Issues

Stopping for a few photos at the birch forest at Skogskyrkogården. And I was instantly reminded of doing just that back in the Summer, only to have my ebike stolen a few hours later when it was parked outside Stockholm City Hall. No such problems on this day as I continued my ride to Södermalm where I went for a photo promenade around Mariaberget. Parked the bike at Mariatorget for an hour without any problems. But when I tried to import the photos I took during that walk via Lightroom earlier today there was an issue either with the hard drive or the software so I had to copy and paste the photos into the drive. Never much fun.

Ghost Bike

Cycling along Norrtullsgatan after a visit to Hagaparken a while back I spotted this red-painted bike. I guess it is a ghost bike, although they are usually white. I have not been able to find out what might have happened here, or when.

A sad story

Bought the Gazelle ebike just over four years ago. Great bike. Rode over 36 000 kilometres with it. A couple of flat tires, of course. Fixed the brakes a few times. Two new chains. Changed this and that. Lost the key one time. Had to take a taxi home with the bike. Twice, thieves stole the bag and or the items in the bag. But last Sunday maybe two hours after I took this photo of it at Skogskyrkogården I parked the bike outside Stockholm City Hall and when I came back out maybe 15 minutes later thieves had stolen the locked bike. It cost me 36 000 SEK when I bought it. Reported the theft to the police. Took the commuter back home. The police read the report, and then said, sorry about that, nothing we can do. And to make things worse, the insurance company had cancelled me and my brothers' insurance because he moved to Spain a few years ago, and it was his name on the insurance.

Pink fixie

Parking my ebike At Nya Karolinska a while back, I noticed the pink fixie, and the light was so good that I had to take a photo.

Bicycle Parking

This is a bicycle parking that I pass by almost every day. Near the Jordbro commuter station, and the Jordbro industrial park, where you will find the Coca-Cola plant and many other companies. You can also see my photo in the latest installment of the Weekly Snapshot if you Press Here.

Gazelle Ultimate

I know. But it looked so good. And I really wanted a new bike so I figured why not try an eBike? So that is what I did. This is a Gazelle Ultimate C8. Been out on three rides with it so far and I am happy to report that with this bike there are no more uphill climbs! The Bosch engine works great, the motor is silent, there are eight gears and no chain this is a belt driven bike. You have to pedal to get the motor running so it is still a real bicycle and there is a law in the EU that prevents anyone using a motor if you bike faster than 25 km/h. There is a way around that but I don't have any plans to test that just yet.

Cykelställ

Swedish word of the day. Cykelställ. A bike rack in Jordbro, photographed yesterday. Some of these bikes have been there for a while.

Cykelväder

Swedish word of the day. Cykelväder. Bicycle weather. Parked my bike on the path as it was tricky to cycle down to the old tree.

Smart Travel

6762, that was me. Haven't seen this one before. The number of cyclists that have passed by here in December. As spotted at Hanveden earlier today.

Wheel of misfortune?

As seen at the bike rack at the commuter station earlier in the week.

Tibor Hajnal

I noticed this recumbent bicycle in Västerhaninge. Didn't think it was that special until I noticed the electric battery. So I stopped the guy and asked for a few photos. This is Tibor Hajnal. Works as a teacher at Ågesta folkhögskola in Farsta. Lives in Västerhaninge. Born in Yugoslavia, moved to Sweden as a kid. Grew up in Enköping. Later he moved to Handen. He bought the unusual bike from the guy who built it. Tibor has beaten cancer, and is slowly getting his strength back. He hopes to be able to ride to and from work in a not too distant future. He asked me where I was going after I had snapped a few photos and as we were heading the same way we continued to talk while cycling. That turned out to be a bit tricky because Tibor cheated and used his batter power and, boy his bike can fly! He then asked more specifically were I was headed and I told him that it was time for lunch at Malmens konditori, my favorite cafe. He then asked me, who do you know at the cafe? Everyone I answered. Do you know Tompa Eken ? I see him every day was my response. How about Gunnar Borg? On a weekly basis I said. Turns out Tibor used to hang with the Ultrahuset crowd back in the day. Years ago Tibor was a member of a photography club but that was back in the analogue day. This far come in the conversation we said our goodbyes and I turned right as he continued straight ahead as he was on his way to his daughters place. I have a feeling Tibor might drop in at the cafe any day now.

Scott Genius

One of the regulars at Malmens konditori is Rolf von Steinhausen who lives just across the road from said cafe. He is a real tough guy, in his early sixties now. Used to drive motorcycles for a few decades. Also a keen mountain bike cyclist who have competed,(and won), in world championships. Had an accident a couple of years ago. Injured himself real badly. Took some time for the doctors to figure everything out. Last year he got a brand new knee. It was a painful affair, despise the drugs and we heard all about it. But now he is back in the game again. This is his latest bike, a Scott Genius. Rolf loves to climb steep hills, and he was out on a few tough rides last week when the weather was great, today it snowed this morning. I shot this as a bokeh panorama so it is eight photos stitched together. Shot with the full frame canon using the nifty fifty lens.

Mudguard

If you are a keen cyclist you know that a mudguard can come in handy when you are out on the roads. Especially now when it is getting warmer again. Spotted this colorful bike parked at a bus stop near the hospital in Handen a while back. It was one of those moments when people nearby wandered what that guy with the camera was up to. Shot with the Canon 6D using the nifty fifty lens.

Snow Storm &Power Outage

We had a snow storm yesterday. My bike ride home took twenty minutes longer than usual. It was very dark. I rode straight into the wind and was tossed right and left here and there. There was also a lot of tree branches on the walkways so I had to keep an eye out for those. In Västerhaninge I noticed that a big traffic sign was lying on a lawn close to the bike path, I'm guessing that the strong winds did that. Arriving home I decided to make a quick dinner, just in case. I then chatted to my brother who is in Nicosia, Cyprus, and he told me that he had just received a power outage warning for Tungelsta on his smart phone, (I used to have that app but had forgotten to install it on my new phone), so I warmed some water for a cup of tea and five minutes later everything went dark. So I sat in the dark with my tea before lighting a few candles. The power came back three hours later.

Real Winter Returns

It started to snow last night. By midnight we had the first power outage of the year. By morning everything was white. Spotted this bike on my walk through a snowy Tungelsta a couple of hours ago.

A cold day at the beach

A Winter visit to the beach. Although it might have been a cold Autumn day as well. One tough dad had a pick-nick with his kids a little higher up the grassy hill. Two cyclists were enjoying coffee and photography at the smaller beach. A woman were sitting on the cliffs, that must have been a bit on the cold side. I sat on a bench for ten minutes toughening it out before biking home again.

A Monochrome Winter

On a recent Winter promenade around Tungelsta I spotted a lone bike parked at the Krigslida commuter platform. The bike parking is fairly new and I thought it would make for a good photo with the snow hanging down like this. After taking a few photos I decided to have a closer look on the bike emblem/ornament. I don't have anything like that on any of my bikes so I am a little jealous now! First photo taken with the old Canon 550 with the 85mm lens. Second detailed photo shot with my Canon 6D, which I got back from Canon service&repair a few days ago. I shot the King photo with the nifty fifty lens.

A sudden change in the weather

Winter has arrived. Not much fun at all if you ask me.

The Engine Guy

Met a cool biker guy yesterday. I was standing in the green by the side of the bike path near the Slätmossen nature park in Handen shooting butterflies and other insects when I heard an engine closing in. It was a guy on a vintage motorized tandem bicycle! Not something you see every day so I waved him down for a chat and a few snaps that you can see in the slideshow. This is Tommy. From Västerhaninge. The tandem bicycle was a King from 1946. The engine a Victoria from 1952. The bike had a few interesting details and most of it was original. Tommy told me that vintage engines is his big hobby and he is currently working on another old bike. He also owns a vintage Harley Davidson and a Ford Model A from 1929. Tommy informed me that he visits the annual car meet at the nearby Vegabaren so it is possible that I have a photo of that Ford somewhere in my flickr stream. This is my eight portrait for the Human Family.

Jesse and his bike

This is Jesse. He is easy to spot. I have a few candid photos of him from local events, but this was the first time we talked. I noticed his very cool bike outside the mall in Handen yesterday and knew that I had to snap a few photos of it. And while I was at it I decided to take a portrait of Jesse as well, because he has a unique look. He did his first face tattoo four years ago. One of them is a bit special. It depicts a man holding a gun. It is Christer Pettersson, the man convicted for the assassination of the Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme in February of 1986. Pettersson was later acquitted and died a few years ago. What about the bike I hear you ask, well Jesse built the bike himself, and got the parts from various places, including the US.