Karl New York City, United States of America.

Smashed it!

Well, what a week. My first week back since Australia and I feel like it’s a whole new city. The weather has been hovering around 17ºc – 20ºc during the days and just below 10ºc at night, perfect.

I sit here in my kitchen, with a bottle of French riesling to help me reflect on the week and weekend just gone, and I must say that Stockholm is a place to visit when the sun is out. The trees have leafs, the rivers are flowing with boats & kiyaks, the parks are full of people and and the city is alive! The long dark winter is finally paying off, and everybody is making the most of it, including me.

Saturday I woke up early and took a walk through Östermalm in an attempt to get into some spring gear. I spent a fair amount of my time though taking photos of the beautiful cherry blossoms that line Kungsträgåden (King’s Garden). I will be uploading the rest of the blossom shots this week. It was really nice to be out taking photos again, headphones on (DJ Krush only with spiritual enlightenment thanks to DJ Krush – Zen). I sat and watched the people for a good while and realised that Spring has definitely landed.

Last night I caught up with NYC legend and fellow Fi employee Priscilla (Lil’ Pri, Ludapris, The Mexican) at Mosebacke, which lead us on to pizza and then a crazy apartment party, which while didn’t go late into the night (we packed it in at 1am), still managed to attract the attention of the Stockholm Polis who claimed they could hear us from 5 floors down on the street. We weren’t playing music loud, but because it’s spring, we have our windows open, and the sound echos across the area like nothing else. Oh well… they were cool with it.

As in my previous post, I woke up with an itch to get on the bike. After making a cracking breakfast with Canadian housemate Liam and Italian housemate Matteo, I jumped on the saddle and belted out 45kms. I decided to head south as far as I could go. I am so happy that Stockholm has such awesome bike paths. They’re wide, well directed and so smooth. It was like riding on a skating rink for 4 hours. I rode hard and fast for what felt like forever, there were a few moments when I realised I had been day dreaming and had to snap back to reality. It was that good.

I got as far as Skogår, which is about 20 km’s south of Stockholm. I know this because I managed to jack some unsecured wifi connection and Twittered about it. It was amazing. A rich area I would suspect, with houses raised high on cliffs overlooking peaceful lakes and amazing forests. It doesn’t take long out of Stockholm before you’re immersed in nature. The best way to see it is obviously on a fixed gear bike.

I arrived home exhausted and made up a nice plate of cheese and meat and am currently finishing off that bottle of riesling, almost topping off the perfect weekend, apart from the obvious.

I’m back to no drinking this week, and also running hopefully 4 of the 5 nights. I bought a great running jacket, and now that it’s warming up, the sun is out longer so I can run longer and avoid getting the flu.

Until next time… hej dåg!

Fi standing out on “The Spit” just after Main Beach.

Fi standing in the rain at Mt Tambourine.

(Take #2, as I’m sure I wrote more than this…)

It’s been raining pretty much non-stop since we got to the Gold-Coast. It’s all isolated showers with late thunderstorms. Not so much fun for me and my bike. I put it together in record time, only to have it sit in the garage while waiting for this hideous down pour to fling past.

At least we have my ex-Nintendo Wii up here. Mario, anyone?

Just on one week until I fly out to Tokyo, with a packed weekend of Fishing, drinking and catching up with old mates on the horizon, a day in Tokyo will be childs play in comparison.

Hopefully I get a spin in!

Speak soon.

I’m a little concerned about how much luggage I’m going to have, and I’ve been investigating the size & durability of my bike in this Tardis Bike Bag. It’s looking good, and I’m looking forward to rolling through Tokyo in about 3 weeks!

Today I took one final visit to Shifter Bikes. The main reason I went in was to give my bike a quick check up and to get some friendly advice on how to look after it when riding in the snow. Last time I did that, we replaced the bottom bracket and water came out. Always pays to have a professional sniff about your bike.

I take my hat off to Dan (pictured) for being patient with us needy bike lovers, for providing professional and for the most TLC for bikes you’ll EVER get in this country.

See you on the 31st. Beers for you, Dan!

Here’s an excellent thread on www.bikeforums.net of old cycling photos from back in the day. This one is definitely one of my favourites.