Retardé excercise...

After putting a 44t chain ring on the Pugsley and with 16t gear in the rear I got a bit restless and started to wonder if I could pull it off.

So today I took the bike on a ride around the lake Väsman, the GPS tracked it to 49.40 km.

Got started around 17, there was a hint of rain in the air.
It was windy too and some made it to their advantage.
The heating plant across the water... Used the bike lane built on the old train track.
It has a minimal of lean, the tracks are blasted through the rocks.Very grey skies.
Got a real surprise when I got a bit further, there had previously been a dense forest near this old house and now it was a building site!
Last time I tried to get around the lake I got stopped here because there was a fence in the way, they ere building a new "bridge", now it was done!

From Obnoxiously yours...

Passing the barren wastelands...
Got a chance to try the new (new to me) bike lane from Björnhyttan to Saxdalen. It was the most enjoyable part of the ride! A narrow, winding and super fast section, here I got the fastest speed of the day!
A lame try to capture the feeling.
Suddenly and to fast the paved lane ended in a gravel road with no directions, but the cars on the main road was easy to hear.
Still gray skies and now there was definitely some rain in the air, fortunately in small amounts. Passing through Saxdalen (Rävvåla).
Almost out of Saxdalen I took a gravel path near the kiosk.
Had to pose the bike at a strange monument.
Around half way.
Nice scenery in Sunnansjö.
After the hardest climbing I was back on the big road, passed some old bridge foundations.
After a while I was back on the bike lane. Now with bad head wind! Doh!
Got time to enjoy the scenery.
Still rain in the air.

Remembered there was a nice de-tour available further on, glad I took it, gravel rad and some fun parts!
After that short fun it was bike lane all the way in to Ludvika, around 10km.
Passed under the bridge the second time and the circle was complete!
Map, biked clockwise.


GPS-data:
Start time
2009.08.31 17.09.49,48

Duration
02:05:02.27

Distance
49.40 km

Speed avg
23.7 km/h

Speed max
45.1 km/h

Pace avg
2:31 min/km

Pace max
1:19 min/km

Conclusion? It worked beyond expectations! Feel a lot more confident now that it will work ok! =)

Flatspot and fitness

One week in Åre takes it's toll, both on biker and bike! Managed to get a sweet flatspot on my rear wheel, the Alexrim FR32 rims is made of cheese! :)

Removed the rim strip and cleaned the rim, the "cracks" against the tire had let through a lot of moist and dirt into the wheel. Squeezed the rim in a vice and managed to press the edges back some bit, enough to be used on my Giant Reign.

Put the Mavic-rims on the Froggy and hopefully they will keep together some while more, they have worked well on the Reign several years now so the outlook is good.

Exchanged the disc brake discs on the wheel too and put the Alexrims on the Reign together with the Continental Rubber Queen tires, they are VERY high, both in volume and size. Higher than Schwalbes Big Betty tires.

A bit too tight in the rear but they run free so I will let them stay on the bike a while.

The rims should at least withstand some aggressive cross country biking. =)

Tour de Retard - 2009

I'm kind of thinking about participating in this years Tour de Retard, it's a +100km bike race with single speed bikes, both fixed and free wheel kind of bikes.

It's partly a celebration of the old school bikers that competed on bad roads with gravel.

Started to play around with different gear ratios on my Surly Pugsley, ended up with a 44/16 set-up, but I', afraid it will be a tad too heavy for my poor legs...

A video from the 2005 Tour de Retard, from Boe:s youtube page:


Or I might just go with the Crescent racer in single speed set-up...

8-bit trip

Got a link from a friend, turned out to be a really cool music video involving LEGO and chip music! =)

Just got more snooty!

Got a mail a few moments ago. A photo I made a few weeks ago got accepted into Galleri-FS! =)

It's separate photo gallery on Fotosidan.se where one can apply for publishing and where the photo will be scrutinized by a group of people who decides which photos will go through. Definitely a ego-boost! ;)

The photo:

(Click for full size)
It's a HDR-image is taken in Ludvika, behind the ABB-industrial area called Hällarna and out towards the lake Väsman. Used Nikon D90 with Sigma 10-20mm lens, tone mapping done in Photomatix and final post processing in Photoshop.

STILL AWAKE!

Well, starting to get tired, think the sugar rush is over after 6 hours and the caffeine content of 75mg/can isn't that much for a coffee drinker. =)

Bought the Cult Cola in Denmark since I was buying Coca-Cola bottles and cans for my collection.
The Cult cola didn't taste that good, think I'll stick to regular Coke..


A bit disappointing it claiming to being worlds strongest cola. ;)

Money, money, money...

Yesterday I went to the bank to cash in some coins I have been piling up from me emptying my pockets from coins that I get back in change.

Too bad I didn't know it was the day all the old people got their pension! Well, after getting the waiting ticket and realizing there would be a 30 minute wait I took another waiting ticket for matters not being payments or withdrawals, there the line was only 5 minutes!

I use the banks Internet service so there is a small token that has to be used in conjunction with the login for security reasons and the token had some problems with the display so I brought it with me. It took only five minutes to get a new token, the only drawback was that it was a another one than the one I had before and the new one requires more operations to do the same thing, oh well, at least now I can pay my bills again. :)

Had to wait another 20 minutes to get the coin-money to my account, took like 1 minute for the clerk to do that. Every time one doesn't have to go to the bank is a bliss!

After getting back from the bank and all the waiting I realised that I had forgot to get my credit card with a broken security chip fixed! DOH!

Thankfully, later the queue was significally shorter.

But to make it even more awkward I manage to get the same person that served me just a few hours ago! She asked why I didn't mention the broken chip when I was there the first time... Too little coffee in the morning?! :)

I was a bit worried that I would loose the picture-on-the-card photo I had ordered on my credit card. It's a service where you can get a optional image printed on your card, but it turned out that I will get the same image on the new card, I just hope I will get it this week since I will be in Åre next week...

Kraftværk!

Last Saturday I attended Kraftwerks concert at Vaerket in Randers, Denmark.

Kraftwerk used for the third time their 3D show and everyone got a air of special glasses at the entry. The effects were really cool but I suppose one should have been further back to really get the best of the effects.

Only thing that was a bit disappointing was the fact that Pocket Calculator was no longer a part of the concert. Don't know if they ditched it for the new show or if it was something they left out just during this concert...

One happy blogger! :)

DK-21

Some while ago I manage to loose the rubber eye cup to the camera on my way back to the car after visiting a airshow in Dala-Järna.

Ordered a replacement eye cup for 60:- Sek from Cyberfoto, got it by mail today in a regular envelope. The eye cup has come off several times before but I have managed to notice it before it was lost.

Thinking about applying a small amount of hot glue to keep it in place better.


Got a few good shots at the air show before I lost the eye cup. ;)

A Tiger Moth with Swedish markings.

All of the acrobatic planes in the air, flying in formation.

A F16 showing off.The Breitling Team splitting up!

Two of the same making a close pass.