to us and toi the here and now. A hug there
Please do it if you ever get the chance! I also met some people there who were doing stuff on the backroads/f roads and through mountain passes which was so interesting to me!! And Thankyou 😁
The way I went from watching your bleach tutorial in desperation years ago to watching you flourish and live an wholesome and fulfilling life is people watching x100 😅
Great video. I agree with your good decision to take the bus. It looked like an amazing adventure. I know this will be one of those experiences for you, which will make a substantial deposit of mental toughness in your life account. Keep up the great work!
Wonderful all the way around. Jenna, you are a natural story teller and great filmmaker. Very intreped of you to do this journey solo. I am a bike rider and probably three times your age, but you make me want to do a similar journey. Keep on doing what you want to be doing because your are doing just fine.
Watching your journey unfold brought back all the good and bad from my bike trip on the ring in 2019. I was with a group , you are alone so that is an extra challenge.
We cycled in May, split the segments into manageable pieces with hotels as an occasional treat. I feel I've done Greenland on bike no need to repeat. The wind and elements can re as lly being you down to earth. Having others around really helped my attitude and remain flexible as my tendency is to muscle through even if I am miserable. 😅
Amazing trip Jenna. Love that long long downhill stretch. I encountered a similar long downhill 10 years ago riding LEJOG in Scotland, 7 or 8 miles of downhill bliss, and then realized I'd made a wrong turn. Rather than turn around, I took a different route forward through the mountains to Glasgow. Turned out to be very interesting route, but, oddly enough, I've never been able to find it marked on a map. Keep on trucking.
It was beautiful. A very inspiring, motivating film. Beautiful views, cool thoughts, it was nice to watch. It's great that you were able to make this trip. I greet warmly! 🙂
I absolutely love your channel and have binge watched all your videos! You have inspired me to start bikepacking and going on more adventures in 2024! Would you mind sharing a list of your equipment, or maybe make a video about it? ⛺🚲 Looking forward to seeing your next videos 🤩
I just want to acknowledge this for myself…. This was the first time I think I’ve ever turned on a RU-vid video and didn’t for a second think WOAH A SOLO FEMALE ADVENTURIST IN A FOREIGN COUNTRY!!! I just think it’s amazing how the internet had exploded with strong female explorers, embarking on solo sports. It’s becoming normalized and not some rare unimaginable feat
Hello...your video of Iceland and the ring road is great and brings so many wonderful memories and yes, it is a very tough place to bicycle tour or bike packing. Congrats on such a feat. Your cinematography is amazing and I really love the commentary as you give an insight into how it feels to be out there. I find this commentary very refreshing and something that I can relate to and that I can't really talk to many people about it because since they have not done such endeavor , they do not know what feels like to push a bicycle for hours and to feel exhausted and hungry and convince that tomorrow is going to suck , but after a warm meal and a lay down in a cozy sleeping bag, the next day comes and it is welcomed. Taking the bus is not cheating, it is smart and a great investment into getting the most out of your time....very wise to do in my opinion. Having the emotions of elation, gratitude, frustration and happiness are one of the reason that as a middle age man, I love my bicycle and I may be an odd ball to the world but not to me. Thank you for sharing your adventure and for the memories watching this video brings back. I was there for 30 days and it was hard, challenging and ridiculously windy and beautiful and most important so rewarding...cheers and you got yourself and subscriber and an insta follower. So refreshing to see youth pursuing such rewarding experiences as adventuring in such way. Sounds, colors , smells and temperatures can't be experienced in a car, boat or plane like bike or back packing. Cheers....
Thankyou for this feedback, I appreciate you taking the time to write this out, this made me so happy to read :) I absolutely agree- it can be such a “dreadful” experience experience for a majority of the time you’re out touring but every minute is worth it. Being totally engrossed your surroundings and being able to really feel every mile makes bike packing such a worthwhile experience. Something I wanted to experience for years before finally going out on this trip. When did you go to Iceland? Did you do the ringroad as well? I met some people there who were doing backroads (or F roads I think they’re called there?) rather than just sticking to the highway.
@@jennalexisko I was there in 2016 and I stuck to the highway most of the time and I went counter clock wise per some poor advice but I think unlike going across the US which I advise to do from west to east, Iceland is just windy all the time on the ring road. The people were tremendously generous and even met a woman who we had a tremendous friendship to this day...I did find it very expensive but like I said again, people were very generous and kind and I even got to spent the night on the grounds of the Husavik Whale Museum after talking to a security guard who was fascinated that I was from tropical Costa Rica going to Iceland. I tell you that miles are amazing but the people are what does it so much for me...I am certain you have many wonderful stories to share of the kindness of a total stranger and wait until if you have not already visited some very poor countries like Iran or central Asia's Stans...some amazingly generous people like Azerbaijan or Georgia and Armenia...anyway, glad to see your amazing videos and you really do a great job on your narration of your surroundings and the insight into how the environment you are in is making you feel. Hard to tell those who have never been far away from the comforts of home to know how vulnerable this mode of traveling and adventure really is...by the way, great job rigging the broken rack....Take care and be well and I can't wait to see your next adventure. Cheers.
Best of luck! It was great to have moments in the scenery with no one around, I noticed that most of the “touristy” destinations or places where the cars would stop had a ton of people and cycling gave me so many moments to take in my surroundings alone! And definitely bring a bug net lol
nice metaphor of life when you compare the ups and downs of life with travelling on a bike and going uphill or downhill. Nicely done girl. Your bike Sandra xD is also proud of you. Oddly enough I have a pair of sandals almost exactly like yours.
Awesome! Living the dream (except for the bugs and narrow/nil shoulders). Congratulations and I wish everyone could have that kind of experience and joy.
