Yesterday I tried to ride to Vaxholm. Vaxholm is one of the first points of the Stockholm archipelago, and is easy to get to by boat, and almost impossible by bike.

Stockholm in general has excellent bike paths, well signed with distances, wide and smooth. That is, until the council can’t be bothered anymore. Several times on this trip I ended up on dirt roads, industrial areas and peoples back yards. At point I was heading on to a highway. One minute I’m following bike path directions, the next I’m on the E18 heading to Oslo.

So I got frustrated and had to abort my mission. I was around 15 kms from my goal, which would have rendered me spending the afternoon on an island, drinking beer and having fun. Instead, I returned to Stockholm, and drank beer in the park with some friends.

It’s also nice to ride back to places I ventured to when it was snowing, this is a totally different town now. Summer is here, the rides are long and the beer is cold. Loving summer!

Today I took another trip out to Lidingö with 3 guys from the Stockholm fixed gear fraternity. Lovely people, great ride, and super windy. This time we took the back way at the northern part of Lidingö, which provided much up hill stress for my already weary body. I plan not to do much for the next few days!

Smashed it!

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!

This was a fairly long race. I didn’t understand any of the instructions so kept close with my team mates Sönke, Erik H and På (who’s nickname on the list I’m unsure of). The idea was to race to our first spot, get the 2 numbers on the door, do some math, and use that result to find our next location. Rinse and repeat 20 times (throw in a stop that includes vodka and caviar) and you made it. Our group was ahead by about 15 minutes at one point until a slight miscalculation rendered us at the back of the main group. We slogged it through the city and with a little help of my Östermalm knowledge, we were back in the group. It was a long haul as you can see, it was also -10ºc and the snot, sweat, and tears froze to my face as we bashed through the late afternoon traffic.

We finished up at pub, ate bratwurst and drank stout (oops), and I managed to climb home at some late hour. Thanks for your hospitality Sönke! I hope you got home alright mate.

This is me and Sönke starting to ride. For full details of the race in Swedish and lots of photos, read this thread.

Hej då!

My first Stockholm Alleycat. Let’s roll.

This is the mood I’m in. Oh sun, how I’ve missed thee!

Hej! It’s 4:30pm and pitch black, and suddenly I’m extremely tired. I’m thinking it’s because it’s been a very busy weekend.

It started on Friday morning when I woke up to find out it was my birthday. I spilt coffee over my keyboard before work, and ran out the door. Great start! Friday was a normal day at F-I, however it was the last day of the working year and at 5pm, out came the Glögg and gingerbread.

We had a lovely visit from Santa Claus who all gave us kris kringles. I received an all in one tool kit for my bike which is a very thoughtful gift. Thanks “Secret Santa” . My favourite part of the night was realising why everyone was going outside to get beer. The Swedish fridge is out there. Slabs of beer keeping cold in the frosty night air. Ace!

We jammed on Rock Band, I played drums and lead, and sucked at both. We drank copious amounts of Carlsberg and gin, we (Daniel C and I), kicked butt at foosball, and I bailed to get ready to p-a-r-t-y.

We ended up going to some bar (I can’t remember let alone pronounce the name of it), to see a Swedish DJ called Martinez, who was very good. Lots of people, lots of dancing. I was abandoned and left to fend for myself at around 2am, so I decided to call it a night, getting a hot dog on the way and only realising once I was on the subway that most of it had ended up on my jeans. Nice look.

I got home to jump online to say hi to my Aussie friends and loved ones, but couldn’t log into my computer. I thought I had forgotten my password, or was just too drunk to type it in. It didn’t occur to me that if you pour coffee into your computer that the keyboard will be fried. And it is. So yesterday I jumped out of bed, rode to the office to borrow a Mac keyboard which is what I’m using now. Apparently there is a store around the corner which can fix my Mac tomorrow. Yay.

Last night I was dying a slow horrible death, but I got a call from my friend Filip who dragged me to a bar called Pleasant. It was a Christmas party, so who turned up? You guess it, Santa Claus once again. Everyone in the bar received gifts, all themed around Doctors and Nurses. Interesting. I got a stethoscope and ambulance. My friend got a phone to dial 9-11. Filip received a collapsible plastic knife. Also interesting!

We left at around 3am, I walked home and crashed.

I was awoken by a very lovely phone call from my friends Al & Jules, (was awesome to talk to you guys!), and a beam of sunlight was hitting my face. Sunlight means outside. So I jumped on the bike (so glad I brought it with me), and rode to Cafe Frankfurt for a lovely coffee and breakfast.

I then road into the sunlight, sat on the docks and enjoyed the warmth. It truly was a moment.

I caught up with Filip once more and we rode around and saw an amazing sunset, like nothing I’ve seen before. The sky was pink and purple, the water was reflecting it and thus the water was pink also. If it’s a nice day tomorrow, I’m going out with my Canon to take some proper shots. Here’s hoping.

Fi lands on Wednesday, and I have a lot to organise. Tomorrow will be a busy day indeed, and that’s also the reason why my posts are a little sparse or vague. I’m busy all the time! The holiday is definitely over. But trust me, I have lots to show and tell.

Enjoy the flicks from the F-I Christmas Party on Kontain, and a few other snaps from the weekend.

All the best, and keep in touch all!

x K.

I miss the weather, the food, the fashion, and kids doing this. I’ll be back.

こんにちは!

Hello! I’ve made it safe and sound to Tokyo. A long flight, however the free sake put me right to sleep. I flew JAL which now comes highly recommended. Such a great airline, lovely staff, good entertainment, comfy seats, etc. It was a fairly empty flight so I had a whole row to myself. Ace. I highly recommend the bird view camera. Top and front view from the plane of the outside world. Awesome.

I met a nice couple, attempted to brush off my Japanese to complete failure, but they were nice enough to try with me.

I’ve spent the day riding around Tokyo, and I have to say this is an awesome place to ride. Flat, fast, the traffic and pedestrians gives way to you, and the temperature is cool and calm. We took a spin around Yoyogi Park (pictured above), to Harajuku (via Supreme), then to Daikanyama, to Shibuya (via Ganso Sushi) then back to Hatagaya. Probably around 30kms all up. Looking forward to riding again tomorrow.

Tonight I’m going to the launch of Sonpub’s new album where my friend and host Shannon is VJ’ing. I’ve been told to dig in for a late one.

The dollar is pretty shit. It was 57 yen to the dollar today, which means my money is halved when I withdraw, but I’m doing fine on cheap booze and 95yen sushi.

More updates to come, I’m going back to my beer.

Missing you all.
xo