Team Rynkeby Day 3: The rain that never came

This morning was weird. It began with me biking around in Vaxholm carrying some kind of meeting protocol that I had to sign on each and every page. For no particular reason I stopped in front of a house and started the signing job using someone's mailbox as a small desk. A woman came out from the house and looked strangely at me. Since I really didn't know what to do, I slipped a few sheets into her mailbox.

Suddenly the alarm woke me up and saved me from this really embarrassing situation. A new day with 190 kilometers laid ahead of us, and I started my "usual" painkiller gel/sunscreen/rehydration tablet routine. Our great hotel had an as great breakfast, and before we knew it we were off.

We were prepared for a cloudy, pretty windy and somewhat rainy day. It turned out to be nothing more than an almost perfect balance of cloudy and sunny moments, and a really fantastic bike ride. I think that most of haven't had a nicer and more relaxed 190 kilometer trip. Apart from the fact that Colin managed to flatten his tires three times (!) in a few hours, and apart from a few minor accidents, this was a really, really good day.

For my part, I managed to temporarily lose the screw-bolt-thingy that goes in to the crank - I lost another one yesterday. I broke off from the team and managed to find it a few hundred meters back in the middle of the road.

Tomorrow we'll have close to 180 kilometers to go, see you then!

Team Rynkeby Day 2: A sweet sauna in Ludwigslust

The day began abruptly. A woman’s distorted voice blurted out loudly throughout our cabin’s PA system, and not too politely informing us that we would be docking in an hour. Too bad most of the breakfast was gone when we went to the restaurant a few minutes later. The really brilliant part with the morning was that we could see some sun and blue sky - we were mentally prepared for a pouring rain.

Our bikes were still parked safely down on the lowest transport deck, and after a few goodbyes all of the teams (Täby, Stockholm, Jönköping/Gränna and Malmö) parted planning meet again only outside Paris next Friday. (Of course we got to see the Stockholm Team a couple of times along the way also this morning. They always manage to start before us, choose a very interesting route, and somehow end up behind us in the end.)

We had a nice start, with roughly 50 kilometers to go until our first break. The weather continued to be better than we had anticipated, and there were only some scattered showers together with a bit of headwind. During these first hours there were a few minor incidents, but nothing serious. The most amusing one were when we accidentally lost our captain, Robin and Alex. They were simply left behind, and no one seemed to know where. After the rest of us stopped for a  20-minute break they caught up with us again - but they didn’t seem to find any of this amusing at all.

The break - our first - was fabulous, and I really want to thank all of our service who are doing such a great job to keep us on the road. Even though I might not mention it in writing every day, I certainly still mean it :)

Afterwards, we had a pretty non-dramatic next 50 kilometers up until lunch (served in the middle of Nowhere, Northern Germany), and then set off for our last 40 kilometers before we could call it a day. The headwind grew stronger, and those last tens of k:s were probably the toughest one of our trip so far. But - we made it to Ludwigslust and our really nice hotel (Erbprinz) before it got too late.

We were able to kick back with some sauna before dinner, then a good debrief making mental notes about things to remember (keep your tire pressure up, don’t frighten everyone by yelling “HOLE” as soon as you see a small crack in the road, eat lots and make sure to get as much sleep as possible).

My GPS stopped at 142 kms today, and we’re supposed to go for 190 kms tomorrow. I’d better follow that advice and go get my beauty sleep.

Team Rynkeby Day 1: All the way to Paris

 

Wow! We’re off!

Today, the four Team Rynkeby Sweden teams started our 8-day bike trip from Malmö to Paris. Together with the 13 danish teams, we are a total of 700 half-crazy, adventurous people who will be biking our way down through Europe.

I heard of Team Rynkeby for the first time around one and a half years ago. A dear friend of mine had decided to join, and he was asking around, trying to find kindred spirits who maybe would apply to come along with him. He and his whole family had been through a really tough time, where their son had fought and defeated a serious form of cancer. And the main purpose of Team Rynkeby is actually to raise money to Barncancerfonden (the Swedish fund for fighting childhood cancer) and its Danish equivalence.

I couldn’t join for 2011, but after I heard of Team Rynkeby’s fantastic trip to Paris last summer I was really excited, and decided to apply for 2012. And here I am, as member of Team Rynkeby Täby.

After too few hours of sleep, I was woken by double alarms around 04.24, just barely half an hour before I had to catch the bus to Stockholm. My bike already started its trip to Malmö last night in truck together with all the other bikes, so I managed to leave home without that much trouble since I made sure to pack everything using my checklists last night.

The bus for Malmö with the Stockholm teams left from Arla’s head office around 06.00, and everyone in both teams was really happy despite the early hour. I managed to sleep all the way to Jönköping, and then a get a few hours of quality time with my new lover.

In Malmö, Jägersro, we changed clothes, rearranged our luggage, and saddled up for the first short ride to the city of Lund and the Barn- och ungdomssjukhuset (a children’s hospital). Up until the visit, it had only been something on the agenda - a couple of speeches, and then off to Trelleborg.

Instead, it was so much more than I was prepared for. We were recieved by a big crowd with cheering and applause, and amongst the ones waiting were a lot of kids - cancer patients - with their parents. It is really intense to meet these children, and instead of focusing on the sadness and hardships that comes with cancer (since it nearly made me cry), I tried to focus on how Barncancerfonden are able to support projects that leads to better rates of curing and helping the kids and their families.

After that, we had a wonderful ride through the Skåne countryside to Svedala, where we probably broke some kind of world record in how many bikers you can fit into a McDonald’s restaurant.

And after that, a short ride down to Trelleborg and a longer wait to get on the ferry and to go get our assigned rooms. But now where here, and I’ll have to get some sleep before we get to Germany.

PS. Yes Petra, we’re going All the way to Paris :)

Film business... remake or makeover?

Ever since I worked in the more digital parts of the music business, I have become increasingly astonished over how slow the film business evolves. I still have my Lovefilm (Amazon.com) subscription active, since it is the most reliable and convenient way of watching film in Sweden.

Legally, that is.

The Economist writes about the need for a remake.

Handelsbanken: Maybe the worst online banking login solution ever

I am speechless.

A couple of days ago, I got a large and heavy envelope in the mail. I opened it today.

Inside, I found a USB card reader, a 2 meter long USB cable, and a card. This... is Handelsbanken's new login solution.

The stuff weighs in at 102 grams - that's the equivalent of a normal mobile phone! What were they thinking? Up until today, I've been using their online banking service pretty much everywhere. At home, on the bus, in the office... pretty much everywhere. So now they think I'll add the equivalent of a third mobile phone to my bag just to have the opportunity to use their service? Forget it.

Since I've been working with online banking, I've had the opportunity and tried most solutions on the Swedish market. Since 1995. And this must be the worst solution ever. In 2010.

But that 2 m long USB cable is my favorite. What were they thinking? If you know that you have the most clumsy security system for online banking in the history of mankind, ever, you might want to think about ways to at least take away a bit of that burden? Instead, Handelsbanken now gives you the opportunity to carry your card reader with you between rooms, wherever you want to go in your house. While the reader is still plugged into your computer, that is.

PS. I've called Handelsbanken and asked if there are alternatives for using their Internet banking service. There aren't any.

On my wall

I have this ad on my wall in my office. I love it so much. The new dimension of meaning that it was given from last fall's media circus around Tiger is just... great.

Another Stockholm Marathon

I haven't had the time to write anything at all here for quite some time now. But one day...

Anyway, one of the main training goals for this year was last weekend's Stockholm Marathon, and we were blessed with perfect weather this time. The knee gods were on my side this year too, and I managed to beat last year's time and score a new personal best with 3.48.

I really miss having a running club here in Vaxholm. If I wouldn't be kind of occupied with working for our local society already, I would start one tomorrow.