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Biography/ The story before the story: Valur grew up in the small "town" of Sauðárkrókur, in the region of Skagafjörður at the northern coast of Iceland. In the biggest town of North-western Iceland (2.635 inhabitants) he had everything he needed: Friends, great education, ice-baths, handball, hakarll - you know, everything an Icelandic guy loves. But then, at the age of 14, something changed his mind:

A student exchange to Norway opened a new page in the book of his life. The cycling page. He stayed at a certain guy, called Andreas Leknessund, for 3 weeks. Better said, he staid at his parents, cause Leknessund, 13 years old at that point, was away several hours a day training on the bike. At first it seemed strange to him, using up so much time.

It didn't really touch Valur until the fourth time in a row his exchange student came home early from training, tuning on the TV. Watching cycling, of course. But on that day he was hyped. Almost screaming a certain guy called Boasson Hagen to the line, who finished second to a Slovakian youngster. Later, as Valur gained interest, he learned from Andreas how the world of cycling works. And that that amazing young superstar was called Peter Sagan.

A day later, after school, training and Stage 4 of course, Andreas offered Valur a small ride with one of his bikes that Valur also rode those spare kilometers to school with. It didn't completely fit, but both having a height of around 1.75 worked well. Being in the mid-west of Noway in summer temperatures were nice for a ride such as this, going on the fjordic norwegian coastline. Valur enjoyed it, more because of the countryside possibly, as he isn't too often on a bike in Iceland and suffered under the wind and the up- and down going roads on the rough coastside.

However, they went on two further rides in the time, and Andreas told Valur a lot about the sport. But then time was over; and on his way back home Valur kind of missed cycling already.

A few weeks later thigs were forgotten however. Back with his friends they had other things in mind like going to school, fishing for the biggest fish, fishing for the most beautiful girls and playing handball like nordic guys do. He even made it into the U18 national team of Iceland, eventhough also playing football aside and having the downsides a young guy maturing and tasting all the sweet flavours of growing up does.

On a trip with the national team for the european U18 championships 2014, taking place in Poland, things took another turn. Valur and his team failed to pass the pre-eliminary round and finished 9th. Interestingly, at the same time another event took place in Gdansk. The Memorial Henryka Lasaka, a small UCI 1.2 bike race. At first Valur didn't even recognize it, but when visiting numbers were significantly lower at that day Valur found out why in his free time after the morning game. And eventhough he wasn't really able to see much of the race standing in a corner near to the finishing line, he did catch the spirit of the race. Impressed by the enthusiastic visitors, which was kind of the opposite to the U18 EC, Valur that day got a little nostalgic and reconsulted his old skype account to contact Andreas again.

And guess what: The norwegian, riding successfully as a Junior in these days, was riding quite successful as a Junior in Norway. Holding contact for 2 or 3 days back in Iceland worked out, but then the 2 were too busy with their own lifes. But then things drastically changed. Already suffering on the icelandic economical crisis Valur's parents had to finally give up on their small business, with his father taking a job in Blönduós and moving there, by car 75 kilometers away from Sauðárkrókur. That left two options open for Valur. Moving with his parents, or going into the handball school to Reykjavík.

Heavy hearted Valur decided to go with the family option, most likely leaving the dream of becoming a professional handball player aside. He did that not only for his family, but also for staying close to his friends and to his girl Freyja, a gorgeous Icelandic beauty. His parents were able to drive him there once a weekend, but other than that Valur kind of was alone. When his crew was on the run he often just was too far away, and Blönduós was a village for workers and older people with less in his age. Skype was his only way of escaping that tristesse at that point, but communicating with his friends was not the same via internet.

Being a guy that knows how to distribute his ressources very well he always had something saved in the bank. And after two weeks of school and family (=boredom) he decided to give it a shot, buying a used roadbike from a frenetic old Belgian Bobby Fisher fan living in Selfoss. Andreas, who he had more contact to since using Skype more often now, gave him the advice to search for a used one. In Iceland exactly 3 were on offer, so he took the best looking one.

With that he used to ride more and more as the days went flying. His big motivation once again was his friends, and after 3 months of going further and further he decided to do the big one. Going all the way from Blönduós to Sauðárkrókur on a friday after school to visit his friends. He failed.

As he was fear of the 75 kilometers road he went on to take the shortcut over the gravel and mud roads which were just 50 kilometers. He lost. As it got darker and darker he suffered under a flat tire. In the dark he wasn't able to repair it properly, so he had to walk the last 15 kilometers through the cold & dark night (don't even ask for mobile connection in the middle of nothing), ringing at his best friend door at 2 o'clock in the morning. From that point on he was that crazy bike freak for his friends.

Valur got used to it however. Sunday, after a warm goodbye from Freyja, he went back home the long route and made it in 3 hours. But making it enlightened a flame in his heart. Every day after school he now went to go on a ride with his old Ridley. He grew fast riding on the coastlines and the streets. Soon he made the 75 kilometers in 2h30, going to Sauðárkrókur every weekend.

None of his friends or anyone who knew from Iceland besides that old Bobby Fisher guy shared the passion he had for cycling, but they accepted it. Andreas, now 17 and growing into an oustanding Junior cyclist, gave him training advices and basically on everything else related to cycling. They skyped almost every day sitting on their computers going through cycling streams. Valur only faced one new problem soon: His body.

Valur used to be a rough muscular guy that wasn't shy of some hard defense in handball, but that kind of changed with his cycling life. He still was spot on in terms of body shape, but a lot lighter. Well, he could have been. But growing another 17 centimeters in 1 year Valur hit two meters soon, which made riding his old bike impossible. And of course, there was absolutely no chance of finding a used bike in his range, so a new bike was needed. But, and there was the big problem: How should he afford that?

He started asking for help in the social media, tried to find a job besides cycling, but nothing worked. Andreas, who grew into one of his best friends, tried to help consulting the contacts he had through the Norwegian cycling federation, but nothing worked out well enough. Even that Belgian Bobby Fisher guy tried to help, not only by sharing Valurs story, but also by giving him an old mountain bike he restaurated in his free time. For free, with only one obligation: To visit him by bike one time down there in Selfoss.

3 months of mountain-biking had their upsides for Valur however: He was able to go the gravel and mud roads to visit his guys and girls, which saved him 30 kilometers. He could even join his proper handball training in the evening sometimes in Sauðárkrókur, but the train for the national team had already departed at that point. Two of his friends made it into the national U20 squad, now they were proud members of the Reykjavik Sport School having their accommodations for the Sport Department at the Reykjavik University in the bank. Instead, he trained handball for fun, but switched his focus for longer rides. Sometimes on the endless full-gravel roads in the Icelandic highlands, but for obvious reasons climbing always was a tough thing for him.

Handball and mountain-biking balanced each other perfectly well, but that one phone call in September 2016 changed everything. Sources told the mysterious caller, that Valur was in need of a road bike fitting the special needs of both his body type and the Icelandic roads. He told that there was a way to solve the issues, and that Valur would get a brand-new 2017 road bike. For free. Well, Valur had to solve three tasks for that.

1. Meet up at Keflavik Airport to receive the bikes and meet up with the mysterious donator.
2. Come by bike, in 1 week, and go back by bike, in 1 week.
3. Film the whole story.

It was an easy choice for Valur, packing his backpack and getting ready, which included to tell his parents about his plan. Interestingly they have not been shocked by that (opposed to Freyja), but instead they even told him they received a package of a new go-pro adressed to his name, but now they knew what that was for. Kind of confused Valur took it on, to start his move.

7 days later, after over 300 kilometers on mostly graveled roads and sleeping in tents, bathing in rivers (and one time in as shower) and eating disgusting food or fresh berries, Valur finished his trip, fully recorded on the go-pro. On the cold route doubts arised in him, what would happen if the caller didn't appear or if he just wouldn't make it. But neither cold weather nor cold thoughts could stop rough Valur.

In Keflavik he then was rewarded for his efforts. And what a reward! Valur met two guys there; one of whom he already knew in beforehand. One of those was a proud man, smiling all the way. Valur knew him. The other guy expressed his respect for Valurs trip. He ordered some hot chocolate for all 3, to then reveal the deal.

The man was from Ridley, the Belgian manifacturer. They heard from the story of mine out of the other person sitting on the table. The former Belgian directeur sportiv Jelle Fleminckx, that has been part of the management of the old Davitamon - Lotto team. Valur didn't knew. However, Mr. Fleminckx created the connection as he shared the story with the Ridley guy. So Valur got a new Ridley bike.

But not only that, Valur also got offered what was kind of a job in the following minutes. They wanted to make a story out of Valur's stpry for their website. The journey through the hell of winter Iceland for the passion of cycling. That's what the go-pro was for. But not only that. There was a job on offer. Some might think a crazy one, and clearly Valur did after having him explained what that was about, but surely something that has never been there before.

Ridley claimed, that there is a new series on the block. A road series that is experimental, new, and completely crazy. They want Valur in cycling. They offered him to be the one-man experiment. They wanted him to ride the Ultimate Cycling league as a Ridley rider, having his equipment sponsored by the brand. In exchange for sponsoring Valur, there should be footage of Valur's journey in Iceland and the Ultimate Cycling League available for Ridley to use on their campaign.

The cherry on top was the surprise that awaited Valur next. Beneath the new Ridley 2017 bike (what a beauty!), there was a fully prepared vintage bike after 1970's standards awaiting. They offered Valur a ride home, taking all 3 bikes with them by car, to sign the deal, which was sommething undeclineable after that week.

On the way home he thought about that, clearly understanding that that would mean being away from home for a long time. Thinking of Freyja and his friends made the decision harder. But then, the 1970 bike with integrated tools to repair the bike would allow him to go the shorter route, which clearly was a major factor opposed. Well, more likely to finally grab the chance to become a semi-professional sportsman - if it wasn't his first passion handball, then his second and rising passion cycling - and even more the chance to have a f***ing amazing exciting unique adventure he can even be proud of if he sucks.

This might be the one chance for Valur to write history. Trying it out is the only option. So Valur signed the one-year contract with Ridley, not having real earnings from that besides a spare budget for himself, but more weighting is the equipment and the opportunities he takes from that deal. The Ultimate Cycling League 2017 will have what the whole UCI hasn't got: An Icelandic member.

Some call him the Glacier, some call him the new "Iceman", his friend Andreas Leknessund in his blog gave him the nickname "Frozen Blood". For his friends from Sauðárkrókur he is just Valur, the only guy in Iceland that rides a road bike. And certainly the only one that feels the best when it's terribly cold. When wind, rain and snow disturb others, Valur reaches his best performances. He feels home when the road is flat and rough, being used to the gravel and mud of northern Iceland. No wonder he claims Stijn Vandenbergh and Thomas de Gendt as his favourite cyclists. It is Ultimate Cycling League's newest surprise:

Valur Jarvi Jóhannson

Sex: Male
Nationality (region): Oregon, USA (Originally from Los Angeles).
Date of Birth: 03/03/1995
Height: 6-foot-3 (190cms)
Weight: 185 pounds (84kgs)

Sex: Female
Nationality (region): Oregon, USA (Originally from Denver, Colorado)
Date of Birth: 21/10/1994
Height: 5-foot-7 (170cms)
Weight: 125 pounds (57kgs)

Biography/The Story behind the Story:

Julianas was born in Palanga, a small coast town in Lithuania. As the second son of two teachers he learned one thing early: To never become similar to his parents.

In his younger years Julianas was a decent cyclist, on the road he was okay but in the former soviet region he grew into a more than decent track cyclist, on his way to a good career. Things started to turn around at the age of 16, where the very intelligent guy was about to attend his last year of school. Julianas came home with a friend of his, telling about his sexual values (he is bi-sexual, had his first friend there).

From then on his parents distanced further from him, and Julianas went away from home at the age of 17. Not to study however, but to start a gap year. Volunteering for Amnesty International and a regional homeless resocialisation project in his schooltime led to the idea to go to Africa for one year, where he worked on a ranch in South Africa's Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park for half a year.

But after that he didn't came back to start, as intended, social studies. Instead he moved to southern Botsvana to join a self-servicing village of a minority closely related to the San. There he spent one year, even growing into the honor of receiving the membership of the village, something only born-into's can receive at any point.

After that experience he never came back to Lithuania; instead he started studying cultural relationships in Addis Abeba. Though it only took one semester for him to then join a volunteer project in Latin America, where he firstly worked on building up a destroyed village in Guatemala. After that he spent three months in Peru, helping a fisher's village to build up a new working way suffering from the huge El Nino.

Coming back from that he went on to take the flight home to Addis Abeba via Dakar and Accra. Traveling through Senegal was a great thing for him, also meeting up with and old member from the Botsvanian village close to Lokgwabe, where his fight for local education was rewarded so well. In Accra though things changed, as he got kidnapped on the street.

After his surprised kidnappers found out that Julianas had a) absolutely nothing on offer for them, as nobody from the "white world" cared about him and b) no problem to communicate with them (beneath English and Lithuanian he speaks perfect French, Spanish, some German and Russian and several dialects in Africaans), they decided to rob him and leave him alone.

Julianas, with absolutely nothing than pants and himself, tried to make his way in Ghana. After two hard months in Accra, where surviving between the civil war, hunger, pain and the occuring problems with him being white was all he cared about, a person he met on a market in Accram took Julianas to Kojina. The village close to the Cote d'Ivore and near by the Krokosue Forest Reserve, where he built up a new life.

Soon the rather black white guy was well-known and accepted in the town for his large contributions in terms of technical knowledge on any imaginable problem. And not only did help on that, he also took over a bigger role in the negotiations with the chinese neo-colonialists, of which short-term offers the village of Kojina was able to resist as one of the few villages around.

Telling his unbelievable story to the local guys made him kind of a town hero, in combination with the positive influence he had on infrastructure and education. 10 months into the Kojina time the governeur of the village visited Julianas, who still lived together with Arikas (the guy that took Julianas with him) family, and gave him a special present for all his efforts for the village: An old bike. Julianas, with the help of the villages mechanic (if you want to call him that) Chibuike, completely repaired and renewed it; it turned out that it was built back in 1976.

With this bike on his hand Julianas started cycling again, but not as a sport. To cover long distances for the village, when there was no other vehicle on offer. The younger guys in the village grew interest in cycling while hearing the story of Julianas, so at one point he had the option to race again. It was a hilarious coincidence however on that 30th Serptember of 2015:

Japheth, a guy from the village, heard in school about races taking part close the the border in the Cote d'Ivoire. As he wanted to know more about that he convinced Julianas to go there with him, of course via backside of a truck, and watch it. It was incredible. Hundreds of thousands of people were on the road at the Tour de Côte d'Ivoire-Tour de la Réconciliation, when the 4th stage finished in Abegourou, 80 kilometers away from Kojina. The 35 year old Belgian Koen Demuynck won, but furthermore, he gave his starting number, signed, away to Japheth, who had the luckiest day in his life.

Four weeks later a guy on a truck (how else!?!) joined the village, asking for Japheth, telling that they needed a cyclist. It turned out that the national squad of Ghana needed a rider for the Tour du Faso, and they needed a rider. Somebody from there had to have recognized that there was a (former) cyclist in this village, and that they needed him now because in 18 hours 400kms away the Tour du Faso would start. The problem was: That guy wasn't even from Ghana, but from Lithuania.

But only for 2 hours more, because in exchange for 5 bikes for the village and the promise of new equipment for the local school Julianas Kristasis had a passport from Ghana and headed, on the backside of a truck with his old bike, towards Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso. Well, it was 10 days of pain and Julianas finished second last, but what an experience that was. On the flat stage to Boromo he even finished in the Top 10 in the sprint.

Most interesting however was that talk to Mekseb Debesay. Riding for a team called Bike Aid he talked about that amazing project, and beneath meeting nice guys I also learned about the power of cycling.

6 months letter a letter from Germany reached me, telling that they want to contribute to Japheths love for cycling. Matthias Schnapka, who matches the heigth of him, donated his old bike to Japheth.

It never arrived here. As didn't the new equipment for the school. Or as only 2/5 bikes from the government arrived, and they were rotten. Telling that to the BikeAid Team represented by Mathias, they arranged a surprise visit for 2016, after the Tour de Cote d'Ivore. Japheth didn't finally got his bike, but a jersey from the team signated from all. He took it tears in his eyes. What a nice team. And they also had something for me:

A one-way flight to the United-States for 2017. They told me that there was a chance to earn the bike if I really have it. They told me about this race, where my bike should be perfectly fitting for. I can't imagine anything for that to be honest, but for having the chance to bring Japheth his bike it's worth a shot.

Julianas is riding for Ghana, but he is a citizen of the wold. He won't be able to finance anything if it isn't for donations from others or prize money he earns. But he'll try at the Trekking Americo to do it and earn the bike. For Africa. For Japheth. For Cycling.