Bicyclemania

Time for some bicycle photography. We start with a panning photo, shot at 1/100th of a second at Slussplan of a guy on a rental bike, partly using his phone while cycling. Next, a woman doomscrolling down by the water at Skeppsbrokajen. In the third photo, a couple chatting away at Skeppsbron. Someone over at Flickr noticed the woman's fox brooch, Googled it, and most likely ordered one. Next, a stylish biker at Gamla Brogatan, close to where I took the two detail photos that I showed you three days ago. We finish with a cyclist riding up the golden bridge at Slussen. The tattoo on his arm reads Noah Karlsson Cortez, which most likely is his son who lives in Uppsala, I know that because I googled the name.

PSI not CSI

Two police officers riding past Stockholm City Hall on Kungsholmen, where a half-marathon race were taking place. Sure looks like the female police officer needs more air tire pressure in her rear tire. They had stopped for a chat with two marathon race volunteers. I had planned to photograph the race, but in the end decided to wait for the real Marathon later this month.

Winter cyclists

I parked my bike under the Golden Bridge at Vattentorget at Victoriaslussen, before walking up on the bridge to take a few photos of the ongoing construction of Mälarterrassen. And then I decided to take a few photos of my fellow cyclists. And while doing that another cyclist came down the bridge behind me at full speed, he recognized me, smiled and shouted kungsbron three times. That is another bridge not far from here, so I guess I have photographed him there before.

Warmest day of the year

Cycling home on Monday afternoon, I stopped at Munkbroleden for a bite to eat and some photos of fellow cyclists. It was the warmest day of the year, so far, with 25C. I might wave to them the next time. Most of the cyclists seemed okay with the photographer. One woman hid her face and one guy looked away, so I deleted those photos. I just like the different bikes and how people dress. I was in a t-shirt, shorts and a baseball cap. Oh, and as I made the collage I noticed that most of the cyclist were wearing helmets.

Munkbroleden

Back at my new lookout point. The bench, (well, I have used two different benches), at Munkbroleden in the old town. A nice place to rest for a few minutes, down by the water, enjoying a bite to eat. While taking photos, of course. The girl in the first photo looked a bit amused. She has a tattoo on her left arm, it says Elias, a lucky guy, no doubt. Next, we have the dedicated cyclists in matching bike gear. Nice. Not everyone rides a bike, as proven in my third photo. The seasoned cyclist in the fourth shot was a bit tired, and knew what was waiting up ahead, a steep climb towards Slussen. And in the last shot, a cheeky girl giving me some tongue!

Cyclists at Munkbroleden

In the old town, down by the water at Munkbroleden a new boardwalk with a number of benches opened for pedestrians in the late Spring of this year. I will often jump off my bike and rest on one of the benches for a few minutes. You have a great view over both Mariaberget on Södermalm, the busy construction site that is Slussen, and parts of the old town of course. And while sitting there one afternoon I decided to start a new photo project. Cyclists at Munkbroleden. I use this very busy bike path a couple of times every week.

The Bike Train

Just after 1400 hours all the cyclists lined up on the Norrbro bridge. The police were at hand, and they had had a conversation with the volunteers, (the people in the green, yellow and orange vests), about the rules of the bike train. Some of the streets closed for traffic as we rode through the central parts of Stockholm with the help of those volunteers. It was great fun. Even the bus drivers and taxi drivers gave us the thumbs up. I did in my own unique way. Biking in the train. Then stopping, jumping off the bike for a few photos. Then back in the train. I did that five or six times. Fun note, I posted a link to my flickr album at the official Facebook group, and one guy who responded told me that I managed to take four photos of him during the bike train! To have a look at all my 116 photos from the Bike Carnival press here.

Bicycle Event

Last weekend I attended a fun bicycle event. It was called Cykelkarnevalen, The Bicycle Carnival. Held at Norrbro, at the Royal Castle in Stockholm. Many bicycle organizations took part as well as others in the bike industry. There were a lot of bike challenges, a bike band playing, and much more. I will show you the finale tomorrow, and boy was that fun.

Stockholm eBikes

Fail of the year! The municipality signed a contract with Citybike Global. The company would provide the city with 1000 eBikes back in April. Since then there has been problem after problem. Bikes not working. Bikes missing, (and a lot of them). App not working. The list of problems is too long to list here. Last I heard, the city ordered Citybike Global to pay a fine of 4.2 million kronor for the delays. Something I am hoping that these two tourists outside the Royal Castle know anything about.

My kind of people

Thursday was one of the warmest days of the year, so far. I decided to cycle down to Nynäshamn, which is a dream these days as there is no traffic to speak off on the old Nynäsvägen road. It is a 30 km ride through a rural landscape and it makes me happy every time I ride there. This time I decided to try and photograph every cyclist that I met. Turned out to be tricky as I also stopped to shoot other stuff and missed a few riders. Here are the first sixteen encounters in a collage, plus three more for good measure.Oh and I actually met two of the groups twice, some of these riders are very fast.

Autumn Bike Ride

A group of cyclists from Fredrikshof out riding in the Summer-like Autumn weather. I met them on my way home last Sunday afternoon.

Female cyclists

We have seen a few fine Summer days lately. Whenever I'm out on my bike I always have an eye open for other cyclists. I snapped the first photo at a roundabout in Västerhaninge. There were three girls, but they were a bit too quick for me so I only got two of them in the photo. I shot the second one a few days later while standing by the side of the road, along Stavsvägen in Tunelsta, shooting a photo of a sunflower.

ŠKODA Cycling Team

I spotted a few members of the 2020 ŠKODA Cycling Team along Sorundavägen a couple of days ago. They seemed quite happy.

The Bike Buddies

This was the first real day of Spring, at least if you ask me. I was out on a bike ride when I saw two cyclists riding towards me near Hanveden. So I stopped, grabbed the camera and took a few quick snaps. When the guys passed me one of them asked me if I was from the local paper and I responded that it was something like that. I then jumped on my bike and continued, but half a minute later Mats caught up with me, he had turned around and wanted to chat. So that's what we did. Mats (second portrait), is a member of the bike club Falken. He bikes year round. Last year he took part in the new bike race Velothon Stockholm so I told him that I might already have a photo of him. Mats works as a decorator in his own company. His buddy is Robert Rydbrand. He also bikes year round because, well that is what tough cyclists do in Sweden. Robert tries to take part in a few bike races every year. When he is not riding a bike he works as a claims adjuster ( I hope that is the correct title), at Brandkontoret. in Stockholm. It was a glorious day and the bike buddies were on their way to Ösmo where they planned to stop at ösmo Plantshop for something to eat and drink.