Etikett: velomobile

The Adriatic Islands and Coast

Part of the 202020 Velomobile Challenge

The Quattrovelo #5. For more information about the Suntrailer see this link.

This is a report in pictures of my trip by velomobile (bicycle) along the eastern side of the Adriatic Sea. The big question when I started this leg, was whether I would be allowed to cross all borders, even out and back into the EU. Rumors spread that several cyclists had to make major detours and were often denied passage because of the covid restrictions. My goal was to visit all the countries along the Adriatic Sea.

All photos in this blog entry are taken with my mobile phone.

Click here to see how it went

Looking back at 2019

While waiting to continue the 202020 Velomobile Challenge

I had to pause my cycling tour from Sweden to Greece because of borders closing due to the corona virus. My velomobile QV #5 is parked outside Krakow in Poland. This is giving me an opportunity to go through some photos from last year. I realize that I don’t have so much left to show and that most is about velomobiles. Sorry for that! I will have to make better this year. 😉

Quattrovelo #5 in south east Sweden.
At Nordkapp, the northernmost point of Europe.
Click here to read this entry >>>

2nd Part of My 202020 Velomobile Challenge

Åland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland

As most of you know by now, I am one of the participants of the www.202020.eu. After crossing Sweden, I jumped with the ferry to Åland in Finland. I have already cycled almost the whole length of Finland in November 2019, so from Åland I went straight to Tallinn in Estonia. My aim was to cycle all the way to Greece and south Italy from where I would have taken the ferry to Malta. But when I reached Kraków in Poland, the corona restrictions had caught up with me and I had to decide, stay in the area for what ever time is needed or try to get home and wait there.

Wild camping on the island of Åland, Finland.
Rides made between 29 February and 16 March 2020.

This blog entry is a mishmash of different photo styles. Some photos are informative, others are there because I like them. I hope you can appreciate the images.

Click here to read this entry >>>

202020

Velomobile Challenge

Photo of me taken by Charlotta Sjöstedt when I started the 202020 Velomobile Challenge on the 22 02 2020.
Preliminary route.

Hi dear friends!

I’m on the ferry from Stockholm to Åland in Finland. I take this opportunity to tell you that I have started my velomobile tour through Europe. I’m one of the 202020 Velomobile Challenge participants.

Click here to read this entry >>>

Oliebollentocht 2019

Testing a new camera

Velonaut at the Oliebollentocht.
Camera settings f/4,5 – 1/250 – ISO100.
Sigh.
Camera settings f/2,8 – 1/200 – ISO10000. Hard cropped.

I am preparing myself for the 202020 Velomobile Challenge that consists in cycling 20 countries in 2020. Minimum weight is important when cycling, that is why I am testing a new camera, the 257-gram Ricoh GR III with an APS-C sensor.

I have also made a short visit to The Netherlands where I met up with 154 velonauts at the Oliebollentocht. At the end of this entry you can find an amateur video that I made about that encounter. Check also out information about Utrecht that is published in the video description on YouTube.

Read this post and see a video on YouTube →

Final Report Nordkapp

Looking back at the Nordkapp trip and some practical information for velonauts

Me with a heat exchanger on the face in Finnmarken, Norway.

I’m back at home and would like to share some of my experiences from the winter trip with velomobile to the north of Europe. You can also see an interview made by Saukki about my solution to cold feet in freezing temperatures.

But first a short report from my ride Stockholm to the Swedish West Coast.

Read this post and see an interview on YouTube →

Nordkapp!

I made it thanks to your support

Nordkapp.

At 11,49 November the 9th I arrived to the northern most point of Europe. This after having given up several times. I reached the goal thanks to many of you telling me to continue. I would have returned south several days ago if it wasn’t for that. 

I’m happy to have made it even though the trip sometimes hasn’t been a pleasant one. The beauty of the nature and knowing that it was possible to get here, makes the effort worth it. Thank you!

Magerøja, the island where Nordkapp is.

I am writing this post in a hurry because I want to continue the journey south as soon as possible. In a few days the temperature will rise from the current -28°C to -16°C on the Finnish highlands. I then want to take the opportunity to get as far south as possible before the severe cold returns.

Read more

Velomobile Winter Tour Report 02

The journey is a learning curve

QV #5 on E45 at latitude 65° North.

There are many people riding velomobiles during the winter, some of them are my commuting heroes. They use the velomobile in stead of the car as much as they possibly can, some of them every day. To ride in freezing temperatures with velomobile and hardly any warm clothes is possible for a couple of hours. But after several hours of riding, the upper body becomes soaked wet from perspiration while the feets get freezing cold even when having many, many layers of woolen socks. My challenge is to find a solution to this problem in order to get as far as possible on my own created challenge to the north.

This is the first time I make a blog entry with my smartphone, so please have some consideration if the result isn’t perfect. 😉

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Velomobile Winter Tour 2019

How far north can I get with a velomobile in the Nordic winter?

I might be crazy to take a velomobile during the winter to the far north of Scandinavia, but I just like to test the limits. Why? Why not? I have been in warm climates a lot during the last years. Now it is time to go back to the cold areas for some months. When doing so, why not go all the way and make life a little bit difficult. We only live once 😏.

When I was young, I spent some time in cold mountains alone in the winters. I did go skiing in the far north where I didn’t meet people for weeks. The darkness and the northern lights are difficult to describe, they must be experienced to understand them. Before, I was able to go for weeks with a large and heavy backpack. Now I can’t, my knees have given up. But I can ride bicycles and the best bicycles for traveling are velomobiles. If there isn’t a lot of snow on the road …

So, the question is, how far north will I get with my velomobile?
My dream is to get all the way to Nordkap. I have no clue if I will be able to get there, but I will try.

I will start in next week and this is the planned route:
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/30767542

Read more here →
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Velomobil

Liggcykel med aerodynamisk kaross


Min Quattovelo framför Kalmar slott.

2013 fick jag beskedet att jag hade artros i båda mina knän. Jag som var van vid att vandra både i berg och dalar tyckte plötsligt att livet tagit slut. Jag höll tyst om det och bet ihop när knäna värkte. Hörde att cykling var bra för de som har problem med artros, men nej, det var inget för mig. Ont i baken, nacke och handleder ville jag slippa. Men hösten 2017 fick jag upp ögonen för liggcyklar. Två generösa velonauter i Kungälv lät mig testa deras velomobiler. Jag var fast. Livet hade fått en ny vändning. Plötsligt skulle jag kunna använda kroppen som förr samtidigt som jag blev mer miljövänlig i mitt sätt att köra. I april fick jag min velomobil, en Quattrovelo, den femte som någonsin tillverkats. Sedan dess har jag cyklat 15370 km  och bara tankat min privata bil fem gånger under hela 2018.

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