The Big Bike Year

  Yes, Sportsfans, you read that title right - WE MADE IT TO STOCKHOLM, and it we did it in 2 days instead of 3 - WOOHOOOO!!!   We left you last time heading off from Nykoping (where it was really hot) - we were on the road before 7am, and we had a camp site booked 65km away, with a few other options in our back pocket in case it all got a bit too much.  But it looked like no headwinds and not too hot, so we left with optimism - and we were right!  It was a long ride, all on roads, the first 20km I probably rode a bit too hard to try and make up as much distance as I could in the cooler air, then after that we slowed down and dawdled the next 45km to make it in pretty good condition. Of course the quads were a little twitchy, and we'd been riding now for 7 days without a break, but we had our cute little campsite on the island of Morko, right on the water front, a fascinating Norwegian neighbour who was on his way back from riding to Milan for a Bruce Springsteen con...

There's been good tears and bad tears, HEAT, hills, headwinds, wind gusts, incredible riding, even more incredible vistas, magical accommodation (and some pretty shitty ones too), and of course a fantastic pastry.  All in the last 6 days.   I know it's a lot to put in one blog post, but I've been so knackered at the end of each day I couldn't do it.  And I'm really knackered today, but if I don't do it now I may never type again.  And we'd all be sad about that. You see, there are a few key themes here: 1. Heat - we've hit Swedish heat, and it's been merciless. It started heating up when we were in Jonkoping, but we weren't riding so just ate more ice cream.  Then we hit the road on Saturday morning ready for a day of climbing, and after the first 5km we knew we were in trouble.  You see, the sun comes up here at 4am so by the time you hit the road at 9am the sun has been blasting for 5 hours already, the road is hot, and as the day continues as ...