First real long trip with the Burley

Posted on July 6, 2013 by ombrandt

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Today I went out with the two boys and our spoiled little princess (Siiri), the plan was to take a trip through Järva, up to Översjön for some BBQ and play time.

Mathias and Viljami at the time of departure, had to stop there for Mathias to fix his shoelaces..

Siiri in her protected environment, no kääpä (bugs) in there!

First fika stop, Mathias and Viljami posing like always, Siiri looking serious.. this is somewhere around 4 km on the map (top of säbysjön, they had no breakfast so this would do)

The kids enjoying some time by the water at Översjön, Siiri and Viljami balancing by the water and Mathias with his rock (or snail) that he found!

This place was also where the BBQ was going down, sadly, the ICA one time BBQ’s didn’t really work, so we had cold sausages and some juice before going on (the plan was to go home now, but that didn’t happen), instead we ended up having another fika, at Säby Cafe.

Mathias with his ice cream and “awesome” hair, which he refuses to cut, Siiri making a face and blocking out Viljami..

From here we planned to bike to the McDonald restaurant in Rissne, but before we got there we stopped at Leffe’s place and at a playspot close to Spånga IP.

Mia and Leffe just before we left from their place and Mia helping Siiri with her helmet!

Lots of pictures from the play spot close to Spånga IP, Siiri playing with wooden cars, the boys biking on the roundabout bikes and the big swing!

On our way from the play spot to go eat at McDonald Ellie asked if we could get some sewing stuffs (weird needles and brown thread) so with 25 minutes to spare we had to find our way from Rissne to Sundbyberg, Garming Edge to the rescue!

On the way to the cloth and sewing store someone fell asleep, doesn’t look like the most comfy way to sleep though xD

Siiri was woken up to some Milkshake, Viljami had some Sundae with strawberry jam!

Mathias with some caramel fudge sundae, looking bright as ever, these pictures are outside the McDonald in Sundbyberg, where we only stopped for some cold refreshments!

We got the needles and things for Ellie and after a short fika outside McDonald I again had to use my GPS to find a way home 😀
Siiri got a little angry and whiney on the way from Sundbyberg so we stopped by a park-slash-lake areas.

Siiri by on her way to the water, posing as always… Viljami having a quiet moment, by the water, with his helmet on…

The golden trio of kids out biking today, so fun to be by the water

The GPS found us a way home, and if we quickly mention, before moving on, my detour because I thought I knew better, we “soon™” was close to home!
There was time for another break though, the old man (me) needed a toilet and the kids wanted something cold again, so Ice cream at OKQ8 in Helenelund!

The ice cream outside OKQ8 in Helenelund, Twisters for the boys, Piggelin for Siiri, I being older and more sophisticated had a Ice coffee icecream thing!

Being almost home we really only had one more shot at the McDonald lunch I promised earlier, though this was more the time for dinner, we stopped for some food and play time anyway!

Viljami with his dinner, the usual, Cheeseburger happymeal with milk and some apples (Siiri stole his apples again!)

Mathias with hair in his eyes waiting “patiently” for me to take the darn picture so he could eat, Siiri looking graceful as ever, she really just wanted the play spot anyway..

The man himself, me, enjoying a cold cola in the sun, not sure if it’s visible on this picture, but I got myself a pair of stingy, fiery red shoulders today, so as I’m sitting here typing this I have yogurt on them to lessen the pain from the burn (Ellie said it would help, still not sure if she’s pulling my leg or not!)

Last but not least, the map from today, and under it the link to the runkeeper page from the biking, incase anyone is interested in the stats from this truly slow ride!

http://runkeeper.com/user/ombirons/activity/204902831

Last few tidbits before the Finland trip! (+this weeks exploring)

Posted on July 4, 2013 by ombrandt

Not going to be the biggest post in the world, but today me, the wife and the two girls went out to shop stuff, including my last items for the long trip.

So without much more fuss, here is the list of things we bought:
– 4 x Carbohydrate gel’s
– 2 x Continental tubes (I now how three spare ones with me)
– One new tire (my front one got a nasty rift and well I want a spare one with me for the trip and the two weeks in Finland..)
– Four pairs of white ankle socks!

And last but not least, my new pair of Castelli Velocissimo Due BIB:

Other then this, I’we done some more exploring, Igelbäcken to be precis, I was looking for some nice flowing forest paths and stuff, so I took the bike and headed down towards Igelbäcken, followed the road next to it past Akalla and past Kista, before I had to jump off the bike and go over the new road, down in Igelbäcken I think I found a little piece of heaven, lots and lots of tracks all over the place!

I also met Magnus, who was out with his 29’er MTB, after a little chat we went back towards Järva together and I showed him a few of the places I usualy bike (since I’m on a Cyclocross I dont go the most technical places, more flow, more fun!)

Anyway, here is the map from this day:

For a more detailed view, check out my Garmin connect page —>HERE<—

Vacation biking planning 90% done or there about..

Posted on June 30, 2013 by ombrandt

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Right, so far the planning is going good, tickets for me to take the boat the 18th of July is booked, with a cabin and lunch on board, I think it came to something just under 700 SEK all inclusive

my booking confirmation, just because I can post it!

What more’s left?
Well Hannu booked the rooms at omena hotel in Turku, still waiting to see if Ilkka is joining, but I’m staying optimistic!
I’we also started preparing my bike for touring, so two new bags attached, the front handlebar bag and a “carb loading bag” that sits between my top tube and the saddle.
Still gotta make sure I got the tools, spare parts and other stuff I need with me, but all in all it seems to be heading the right way!

Recap of the ride itself:

I’we made a new map of the trip and imported it to my new Garmin Edge 800 to.
Two day ride, probably Turku -> Tammisaari on Friday and Tammisaari –> Helsinki on Wednesday, not sure what stops we will have on the way, but more on that later on!

Another day with the kids out in Järva

Posted on June 27, 2013 by ombrandt

I think we went out something like 10:00 o’clock and we came home like 1500(?)

So first off, the map from our bike trip (24.2 km)

A nice mix of gravel road and forest paths again 🙂

First water break, Viljami having a sip while Mathias is waiting “patiently”… this is somewhere in the woods close to Bögsgård

Action pictures from the same area, First Viljami then Mathias passing by in a blazing pace!

The kids on one of the bird watching places by Ravalen

First fika at Bögs Gård, ice cream and soft drinks for the kids, same for me and a coffee, oh and we got a free sugar and cinnamon bun! awesome time!

From here we headed the gravel roads towards Naturskolan, and headed a detour up past Fäboda gård before heading down to Översjön.

A well earned break for the boys at Översjön, searching for fish in the lake, especially wondering if there would be any pike there 😀

The last fika of the day, at Säby Gård, the vanilla buns are amazing!

After this we went down to Barkarby Handelsplats and bought some biking gloves for the kids and after we got home we ended up going back to Barkarby to get a new bike for Viljami (again), since having both kids here ends up in (apparently) lots of biking, the small one he’s been using (the racer/cyclocross is just to big for him to reach the breaks) is so small and the gearing wrong.

Anyway, he now has a redish orange Scott Voltage 24, looking something like this:

Viljami with his new bike, which according to himself was “super fast” even on like gear 4! and then a better picture of the bike it self, and yes it came with the water bottle and bottle cage!

Summer vaccation, cross tires on again!

Posted on June 23, 2013 by ombrandt

Last night I swapped my touring tires for a pair of Conti CX Race tires and today it was time to go out and explore some forest paths in Järva!

I’ll start by adding a map, I went from home and up by the arch saying Hansta skogen/naturreservat or something and followed the paths around there (orange triangle I think)

Well I got my first “stop”

Some random tree in the roads, no biggie, just jump of and keep going on the other side! and me somewhere close to Bögs gård I think

Had to go over a field with some cows, thankfully they where a little to the side, on the right side is me at one of my “dead” ends.

Somewhere around 18 km’s I got to what looked like a prepared skiing place, nice packed gravel and lots of hills up and down, eventually got off it and ended in the forest again, with more fallen trees!

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Finally the last little hill before I was home!

All in all a fun day, I found lots of single tracks, some wide forest paths, alot of dirt roads, some horse roads and the skiing thing, not bad, but I consider it a lesson learned, I know why people enjoy the dampeners on bikes, it got bumpy!

Bike still on service, Garmin in the house.

Posted on June 18, 2013 by ombrandt

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I ordered my Garmin Edge 800 bundle last week and it came yesterday, nifty little thing by the look of it, but I haven’t been able to test it yet due to my bike being in for a little service.

So about that, service thing, I’we had the bike for two months or so now, and I noticed the wheels being untrue, some squeaky noises from the hub areas back and forth and my derailleurs are a little off, time for service.

The closest place to me is Sportson, so I went there to have them give it a full service (roughly 700 SEK).
The service should include fixing my untrue wheels, checking all the bearings, adjusting brakes and gears.
That’s what it says on the homepage of Sportson atleast..

http://sportson.se/newsite/?sectionid=butiker&contentid=verkstad&catid=stockholmbarkarby

Well, that seems to be untrue, just like my wheel (if I should believe the sales person at least).
Turns out that the part about truing the wheel in this service is a “simple tightening of spokes” and I would have to pay another 250-500 SEK to fix both wheels if they need a proper truing, I’m not sure how to deal with it, but I’ll at least question them about it when I go to pick up the bike, and probably do a proper walk trough with the mechanic to see what they’we done during the service.

Anyhow, here is some pictures of my gps (and the rather large box it came in (the box the box with the gps was in..

Child’s hand and baby for scale!

June halfway-ish report and a “blast from the past”

Posted on June 14, 2013 by ombrandt

It’s been two weeks of June biking, and some tired legs, a cold and probably some other excuses I cant think of now aside, the amount of kilometers I’we managed has been at a low.
318.6 km in two weeks to be exact, that’s just a little more then I did in one week during may.

That aside, today I took a different route to work, through Kista and then over to Haga, and Vallhallavägen towards work.

Also, I kinda ordered a bike gps, the Garmin Edge 800 CAD/HR bundle, on sale at elgiganten!

Burley Encore kid carrier

Posted on June 9, 2013 by ombrandt

Sales, sales, sales…
We where just going to get the “cheaper” Burley Honeybee but ended up with the 500 crown more expensive Encore.

Well today was the first day of quick testing, Siiri being the test subject:

Success, at least when you look at the happy face, but I gotta say it felt easy to pull around, even with my tired legs from yesterday.
The only downside, it doesn’t really fit on my bike, I need to get a adapter for the quick release on the back wheel, right now it’s just washers and it’s not “safe”.

Saturday biking with Leffe

Posted on June 8, 2013 by ombrandt

What a day!
Started out from home around 11:45 and went to Barkarby to meet Leffe, from there we rode to Kungsängen, Bro, Sigtuna, Märsta, Sollentuna(Hägvik) and back to Barkarby.

It’s been sunshine, warm and not to windy, perfect biking weather 🙂
Had a pause in Sigtuna for some refueling (burgers and fries) and a coffee break once we where back in Barkarby.

Two selfies of me riding in the warm weather

My shadow to the left, Leffe to the right

Here is a Google map for the ride, decent distance for our first long trip of the year (our first long trip at all really, the last one was a bit over 40 km)

More information from the trip can be found on my runkeeper page: http://runkeeper.com/user/ombirons/activity/191909499

Now lets see how our legs will feel come Monday and regular commuting again 😀

Week two of my 50 km a day challenge.

Posted on May 24, 2013 by ombrandt

And soon heading for the last week of May!
Been tired this week, last week I might have pushed a little to hard, guess I’m paying for that now, anyway, it’s Friday!
So this week in few words: Tired, rain, tired, punctures.

And now for some number:

Shortest commute to work and home: 52.1 km
Longest commute to work and home: 68.2 km
Average commute to work and home: 55,8 km
Total distance commuted this week: 279,2 km

We’ll see what next week brings, I’m aiming for the same distance or more then too.

Adventures of a Norwegian in Stockholm

Random blogging about me and my adventures biking and bow shooting

Category Archives: Bike