Faux macro...

Finally got some time over to go shoot some photos in the nice summer weather. Crazy hot outside, tried to keep me in the shade but not so lucky all the time.

Got some sunburn yesterday so I really noticed when the sun scorched the sensitive skin!
Used the Nikkor 28-105mm D, lowest F-stop is 4.5 so it work fine in the bright light. It's not a "true" macro lens but it has a macro function that makes it possible to go very close, just a few centimeters from the front element.

Started with some flowers in the "backyard".
The bees were very busy.
There was some flowers to choose among...
A tree near the pond spread some fluff from it's branches.
There were some stuff in the air!
Manage to sneak up on some very shy dragonflies.
Don't know what happened but suddenly it became very shy.Tested some macro video, sorry about the heavy breathing, I was kneeling down in an awkward position. :)



My lust for a longer reach macro lens is growing, found a ad for a used Nikon 105/2.8 AF-D Micro-Nikkor for 4500:- sek but I think I want even more reach, 150mm is the lower limit, 180mm or 200mm I think is ideal for bugs and critters, also makes the background blurry and nice.

Paired with a close up lens seems to give some fantastic results! http://www.fotosidan.se/

Going down...

Yesterday was busy, up 7am on a Saturday to go biking? Crazy! :)

We were 3 riders in the car going to Gesunda a small place not far from Mora, they have been committed to mountain biking and down hill the last 4-5 years and have now gained quite a reputation among mountain bikers, in an good way!

We're lucky to live a 2hour drive from the mountain so it's no problem to go there just for a day and have fun and then drive home in the evening.

The weather forecast had promised a hot day, summer is here! :)

Nice morning though.


Hitting the trails.


The trails were fantastic, dry and fun!


Magic Carpet trail was as fun as ever, finally managed to take some doubles! :)


More images and a short ride report in Swedish can be found here: http://happymtb.org

A panorama stitched together in photoshop from the top of the mountain and looking down on Sollerö island and lake Siljan.

Click for 1600 pixel wide image.

Weight update #10

Long time, no update on the weight! Been silly busy lately, don't know where all the time goes?!

Well, here is the latest charts:
Removed the "flat line' from the Spain week, the chart looks more consistent this way. The weight is fluctuating quite a lot, so is the "exercise", some days I sit still in the office for a day and some days I spend 6-7h on a bike riding all day long!

The important thing is that the weight has a downward trend! :)

Today I weighted 98kg, spent almost all Saturday on a bike riding down hill in Gesunda, I drank 3 litres of water and at least 1 litre of coke during the day! Pretend that 2 is a 0. ;)
Blood pressure chart:
Missed taking blood pressure medicine a few days now, the pressure seems to stay in reasonable levels anyway but I can't imagine it's good to go without it too long.

The lower pressure has gone up slightly, I have no clue if that's good or bad the upper pressure has dropped and that I know is good as long as it don't drop too low. :)

Pulse is on a hardly noticeable lowering trend.

Fragments...

Some images from today...

Tuff luck...

Thought I would be able to mount the disc brakes on the "new" bike today but this is how it looks with two different adapters.

The one that came with the brake.
And here with the 160mm adapter that sat on my Pugsley.
The brake caliper is still too far away, the fork is a Rock Shox Duke Race from 2002.

Seems like I need this one:
Oh, well. Always some part missing...

The collect continues...

Went to get my parcel containing a pair of used Hayes Nine brakes.

Got them for 1000:- sek, a totally ok price for both front/read breaks, a pair of rotors and relatively new brake pads! Oh, and almost forgot, a IS to PM adapter. :)

"Silver" break levers and rest painted black, compared to the black levers and "brownish" paint I got on my other pair.

160mm rotors, more than enough for my "light" bike project.

Almost unused pads, just a pair of pads costs ~150:- sek x 2, if not more for sintered ones.

The only part I lack now is a complete headset, I'm missing the top bearing of a used FSA ORBIT XLII I planned to use. :(

Thinking about buying a new one, noticed they had a 1 1/8 PRO headset for only 150:- at Lindbergs cykel, might be worth it just to get a fresh one that's ok...

A storm brewing...

No biking today, spent most of the day washing clothes so that it can be transported in the same car as human beings. Heading to Goteborg tomorrow morning with Tobbe and Ryddan. The plan is to go visit some goa gubbar in Göteborg and ride some bikes on the local trails and perhaps down a beer or two afterwards. =)

There has been rain showers on and off all day but I took a chance and drove to Grängesberg and my parents house to give the car a wash. When I arrived it was pouring down!! Had to sit in the car a while before I got in.

Just 25 minutes later the sun was shining from a bright blue sky! Washed the car and got back to Ludvika, had my camera with me and when I saw some really nasty dark skies I got down to the shore on lake Väsman and took a few shots of the car and the scenery.

Shots taken with the Sigma 10-20mm 1:4-5.6 EX and Nikon D90, HDR-processing done with Photomatix and post processing in Photoshop.

Can't really decide which one I prefer.
The view to the other way isn't that exciting. =)
The car hood looks ten times longer than in reality with the 10-20mm lens in 10mm mode! :)
Got some bad flairs in this one but it looked a bit cool anyway.
There was some thunder far away but I heard two loud strikes!
Fantastic cloud formations.
One final shot. One can see the rain pour down in the horizon.
After I was done and sat in the car I could only hear static on the radio and when I got home several channels on the TV didn't work. Think some big antenna got hit by the flash!!

Evening ride...

Took the Pugsley on a short ride a bit late this evening, the rain didn't want to end and I wanted to take the camera with me and I wasn't that keen on using it in rain since the plan was to put it on a tripod to take some video shots.

Then the sun started to shine and that was the signal! :)

Turned out to be really nice weather.
The snails seemed to have a great time...
Then started the climb...
Everything looked and smelled fresh after the rain. A pleasant fragrance of birch leaves was everywhere, at some places very strong! Fantastic! =)
Had some god use for my recently bought saw, cleared out three large trees that was over the trail, some one had already removed the smaller once!

Got to the power line, some mist near the ground.
The air was really moist.
After the climb I had the fun going down the other trail!
Some wet spots...
Some picturesque scenes.
Made it to the beach, threatening rain clouds approaching!

The water was calm anyway.
Found some flower at the shore.
After that I got a bit stressed to get away from the approaching rain and I didn't stop until I was behind the ABB-factory area. Turned in on the bike lane.
As I was biking on the bike path I noticed that the was some crunching sounds, thought that someone had managed to get small pebbles on the asphalt but then it hit me! The road was full of these little fellows!
I'm afraid I managed to roll over a couple or so before I stopped...

Had a go at the slick rocks, they were very slippery so I had to choose path carefully!
Ludvika in sight!
As usual the train passed when I had to cross the railroad, this time I could go under the bridge though! :)
On the the other side.
The water was calm and like a mirror.

It took way longer that I planned, the sawing took it's time and I didn't want to go home even if my feet were wet and I was getting cold! So nice now that the temperature is higher and the light is staying longer in the evenings. =)