Obnoxiously yours...

Hellas Off Road - Mountain biking in Stockholm

2011-11-26T14:45:00.002+01:00

Google+ blog = -?

2011-10-04T11:42:00.003+02:00

In case any has noticed the posting on my blog has almost stopped. The reason is partly caused by lack of time but foremost because I have started to use Google+ for the last six month or so.

I suppose there will be some posts here too but for the time being the convenience of Google+ makes the posting here to occur less frequently.

Insanely superior!

2011-09-06T14:01:00.004+02:00

Another Youtube video, seems to be the only posts on my blog right now. :)

Danny Hart crushes the competition at Champery (Switzerland) and wins with a huge margin, perhaps the commentators are the most impressive? ;)

POC Commercial...

2011-09-02T01:10:00.003+02:00

The complete POC video is now published, posted some pre-production shorts earlier. Features MacAskill, Daniel Dhers and Martin Söderström visiting the archipelagos and some other places in Stockholm. Well worth watching!

Long time no push...

2011-08-08T22:23:00.004+02:00

Some shots from last Saturday (where do the day's disappear?) when we had a push-bike session in the near by hill of Högberget.

First trail was a new one for me, there was one DH-race here when we held a small DH-competition cup, I apparently missed this one back then.

Inspection of the course:
It had been raining all morning but now the sun was shining and the temperature was rising!
First run, the rocks were slippery!
Mathias on his almost brand new YT Industries DH-bike.
Ryddan passed me next.
Mathias had a close encounter with the rock further down, the RS Boxxer took most of the blow.
We decided to explore more trails, one just next to the first one.
The camera wasn't fast enough in the bad light in the forest.
Not overly steep but still fun.
Had forgot how hard it was to push the bike up hill! After a few runs we yet again moved a few hundred meters to the next trail, as we were heading up we bumped into e., who were out ripping on his own and he showed us the trail he and another fellow had built.

Checking the double drop.
Without people in the way.
Hard to believe there's big apartment houses just a stone throw away.
I managed to flat my front tire twice, run out of spare tubes as it turned out that the brand new tube I had was repaired!? Hard to believe but that's the only explanation, must remember to document the patch that was on and that let out all the air...

E. making the last jump.
Ryddan seems to have as bad speed as I did over the obstacle, I lost speed in a bad turn.
It was a nice session, must go back and practice at the track again, I was all but supple down the trails, really need more speed runs before the Åre week, hopefully I get a free start in the Mega-Avalanche!

Funny looking GPS-plot:

Evening...

2011-08-05T22:21:00.002+02:00

Couldn't resist taking some shots last evening on my way home. HDR's tonemapped in Photomatix. Nikon D7000 and Nikkor 18-105mm VR.

Finnmarksturen, new course.

2011-08-03T14:20:00.009+02:00

Must be over a month ago I tried to follow the new path of Finnmarksturen, that was the "second" half of the course, yesterday I got a chance to get a guided tour of the first half!

We were a group of five riders, the weather looked good if one looked at the right direction.
The prerequisite for the ride was that is was supposed to be a easy ride but it didn't take long for the hot-headed riders to start competing up the hills! =)
Only short breaks to wait for me to catch up.
I was ready to throw my self in the water for cooling down, warm and humit with hardly any wind.
Premier for my beautiful shirt from On-One, reminded me of Max Cady from Cape fear, too bad it's not red. ;)
Mostly familiar trails but some new ones, which was nice! And of course a lot of forest roads...
Wonder how many will go over the bar here during the race?
Wonder if they will remove this until then?
With some speed it should be possible to bunny jump the obstacle. ;)
Not sure what they were up to.
After that the trail got better.
After getting down to Stensbo I got to know a new way to get past the road, didn't know about this tunnel.
After that there was some more forest roads to the bike lane towards Ludvika and then down past the water processing plant, still calm.
On the last trails before Ludvika I got this small stick in my rear wheel.
Glad also I got rid of the annoying sounds after I exchanged the bottom bracket for a new one, the old was really bad, was bad before the Scotland trip even...

30km in roughly 2h, great work out! :)

Off-road

2011-07-19T11:08:00.003+02:00

Managed to snap some photos during the ride last evening, after riding mostly my road bike it was nice to hit some trails with the MTB for a change!

It had been pouring down rain all day on Monday and I was a bit sceptical to go for a bike ride but by the time I was at the site, Källbotten there was just some minor drops and the coulds started to dissipate! =)

Some photos shot from the saddle:
The trails were still wet and the speed was not what I have been used to.
Then there was some obstacles here and there, the beavers had been busy!
I picked the wrong spot for stop for taking shots. A few meters further down Linkenn did a OTB, luckily all went well!
Erik went next, he managed to steer clear of the slippery pipe that was straight over the trail.
At the next lake there were more obstacles, I took the route to the right and missed the deep puddle but Erik planted his front wheel straight in it, this time I got a shot! :)
Of course my directions were misinterpreted and Linkenn rode into the same puddle, a nice smell emerged from the muddy water. A quick stop to wash the worst away.
Back on track!
A couple of more shots from the bike.
Only a hour ride (12km) since there was some car trouble but it was a good workout! Always surprised how effortless the track is when getting on site with car and skipping the climb up to Källbotten.

Did my best to remove all the goo before loading the bike into the car but when at home I decided to shower off the rest of the dirt since the bike was already disassembled, think I managed to get half the forest with me back home. :)

Link to proper GPS-tracking: http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/mGRZ17uz8i0

Must make a revisit when the conditions is dryer!

The Pirates! Band of Misfits - Trailer in 1080p

2011-07-14T19:50:00.000+02:00

Sweet, new movie from Nick Park and Aardman Studios! The Pirates - Band of misfits.

CX-wannabe trip to Grängesberg.

2011-07-11T12:39:00.009+02:00

So I got my CycloCross tires last week, it was now time to see if they worked as advertised! =)

I decided to make a trip to Grängesberg and use the same gravel roads that was used by Finnmarksturen, FMT has changed the course and these roads will no longer be used for that.

I had to pass the central parts of Ludvika to get to the forest roads, made it past ABB:s latest building project, a new building is supposed to stand here later this autumn. The not so old parking lot has been totally removed and lots of trees have been cut down.
Here I had made it to "Golan" the heights at Östansbo, that was just the beginning of the climb!
The end of asphalt and start of the gravel...
So far so good, lots of loose gravel and larger stones.
Lot's of dark clouds around me but by the time I had made it down the hill to Kåsen the sun was shining again.
I was now going backwards on the route that FMT follows never thought the hill was this steep going the other way! Refused to jump off the bike so I almost puked when I finally managed to get over the steepest part. :)
Passed Hällsjön. Apparently there was a inn here way back in time.
Not much left today.
At last there was some roads that didn't point straight up.
I left the dark clouds behind me...
It was a bit scary alone in the wildernes but suddenly I felt safe!
Seems like someone lost the key since the top of the safe was removed. ;)
Time for a brake, coffee and a sandwich, at the southern shore of lake Hörken, can'r remember last time I was here, must be over 10-15 years ago. We had a boat here when I was a kid.
The tarmac seems to be from the same era:
Had forgot how picturesque it was around Hörken.
Didn't take long before I was closing in at Grängesberg.
Not often I arrive from this direction.
Stora Hagen, built for the mine workers.
Went past the electronics shop. Think AKAI is still a active company, not sure if the shop is still open, lot's of stuff inside though.
A glimpse at the back yard of Spendrups brewery.
Spendrup's new high bay storage construction visible in the horizon.
Had to take the moment and take a closer look.
Closer...
Perfect view, made a panorama:
First goal of the day in sight. Made a short pit stop at mum's and said bye to all the people that headed out to go visit some people in Gubbo.
Time to get home so I can come back later in the evening for some BBQ!

Think there was a short cut here...
Well, kind of, had to carry the bike over a deep ditch and up the other side to make it up on the gravel road.
Took "Promillevägen" back home. Almost straight roads.
Past lake Glaningen by the bike lane.
Resisted a urge to go for a swim in lake Väsman when I was getting close to Ludvika.
A short photo session on the pier behind ABB, really pleased with my CX-light. The tires worked well.
Incoming boat.
One last shot at the harbour before I was back at home.
Well, the CX-tires obviously don't roll as well as dedicated road tires but the freedom and peace of mid when riding gravel roads or trails sure makes up for the small increase in rolling resistance!

Next time I will make the route in reverse to avoid the insane climbs! :)

Part one:

Part two:

The final iteration?

2011-07-06T22:18:00.006+02:00

Think I'm starting to reach the final setup on my Crescent race bike. Today I got some stuff I ordered earlier, new saddle and finally a pair of Shimano 105 race pedals.

At last the end of accidental releases when pushing a bit harder, and without the play and wiggle! Was on the Wednesday ride today. Over 70km, what a difference! Even got rid of the squeaking by really tighten the crank arms, I hope I will be able to get them loose when I need to. =)

Had to put on a second bottle holder to be able to get all the water I need with me, the bike only has one mount for bottle cage so I had to buy one that fit right on the tube, works fine!
Got some other stuff too.

2x Continental Cyclecross Race 700x35 tires to put on the Crescent for gravel roads. A 'Original' SKS Rennkompressor, sure look indestructible! If one would breake something despite that it's apparently possible to buy almost any part in it as spare part so it's a investment for life.

To fill the road tires to 8bars was a breeze! =)
A couple of shots from today's Wednesday ride.

On our way to Grängesberg.
Riding through Saxdalen:
The ride leader for the day had come up with a (evil) concept for the day, the plan was to visit several steep hills on the route, a sprint to the top, the "winner" rides down again and when the others climbing up meets him they turn around and go down too.

Great exercise that makes the strong work harder and evening out the wait time and everyone can choose how hard they want to pedal. :)

GPS-track, almost 80km and 2,5h:

Shiny new gear

2011-07-06T13:59:00.001+02:00

New stuff to put on the old bike, I hope the 35c tires will fit...

Random recents...

2011-07-04T23:00:00.000+02:00

Just some random photos collected by my phones camera...

Scotland 2011, part 3, Innerleithen

2011-06-26T22:44:00.005+02:00

Day three, Saturday 4:th of June, one could really feel the previous days in the legs, luckily
the plan for the day is to take the route in Innerleithen, no 10km ride to get to the trail! :)

The weather had now changed and there was a grey overlay in the sky and the temperature had dropped a bit, perhaps a good thing since there were some major climbing on the agenda.

There was a "local" bike race going on, got a flyer but forgot what it said, think it was a charity race around the area, rider passed by for at least an hour.

Back at Alpine Bikes to pick up bikes from service, the great discount had to be taken advantage of! :)

More familiar views fron the start of the climb in Innerleithen.

The first climb before getting here is a real challenge with tired legs!

Waiting for the photographer to get set up further ahead. =)

Another familiar spot! First time for others. I rode down the steep section and got my first and only flat tire, got a snake bite on my rear tire...

More magnificent views during the climb.

A bit blurry shots in the woods.

Magical forests!

The track just kept going upwards, just like I remembered it. :)

Made a short stop to take a shot of the bike in a otherwise monochromatic surroundings.

Finally a snack stop! We got some directions for InterStellar from Andy but we were a bit uncertain where it started and had some discussions about where it might hide. It's supposed to be a pretty gnarly trail and it sounded worth looking for! :)

Well, there was a plan to climb up again after lunch so we kept going on for now.

More fine views when we started to get close to the top, the wether was clear enough to see for miles.

Quite gentle climb from here on.

Final "corner" before the summit of Minch Moor!

The concrete pillar was still here and the pile of stones. =)

Was a bit windy here so we didn't stick sournd for long, we also knew what fun(Plora Craig) was ahead! :)
Took the time to immortalize the moment with my Reign at the top!

No shots from "Plora Craig" since it was way to much fun so here are some from the almost as good "Oh Deer"

Just flowing trails with sharp twists and turns where one has to look out so not to end up in the vegetation! :)

A short breather before the final part of the route.

View from the last decent, "Cadon Bank", just gets better the more times one rides it! Starts with three drops that just gets bigger as you pass them, then into a roller coaster style "humps" and into to the woods where the fun just keeps on going! At the bottom of some of the "valleys" one can feel how the bike compresses under the load and the fly over the tops! Pretty insane speed at times, should one crash I wish I had full pressure suit and full face helmet but I was having too much fun to worry about that. =)

The bridge we have passed so many times.

Street scene from Innerleithen. The final part is really a blast!

Here we had lunch and while waiting to get on with the afternoon ride some of us found a pump track on the backyard of the church.

Took a while to get used to and I suppose the big bikes we had was not so optimal, but really fun. Later we found out that the track didn't belong to the "public" but was a private track belonging to one of the houses next to the church! Oops... I hope we didn't upset anyone, dumme Schwede!

Niklas trying to look unaffected during the second climb of the day. ;)

New and old cone.

Making the best of the climb.

Had to use the flash in the woods, starting to get dark in there.

Jonas at the end of Taniel Hill just before getting out on the gravel quarry, where I got a flat in the morning.

Anders entering the trail after the road climb.

So tired that the camera just caught blur. :)

Still trying to take shots without flash, my poor Casio didn't manage to get fast enough shutter speeds.

After we went down Interstellar we bumped into some riders from Edinburgh, one of them managed to breake the chain so Per lend a chain tool to them as we kept climbing. They were in much better shape than we were! :)

Inter Stellar was crazy steep at some point, really nice, too bad we dinät have the strenght to ride it a second time, apparently I and Niklas managed to take the easier trail to the left while some took to the right and that was supposedly pretty gnarly, following a ravine and under some fallen trees and stuff. Must go back some time and try that too!

Over the summit the second time. More riders this time!

Then it was basically a copy of the last time but some of us got a private guiding to some other more down hill kind of trails, trying to remember what it was called nut my mind is blank, have to ask Per if he remembers. Really steep and technical, the Edinburgh bunch said they had never seen the track this dry before and it felt like one had full control all the was despite the trail characteristics.

Wish I had some GPS-plot of all the new tracks we rode so I could see where we were.
We ended up at the last part of Cadon Bank, that much I know. =)

I was completely exhausted by the time I got back,, just a quick shower and out for dinner, Fiko's again, this time I think everyone ordered starters and we got a few bottles of wine. :)

I took the Mega burger, not as much food as the Calsone but still plenty enough!

Another great day, so great to explore some "off the track" trails, starting to feel like a local. ;)
Fun to meet some Scottish riders, some of them was going to Åre later this year, hope they enjoy it!

We also made a visit to the local "pub" next to our house, it was by invitation only but nobody seemed to care, it got a bit quiet when we got in to the bar area but I think we blended in pretty well after a few beers and some whisky. ;)

Tomorrow, Sunday it's a early morning and a trip to Kirroughtree.

GPS-plot. Interstellar got registered at least. 5h. and 30min. Think it was like 6h for me, more than 40km.

Scotland 2011, part 2, Glentress

2011-06-18T14:44:00.005+02:00

As if the Thursday wasn't nice enough, on Saturday we woke up to a another splendid morning, blue skies and sunshine! Sweet!

Some maintenance before hitting the trails, the plan was to get to Glentress yet again but this time take the Black trail all the way, last year some parts were closed off...

Before we knew we were on our way, apparently we had been observed the day before and appropriate signs were now placed on our route! ;)

Every home should have a tower with merlons!

Another pretty old house!

Caught a peacock!

Another stunning day!

So what's up with the long face?

Past the last bridge, one again.

View of River Tweed from the "short cut".

Second breakfast, as always! :)

Some one had invested some serious money on a rather bomb proof bike!

After second breakfast it was time to climb yet another time!

Through dense forests.

A well deserved brake in the heat, this time we sayed in the shadow!

Going down single track in the forest, fantastic trail!

A short paus and chat before last part down to the forest road.

Some transport to next view point.

The view was worth the climb so far. =)

Anders & Niklas resting their legs.

Jonas, Malin and Per opted for a spot in the sun.

I climbed some rocks to show off! :)

The climb to the top continued on the winding trails.

Cleared the forest and got out on the heather covered hill side.

There was a tired welcome committee at the resting place.

Ah! Still cold!

Some of us took cover in the small wind shelter, but this time from the sun, should have learnt from last visit to bring sun block! :)

Pale Scandinavians in the sun.

Close encounter with local wildlife.

Happy smiles before hitting "Britney Spears, hit me baby (one more time)!"

After that joy it was a cruel climb up to the Antenna. Could still feel yesterdays ride in my legs...

New territory for some of us, this part of the route was closed last year. Think it's called Boundary trail.

The start.

Almost too much fun to stop for shooting many photos but I made a few stops to take some.

Now we were approaching what became the highlight of the day!

Deliverance! Perhaps I screamed like a pig now and them but I promise it was from pure joy and adrenaline! The amazing single track just kept going forever!

After this shot my camera, Casio EX-FH100 started to act strangely and shut down by it self for no reason, perhaps heat exhaustion?!

Per went ahead to find a good photo spot. After the insane Deliverance it's time to pay for the ride by climbing "Redemption", a well chosen name! It almost depleted the last strength one had left.

Hardly can remember what route we took back to the hub after that but the last part down was great as always, this time picking other routes where possible.

Since my camera stopped working I took no more shots until we got back at the house after dinner and now the camera worked of again, test shot with people catching up and reviewing photos from the day.

Great to finally be able to make the whole Black route all the way, totally worth it! =)

We tracked almost 50km and 5h that day!

Scotland 2011, part 1, Glentress

2011-06-15T15:55:00.006+02:00

Finally after months of waiting and some agony (some mishaps with flight tickets) it was time once again to ride the great trails of Glentress.

The trip was made a few weeks ago we flew in on Wednesday the first of June and back home on Monday the sixth. This first part is from Thursday.

As last time we had our home base in Innerleithen, but this time at a different location, a ground level apartment by Go-Where.co.uk, including pick-up and drop-off at the airport in Edinburgh, perfect arrangement! =)

We were a bit worried about the weather, the forecast had been showing rain for the most of the time and there had been some bad weather before our arrival but the morning after we got there we woke up to this:

A few clouds but the sun was shining, perfect!

After a proper breakfast we were ready to get out to the trails, but first we had to get a bike for Anders who had arranged a rental bike from Alpine Bikes, apparently we got a 50% rebate for renting at Go-where and 30% on gear prices in the shop! =)

Ready to go!

Seems like some are cheating with 4-leg drive!

On our way to Glentress.

Familiar view.

Passing river Tweed for the first time of the year. Beautiful views.

Starting to get to the country side.

Anders seemed happy with the new bike.

It's about 10km ride to the Trails but the ride there is quite ok.

The dust cloud reveals the head wind...

Turned out there was a short cut so that we could skip riding on the main road! Less climbing too, felt like it anyway, only drawback was we had to pass behind the golf course but we had the helmets on! ;)

Lovely short cut, but thankfully one can't smell the sheep poo from the picture.

Time for second breakfast! :)

Time to hit the trails! The new trail center (some of it visible in the shot) wasn't open yet thought it should have opened a while ago. Well, there will hopefully be more visits.

The climb was still there had almost forget them. :)

Thankfully there were distractions on the way up!

Jonas admiring the views.

Not sure what Malin was looking at. =)

Some short cuts here and there along the trail.

At the first play ground, some had cheated and took their cars up here.

We kept on going upwards!

Forgot the name of the first trail we took but we ended back at the Buzzard Nest and at the start of the newest addition, `Berm Baby Berm´!

Niklas didn't look too unhappy! :)

Cought Jonas catching some air!

The surface was amazing almost like a concrete track! Pure fun and hard to keep fast speed!

Then it was time for lunch, I went with the soup of the day, but the paninis looked tempting.

Then we met some fellow swedes, they had arrived from Göteborg at the same day as us, they got inspired from our ride reports last year and they were not disappointed! Think they had made the Black trail before lunch! =)

Back at the Buzzard Nest again, Per and Niklas spotted a trail builder they got to know on their first trip, Andy (seemed like everyone was named Andy!)

More climbing, this time to the top, hard work but with views like this on the way up it's much easier!

Almost at the top, that's worth celebrating, the first IRN BRU on the trip!

Niklas spotted that we had left the bikes with even space between, the measuring stick was brought forth.

It's was withing a inch! :)

Per relaxing.

Picknic table was occupied by tired swedes. ;)

Yes! At the top! Let the fun begin! Spooky Wood is pure joy for several kilometers!

(Nice video found here: http://youtu.be/eb4B6OydWmg)

Took the black trail down to the Trail center but had to stop and take a shot of the view.

Every one was quite pleased with the day so far and we were all starting to feel we had been out all day riding bikes. Not sure who came up with the idea first but we decided to take a short ride to the Glentress Hotel and have a cold beer!

Do I need to tell you how heavenly good it tasted?!

We were not exhausted at all! ;)

Just a 10km ride back "home"...

Unprocessed burgers in evening light.

Almost back home.

After a quick shower time for dinner! We ended up in a restaurant called Fiko's Bistro, the large Calsone there should be able to make anyone satisfied! =)

Amazing first day! Almost like last time, felt like one could go back home and still be satisfied with the trip, but we still had four day left! :)

Just have to write how surprisingly easy it was to fly with Ryanair bringing your own bike, I almost feel bad writing something to promote them but it was just so effortless!

Thanks again for the GPS-plots!

BD Boat trip...

2011-06-13T23:07:00.008+02:00

Tobbe treated us with a boat trip since it had been his birthday earlier, we were the second bunch of people that day that got a tour on lake Väsman near Sunnansjö area.

The "boat"! :)
The "bunch".
The harbour.
The view.
On our way!
More posing.
Lot's of cameras. :)
A osprey, apparently spotted on the early trip already.
Time for BBQ!
*Droool!*
I was so occupied (and hungry) I didn't notice my camera got kidnapped by Tobbe and I managed to get on some of the photos. :)
After eating too much every one went into meat coma.
When the coma passed it was time for dessert!
Starting to get late? :)
Time to head homeward again.
Where was home again?
Had to navigate using the moon since no stars were visible! The small island in the foreground was probably home for the osprey.
Looks like familiar turf.
Maps can be used for many things...
After we got off the boat Tobbe had another hour back to the boats home base...
Thanks Tobbe (& Anki) for a great day out! Next time I will wiser and only eat one burger! ;)

More photos for the curious:

Part of the first leg, we anchored at the end point:

Eery sky...

2011-06-13T20:19:00.002+02:00

Shot during todays 28km bike ride...

-Created on Desire

Another calm evening...

2011-06-10T10:48:00.001+02:00

Had to go and take a few shots, processed these so far..

Nikon D7000 and Sigma 10-20mm/f4.5 - Tone mapped in Photomatix

No sandwich...

2011-06-10T09:45:00.000+02:00

But I found something else for breakfast.

-Created on Desire

Happy suprise!

2011-06-09T22:00:00.001+02:00

Got a couple of t-shirts as a gift. (well, one I stole, guess which?!). ;)

Regreted I didn't buy the E.T shirt but now I have it! :)

Thanks Tobbe, but wasn't it you b-day today?

-Created on Desire

It's alive!!!

2011-06-09T15:10:00.002+02:00

Swapped the batteries in my ancient iPod, replacement battery ordered from DealExtreme for hardly any money at all. Totally worth it! :)

Still sounds great and the user interface is exemplary!

-Created on Desire

Wednesday ride #?

2011-06-08T21:29:00.003+02:00

Missed my forst Wednesday ride last week but today it was time again! And what a nice ride it was, all the way to "Källan", over to Söderbärke, Smedjebacken, Gubbo and back home, a total of 73km in two hours and twenty minutes. A average speed of 31.2km/h

Today was total opposite compared to last month, felt like I had strength left over for another 70km! :)

Passing Rasta hyttan outside Söderbärke.
The route:

Day Four...

2011-06-06T00:48:00.000+02:00

Today it was time to get to Kirroughtree, the bus was waiting on us at 9am, after roughly 2h we arrived at site!

Andy made some witty remarks about our enthusiasm (or lack off) we are all quite worn after four consecutive days of riding. About 6-7 hours per day...

But after the legs realized that resistance was futile we were on our way on the black trail. Quite different environment compared to innerleithen and Glentress, less straining climbs, thankfully, and winding trails that seemed to go on forever!

At the furthest point we "entered" Mac Moab" a slick rock playground, hence the name. Too bad almost all strength was gone but it was good fun anyway, I and one more of us rode down the near vertical wall down to the road, quite a adrenaline rush! :)

Then it just got better, a amazing end of the day, the trails at the end was simply pure fun, must be even better with fresh legs!

-Created on Desire

Packning the bikes...

2011-06-05T10:13:00.000+02:00

Getting ready to go to Kirroughtree!

-Created on Desire

Day three!

2011-06-05T01:23:00.000+02:00

Finally some true Scottish weather! 10th degrees celsius and gray overcast! ;)

Today we Spent the whole day in Innerleithen, we rode the route up to Minch Moor, even the climbing is nice occasionally!

After finnishing the "classic" and a visit back in innerleithen for lunch we took the same trail again. But this time we went almost up to Minch moor before Going down Inter stellar, some of us took the left turn and others the right, apparently the riaght one was the manly trail! ;)

The left one was not bad either! After that we run in to some "locals" (regulars from Edinburgh) that showed us (some of us anyway) some hairy "local" trails, what a blast! Nice gyes (and girl) one could tell they had run them before!

All in all another stellar day despite the less good weather!

-Created on Desire

Day Two

2011-06-04T00:23:00.001+02:00

What can I say? Another amazing day has gone by. No misshaps today, though I almost made a wipe-out just before getting out in the road up to Pie Run.

Finally completing a whole round on the black trail at Glentress!

-Created on Desire

First day in Glentress!

2011-06-03T09:45:00.003+02:00

What a day! It couldn't have been much better, it started a bit slow after last nights late arrival but by eleven it was full throttle!

Two different persons has pointed out that we brought the good weather with
us, just like last year! We are thinking about charging for being here. ;)

Apparently the weather has been a bit sketchy earlier, I thought it was always like this! The negative is that I have burned my scalp but that's asacrifice I'm prepared to make! :)

Today we been riding the red and blue around Glentress. Tomorrow we will
make the black route all the way around, last year some trails were closed due to
logging.

Tired, go sleep now I will...

-Created on Desire

Scotland!

2011-06-02T08:38:00.001+02:00

Arrived late last evening in Innerleithen, hitting Glentress after breakfast, no holiday here so there should be normal amount of riders.

Probably Innerleithen tomorrow and Sunday it's off to Kirroughtree!

-Created on Desire

Some Sun Set

2011-05-31T21:10:00.002+02:00

Some fairly recent sun sets I'm posting after some processing.

This time I managed to be out on site in time before the sun managed to set behind the horizon!

This one came out a bit over the top with the colors but I decided to keep it like that nad the water looks a bit weird after merging the seven exposures...

Took the car out to a spot where I haven't been before to do HDR:s, Finnäset.

The calm weather allowed all the pollen stay on the water surface, but it looks pretty good anyway.

This was actually on the way out on to the peninsula had to try capture the light in the woods. Thankful for the non existent wind. =)

A final shot before the sun disappeared behind the mountains...

Captured a couple of Northern Pikes in their act, I could hear the splashing a long time before I managed to spot them, they didn't take much notice of me. :)

29:th of May...

2011-05-29T22:40:00.005+02:00

Made a visit at mum's, delivered some flowers on Mothers Day, got some lasanga for dinner.

On my way to Grängesberg I made my only visit at the Spring Fair in Ludvika, slightly better weather today but some stands had some problems with the strong wind!

The wind came from south but was surprisingly cold, we had some coffee outside but had to give up and go inside again, not far after the sky turned black and there was a short hail storm!
Then the sun brurst out again, April weather in May!

Well, the fresh donuts tasted good anyway. =)
And I got some home made lasagna with me back home. Yummy!

10 minutes left...

2011-05-28T09:54:00.002+02:00

Finally finished "Långa Dagen", there was 37 riders that opted for the long route, 90km.

Gave the Pugsley a second chance and this time it worked flawlessly, if one does not count the twirping that emanated from my front disc brake. Did the stupid act to change the brake pads last evening...

The route was nice once I was past Ljungåsen, a several kilometers climb to get up there and the moist was hanging it the air. After feasting on some cinnamon buns and lemonade it was time to roll down the hill on the other side. It was just that the climb had made me sweat massively and now the cold wind was blowing straight through me!

Abborberg was really nice and there the sun manage to shine from time to time and give some warmth! Until the climb I had been in a group but all the way from Ljungåsen to Sunnanjö I had to fight the wind alone, thought some one would catch me and we could take turns fighting te wind but no.

Luckily one rider caught me at the last pit-stop in Sunnansjö and we got to the finish after around 3h and 40minutes, my phone was out of battery some 12 km before the finish. Have to wait for the official time...

Got a nice plaque after the finish and it has room for four more years, kind of demanding message! ;)
And if that wasn't enough there was a draw and I managed to win a multi-tool on my start number 7!
To celebrate my achievement I treated my self with a iskender kebab! =)
Next time I will take the road bike!

The route:

Blacksmith practice!

2011-05-27T22:28:00.006+02:00

Today we had some activities as one of out colleges is about to leave for another employer and we wanted to do something extra.

We all got a try at making our own fire pitchfork! To do that we went to Smedjebacken, just a few kilometers south from Ludvika.

Outside the forge. On Ovako's factory area, Ovako is lending the premises to the club.
The furnaces, apparently this is one of northern Europe's largest permanent forges!
Some of the tools.
Demonstration of the forge and how to regulate the airflow.
Some instructions before some hand's on.
"Do not grab objects that doesn't look hot with your bare hands, the look might be deceiving!"
Heating.
Forging!
More demonstrations of the different steps.
We have never been this effective at work! ;)
One of the final steps, separate the material to two pieces at the ens to make the fork part.
Takes some effort to pound through the metal.
Sorry, forgot to shoot the most important piece, the result, but I'll try add that later! :)
All I can say, if you ever get the chance to try forging, take it! Already thinking about taking a course later on or perhaps join the blacksmith club. http://www.vagasmida.blogspot.com/

Update!

The result:
It ended up a bit short since I wanted to make a proper handle, only for small fire places. :)
The fork part shape became a bit too roundish, next time...

Blacksmith time!

2011-05-27T18:10:00.000+02:00

Fun as h*ll! :)

-Created on Desire

Another Wednesday ride...

2011-05-26T22:52:00.003+02:00

Another Wednesday, another ride with Lindbergs cykel, I thought I was a bit late but when I got to the meeting point outside the Bike Shop it was just me there, fortunately one more rider appeared shortly after and after a while there was a bunch.

The weather wasn't that good and that might have been the reason, the route for the day was going to Grängesberg and Kyrkviken and then back home.

Took some shots at "Västra" in Grängesberg, I cheated and skipped a steep climb, felt I wanted to have enough strength to get home again, still not feeling 100%. Had yet again bail out last Wednesday after about 4/3:rd's of the ride...

Kyrkviken. Just before here and the last photo the rain poured down!

And as we set off going back the sun started to shine! :)

After leaving "Västra" there was another climb up to a viewing point and back down.

I hope I will feel stronger on Saturday as it's time for Långa Dagen, a 90km ride, well I plan to go easy, even use the Pugsley so I can beat the time next year... ;)

Almost 60km in roughly 2h.

Trail blazing...

2011-05-24T16:02:00.004+02:00

After a weekend without any biking I had to take a short ride yesterday, the weather was OK but the forecast for Tuesday was looking worse so no excuses!

Since it was so windy I decided to take the mountain bike and start the route against the wind. That meant going up the Gröna stigen. Took a short detour, it needs some work to clear the path.
After getting back on track I passed some deforestation vehicles, looks like they're not done yet.
Rode on the 10km track a short while before turning off on to the seldom used trail full of rocks and what not, here it still looks ok.
The sun was blocked by clouds now and then but the wind blew the clouds away effectively.
Managed to locate a new trail, have passed here several times not noticing the trail, now there was a lot of markings on the trees so that might be the reason I noticed it. It was a tricky one with lots of difficult passages, sweet!
Further ahead the trail split and widened considerably, there was even some foot-bridges, pretty rare around here.
After a while I was back on familiar territory and made my best to choose the optimal trails.
Almost back home, this foot-bridge is in dire need of maintenance.
Back home roughly and hour later and several meters of climbing.
I was feeling lazy but I'm glad I dragged my butt out and went for a ride, this morning (Tuesday) I woke up hearing the rain beating against the windows!

Trial dream team in STHLM...

2011-05-22T20:29:00.003+02:00

"Dreams come true! POC brings Team Athletes Daniel Dhers, Martin Söderström and Danny MacAskill together to explore and ride the unique surroundings of the POC HQ, based right in between the exotic Archipelago and Stockholm city. Here are some random behind-the-scenes shots from the first day of filming."

Looking forward to see the final result! :)

Mega harbour...

2011-05-21T13:13:00.000+02:00

Big harbour, lots of small boats

-Created on Desire

IKEAoffee...

2011-05-20T15:10:00.000+02:00

Örebro.

-Created on Desire

Back to the present...

2011-05-19T22:04:00.008+02:00

Some more current photos, from today, took a short ride with the Pugsley which has been collecting dust lately. Planning to use it on a local bike "race" called Långa Dagen (the Long Day).

Some might remember that I posted some photos from last years race that I had to give up after my chainring got loose and I ovalized it since I had lost some bolts, that won't happen this year!

A bad video showing how windy it was occasionally.

Had no imagination so I took a familiar route, up to Gröna Stigen.
Last days rain had dried up nicely.
The forest anemones is every where.
Didn't take the jogging trail.
I went down towards Knutsbo and the trail parallel to the bus road.
Short clip from the trail:

Fresh after the rain.
Some light made it through the trees.
Looked like a paralyzed deer in the headlights!
Scared some spiders!
OK, there were some wet patches.
Windy under the power lines.
No more spring leaves...
Well, some more wetter areas.
After another small climb there was a long stretch down hill, always exiting with a rigid bike, full concentration!
I swear I saw a troll!
The convallaria has just started to bloom.

Nooo!! End of the trail... :(
No more wind protection from the trees.
Made a short visit at Jägarnäs but the cold wind scared me away.
Found some trails past the houses.
The syringa vulgaris is also about to bloom, not sure what's so vulgar about it?
Unknow tree blooming.
After going over a small hill I went up towards Högberget.
Not so high but still nice view.
Decided to take the steep trail down but first a stop at the big rock.
First time I climbed up on to it.
Looked like there had been a bench here, perhaps before the trees were obscuring the view there was a nice view from here too.
After going down towards Ludvika again there was not much left before I was back at home.
Over an hour and 11km.

Going backwards...

2011-05-17T21:30:00.007+02:00

Since the weather continues to be as bad as it is I might as well keep posting photos from earlier rides, this one is from April 24th, almost a month ago! Time fly's by...

The "goal" for today was to get to a strip of trail that I had heard of but never tried. Now I just had to get there and I was about to take the long route there. =)

Hit the trails almost instantly, took the path over Biskopsnäset. There's a lot of trees over the trail, the snow has left it's mark, too bad my foldable saw ended up in two pices earlier this year. I got to buy another one so I can "clean" the local paths.
Thankfully some one had made a effort and cleared the path futher ahead that was in really bad shape after the tree cutting machines.
Then began the long climb up to the top of Håksberg.
Coltsfoot and wood anemones everywhere.
Way less snow than last time and WAY easier to bike the whole way up. :)
No snowmobile tracks as far as one could see, brilliant!
For comparison from Mars 21:th:

The reward:
Better let the bike rest a while.

The small damm on the top.

After enjoying the ride down on the other side of the mountain and biking a bit further I could hear a woodpecker but could not for the life of med locate it even if I clearly had located the direction the sound came from.

After staring for a while the pecking ended and suddenly a burst of sticks and debris fall from one of the trees.
Turned out the bird had tunneled way in to the tree and it was no wonder I could not locate it! The sound was as clear as if the bird had pecked on the outside. :)

This three was lazy and hang over the power line.
The goal of my trip, a path that I heard some one talk about on the Wednesday ride, it was apparently a nice one. Well... It kind of was that but it lasted like a nano second. Ah, well. :)
After that slight disappointment I headed back home again, this time I used the bike lane. Right before Brunnsvik I passed someone who looked familiar, took a while for my brain to process the information and I realized it was Anki, slammed the brakes and went back to chat. Turned out she was out getting some miles before a bike race. :)

Just before Sörvik I turned down at the water processing plant and took the trail I also took earlier this winter.
It was a bit gooey and in this case I actually had preferred a snow mobil track.
Stayed away from the bike lane as much as I could.
But sooner or later I knew I had to use it again.
Even took the short trail at Kaffeholmen and noticed the new ABB building was eerie familiar with something.
Just about to get out of the last stretch of forest I noticed someone had violated a pine for some reason, wackos...
The dry stream.
At home! What a fantastic spring day! Glad I made good use of it. =)

So nice to have full suspension again after all the hours on a rigid bike!
30 some kilometers in roughly 2h.

Route Retard...

2011-05-15T15:57:00.006+02:00

Time for a megapost!

Last week on Tuesday I decided to try some unpaved forest roads. Two years ago, in 2009 I got a pair of Continental Ultra Race tires as a "special" price for houling my Pugsley around the course. Not sure why since it sometimes felt like I was cheating with my massive tires on the gravel. =)

Anyhow, it was time to use the tires for what I suppose they were intended too. Gravel roads!

But first I had to get there, used the old railroad track, now converted to bike lane. Passing Lyviken.
On my way to Blötberget.
Left the bike lane and hit the road to Klenshyttan.
Passed some of the old mine buildings left in Blötberget.
I seldom ride this direction and saw to my surprise a old power station I never seen before, clearly visible from the road, perhaps the trees had been removed so it was visible now?
Almost in Klenshyttan, just on the other side of the tunnel.
Some nice views here. Lake Dammsjön.

From Klenshyttan it was basically gravel all the way to Snöån, here I have passed Kåsen.

In Snöån I back was on asphalt surface again, the gravel road was actually smoother when not trying to avoid the pot holes!
Decided to take the longer route and headed for Björsjö.

Now so warm as it had been previously but when in the sunshine it was nice and cosy.
In Björsjö it was time to turn towards Smedjebacken.
The dam.
Made a short stop at lake Mörktjärnen and took a closer look.
Just before this lake a passed another Dammsjön, the imagination to come up with names wasn't so good I suppose? :)

Self portrait.
Bike portrait.

Kept going and after a long climb and a hillarious ride down I was in Smedjebacken.
Time to get some energy, had my second soft ice for the year at the same place as the first. Shell in Smedjebacken.
Not surprised the sun decided to hide behind the clouds the whole time I ate the ice cream...
Time to get to the next gravel stretch. Passed Gubbo where there was something going on in the Folketshus buildning.
Nice smooth roads here too, no loose surface, not much any way. :)
Starting to get late, think I had made 60km by now, but I didn't want to go home just yet.
Had to take a short brake in the steepest climb. Not sure what the building was used for.
Just keep climbing...
The forest groud here was covered with thimbleweed flowers!
Finally up on the hill! Schisshyttan.
Lake Skissen:
Now it was getting colder, but from here it's almost down hill all the way home. :)
After passing Håksberg I used the bike lane since the road is so narrow and the banister makes it even worse. Trying to avoid a man walking a dog I managed to hit a small stone laying on the asphalt dead on and puncture my front wheel just a few kilometers from home. *doh!*
Changed the tube and made it to Ludvika!
(I'll add some videos as soon as they are uploaded to youtube...)

A bit over 70km in around 3h. Comfort speed, enjoying the sights. =)

Sun roof...

2011-05-14T19:54:00.000+02:00

Assembled a sun roof on mum's yard, looking forward for the next BBQ! :)

-Created on Desire

May sunset...

2011-05-13T19:25:00.002+02:00

Nikon D7000 & Sigma 10-20mm. 8 exposures tone mapped in Photomatix

Wednesday ride #6

2011-05-11T22:31:00.004+02:00

Today was the sixth time this year for "Onsdagscykling" from Lindbergs Cykel, if you for some reason think you might have missed the report for the fifth your correct!

Last Wednesday I participated but bailed out after 2/3rd:s of the route, I was simply out of energy and didn't even bother to blog about it. :)

Well, today I was almost out of energy but for other reasons, two days ago I was out with the mountain bike and yesterday out on a 70km solo ride, still felt stronger today than last time. Must have had some crap in my body.

The weather forecast had promised rain since 16:00 but no rain had fallen before the ride started 18:30, we took the bike lane to Grängesberg via Blötberget and we only saw wet asphalt but no rain! :)

A few shots:

Of course the train arrived when we were about to pass the railroad track! I take full responsibility for that. ;)
Only managed to take some action shots when we almost were back in Ludvika the second time, here before Hagge golf course.
My crappy cellphone camera could not capture the splendid skies.

More than 66km in roughly 2h, 29,9km/h average speed according to the GPS-tracking:

Last Evening...

2011-05-10T23:40:00.002+02:00

Thought I'd catch some sunset shots on Tuesday evening but as usual I was out on spot a bit too late, blame it on the bike, was out riding and didn't want to get home since it was so nice!

View from Skuthamn over lake Väsman.

Deserted in central Ludvika.

Nikon d7000, Sigma 10-20mm and tone mapped in Photomatix.

Bottle neck progress...

2011-05-09T11:02:00.000+02:00

Passed under the transport bridge that's under construction at Spendrup's brewery.

-Created on Desire

Fika

2011-05-07T13:09:00.001+02:00

Taking a coffee pause at Hagge, a sh*t load of cookies and stuff for 26 kronor!

I like! :)

-Created on Desire

Tuesday moments...

2011-05-03T22:51:00.006+02:00

The local bicycle club has a internal competitions on Tuesdays, was out looking for them earilier Tuesdays but managed to miss them, this time I cough some of them with the camera.
It was a race around lake Väsman.
The peloton, unfortunateley it was bad light so I only shot a few photos.
Then I went out to try catch some beavers but there was already some one lurking about and I didn't want to disrupt so I shot some still life while there was some light left...

2:nd edit.

Nikon D7000 + Nikkor 300/f4

Wild Wideos of the Week...

2011-05-03T11:28:00.002+02:00

Or some lame excuse to post some videos I found worth posting. =)

First off a wild ride with a award winning film by Jean Louis Mourey, "Climb Dance".
Featuring rally legend Ari Vatanen climbing Pikes Peak in a modified Peugeot 405 T16.

Less action but still interesting to watch, I'm a sucker for "how things are made" video. Manufactoring Vittoria bicycle tubes.

The third video includes many of my favorite element, terrain, LEGO and destruction! ;)

Can't resist posting another LEGO video, not only a excellent build but the presentations is top notch!

Lastly but not leastly: Leopold the Amazing Leaping Cat!

Below the Surface

2011-05-02T22:43:00.003+02:00

Just to post something. :) Sunset from last week. View over lake Väsman behind ABB.

Nikon D7000+Sigma 10-20mm

Walpurgis Night

2011-04-30T23:56:00.004+02:00

The winter is now, hopefully, scared away! Walpurgis Night is done.

Stood an hour in the freezing cold wind and when leaving Hagge I could see they had started the fireworks at 10 O'clock! *doh*

Wednesday ride #4

2011-04-28T09:07:00.003+02:00

Yesterday it was time for the fourth Wednesday ride of the year, this time it was the bike lane around lake Väsman but the other way around and with a twist around Lake Bysjön and Björken.

A shot before we got to Sunnansjö and turned towards Västansjö.
Some very nice scenic areas around Grangärde/Nyhammar with the low evening sun.

This time I remembered to start the GPS but my phone run out of batteries in Burens just before we were back in Ludvika again.

Almost 60km in about 2h before the tracking abruptly ended:

Duvel suprise

2011-04-24T21:20:00.001+02:00

-Created on Desire

42

2011-04-24T21:16:00.001+02:00

42

-Created on Desire

Scrap!

2011-04-24T13:07:00.000+02:00

Insanely nice day today! :)

-Created on Desire

Maundy Thursday

2011-04-22T12:16:00.006+02:00

Yesterday it was Maundy Thursday, that meant a red day on Friday, Good Friday. That in other hand meant we were allowed to leave work at noon. :)

Spent some of the time to go see how the spring progressed.

Daffodil (Narcissus)
Common gull.
Black headed gull.Don't know what tree.
Scary bee.
Great Crested Grebe on a distance.
Unknown plant. Easter plant perhaps?
Despite it wasn't a regular Thursday it was Thursday and that ment sushi!

The nice people at Kyoto Sushi offered us both soda and some extra California rolls on the house! Thank you very much, yummy!
Some final words with the owners before we headed to the caff.
Some were more eager than others to get there.
Kladdkaka, gooey chocolate cake! :)
Someone is trying to figure out how the camera works?
This is for anki.
Tobbe managed to figure out how it worked?
The drawbacks with not being on the other side of the camera.
After the coffee I headed to the supermarket but I passed by Väsman to take a last shot of the day.
Now it's off to Borlänge and some mahjong, ages since I played last time!

Caffeine suprise!

2011-04-20T22:00:00.005+02:00

Today it was time for the third "Onsdagscykling" with Lindbergs cykel, that's Wednesday ride, Börje who is keeping the Wednesday rides every week decided which rider has to come up with a new route til next time.

Last week I got the "honor" for the first time and had to come up with a route for today, did some thinking and decided to a pretty basic route around lake Väsman. On Saturday I took a test ride to see if the bike lane to Stensbo was usable, turned out there was a lot of sand and gravel on the asphalt. :(

Was about to scrap my plan when I got a email from mum on monday telling that the bike lane was sweeped in Grängesberg! Went to check for my self in Ludvika and here it was clean too.

Then it hit me that I might as well have a small pit stop in Grängesberg just to surprise the fellow riders. :)

Asked my mum if she had the possibility to arrange something and she promised to make some fresh baked cinnamon buns, coffee and some lemonade. :)

Managed to keep it to my self during the ride and when approaching Björkås I had to go up front and get the group to turn left, a bit strange option if you plan to pass by Grängesberg, got a few surprised questions, but they followed me.

When we finally was at the house I stopped but the group didn't quite catch on why I stopped so I almost had to convince all that there was coffee, water and something to eat, when they finally saw the cinnamon buns and coffee cups the coin fell down and it didn't take long before there was a line piling up with happy faces. =)

I hope everyone got something to get the spirits up, sounded like it anyway. As we were about to get going again there was a spontaneous applause to thank my mom! Thanks again!

On the way back to Ludvika we passed under the new "tunnel" bridge over the road, built by the brewery, already called the "Bottleneck" by the locals.

Unfortunately we were a bit behind "schedule" since there had been a flat tire earlier and the evening was getting both colder and darker by the time we got back to Ludvika but I hope that didn't cause any problems for anyone!

Totally forgot to start my GPS-tracking since I was explaining the route just before we took off, no photos from the stop either. That's unusual! Hope someone was more alert...

Here's a approximate plot of the route:

View Larger Map

Pizza brake!

2011-04-17T14:50:00.001+02:00

Testing the pizza in Fagersta, hope to get energy enough to get home again! ;)

-Created on Desire

Oh, deer...

2011-04-14T21:13:00.008+02:00

Another hunt for deers after a ride. Noticed two deers on a field after Snöån on my way back to Ludvika. Took the same route as with the bike this Monday and about half way I spotted some big birds (not the one from Sesame Street) on an other filed.

The Common Cranes walked away from me and I had to follow them a couple of hundred meter on the wet field and surprisingly I managed to get quite close before they saw me and took off, much thanks to the fact they disappeared out of sight for a while behind a small hill. :)

Continued the journey and when I passed the bridge I noticed two birds that look different from the usual mallards, it turned out to be grebes. Didn't get close to those either...

After passing where I saw the deers during the ride, the deers were probably long gone, I could see a lone deer out on a open field! Parked my car and carefully closed the doors after getting my gear. I started shooting from the side of the road but the roe deer didn't care much for me so I gradually moved the tripod closer until the deer started to look a bit suspicious...

Stood a while shooting from where I stood and suddenly the deer started to get closer, it gradually moved closer and closer, seemed very curious and as it got closer he sniffed the air trying to identify what strange animal I was.

Then two birds just for the sake of it, one that was in a tree before I left.
And today I shoot a European starling, they look rather dull on distance but up close one can see lots of colors!

All shots with Nikon D7000 & Nikon 300mm/f4 AF-S + Nikon TC-14e II

Bonus! The levitating cat!

Wednesday ride #2

2011-04-13T22:18:00.004+02:00

Updated!
Second Wednesday ride of the season finished. Way colder today than last Wednesday (10 Celsius) but more riders! Think we were around thirty participants!

One of the local newspapers had missed the premiere last week so they were there now taking photos, have to look if I got caught on some shot in the paper tomorrow at work.

No action shots but I snapped a few shots during a short brake before Smedjebacken.
More hills this time but I felt stronger, I hope I have the last rides to thank for that, or the tempo was a bit "nicer". :)

The route and stats: http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/8933853

Ten minutes...

2011-04-12T15:21:00.004+02:00

Ten unbelievably exhilarating minutes from Sunday's ride, same route as on Saturday, just less windy! ;)

Mental note to my self, don't record any more ten minute sequences in 1080p resolution again, the out-put file becomes larger than 2GB, you tube has a maximum size of 2GB...

Hairy premiere!

2011-04-11T17:38:00.001+02:00

30km with bare legs, oh, so sweet! :)

-Created on Desire

Oh Mallard!

2011-04-10T19:42:00.006+02:00

After Saturday's bike ride I went back to the place where I had seen the swans in hope of taking some shots of them but the swans had left the building. Wasted some time shooting some mallards as compensation for the missing swans.

The sun was setting and the birds a bit shy, had planned to bring some old bread to lure them closer but forgot it at home.
Some was reluctant to leave their spots.
But as I got closer most of them swam away or took to flight.
Got a lot of practice to shoot BIF:s (Birds In Flight), at one point the birds passed the sun, I can tell you that getting a direct look at the sun (despite it was setting) through a 300mm lens with a TC was like getting a electric chock! I was blind on my right eye for a while.

After I scared the ducks I wanted to scare some larger birds so I did the same with some Canada Geese's! ;)
Now over to something slightly different, for those that might get slightly nauseated from looking at animals eating other animals might want to finish up what ever they are eating right now!

On the way back to the car to defrost my ears I spotted one of the ducks ferociously picking and handling something in the water with it's bill. Thought it had found a large piece of bread or something that it was making in to smaller bits...

As I got close I noticed it was a frog!
The frog seemed as dead as it could be but the mallard kept pounding it against the ice edge.
Wonder if it thought the frog would fall into smaller pieces eventually, it just kept on going at the frog!
I got really close since the mallard was completely occupied with the frog but finally the bird noticed me and carried the "catch" away with him.
By now my already cold ears were frozen solid in the cold wind and I had to give up. That display was not what I had expected when shooting mallards!

Ride like the wind?

2011-04-09T22:38:00.004+02:00

Had to take the bike for a spin today, the wind was blowing like crazy but I couldn't help it...

Rode against Snöån, had the wind in my back so I was flying on the road, no time to worry about getting home. :)

Massive spring flood in Snöån.
New helmet, regular Bell Alchera, fits well on my head, suppose that's most important.
Snöå stream.

Bike felt good, so far... The new handle bars had the right amount of "flex" when keeping the hands in the drop.
Further ahead, water flowing from one part of the lake to another.
Spotted some swans.
After taking this shot I continued but now I was starting to feel the head wind, and it got worse as I got closer to Ludvika, by the time I turned toward Ludvika after Hagge it was dead on head wind! It was a good work out! ;)

Coltsfoot, Tussilago farfara.
Pennywort.
New cockpit view.
Felt some play in the pedals and almost at home the play started to feel really big, looked down at the bottom bracket and one could see the reason why french threads where abandoned.
The BB had started to come loose during my short ride. When I got home I removed the cranks and applied some blue loctite and re tightened, put as much force as I dared, hopefully it will stay put from now on...

Got the GPS-tracking to work again, had to uninstall Endomondo and reinstall it:

Custom in custom...

2011-04-08T22:34:00.006+02:00

Bailed out my "custom" stuff from velo-orange.com today, kind of suspected the stuff had got stuck in customs since it has been a long wait, had to pay the Swedish postal services 100sek for the trouble and 101sek (why that last one krona!?) to the Swedish custom authorities.

OK that I have to pay the toll but why the heck do I have to pay the postal services 100sek for something that has already been paid for postage?! And that for something I paid as much for the postage as for the parts...

No time to be bitter about that, now I could finally end the bike build for this time!

First unpacking, Grand Cru bottom bracket, almost a pity to hide something this nice. Notice the word French, it's for french threaded bottom brackets. Read the fantastic story about bottom bracket thread "standards" at Velo orange: http://support.velo-orange.com/#bbarticle.html
The opposite cup(?) looks well sealed.
Side view.
Mounted:
Over to the threadless stem adaptor (another great invention!), now I can fit modern stems (and hadlebars) on the old Crescent!
close up details.

Ordered a rather long and cheap 25.8mm stem from Chainreaction Cycles to use with the handlebars, read the comments and someone wrote (damn you Jimmy from Australia!) that the bars were 25.8mm and not 31.8mm as it looks on the photos but it turned out that it was a "over sized" 31,8mm bar.

Had to cannibalize my commuter bike for a OS stem, it's not beautiful but adequate for the time being.
Only had time for a short test ride before I went to the cinema, but, WOW! What a difference, felt like I could ride for ever without getting numb hands and fingers!

Doesn't look entirely "kosher" on a older bike, but it's for a good cause! =)
I hope the wind calms tomorrow so I can take the bike for a longer spin, after that I can make a final judgment if it was worth the while. :)

This&That

2011-04-07T00:01:00.004+02:00

Just a few shots from yesterday, took a short walk and shot some photos while enjoying the nice weather.

The bees seemed to like it too!

Lot's of small birds flying around but they were quite shy.

Not lost the hops since last year... ;)

More bees.

Managed to get close to one of the birds. Think this is some kind of sparrow.

Nikon d7000 & Nikon 300mm/f4 AF-S

Wednesday ride premiere!

2011-04-06T21:46:00.005+02:00

Fifteen brave souls had gathered outside Lindbergs Cykel for the first Wednesday ride of the year! The weather have slowly got better during the day and at 6:30 PM it was still sunshine and around 10 degrees Celsius!

Here's a shot of some of today's riders.
We started by cycling towards Smedjebacken but we turned and took the route over Gubbo, from Smedjebacken back towards Ludvika but again another turn into the road towards Hagge.

We kept going on to Snöån and then finally to Ludvika again. I have some problems with Endomondo right now so I got no tracking, but it registered the distance and average speed. Slightly over 40km, took ~1h 30min, average speed 26km/h.

Thought it would be a piece of cake to ride in group but it was hard work to keep up despite that the orders where to try keep a speed of max. 26-27km/h.

Was nice to have some more gears to choose from and not to mention some large sprockets in the rear for the climbs! =)

Feels great that the road bike season is on!

(Got a URL to a map with the route! http://www.sportstracklive.com/track/map#scott69/Cycling/hagge/151601/full)

H20 on ice...

2011-04-05T22:21:00.004+02:00

Yesterday started with a dull morning but toward the afternoon the skies cleared up, noticed some clouds over lake Väsman and decided to take a chance there would be a nice sunset.

I was lucky! :)

Took the car to "Hällarna" behind ABB and took a series of exposures with the boulder in frame:
Looking out on the ice I saw that a small pool of water had formed on top of the ice, since the water was so low I dared to go out a bit on the ice and take a close look and few shots:
View to to the other direction, nice cracks in the ice! :)

All shots tonemapped in Photomatix HDR and shot with Nikon D7000 + Nikon 10.5/f2.8 Fisheye.

Rondellbock?

2011-04-05T10:47:00.000+02:00

In the roundabout at Lyviken...

-Created on Desire

Spring flood...

2011-04-05T09:21:00.002+02:00

Some shots from a short bike ride past Hagge yesterday. How is it possible to have head wind 80% of the ride when the wind blows from the same direction all time? ;)

With a bang!

2011-04-04T11:04:00.003+02:00

This weekend I switched to summer tires on the commuter, bought a pair of cheap Maxxis Detonator tires for a project last year, they are almost unused, decided to put them on the Univega this summer.

Going from studded +2" heavy tires to thin 1" light tires made a huge impact on acceleration! How sweet to yet again roll around almost silently compared to the noise from the studs! :)

Harry Hill...

2011-04-03T20:11:00.003+02:00

Chore of the day:

Not entirely true, also helped mum to prune some apple trees...

Ludicrous speed!

2011-04-02T13:55:00.003+02:00

Still waiting for some more parts but decided to go ahead and assemble a new Shimano Sora derailleur, 9-speed cassette and a new (hardly used) chain. So now I have a whopping 18 gears to choose from compared to previously 12! =)

Wow! How quiet it got, the usual noise when the chain passes the derailleur is gone and the gears shift smoothly!
Now if the rest of the stuff could show up so I can finish the build, I hope the new handlebars will work well. Now my hands get numb after a short while...
Very pleased so far! =)

2006 panorama

2011-03-31T22:59:00.004+02:00

Found some older shots that was ment for a panorama, never got around making one until now.

From the evening at 23 December 2006:

Click image for 1600pixel wide version. Nikon D80 and 18-70mm lens @ 18mm

WRC 2011 (part 2)

2011-03-31T21:03:00.006+02:00

Forgot I had a few shots left to post from the Swedish WRC Rally, previous post here: http://flatulated.blogspot.com/2011/02/wrc_15.html

We changed location to the last stage of the rally, unfortunately the sun light was blocked by the hill where the spectators was standing and the light conditions was far from good.

Got some shots of the top contenders though.

Plenty of snow available!
Nice view and sun in the back, too bad there was a hill behind us too...
Waiting patiently.
Finally the cars started to appear!
Go Finland! Jari Matti Latvala. Ended third. (Pity about the car brand. ;))
S. Loeb, french in a french car, didn't go as well as usually, he ended up in sixth place.
Kimi Räikkönen did quite well, only two places after Loeb, ended up on eight place. Apparently he drives without sponsors, suppose he can afford that. =)
Swedish P.G Andersson squeezed in between Loeb and Kimi at seventh place.
Next class.
A snow bombarded photographer.
Group A3.
More smoke.
Some Russian?
Bu the way, Hirvonen won the Swedish WRC, 6.5 seconds before Mats Østberg.

Soft ice...

2011-03-30T16:38:00.000+02:00

Mmmmmmmmmmm....

-Created on Desire

Sweetness...

2011-03-30T16:15:00.001+02:00

Warm in the sun...

-Created on Desire

Street sweep...

2011-03-24T14:39:00.001+01:00

It's not far away now, go away loose gravel!

-Created on Desire

Spring cleaning...

2011-03-23T21:11:00.006+01:00

The snow and ice is melting fast now so I thought I'd give my road bike, Crescent Competition 12, a well needed overhaul.

Haven't touched the bike since the (Ronde van) Retaard and there was still mud and sand from Göteborg stuck all over the bike and it was single speed state.
Removed the wheels, bottom bracket, brakes and fork, removed all the old hardened grease (probably from the 80:s!) and then re-greased and put everything back again.
The bearings in the headset was rather OK but the troublesome bottom bracket looked much worse, it seemed to have taken a lot of abuse during the Retaard and the drive side ball bearing ring was a bit askew. I hope to have that matter sorted out soon...

Noticed that my phone was missing and realized that I had forgotten it at work so what could be more appropriate than take the just ready made bike to go fetch it? :)

The feeling, swooshing forward on a road bike after mushing in the snow all winter with the Pugsley, is unbelievable, so effortless!!! :)

There was some moist in the air and I could feel the water getting thrown up by the rear wheel on to my back but I couldn't care less! Can't wait to get out on a proper outing with the bike!

During lunch today I was at home, thought I'd exchange the tires front/back and after that I started to inflate the rear wheel, had about 7bar pressure when the tube exploded, right to my left ear! Had a ringing tone a long time and on my way back to work I popped in to my LBS and bought a couple of spare tubes.

The flat pedals looked a bit funny but they were laying aroud at the moment and I couldn't find the smaller ones.
The, just a moment ago, clean brakes.
Now if the roads just could dry up fast enough...

More spring signs?

2011-03-21T19:57:00.007+01:00

Just some more signs of spring...

Bonus:

No Smoke Saturday...

2011-03-21T12:36:00.012+01:00

We got a ton of snow on Friday morning, it literally poured down so I was a bit anxious when I got out for a ride on Saturday. Would the tracks be ridable? Lovely day at least, the snow mobile people should love this, must be one of the last days with plenty loose snow this winter (hopefully!)
Headed towards Biskopsnäset and planned to take the bridge over to Håksberg. Ske cross country ski tracks was not prepared and I took the road all the way.
Lots of open water.
Lot's of "open water" on the bike lane and road, the snow was melting fast in the warm sunshine!
First snow mobile tracks, test rode and it felt promising! (Rail road tracks to the right. :))s
Had already climbed a while but there was still much climbing left!
Started to get some views.
No trace of the nice snow mobile tracks I tested earlier, this was soft and loose, only option was to push the bike all the way!!
Took a lot of "photo breaks"!
A neighbourg from the same apartment house complex was out exercising his snow mobile, thanked him for making tracks in the snow. :)

After some 30 minutes of bike pushing I started to see the end of the misery!
Finally I could enjoy the view from the top!
Here the sun had made the snow moist and it was much more usable.

Perfect tracks in the snow from the snow mobile, one can even read the brand of the track!
Decided to do some free riding, it ended abruptly in a OTB (over the bar) in slow motion, landed on my face and stomach, remember thinking I'd better try land on the side so that I won't get the now air born bike in my back! :)
Went back the way I came to look for some shelter from the wind and perhaps some dry wood to make a fire, waded through the snow that was more than knee deep! (Sorry about the crutch shot).
Left the bike behind and continued to mush through the now on my own a few hundred meter more, exhausted I made it to a nice place but I managed to breake off the blade from my portable saw so I decided to skip the fire place and just enjoy the warmth of the sun while I drank my coffee...
After passing the same spot for the third time I met some more people that also had decided to enjoy the weather. Talked a while and they seriously thought that their snow mobile wouldn't make it to the top, they had a small trailer after the snow mobile with gear. The fellow in the snow forced his friend to take some photos of my bike, they had some questions about the fat tires. :)

After some chatting it was time to head back home.
Mostly down hill on slippery surface, had a few heart rate rising moments! :)
Didn't dare to cross the ice.
Slightly boring road back on the bike lane but I was thankful it was easy pedaling after the ordeal earlier.
Not far to Ludvika now.
Was a bit tempted to stay for the sun set but my hunger was stronger.
Home before the sun managed to set! :)
19km and not quite 3h. Felt like I used half that time to push the bike up hill... ;)

Knee deep...

2011-03-19T16:02:00.001+01:00

Coffee pause...

-Created on Desire

Halo Mr Moon...

2011-03-18T00:17:00.003+01:00

Got a later evening than expected, noticed a cool halo effect round the moon and I just had to try capture it, unfortunately the effect started to fade away just minutes after I got all my gear outside and getting the right settings...

Nikon D7000 + Nikkor 10.5mm/f2.8 Fisheye

Since I had all the stuff out already I took the opportunity to play around with a sparkler. :)

Nikon D7000 + Sigma 10-20mm/f4.5

Time to go sleep now...

Hard trails...

2011-03-17T18:31:00.000+01:00

A short ride today too! :)

-Created on Desire

Wednesday wellness...

2011-03-16T19:23:00.007+01:00

Took a short bike ride after work today, how nice isn't it to have daylight in the afternoons again?!

Made a brave, or foolish attempt to ride a narrow path through the snow, probably after some one who has walked the dog, ended up on the cross country ski track but the surface on skate zone was hard enough for the bike, hardly left any trace.

Followed the ski track a while before getting out on the road, made a try to bike on the snow crust but I was way too heavy, fell to the side when bike stopped and my leg disappeared into the snow must be over a meter of snow in the open areas in the forest!

Passed the tiny bridge over the water.
Followed the road back to Ludvika, there is some kind of ground preparing going on in Landforsen, deep trenches and lots of pipes. The small road was closed for traffic.
Was getting a bit cold since the wind was more noticeable in the open but I had to make a short detour to the shore of Väsman and take a few shots of the sun set.
Almost a hour ride, short but sweet. The second thin layer of LiquiSole on the side of the Surly Endomorph tire seems to work wonders, going to treat the rear wheel to.

GPS:

Springeling?

2011-03-14T20:18:00.005+01:00

Trying to pass some time while waiting for the spring to arrive, got out and made a attempt to capture some early spring mood. =)

Still playing around with the Nikon 300mm/f4 AS-F and TC-14 on my Nikon D7000.

That was from Monday, this morning, Tuesday it was C -12! Going up fast though: http://www.temperatur.nu/ludvika.html