Addnature 7 summits challenge, for the first time!

Challenge time, a little delayed but we got to it in the end!
We started planning this event a couple of weeks ago, with the date 1st of May, this sadly snowed and blow’d away, our group of sic got reduced to two for Sunday.
We did a few wrong turns and misses with the navigation, it can be hard to find the entrance to the top, but after this ride we know, so without much more, here is the map, pictures and stats!


A link to the detailed Garmin recording

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From the start, on top of the Hagatop, and the second top, Hammarbybacken

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The view from Hammarbybacken, somewhere down there we used to live once!

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Selfie time on the left, with Rikard in the background, taking the picture on the right!

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The view from the top of Flottsbro, there was some Canyon Enduro race, so full of MTB people, fun times heading down the hill on my CX there anyway!

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A picture from the boat to Ekerö and the view from Ekebyhovsbacken, I could see the tall buildings in Kista from there!

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Second to last hill to conquer, Bruket in Järfälla, pretty close to home, and suprisingly enough the easiest hill to get up with the bike!

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And here we are, final hill, Väsjöbacken, last one, the pain was real here, but we made it, had to make a “Rocky inspired” pose there!

Stats time:

Distance: 97.68 km Time: 6:38:07 Moving Time: 5:15:44 Avg Speed: 18.6 km/h
Elevation: 1112 m Max Ele.: 121 m Cadence: 57rpm Avg Temp: 9.7 °C

A few things, the GPS was on from the top of Haga, to the top of Väsjöbacken, including our stops on the tops, plus any other minor navigation stops, it also includes our lunch, which I didn’t take picture of, this isn’t instagram after all!
The moving time is the actual time we were pedaling, and the Average speed is based on the moving time!

Anyway, big thanks to Rikard for joining, and hopefully there will be more to come, we shall beat the time “later”

2nd of May, Silverdalen – Vaxholm – Silverdalen…

… Sort of, but the reason for starting there was simple, my lovely wife was going to a friend with the kids, so Burley loaded, kids seated and off we went!

Right, now back to my stuff!
I started in Silverdalen and set my GPS to a convenient location on the island of Vaxholm (The movie theater, figured that would be central enough!


This was the trip I took, more or less the same both ways! check my garmin or runkeeper page for full details

I’ll add some pictures and stuff now, then some stats, I’m fairly proud of my ride today!

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Just some random pictures, shame the speed was so low, or maybe not, for safety..

Bruce2 Just me, with a stupid face, riding my bike, somewhere between Sollentuna and Arninge I think..

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Some pond somewhere that looked rather overflowing with water and Bogesunds Castle 

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Selfie of my self (hence the name selfie) sitting on a bench in Vaxholm centrum, eating (not shown here) a icecream and having a coffee.

After this I headed home, and took no pictures worth showing of, so here comes some stats:

Distance: 84.07 km Time: 3:11:27 Max Speed: 58.0 km/h Avg Speed: 26.4 km/h
Elevation: 595 m Max Ele.: 69 m Cadence: 68rpm Avg Temp: 9.1 °C

Everybody bike now!

Sunday and it’s a sunny day!

On Friday Elina got her new bike, something cheap from Decathlon, today was the day to try it out, with a easy ride around Järva, three stops planned, two Cafe places and one for our own picnic!


We started home, then went Bögsgård for a stop at Helenas Cafe, from there we went up to Översjön for some sammiches, and then to Säby Cafe, for buns!

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Pictures from Helenas Cafe at Bögs gård, Icecream for everyone!

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Pictures from our mini picnic at Översjön, there where sammiches, juice and some fruits and berries, and the kids got to run around for awhile.

IMG_1181 Base camp Översjön, not much more to say, the kids enjoy some relaxing with foods and drinks.

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Siiri and Saga, one is munching the other is sleeping, with Viljami in the background, working that pulla down!

Easter, Bianchi, sun!

That’s the three words of the day, it’s like 15°c outside, sun is shining and I’m home alone, time to get our with the more or less fixed mountain bike I’we gotten (build thread here).

I started from home and went out to Järva

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The view from where I sit and a profile picture of my bike somewhere behind Bögsgård.

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The rockshox SID from 1999 is soft as butter, flexy and what not, and there is a a selfie of me #nomakeup, #nature.

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A must when biking in Järva, the bun at Säby gård, best in the world!

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Mud all over the place, got to use my power washer again! (see this post for more information)

That’s it for today, Happy Easter thingy!

 

Battery powered power washer test

Yesterday (on Thursday) my wife went out shopping for me, from lidl she got a new helmet, a pair of gloves and a mechanic repair stand. from Clas Ohlson she got me a power washer!

Today I decided to test it, so here comes some pictures and more text (YAY!)

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Some pictures of the bike and the washer

the bike wasn’t really that dirty, but had some sand and mud from my first commute in the rain (it needs some clip-on mudguards for commute duty), but here are some up and close pictures to fill the white spaces:

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As you can see there is mud and sand on most parts of the frame

The machine is easy to use (but heavy to carry with a full tank of water, 17 liters), the pressure is OK, it’s not a power-washer, but it’s enough to get anything but ingrown filth off it, and it’s perfect for flushing before a sponge is used and to rinse afterwards, besides with the low pressure I don’t need to worry about flushing out the bearing grease  😉

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These are just to show some action!

So that’s it, the bike got clean enough for me to take inside to finish the fixing on it!

A new bike in the house

Another day (another month to), and I finally got around to update this blog of mine.
It’s been slow, biking has started up again, still mostly commuting, but Easter is coming up and I’m home alone, so I hope to get some epic rides in, well maybe epic is the wrong word, but some rides non the less.

Anyway, I got a new bike, new for me at least, and in my eyes, she’s a beauty!
The bike is built on, as far as I can tell a Bianchi L480 frame, it’s a early 2000 Martini Racing team bike, it’s got a XT/XTR drive train and brake setup, and a old Rockshox SID dual air fork, it’s fitted with V-brakes (damn the old XT ones pack some breaking power) but it also has mounts for discbrakes, so that might be a future upgrade!

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So, there you see her, before I started fixing things, the main issues are/were the drivetrain components, the cogs where so worn the chain didn’t stick, so I’we swapped for a new 11-32 sram cassette and chain, and I swapped the wires for some jagwire stuff, a little adjusting and it runs smooth again!

I also have a pair of disc brake wheels that I’m thinking about using, though the disc touches the frame on the back triangle, not sure if I have to go down to 140mm disc back for it to work, but thats for the future.

I still need to check the fork, it’s got to little air, but I dont have a adapter for it, and I don’t know if it’s serviceable anyway, might just go for a new/used fork.

The last thing I need to do, probably is get a small can of paint to touch up some parts, there are deep cuts and dents in the paint job around the chain stay, cosmetic only, but still, oh and the saddle is more or less worn out!

Long overdue post _again_

It seems like I’m rather slow to update, but well, nothing major happening on the bike front, sadly..

My daily commute is not so daily, I could blame a lot of things, the weather (bad excuse), lack of motivation (again, bad excuse) and several cases of the flue.

But instead, lets look at the positive stuff, and we’ll start on the day before 2014 started, New Years eve.

I went on a ride with Richard, he was on his 29’er, I was on my cyclocross, obviously, its my only bike right now, more on that later in the post.
We started off close to Akalla and went north in to järva:

Some pictures

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After this there has been only some (2-3 days a week at most) commuting days, but I’ll add a picture of my “lifetime” biking (since I got my first bike here in Sweden that is):
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The last bit of news, I’m getting a free Mountain bike, a friend in Norway has a early 2000 model Bianchi (26″) that I’m getting for free, I plan to add discbrakes and maybe a new fork and use it for fun in the forest and a bad weather/winter commuter!

Until next time!

 

Ride Report: Järva in the snow!

What a morning!
Had a plan to meet my coworker around eight in the morning, to go out biking on the snow covered dirt roads and tracks in Järva.

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Just a random crap mobile shot of my thermometer, it was  around -2.4°C outside
Anyway, down to meet my coworker!
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Taking the elevator down to meet the old man on his 29’er.
At this point it was still a little dark, more then enough to see though!

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My CX showing of it’s spoke bling, and my profile.

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Well, it wasn’t a speed race, some places where icy others wet and muddy under the snow, but it was great getting out and nice company, lastly here is the GPS from the trip!

Long time no posting, status and plans

Wow, I cant believe it’s been almost two months soon..
Anyways, I’we been up the usual, commuting to work, it’s not been overly exciting times, mostly biking alone as it is.
Wish I had more time to go for longer rides but alas, family and work takes it time to!

I guess the biggest things happening is the “planning” the three big bike things for next year, two road trips, one in Finland (Åbo -> Nokia -> Helsinki) and one from Stockholm to my parents in Norway.
The other thing I’m planning is a carbon fiber road bike, a coworker of mine is selling a pair of wheels and a complete drive train (SRAM Apex and some wheels from his Bianchi), since I’m getting such a good price on them I figured, heck it’s time for something to eat asphalt for breakfast!

Anyway, the plan so far is a china frame, specifically a ZhongWei R-002 from Velobuildmall 

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The plan is to build it during the winter half, color scheme is planned to be blue and white (like my Cyclocross sort of), but we’ll see what comes from it.

 

Cyclocross, not my cup of tea

So it has come to this, after lots of peer pressure from my coworkers I finally caved and joined on of these “grass races”, was skeptical as I find the idea boring, and I was right, that’s the short of it.
The long of it, I enjoy forest paths, with the occasional dirt/gravel road, preferably flowy and curvy in the sense that you get some nice speed and all that, so from now on I can just skip the CX races and go out for an hour or three in the area around home!

Anyway, two pictures and a map!

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