Summer trip 2016 – Stockholm to Bergen Day Four, Five and Six – Border crossing day, road to my granny, rest day.

A long day of small roads and the boarder on the horizon.

We started the morning fairly well rested after sleeping in a cabin, clothes were dry and the weather was looking promising, even with the clouds on display.
We mapped out a road to Likenäs and then up Sysselbäck to Medskogen and over to Norway, with the aim to get a decent camp spot for a shortish trip to my grandmother for a rest day.

Day 4. Going to Norway!

All right, lets get started, we got going around seven, early but we did all the packing last night so it was lock and load.
Started nice and slow on the small country roads out of Malung, some light rains on and off but nothing bad, one puncture for Hannu to fix.
The plan was to follow a road over a “hilly” area to Likenäs, we got told by a old gentleman on the way that we were in luck, there would be more asphalt than we feared, so we started the uphill and enjoyed the slow pace to start.


The road to LIkenäs gave some nice views, including the river/stream under this wooden bridge.
On the way down on the gravel part I lost two 1.5 water bottles that was under my net, didn’t notice it before we stopped for this picture, fun times.

The gravel road ended fairly quick and we got our first insane downhill of the trip, from the top here down to Likenäs was a unfortunately un-smooth asphalt road with some nice corners to ride down, like madmen, until the bikes started bouncing a wee bit to much..


The Iron cross resting close to the food store and some random older house in Likenäs.

After food we started biking up towards Sysselbäck, fairly nice roads and all, a little rain on the way, but nothing major.


Some nice and dramatic clouds biking from Likenäs to Sysselbäck and some strange Swedes on a raft with a tent, waving at us.

We actually made a quick stop in Sysselbäck, even if it was not a far ride, there was a chocolate maker there, with home made gelato to, so I mean, come on!
The place was called Naturpalinen and was worth a stop in it self!

Not going to write a whole lot for the rest of the road to the border, it was nice, we had a really big hill, we enjoyed that, just check out Hannu bellow…


 Hannu with his “I just did a really big hill face” posing for a selfie, this was after Sysselbäck towards Medskogen.

We didnt have much problems getting to Medskogen, stopped for food again at the ICA there and rested before starting a rather nice downhill sections to the border


Getting close to the border, and the nice downhill towards it!


Border Selfie, kinda obvious I guess.

From the border we went on the roads towards Norway, getting more and more hills, I also developed some kind of pain in my achilles, both of them to be exact, not sure what happend but they felt sore and painfull.

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First uphill after the border maybe? and google maps suggestion for a Norwegian bike road (sand to gravel to pavement again)


Chilling on the balcony at the cabin outside Flisa, by the river Glomma

Day 5, The day we go to my granny!

Day five got split up due to my achilles acting up, generaly tiredness and other random excuses.

We got up a little late again, I think we were packed and ready to leave about nine, managed to deliver the key and get the deposit back for the cabin, so thats a bonus I guess, it was raining in the morning, and the weather was slightly chilly.
Already in the morning we decided to bike to Hamar and take the train to Moelv, to skip a boring part and try to give my achilles some more rest.


 Leaving from the camp and crossing the Glomma river, heading towards Hamar.

The road to Hamar was ok, nothing really exciting, but cant always be exciting can it?
There was a short stop for snacks and a leg rest in Löten, but that was it I think.
We navigated ourselves to XXL, a sports good store in Scandinavia, to get some warmer clothes for the mountains, I got some legwarmers and shoe covers, and a couple of energy gels just in case.
Afterwards we stopped by the Viking ship sports arena, where they had some of the olympic events during the Lillehammer games in 1994, a quick photo later we biked to the train station.


The Viking ship in all it’s glory or something and the Hamar trainstation.


Choo choo, we are on a train to Moelv, thanks NSB for doing what the w¤%& at SL cant do, accept bikes on the trains….

The train ride was like 17 minutes (35km of biking saved), and we got of really close to the bridge over Mjösa, so we got to bike the 1,5km of bridge over to the other side, and have a slightly boring road with lots of trafik in to Gjövik where the goal was to eat at Peppes Pizza, my favorit Norwegian pizza place, we also got to say hi to my mom’s cousin!


The Mjösa bridge from a far, picture taking from the docks where Skibladner goes from, and up close, with my backside for scale.


Peppes pizza, I always have the Heavy heaven, with garlic sauce on the side, Hannu had some green thing.

After food we started our last twenty something kilometers of biking to our rest day stop, my lovely grandmothers place. since we are now in a city the road to our stop is mostly suburbs, villas and industry so nothing realy to write home about, but we did stop by some rapids/waterfall by something I can only asume was a old powerplant at some point.


The waterfalls in Gjövik, and a special place in my childhood, my grandparents old home, were I spent countless summers when I was young, the new owners has done some interesting additions that I dont care about, but it’s still Bergholm and I remeber it like it used to be.


Bestemor! (Grandmom in Norwegian) this lovely woman took care of us for the day and the next, food and drink and laundry secured, and comfortable beds.

We spent the evening making food and catching up, told my granny about the trip so far, and the plans for the rest, made food (I got my favorit food, Norwegian meatballs) and everything that is needed with it.

Day 6 rest day sumary.

Well, not much to say about a rest day on a bike trip, we did not bike one centimeter this day, but we walked a little and my uncle came and picked us up so we could go to a bath and swim around, have a little sauna and generally just chill, also got some guiding on our route to the mountains, had some other family members come and visit and do laundry.

 

Summer trip 2016 – Stockholm to Bergen Day One

Another summer and another bike trip, after 3 years in a fairly flat Finland the trip this year was Sweden and Norway.

The plan was to head west towards Västerås, go up through Dalarna (the “Valley county) and over the border close to Hamar, have a rest day at my grandmothers place before biking over the mountains and the Rallarvegen road to Flåm, before heading to Bergen via the Hardangerfjord road. In the days and weeks to come I’ll make posts about the trip, starting with the first day in this post

 

Day 1: Home to somewhere north of Västerås.

The day started around 08.00 with breakfast of oatmeal porridge I think, before we went outside with the whole family for a picture and departure around 0900.

Weather during departure was awesome, we had 20 something in the morning and it went on to be close to 35 in the evening, fairly uneventfull journey from home to our first big stop in Enköping and same before Västerås.


Long stretches of country roads in fairly good condition, a nice place to eat a apple!


A small kiosk on the way to Enköping, opened by some people who got tired of working with IT in Stockholm


The roads to and over Ekolsund was random, first awesome road shoulders, then some crushed rocks where what someone said was where the old railway went.


Meeting up with mom and dad and the new RV they bought, for some food in Västerås.

After Västerås came another fairly uneventfull part of Sweden, fields and some forests on the way north towards Fagersta and our camp site just north of Ramnäs in a place called Utomhusbad Brattheden.

We found a nice public bath with a nice beach and floating dock, it even had toilets (outhouse style, no running water) and a patch of forest for us to camp in.


Sitting by the beach enjoying some pasta, sausage, halloumi and stuff!


This was our campsite for the night, nice view with the sun setting

So this was our first day, more to come later, when ever I can get my self to keep posting!

It’s finally here, my very own English steel bike!

Got the message that my Genesis Croix de fer was ready for pickup around 1400, exactly 7 days after my order, but there was the weekend and the national day here in Sweden.
Anyway, I don’t think I need to write more, so here are the pictures!

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Package and opened package, exciting time!

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Some funny text and a pretty badge!

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The bike from the side, two angles and it looks amazing from both!

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The sticker of quality tubing, and the reflection of my Wife in the cap from my handlebar!

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The two last pictures for now, brick wall felt just so right and the picture of the “new” 2014 placement of the disc brake, inside the triangle, nice!

Things I noticed so far, the size is alot better then my old Poison, the steel sounds amazing compared to aluminium and carbon fiber, it’s super comfortable to sit on, not that I’we gone enough to get a feel for it for real, but still, damn happy with it!

Summer, tax and new bikes

Well, feels like it’s just one year since last time I got a new bike (it is)..
But since the Bianchi was to small, no matter what I tried, I sold it and Elli sold a sewing machine.

This all made me look for a frameset from Genesis Bikes, more precise the Croix de fer frameset, plan was to use my other SRAM Apex groupset and build a touring bike from it.

frame-croix-de-ferThis is the frame I was trying to find, but could not get my hands on!

Well that was easier said then done, I think I called about 15 to 20 English retailers about it, no luck, I got in touch with Genesis on the facebook page, and got excellent service and information about future models, but the fact was still, the 2014 was sold out, and the 2015 was on the way, the Croix de fer was getting a carbon fork, a higher price and to satisfy the touring people a new Tour de fer was coming, which I didn’t want (I want a cross that can tour, not a real tourer).

After some thought and encouragement from my wife, we “solved it” differently..
Wednesday I placed a order for the full bike, so instead of building I’ll buy and now I’m going to sell all my parts instead. hopefully it’ll be here on Monday or Tuesday, thanks to Häggs cykel for stocking it in the right size!

 

frame-croix-de-fer And here it is, a full sized picture of what I will be getting, I’ll get back with my own pictures later on!

Departure day

But not for any of us, JeanR went back to France today, he’s now spent eight days about at our place, but before he left we got to do another bike ride, destination Mälaren.


Järva, Barkarby, Kallhäll and back, nice little trip!

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Me and JeanR by Säbysjön, selfie style!

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JeanR at the beach with my Bianchi, and my Poison tanning at the same beach!

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JeanR looking at some preburger and a picture of our fika at Säbygård cafe, awesome cakes!

After this we went home, he repacked and we parted ways as he went to the airport, thanks for the company this week Frenchie, welcome back anytime!

A couchsurfer in Järva

Ahh, summer is finally here, it’s way past 20°c in the sun, it doesn’t get dark early so we can bike late after work.
And yesterday that’s just what we did, and what a day it was!

Maybe some background information, we got a couchsurfer, JeanRemi from lé France, doing science stuff in Schweden for a month, he was supposed to stay with us for about two weeks, but it got cut a bit short due to girlfriend surprise  visit, resulting in a no go for our bike weekend!

Anyway, we managed to get out on Wednesday!


Tour de Järva

We went out and towards Hansta, some kind of hiking path/bike route or something, we saw some other mtb’ers go up there to, went ok, but my CX aint much happy about the rough terrain, neither is my hands, but what can you do.
From there it was towards the Natureschool and Bögs gård, with a food stop at the birdwatching spot at Ravalen.

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My poison CX leaning against the railings and JeanR trying to skip some rocks (my Bianchi in the background, JeanR is using it this week.)

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That’s one happy Frenchman, finding another rock to skip on the water!

 

After food we headed out and towards Översjön, had a little detour, got alot of mud on bikes and stuff, but in the end we got to where we wanted, even if we had to cross a fenced in field for cows (cowless today thankfully)

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I see a silhouette of a fat man! (me.. that’s me, I’m fat 🙁 )

From here we went for a quick fika at the McD at Barkarby Handelsplats before heading home via some random trails and tracks (see the map).

All in all, enjoyable and nice!

Something sad and something nice

I had to go to Norway this Friday (9th of May), for one of my childhood friends son, who only got 5 years old.
It’s so unfair that this happens, and words cant even describe the feeling, it pains me so much to see my friend like that to.

But I got to spend a lot of time with my friend again, we recently got in touch, and he’s the one who gave me the Bianchi MTB, so it was nice to see him, despite the circumstances.

We talked, cried, sat quiet and biked together, I’m not going in on any details, so for now, here is a map and a picture.

 


Start at my friends place, went around what is known as Blekkstarunden, then to the church to visit the grave, back home, some food and then we went around Sköyenrunden and home.

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A picture of the bike I borrowed from my dad, on the grassy fields close to Hagebergtangen, the small man made bathing place from my childhood, the water in the river is silly low and stuff.

Until next time <3

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!