Fit for fight!

Did a small "overhaul" of my Pugsley, cleaned the chain, oiled it, washed the frame and put on some wax to clean it easier next time. Then I took it for a short spin to see that everything worked ok for the ride tomorrow...
Couln't help stoping for a few photos of the spring signs.
Buds and flowers everywhere now.
No more ice in the stream.
Nice light this evening.
Avoided the usual route over the train crossing but what does it help when there is another crossing across the town...
Found a nice photo spot.

Played with the self timer on the camera and noticed there was a option to shoot up to 9 shots in a row, managed to get a few keepers.
Nice warm weather in the last day of April!
Early tomorrow I will drive to Uppsala and the traditional 1st of May ride in Lunsen! =)

Maiden voyage!

After getting rid of the stubborn seat post I could fit the bike with a new seat post and a new saddle, switched the saddle on my Pugsley to a old refurbished one that I had dressed with leather, then I took the one from the Pugsley and put it on the Crescent.

Also replaced the missing brake pads in the rear with fairly modern MTB-style break pads, seems to work great! Adjusted the handlebar and took the bike out for a quick run.

Decided to go to Skuthamn, shy I don't know because I should have foreseen this...
The gate was closed because a train was about to pass. Had to wait a long time before it turned up and passed...

Well, got through eventually and the bike feels quite ok!

Found a photo spot.
Shifting gears and breaking seems to work properly, perhaps some minor dragging of the brakes in the front that has to be fine adjusted and finally I have to switch the pedals to "SPD" type pedals and I'm home!

Tool time!

After using the single hacksaw blade for, what felt like forever, I got tired of the bad efficiency and invested in a 39:- sek handle and a new blade!
After several more minutes of hyper-intensive sawing I used a flat screw driver to try prod off the stubborn small piece that was still there way down the seat tube and noticed that the whole seat post sank down as I hammered on the post!

Drilled a hole in the side where the slit was and this time used the screw driver to hammer the piece upward.
Wohoo!! Coming up, coming up. Citing E-Type. ;)
Used a pair of pliers to pull it out the last bit.
GOTCHA!!!Finally I can start the "transformation" to a somewhat decent road bike! And yes, I will use lubricant on the new seatpost! =)

Stuck...

So I continued to work on the stuck seat post. Used a hacksaw blade to saw through the insanely thick material in the post.
Tried to form the post it as good as possible to get grep in the useless vice.
The result, more pieces of the brittle material.

Used the loose hacksaw blade to saw grooves in the post and managed to knock out some pieces inside the seat tube.
Who said free stuff is cheap? I have wasted at least 4 litres of sweat so far and the damn seat post is still stuck! Will have another go this evening...

Time flies by...

Got back from Spain this Saturday, I was soo tired. Going up 4 in the morning after having a goodbye party and then travel for 14 hours sure takes it's toll!

Amazing trip, not much time over for anything else than biking and documenting, still a great break from the daily round. =)

One of few photos involving me, ripping down the Greg Minaar track in Granada, Spain.
Photo shot by Tobbe.
Crazy fun trail! Gets a bit dangerous as the speed increases every run and you get cocky...

On Sunday I went to my parents and had dinner, when I was about to go home I remembered my father had a old Crescent racer and I asked if he still had it some where, luckily it was stored in the backyard shed.
After working through the garden furniture and carrying them out of the shed I was able to get hold of the bike. Loaded it in my bike and got home.

Fitted it with my "el cheapo" German bought Shimano WH-R500 wheels

The butt ugly (pun intended) saddle just had to go, have to adjust the handlebars, get new handlebar tape and strip it from some junk.

Tried to adjust the saddle height but the seat post was stuck!
I fastened the seat post in a vice and used the whole bike as a lever and this was the result...
The vice is pure crap so I don't get enough grip just pinning the seat post tube so I have to come up with another solution.

Spain Rocks!

This is what I saw when I got out on to the balcony in the morning, when we arrived the night before it was raining and pitch black!

Then it only got better.... *grin*

More images found here: http://happymtb.org/

2 pack or not 2 pack...

Update 2:
As always, at the last moment, have started to pack the bags for the Spain trip.
Think I will come close to the weight limit, we'll see if I have to skip something...

The stuff seems to fit at least, Tetris skillz to the rescue! :)
Some internal lubricant can't hurt either?

Quite nice beer, Ekholmens Ekologiska Ale from Nynäshamns Ångbryggeri, lots of hops flavour, something I usually don't like, but still not totally that Pale Ale taste i dislike. A bit on the expensive side, 29SEK, still cheaper then a regular lager in a bar! :)

Update:
Gargh! The weight limit for one bag is 23kg, when I weight the bag alone on my personal scale, it says 23kg, when I step on the scale it adds 22.8. Perhaps a bit close to call it safe? Maybe I'll take the chance and be prepared to pay for the extra weight? I really don't know what to drop to get under 22.

The Camera bag is full too, I should however also be allowed to carry hand baggage, perhaps I can fill it up with clothes? Should shave of a couple of kilos to get on the right side of 23...

Update2:
Yes! Got down to a more reasonable 20kg by moving stuff to hand baggage. After that it suddenly hit me that I have to unmount the pedals from one of my bikes to bring them with me, that will bring up the weight a bit..

Crane spotting...

Yesterday I had to take a snapshot of the crane that's in the middle of Ludvika, passed it when we went to get a cup of coffee after the Thursday sushi. Liked the backdrop! =)
And while I was looking through the images in my phone I found this on a bottle of Marston's Owd Rodger I bought on the ferry back home from Finland last weekend. It got better with every sip. :)
That's it...

Camel mania!

Just got my hand on a new Camelbak bladder, a brand spanking new Camelbak Omega Hydrotanium Reservoir, great with short brand names... :)

The old bladder started to leak where the tube attaches to the bladder.
As a bonus I got a new tube and Big Bite valve!
Cool blue color compared to the dull color the old bladder had.
Hehee.. A bit clearer/cleaner parts than the old one.
As if that wasn't enough about camels the Circus had put up their tent outside work and was out walking their camels. :)
Thinking about purchasing another Camelbak, would be great to be able just to switch to a fresh one quickly, only drawback would be to move all the stuff from one to the other when switching, or get two setups of tools, pumps and spare parts, or just put it in one bag that's easy to move? :)

¿Que?

It's really time to learn some usefull phrases for the upcoming Spain trip, here's a few usual ones.
Perhaps I should gather a some usefull phrases for just down hill riders? :)

Greetings

• Hola (ola): Hello
• Buenos dias (bwoo nas deeas): Good day
• Buenos tardes (bwoo nas tar des): Good afternoon
• Buenos noches (bwoo nas no ches): Good night or good evening
• Encantado (en can tar doe): Pleased to meet you/enchanted
• Mucho gusto (much o goos toe): Pleased to meet you
• Como se llama? (com o say ya ma): What’s your name?
• Que tal? (kay tal): How are you?
• Como esta usted? (como es ta oost ed) How are you (polite)?

Your Accommodation

• Donde esta mi hotel? (don day es ta mi otel): Where is my hotel?
• Tengo una reserva (ten go oona res zer va): I have a booking
• Mi habitacion esta sucia (mi abi tath eon es ta soo cee a): My room is dirty
• No tengo toallas (no ten go toe ay as): I don’t have any towels
• Quiero vistas del mar(key ero vis tas del mar): I want sea views
• A que hora es el desayuno? (a kay ora es el des aye oono): What time is breakfast?
  
  Donde esta la parada del autobus?: (don day es ta la par ada del ow toe bus): Where is the bus stop?
• Tengo un problema/un dolor (ten go oon pro blame a/ oon doll or): I have a problem/ a pain

Eating/Drinking

• Quisiera….. (key sea era): I would like ……
• Desayuno (des aye oono): breakfast
• Almuerzo (al moo air tho): lunch
• Cenar (sen are): dinner
• Un bocado (oon bock ar doe): a snack
• Me puede traer la carta? (me pway day try ear la car ta): Could you bring me the menu?
• Tiene…? (tea any): Do you have (polite singular)….?
• Tienen….? (tea en en): Do you have (polite plural) ….?
• Un vaso de vino (oon vas o de vee no): a glass of wine
• Una cerveza (oona ser vay sah): a beer
• Una jarra (oona har ra): a pint
• Una caña (oona can ya): a small beer
• Un cenicero (oon sen e sero): an ashtray
• Un bocadillo (oon bock a di yo): a sándwich

On the Road

• Voy al aeropuerto (voy – as in voyeur – al air o pwair toe): I’m going to the airport
• Coja la proxima a la derecha (co ha la prox e ma a la de rech a): take the next right
• La segunda a la izquierda (la seg un da a la ith key air doe): the second left
• Estoy perdido (es toy per dee do): I’m lost
• Donde esta mi maleta? (don day es ta me ma let a): Where’s my suitcase?

General Questions

• Puede ayudarme? (pway day eye oo dah may): Can you help me?
• Tiene la hora? (tee any la ora): Do you have the time (polite)?
• Cuantos años tienes?(qwan toss an yos tee anys): How old are you?
• Donde esta la playa? (don day es ta la ply a): Where is the beach?
• Hay una farmacia cerca? (Eye oona farm a thee a ser ca): Is there a chemists nearby?
• Busco un restaurante bueno (Boos co oon res toe rant a bway no): I’m looking for a good restaurant
• Permiso (per mis o): Excuse me/may I?
• Lo siento (low see en toe): I’m sorry
• Perdona (per donna): Excuse me
• Disculpa la molestia (dis cul pa la mo les tee ah): Sorry to bother you
• Felicidades (fel ees e dad es): Congratulations
• Oiga (oy ga): Listen/can you hear me?
• Mira (meer a): Look
• Escuchame (es coo cha may): Listen to me
• De donde eres? (de don day err ez): Where are you from?

  Pronounciation

  There are a couple of basic rules for pronouncing letters in Spanish, which will help you out every time if you’re not sure how a word should sound.

  Phonetically the letters of the alphabet are as follows:

  Vowels

  a as in apple
  e as in a (long English a)
  i as e (short English e)
  o as in oval (but short)
  u as in oo (and not ewe)

  Consonants
• b = bay (short) c = thay d = day f = effay
• g = hay (as if the h were ch in loch) h = achay (but it is silent in words)
• j = hota k = ka (short)
• l = ellay m= emay n= enay ñ= enyay p = pay q = koo r = erray
• s = essay t = tay v = uvay w = uvay doblay x = ekis
• y = ee gree yega z = theta

A good rule of thumb is to remember that all the sounds are short, not drawn out, except the letter r. If you can roll your r’s you will get on really well in Spanish.

There are a couple of exceptions to the rule about pronunciation – g is hard when it is followed by an a or o or u. Double ll is pronounced y, so for example llamar – the verb to call - is pronounced yamar.

Fibers is good for you!

Woke up this morning hearing noise, turned out it was that time again when they empty the trash. It's nice to have trash disposal hatch just outside the apartment door but why in the hell do they have to collect the filled trashcans so damn early in the morning?!?

Turned out that it was not the only noise this morning, when getting out of the bed room I noticed another sound that was out of the ordinary, then I remembered the trailer and stuff outside my kitchen and living room window.

The biggest landlord in the area is replacing their cable tv network with a new fiber optical network. And now they were outside my apartment putting fibers in the ground. I live in a privately owned house so we will continue as usual while the residents in the other building will get new outlets in their apartments.

The well used for the fibre connections is just a few meters outside my apartment, tempting to go and patch in to the network! ;)

Talking about noise and early, yesterday the neighbouring houses groundskeeper were outside using his hellish-noise-machine, a leaf-blower! Blowing debris randomly all over the place. Those machines must have been constructed to emit as much noise as possible, and the noise penetrates the thickest walls possible! Of course they also have to start using the machines as early as possible in the morning, they can't possibly know how close they are to be assaulted by tired and bad tempered people...

Passable trails!

Left work an hour earlier to go for a short ride, decided to take the route I and Tobbe tried to take a week ago. Now there were almost no snow left! Only a few ice patches here and there. =)

Yeah, took some great shots with my cell phone. :)
The running track that recently had a cross country skiing track on it.
Here we turned around last time.
Long time since I took this route last time.
Testing the delayed shooting mode.
Had to stop and do some lumber work now and them. The one who cut the trees didn't seem care that the trees fell straight over the trail...
Cleared a path.
More trees blocking the trail.
After some clearing work.
The rest of the trail was free of clutter.
After clearing out the trail I noticed I had forgotten to bring water with me, it was good exercise but now I was thirsty, decided to get back using the running track. Had to ride down a steep slope and got quite much speed, the track is fairly smooth with a few bumps to jump on, catched my self with a big fat grin on my face, that was fun! =)

I have to put gears on the Pugsley!

Been a while since I was here, some one had built a shelter.
Not much wind at the Gårlången lake.
A few more warm days and perhaps some wind and the trails will dry up quickly! When the vegetation starts to grow it should dry up even faster! =)