Cycle Time

Crocuses litter the landscape now

Finally, in the closing days of April, spring arrived in Stockholm. With temperatures peaking just above 50⁰ F, we again pulled out our bicycles for our first real cycling trip about Stockholm.  Earlier in April when we were visited by spring-like temperatures, the bikes were moved from the apartment’s cycle room to our spare bedroom where they were cleaned, brakes adjusted and tires inflated. We didn’t realize we still had a few more weeks of snow flurries and sweater weather before we would be pedaling down the avenues and streets of this bike-friendly town.

Still warmed by scarves and winter jackets, we found ourselves this weekend pedaling down the bike lanes on busy Götgatan on the island of Sodermalm, where we live, finally able to expand our exploration range.

Map of Stockholm

The bikes belong to our landlords. Monica and Per leased their apartment to us before they departed for a yearlong sailing trip in the Caribbean and included the use of their bikes in the leasing agreement.

We admit to being a bit tentative as we merged into the bustling bike lanes and started our journey. This first warm, sunny weekend of the year brought a multitude of walkers, bike riders and auto traffic to the roadways. People, cars and bikes flow here in an orderly and predictable way. Cars give right-of-way to pedestrians. We were now on our maiden voyage learning how to conduct ourselves in the moving masses of cars, walkers and fellow bikers.  

Local saxophone player

We started from the southern side of Södermalm and pedaled in designated bike lanes before mingling with extensive foot traffic in the northern section of Götgatan, which is a pedestrian walkway. The experience gave us insight into the Swedish skills learned over a lifetime of weaving about walkers, baby strollers, street performers and hand-in-hand lovers.

Interesting things to see in the woods

After accruing a bit more experience through Gamla Stan and Ostermalm riding bike lanes wherever they took us, we felt ready to set course to Kungliga Djurgården ("The Royal Game Park"). In contrast to the high density population of the other islands that make up Stockholm, Djurgården retains much of its late 1500’s feel of a hunting reserve for the king’s deer, reindeer, and elk. Park space and walkways dominate the island. 

Sharing a Djurgården road with horses

The Stockholm World's Fair of 1897 was held on Djurgården. The island today is home to Skansen, an open air cultural museum displaying over 100 houses preserving a wide swath of Swedish life over the centuries, and Gröna Lund, an amusement park. 

This bike ride was a journey of exploration. We wanted to acquire a sense of comfort with these new bikes and perform a personal calibration of our safety touring Stockholm on two wheels. We achieved those objectives and also came to realize how we can greatly expand our sightseeing reach.  We are in-town walkers. We typically use the subway and buses when time or rain make walking inconvenient. 

  

With willing weather and our fully inflated tires, we feel a new page in our Swedish adventure can now be written. Below is a 42 second video of our two and a half hour Saturday biking adventure.