GET TO KNOW ME

THE
BASIC
STUFF

NAME: Runa Grydeland

AGE: 29 (1994)

NATIONALITY: Norwegian

EDUCATION: Nurse

JOB: Office manager/social media manager at Remote Health International AS

So what are you even supposed to write on pages like this? Hm, let me see.. I like motorcycles, camping, taking pictures and drinking coffee. Ok bye now!

Alright for real now. My name is Runa, I was born in 1994 i the city Narvik in Norway, 339km above the arctic circle. My siblings and I was raised with a great respect for the outdoors - going on hikes and small outdoor adventures regularly. Pretty much all summer holidays were spent hiking and camping in Norway and Sweden.

We moved around a lot when I was a child, and I kept moving around a lot as a young adult. I left home at 16 years old to a city over 750 km away from home to pursuit a dream of becoming a professional archer. I did pretty well; in 2012, I won a world championship for juniors in Las Vegas, USA. I won a few more international medals and was the Norwegian champion 15 times up until 2020 when the covid-19 pandemic took over the world.

The covid pandemic put a stop to all local, national and international competitions. It got pretty boring, training for what seemed like no reason. I am quite goal-driven, and at the time, I had no goal to work towards. That is when I decided it would be a great time to pursue another dream finally; to get my motorcycle license!

HOW
I GOT
INTO
MOTOR-CYCLES

THE
MOTOR-CYCLES
I HAVE
OWNED

AND
OTHER
STUFF

I have always known I wanted to get a motorcycle at some point in my life, both my parents used to ride motorcycles, and they have all these photo albums from when they used to go to rallies and trips; it looked like SO much fun!

To actually get my license was mostly a question about affording it and having time for it. In Norway, getting your license is EXPENSIVE. There is so many mandatory classes to go through, it will cost most people between 20 000 - 30 000 NOK (2000 - 3000 EURO). Then there is all the mandatory riding gear and obviously the motorcycle on top of that.

I passed my riding exam on 2nd of June 2020, and was stoked to spend the summer on the Suzuki Intruder VS750 1986 model. I did a couple camping trips with my motorbike that summer, the longest one for a week.

I quickly realized that I was going to need a different type of motorcycle for the kind of trips that I wanted to do - in November 2020 i sold my Intruder and bought a KTM 790 adventure S, 2019 model.

I owned my KTM for over a year, we rode about 15 000 km together, the longest lasted a month and took us to all 4 "corners" of Norway, you can read more about that trip here.

I really enjoyed the 790 who got the name "ARNOLD", but something was just not right. I wanted to try other motorcycles to see if I found a better fit.

The same year I was invited to Straand Treffet 2021, one of Norway's biggest yearly motorcycle gatherings, to talk about what it's like being a rookie on longer motorcycle trips.

I had the opportunity to try a LOT of different bikes this weekend, including a Yamaha Ténéré 700. I fell absolutely in love with the bike, and like most of you know this is the motorcycle I own today! I got great help from Speed Motorcenter , who set me up with the Ténéré 700 2022 model I own today, better known as Loki.

And that brings us to today! My third summer with my license is over and done, and my memory bank is filled with many more fantastic experiences. Getting into motorcycles is easily one of the best desiscions of my life. It has led me to meet so many great people, so many fantastic experiences, opportunities and memories and I can't wait to see what more is to come!

Heading off for motorcycle trips has quickly become my favorite feeling of all time - not knowing what lies ahead of you, what you will see, whom you will meet, and what will happen. .... and having to return from my trips has quickly become one of my least favorite feelings.

I wonder, what would it feel like to head off without having a set date when you have to be back....?