Escape from boredom

With wife and kids away I was free yesterday to spend some hours on my bike after work. Started out from work at half past five, went home and changed from my commuter to my Kona-bike. Then head off to Østmarksetra to meet Rune and Egil. Together we did Trulsrunden. A nice trail, a bit wet yesterday, but no big issue, but combined with moderate pace we had plenty of time to share or bike knowledge with each other. See my GPS-tracking at Sportstracker

Did not have time to mount my neoguard when changing bikes, but when at home I did. Plan to use the neoguard combined with a small mudguard next Friday.

Yesterday Elin and the boys where still at Vestreng so I enjoyed my dinner in the canteen watching Tour De France on the big screen. Stayed there an extra hour since Hushovd did a brilliant stage winning back the green jersey.

So when heading back home I decided to do a few extra kilometers. Headed towards Jar, here down by Lysakerelva realizing that this was a dead end

Then up to Tryvann, and also passing Skjennungen where I stopped to take this picture.

Then passing Ullevålseter down to Hammeren, and home via Kjelsås. All in all 41 kilometers on my single speed, nice! See the route at Sportstracker

Two days ago I had almost the whole day alone, no kids to take care of, and with the sun shining from a clear blue sky what better thing to do than spend the day on my bike. Elin and Iver went with the car to Vestreng and I followed them on my bike. Started out towards Romsås and Romsåstoppen, the highest point of the day 448 meters above sea level. Had fun down the trail towards Nittedal, had one fall on a very slippery rock, but managed to jump of the bike and avoided falling with my head first down a small cliff. Then towards Leirsund and over the hill and down to Fetsund. Ice break there before trying to go around Varsjøen. Spent some time there due to the fact that there where no trail. Had to carry the bike for almost half an hour, but got a bonus: The trail down from Brattåsen, much fun. But when out on the road towards Aurskog I was all out of something to drink, and with the warm weather that was no good. So when at Aurskog I visited Hanne and had about an hour break getting plenty to drink and eat. Then the last 20k was just a walk in the park. See the whole route here at Sportstracker

Went to visit Kåre yesterday, and since I could leave Anders behind at my fathers place I used my bike. Thanks to Facebook connecting people, I got company at Sjonfjellet. My classmate from the three last years of primary school, Torfinn, took his bike out for a ride and met me there, so Facebook is not always a waste of time. High quality time I must say, got to catch up the last twenty years on our bikes, as good as it gets! Had a short stop at another classmate from primary school, Magne, as well.

When riding back today the weather was as nice as it can get, sun from a clear blue sky. Had a very nice ride, stopped to talk with tourists, tried an alternative route outside the tunnel at Sjonfjellet, stopped to take pictures. All in all, just enjoyed myself.

Just before Utskarpen, Ranfjorden, and at the far end Valbogen, my destination today.

View towards Strandtindan, hope to go there next year with my bike. It should be possible to ride the bike almost all the way to the top without stepping out of your pedals.

Going up Sjonfjellet I wanted to avoid the tunnel. After a bit of searching I found the old road outside. About 1 kilometer of nice gravel road.

On the top of Sjonfjellet, the view towards Træna.

Visting my grandparents at Båsmoen I noticed the road, or I guess track or path is more correct. Anyhow, I could not resist the urge to go out and enjoy the nice weather so when Anders went to sleep I headed up towards Skillevollen. Quite sure I have not been there in almost twenty years so it was a tough reunion. Did not manage to bike all the way, but almost…need to be a bit more fit to make it, but I stopped just about 30 meters below where I took the first picture.

At the top, sweat as h…

Sportstracker, not a surprise, the “slow”-point is in the steepest part of the hill, but note, I talked to two women walking down when I had to get of the bike.

But note, vacation is also enjoying the local specialties… 🙂

Today me and my mother have been out trying the route for Vesterfjellrittet. We took the shout route, but note, we did still get 450 meters of elevation, but my mother managed! We had luck, since we waited a while before we started the sun started to shine, and in fact we got clear blue sky, nice! Hopefully I will be able to participate in the race, maybe next year.

Full speed ahead, but still able to take a picture of my mother leading the way close to Kvalforssætra.

Check out Sportstracker to see the details.

Last week I got all the way to Nordkapp, or to be more precise – I have covered a distance similar to the distance from Lindesnes to Nordkapp by using my bike to work this year. The last leg was from Oksfjordhamn to Nordkapp. All in all a bit more than 70 days using my bike to work and the distance was covered, 2500 kilometers. The whole leg shown here

On Saturday I participated in Vestmarkrittet, 45 kilometers of fun in Asker. A good combination of gravel roads and tracks. Mostly uphill on gravel roads, then downhill on tracks. Since my starting position was calculated based on Fredagsbirken last year, I started in group 6. I soon realized that biking to work had done good for me, and I was able to push hard from the start. On the trials I ruled compared to most of the guys I started together with, so I quite often had to yell “Keep to the riiiiight!!!”. All in all very much fun, and be sure that I will participate next year as well. Finished on a total position of 192 of all in all 850 participants. Very pleased with that!

My bike after two hours and five minutes of gravel and mud

And to support Einar and Frode, working for Tine, I enjoyed my Yt when finished 🙂

On my way to work today, passing Havnelageret my bike suddenly became very soft, almost like riding on jelly. Stopped and checked my tires, rear puncture!! Damn, why does this happen on days when I have left home early to get to work in reasonably time? Took my time and spent 15 minutes, had no hurry out in the sun…

Not to bad, my first one this year, and it is my 63’rd time using my bike to work.

On Monday I did use my bike for the 60’th time this year to work, not bad I must say, because this includes two weeks of paternity leave and a course for one week out at Kolbotn, and not to mention a lot of days of in May. Anyhow, now I’m all the way to Oksfjordhamn. Could not find much about that place, but a search using Google gives a few hits at least.

On my way to work I’m passing by Akershus Fortress where you can find these chairs. Art is sometimes hard to understand

Also, on Monday morning I started counting cyclists I met from Aker Brygge to Bygdøylokket, 2.2 km, …. 110 cyclists..!!