Martin Stefan

Vinter

Heading to Jackson

The snow has come to WY, we are heading up to Jackson to sample the goods. In the process we will also take an AIARE level 1 avi course [http://www.jhmg.com/avalanche-education.html], just for fun. Prices are way lower here than in Sweden, and the snow is

Vinter

Dawn patrol, sketchy snow and the prairie

Centennial, WY, 630am. The sun is just on the rise, and we were already on our way out. [http://smaertin.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/p1190814.jpg] Just huge plains and a rising sun in the east Seems like I have a nac for hitting all time high temperatures, just

Sommar

Soon, sitting in a bar, tippling a jar in Jackson (WY)

Arlanda, this time with free internet. Not bad really, and the sun is shining on the frosty runways. The baggage is already checked in, and soon I will be sitting in a plane headed for Denver. The storms seem to have been hitting hard last week, between 50 and 90cm

Sommar

Good trails in spite of everything

Yesterday I watched from the office window as around 20-30cm of the wettest snow imaginable fell on the ground. Temps were on the wrong side of freezing and everything was just slushy and horrible. I didn't even try to ride my bike, a lost day really. Today I

Sommar

The perks of a long drought

Greetings from what could well be the Gobi desert. Precipitation has just not happened for two weeks or so, probably all mountains are covered in bullet proof cement by now. The forecast tempted with prospects of fresh pow for the weekend, but just as I got my hopes up they

Vinter

Some recent riding, Västerbotten is not too bad after all

The current drought in the mountains around here is terrible, not a flake of snow for around two weeks now. Hopefully it ended today, spars rumours of snowfall have emerged, but nothing is confirmed yet and the forecasts don't look too promising either. I spend my days in

Sommar

Biivouac, the first step towards a fantastic summer

Biivouac [http://www.biivouac.com/le-pere-noel-est-passe-chez-biivouac/] just now announced that they have made space for ten more teams in the race! Now team Martiin [http://smaertin.wordpress.com/2012/12/17/biivouac-so-very-close/] will join team Kristiin and represent Sweden. A new bike is being built as we speak, and a

Sommar

Harteigen, Lofoten. Cracking rims and trails

Another morning with fever, another climb to do. Cold sweat poured from my forhead as we pushed up the ski slope towards Harteigen. The trail was nice and flat to start with, but soon became rutted and rocky as we were by now expecting from this place. After a while

Sommar

Nordfjellaksla, or have faith in the locals

I am in the south of Sweden now, where the forests are few and far between. Yesterday I managed to get a ride on the local hill "Rommelklint". It is not very big, but there seems to be a good scene going and there are some really nice

Sommar

Biivouac, so very close.

The starting teams for this year's Biivouac [http://biivouac.com]team enduro race has been published. Me and Martin are first in the reserves, so close we can almost touch the ticket. Big congratulations to Team Kristiin, the only female team on the race. Way to go girls!

Sommar

Dreams of powder and snowsurfing, flatland depressions and unrelated issues

Sundays in the city are not really my cup of tea. It is flat, cramped and dreary to say the least.Too much snow to be able to ride the bike, and there is not much left really. [http://smaertin.wordpress.com/2012/12/16/dreams-of-powder-and-snowsurfing-flatland-depressions-and-unrelated-issues/p1190524/] Old pic, but

Vinter

Blown away, literally

In my previous post [http://smaertin.wordpress.com/2012/11/30/seasons/] I was speculating wildly about skinning up a quiet mountain in the moonlight. This sounds really good, and is up to some almost insignificant details exactly what happened. One of the insignificant details was that the mountain was

Sommar

Seasons

Snow is falling, and it looks like it is here to stay this time. Memories of a distant summer are slowly fading, and this weekend will probably be the first on snowboard for the winter. I look forward to quietly skinning fresh snow in the pale light of an almost

Sommar

Warm, wet and wonderful in Tavelsjö

This winter seems to never really arrive. It is still above freezing, foggy and damp. Not bad weather for riding really, I quite appreciate it. Today in Tavelsjö was just fantastic, everything was slippery, sliding in all kinds of directions was the order of the day and I really had

Sommar

Steindalstinden, Lofoten. As normal as Lofoten gets

Just a few km east of Leknes you find Storfjordsvatnet and a nice little campsite run by an improbable but nice Danish cowboy character, complete with snakeskin boots and everything. Between the campsite and Leknes there is a trail heading north, up Steinheia. This is a dry and arid in

Sommar

This is not at gear blog, installment 1

I have done some of these before, but not in English. As stated, this is not a gear blog. Nowadays it is hardly a blog at all for that matter, but I won't let such petty details ruin my train of thughts here. Anyway, even if this is

Sommar

Bye bye blackbird...at least for now

Last week was brilliant, fantastic contiditions for riding in the sunshine on frosty trails. I managed to ride every day, and on thursday I did a night ride as well, together with the lycra crowd. With the 4x bike of course, so I would have excuses for being awfully slow.

Sommar

Nice weather but short ride

Is he writing again? All of a sudden this blog is almost flooded with posts, for no apparent reason. Maybe I am just procrastinating more important tasks, like the damper service I was on about previously. Anyway, as I wrote yesterday my legs were a bit spent. To improve matters,

Sommar

Still some biking to be had before winter

It's getting cold, damp and dark up here, especially damp and dark right now. Last week was brilliant with all the perks sub zero temps and sun bring, this week the weather turned all Scotland on us with lots of rain and temperatures between 0 and 6 degrees.

Sommar

This blog is not dead...

...it just smells funny, to paraphrase Frank Zappa, one of my favourite people of all times. Anyhow, fall is here. I have a lot of stories and pics from this summer that need some mindless blogging, and I will try to do that now when we are in between seasons

Sommar

Alpine dreaming

Fall has come over Umeå, this morning was the first with frost on the roofs of the university. Soon the trails will be all hard like rock slabs giving endless grip, and the sun will be red and hang just above the horison almost all day. I really look forward

Sommar

The new playbike

For quick blasts on local trails, for training technique and strenght, and just for good old fun. Everybody needs a playbike, mine needed an overhaul (or just replacement). [http://smaertin.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/p1190210.jpg] Blue orange with red forks, simple and fun It lost quite a bit

Sommar

Earning the turns

Does not only mean putting in the effort to get back up without cars and lifts, but also to keep the trails in a nice shape. Not grooming out obstacles, that is destruction and not improvement, but for example doing some rock work or building a ladder bridge over wet

Sommar

Djupfjordheia, our first ride on Lofoten and a rude awakening

After a couple of days with bad weather we woke up on the campsite in Moskenes to clearing skies and a view over the faint mountains of the Norwegian mainland in the distance on the other side of the fjord. [http://smaertin.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/p8130349.jpg] Anytown,

Sommar

Skarstadsfjellet, first in a series about a great vacation

After 20 days on the road I am now back on the web. All in all it was brilliant, 20+ days in the mountains, some of them on old favorites and some of them on new grounds. A lot of laughs were had, and a lot of pics were taken.