in figures, October 2013… or not

The plan was to keep track of my relationship with the commuter over a 12 month period but I’m afraid it won’t happen. I’m sure my 3 month old baby girl has something to do with it as she likes to go to the stables at night and play with the bike computer but I obviously will never be able to prove that she pressed the reset button (if you really want to know, on October 31st, the screen said 115 kilometres which is pretty much what I rode in the last 4 days of that month).

So no figures for October 2013 but a (new) picture of me riding to work instead. Beautiful autumn in Stockholm and, as you can see, snow is late this year.

Cycling on ice

But let’s change subject to what made my day miserable yesterday: I commuted by public transit. Due to circumstances beyond my control I have been commuting to Kista the last two days (which for someone living in the southern parts of Stockholm is close to the worst punishment ever) and, to make things even worse, commuter trains traffic was cancelled after a freight train derailed right before Stockholms södra yesterday morning.1

One could argue this was bad luck and – hopefully – does not happen often but it still shows how fragile Stockholm’s rail infrastructure still is in 2013: one train derails and thousands of commuters are affected. Only two tracks (one way) support all traffic at this particular location and even a minor glitch has enormous consequences. But the issue is being addressed and the Capital of Scandinavia will spend one billion Swedish kronor on the cycling infrastructure over the next two hundred years. Oh wait… Does the railway network also need maintenance and improvements now?

The rest of the journey was business as usual with a traffic stop on the subway red line, a quick switch to the green line in Slussen and a I-am-glad-I-am-in-good-shape-and-can-walk switch to the blue line at Stockholm’s central station. Kista, here I am, one hour later.

I’ll spare you the details of the never ending commute back home via the brand new tramway line because… I just want to forget about it and pretend I did not just waste another hour of my life.

Commuting by bike to Kista

Anyway, I was not going to endure the SL pain two days in a row and so, today, I rode my bicycle instead: 20 kilometers in 50 minutes (one way). Now tell me: what was I thinking yesterday when I chose public transit over the fastest means of transportation in any (relatively) big city around the world? But like October’s mileage, I guess I’ll never know.


  1. http://www.thelocal.se/20131112/rush-hour-derailment-snarls-stockholm-train-traffic 

in figures, September 2013

Bicycle commuting is the use of a bicycle to travel from home to a place of work or study — in contrast to the use of a bicycle for sport, recreation or touring. – Wikipedia

On the slippery slope to shaved legs & spandex wear?
On my way to work

  • Time – 14:48’07
  • Distance – 330.98 km
  • Average speed – 22.3 km/h
  • Maximum speed – 49.4 km/h
  • Calorie consumption – 5563 kcal
  • Carbon offset (CO2) – 49.64 kg
  • Operating cost: 0 SEK

You can find the 14 islands bicycle commuting squad on Strava. Feel free to join the club and help us ass polishing some leather. With love.

in figures, August 2013

Not much riding this month since I was on parental leave with my girls. Still, here are the unimposing figures from August, 2013.

On the slippery slope to shaved legs & spandex wear?
On my way to work

  • Time – 5:42’52
  • Distance – 129.14 km
  • Average speed – 22.6 km/h
  • Maximum speed – 51.5 km/h
  • Calorie consumption – 2422 kcal
  • Carbon offset (CO2) – 19.36 kg
  • Operating cost: 40 SEK (flat tire)

in figures, July 2013

Bicycle commuting business as usual last month (no vacation) and with my eyes on the bicycle computer screen and my fingers on the laptop keyboard I’m now typing the figures from July, 2013. Wireless. Pretty advanced stuff.

On the slippery slope to shaved legs & spandex wear?
On my way to work

  • Time – 18:51’09
  • Distance – 417.04 km
  • Average speed – 22.1 km/h
  • Maximum speed – 45.8 km/h
  • Calorie consumption – 6964 kcal
  • Carbon offset (CO2) – 62.55 kg
  • Operating cost: 0 SEK

in figures, June 2013

Sometime in May I went through the boxes full of bicycle parts, screws and other bike related things I keep in the stables and dug up an 8-function wireless bicycle computer!

I did not plan to have (buy) anything electronic on the commuter bike but since I had a computer already I could just as well give it a try – not to mention that the first function of that computer is a clock! and that’s pretty cool: until now I always had the feeling I was going to be late for the daily morning meeting but now I AM SURE about that.

The wireless part doesn’t seem to work well along train tracks though (no communication at all between the sensor and the base on Årstabron for instance) but it doesn’t really matter. Or does it? Should I upgrade to a GPS/cadence meter/coffeemaker all-in-one device like those guys who take bike commuting as seriously as if they were riding a god damn stage on Tour de France? Do I look like I’m taking the first step on the slippery and dangerous slope to shaved legs and spandex clothing?

On the slippery slope to shaved legs & spandex wear?
On my way to work

I so hope not and, all in all, it was a slow month with a bunch of days off and not that much riding.

  • Time – 13:45’05
  • Distance – 299.38 km
  • Average speed – 21.7 km/h
  • Maximum speed – 48.4 km/h
  • Calorie consumption – 4780 kcal
  • Carbon offset (CO2) – 44.9 kg
  • Operating cost: 0 SEK

The calorie consumption data is only the accumulated value that is calculated from the speed data of every second. It differs from the actual consumed calorie: 10 km/h – 67.3 kcal per hour, 20 km/h – 244.5 kcal per hour & 30 km/h – 641.6 kcal per hour.

The Carbon offset are calculated as follows: trip distance (km) x 0.15 = Carbon offset (kg). This factor of 0.15 is determined by applying the average value of the overall gasoline-powered passenger cars in 2008 to the equation of the “Carbon offset from 1 km drive of a gasoline-powered car” described on the website of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and Tourism.