Sweden N-S (July 6 - 11)

[Flying Dutchman]

View attachment 17611Wow - I have been home a whole week - I have been diligently working on the ride report since I returned. Turns out it took as long to write it as it did to do the ride (a little longer actually)- thanks to Tor for his notes, and both sets or our pics to jog this 64 year old memory.

Here is my link to the ride - enjoy and be forgiving of any typos please!
https://docs.google.com/document/d/...rQI7sowltOWQMySGIlLkKm_CYAE1SKB8bbXSj9xHm/pub

I'll be working on a video next - I have 12+ hours of video I took - I tried to turn the 360 camera on every 30 minutes and give an update as to how far we had gone that day and what has happened so far. It will probably take me another week or more to process all that footage.

Great write-up thank you for that @LarryOz and sorry for the weather but chapeau for persevering! What a ride!

 

[Robert Holler]

I just finished view and editing the 220 videos (15 hrs) I took while riding Length of Sweden with Tor.
It is not polished like Tor's but is the best I can right now - I might work more on it later.
Here is the YouTube link: enjoy:

Larry,

Right when the video starts it says "Lenght" of Sweeden. Just a heads up.

 

[cpml123]

I just finished view and editing the 220 videos (15 hrs) I took while riding Length of Sweden with Tor.
It is not polished like Tor's but is the best I can right now - I might work more on it later.
Here is the YouTube link: enjoy:

Hi Larry,

The video looks great! a few questions...
1. I have Cycliq front and back cameras just to record traffic and things. Is yours a Insta360 camera?
2. I am guessing you were not recording continuously since it's 15 hrs and not 100 hrs. Do you just press start / stop when you see something you wanted to record? Do you use loop function to let it record continuously in small increment?
3. Did you connect an external portable charger so that it can record longer than a couple hrs?
4. How/where did you put the camera?

Thank you!

 

[Tor Hovland]

I can answer that. Both Larry and I use Insta360 cameras. We don't record continuously (who would want to watch that?). I record short clips whenever I see something interesting or whenever I have something I'd like to comment on. Larry recorded a status update every half hour. He also recorded the occasional time-lapse. On my Insta360 X3 it's just a matter of pressing a button to power on and start recording, and the same button to stop and turn off. On some of the other cameras you need to first power on and then start recording, which is a bit annoying. We both had power banks to charge phone, bike computer, and camera. And we both had the camera mounted to the handlebar. I think you can see mine in Larry's film. I have this one, which is good. I've had some plastic ones before that would eventually fail.

 

[Robert Holler]

View attachment 17614

This is the picture that you show to people who ask the question, "Why do you ride those bikes?"

Super cool.

 

[LarryOz]

Right when the video starts it says "Lenght" of Sweeden. Just a heads up.

Just to prove it wasn't AI -

 

[Tor Hovland]

Here's part 1 of my video. More to come.

 

[JerseyJim]

Here's part 1 of my video. More to come.

Nice video, Tor! It's a shame about the rain and roadworks. I'm guessing this was all set up to make the triumphant blue sky finale in part 3 more dramatic. Just kidding. What a fantastic adventure!

 

[LarryOz]

Here's part 1 of my video. More to come.

Great video Tor - I almost felt like I should go put on a raincoat while I watched it.
Fun to re-live it again - just a little. Can't wait for part 2, and all the parts I missed videoing due to battery level.

 

[Tor Hovland]

Part 2 is here!

 

[LarryOz]

Part 2 is here!

Thanks Tor - always love watching you videos - you do such a great job of it.
Cool to re-live it again now

 

[Flying Dutchman]

Part 2 is here!

Great video, chapeau to both of you, what a ride!

at 8 minutes and a bit you could have put a BEEP in when you both went over that hump

 

[Damien]

As it usually goes with these events, the fatigue builds up, and things get more interesting. Did any issues with bike fitting become more noticeable as the distance and time increased? I'm curious about that tire – you mentioned in the video, Tor, that you saw sealant on the frame. Did the tire hold up until the end? You don't have to answer – you could keep the suspense high for the next part.

 

[Tor Hovland]

@Damien Ever since I replaced my V1.0 Vendetta with a V20, I have suffered from painful hip flexors on long rides. Just a few weeks before this event I did a 400 km ride (also in Sweden), and I could hardly walk the following day. I was very worried. I had changed to longer chainstays, but it didn't make a difference. But I changed to a slightly shorter crank, and I shortened the boom an additional 5 mm or so. This completely fixed it! I've also had a problem with blistering hands from clutching the handlebar, but this time I was conscious about relaxing my hands, so that was also fine. Luckily, I evaded knee and foot pain. My only issue, which I also mention in the second video, was that I switched into bib shorts with an edgy lump where the shoulder straps meet in the middle of my back. I've learned now to not use that on recumbent rides.

Fatigue is a funny thing, and I find it is often just in the head. I tend to feel great as the finish comes within reach, and that was the case on this ride as well.

Regarding the puncture, I bought Silca Ultimate sealant with glass fiber pieces before the ride, because I read about typical sealants being unable to seal road tires with a relatively high pressure. I convinced Larry to get the Silca sealant as well. Both of us had a single puncture (as far as we know) during the ride. And in both cases we just left it alone, and never had to bring out a pump.