restless bikers

Spring is coming, and so is the biking season, so we thought it would be a good time to announce our upcoming trip! It’s eight months since we came back from the US, and ever since the three of us have been longing to get back out on the road again. So on July 30 Christofer, Jonas and Christian will once again pack their bikes into cardboard boxes and toss them on an airplane. This time the destination is Split, Croatia!

From Split we will bike southeast through Bosnia & Herzegovina, Montenegro, Albania and Greece. We might also pass through Serbia, Kosovo and Macedonia. The route is somewhat unclear, but the plan is to fly back home from Athens, Greece in late August.

Our first plan was to bike in Italy, France and Spain, but after hearing a lot of good things about the balkan peninsula, our plans changed drastically. This trip will definitely contain less McDonald’s restaurants and much more rural environment, which we are really looking forward to!

Three months until departure and right now it feels a bit unreal, but weeks pass by fast, and soon we will put on our tight outfits, let our beards grow, and start peddling into the Croatian sunset!

If you have any good tips and ideas about a good route or any other good recommendations on what not to miss, please drop a comment!

More information coming up later!

/Christofer, Jonas and Christian

California-Nevada-Arizona-Utah-Colorado-Nebraska-Iowa-Illinois-Indiana-Ohio-Pennsylvania-New York-Ontario-Quebec-Vermont-New Hampshire-Massachusetts-Connecticut-New York. (and by car to New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland and District of Columbia)

After biking 8223 kilometers in 4,5 months we finally reached New York City on august 19! We finished our final day of biking in Battery Park in the southern part of Manhattan. When we arrived at the park we opened some cheap bottles of sparkling wine that we sprayed all over each other before we lay down on the pavement and thought about our accomplishment. We all agreed it was a weird feeling to finally be in New York. 4,5 months is a long time. That first day in San Francisco seems like such a long time ago. A lot of peddling since then. But we never really got tired of it. Mostly we loved being on the road. Perhaps not the peddling part, but the part where you meet new people all the time, see new places and experience things for the first time in your life. There wasn’t a day when we wanted to go home, where we felt done with the trip. And neither did we feel done when we reached Battery Park. But even though we joked about continuing south towards Florida, some part of us wanted to go home again. To have normal routines, meet friends and family, sleep in our beds and get a haircut.

New York state!

Times Square welcome committee

Sparkling wine in Battery park

Battery park with statue of liberty in the background

But before we went home we spent six days in NYC celebrating. Two friends from Sweden came over and helped us celebrate, and on our last night in North America Clint came down from New Hampshire and shared one last beer with us. It was six days that passed by pretty fast. We saw some sights, partied, shopped, found cardboard boxes for our bikes and enjoyed being in New York City.

A packed bike

The flight back went by fast and smooth, and we were back home in Småland in no time. This was almost a week ago now, and since then we’ve had time to meet some of the people we’ve missed, told thousands of stories, got rid of the jet lag, and started to think about what we’ve been doing the last 4,5 months. It still feels somewhat unreal, but I’m sure it’ll sink in eventually.

Since this is the last post we would love to thank everyone we’ve met all over the USA and Canada. You who gave us a place to sleep, a meal to eat, helped us with tools, gave us directions or just gave us a smile along the way. You all know who you are – and it’s because of you our memories from this trip will be with us forever. You all have a warm shower, a bed and a meal waiting for you whenever you make it over the Atlantic to visit us in Sweden. Hope you take advantage of it! And for those who don’t want to go to Sweden: You know all those other things you’ve always wanted to do? You should go do them!

Now it’s time for us to go back to our everyday lives and start to dream about new adventures.

This is restless bikers signing out for the last time – for now.

Thank you, everyone
/Christofer, Christian and Jonas

After a massive house party in Hanover, a short trip to Boston and a farewell to Clint we left Hanover and biked towards Meriden, Connecticut. After just a few miles Jonas managed to drive in to Christofer at a red light, and crashed down into the pavement. He hurt his hand a bit, but was capable of continuing, although with a bandage around his hand. During the two days to Meriden we lost eachother a lot and arrived at Garrets dads house one by one.
The following day we went by car with Garret to Washington DC where we stayed in his girlfriends house. We saw the white house, the capitol, lincoln monument, washigton monument, american history museum, air and space museum, the library, and a lot lot more. After two nights we drove back to Connecticut, a drive that could have ended in Maryland when the gear box started to behave like a drunk, but by midnight we had finally made the drive. In Meriden a dinner and beer was waiting, and we fell asleep at 2am, exhausted. Today we’re biking towards NYC! A 110 mile ride that will take two days, so on sunday afternoon we’ll be riding our last few meters on Manhattan! In NYC we are meeting up with two friends from Sweden, and on our last day in this country Clint will come down and give us a tearfull goodbye.
That was just a fast summary of the last few days, now it’s time to get on our bikes for the last time!

April 9th 2012 three young swedes packed their bikes into cardboard boxes and jumped on a plane taking them to a big country far far away. Today, four months later we’ve seen so much, biked so far and gained so many new experiences. Here are the latest ones.

After biking on an old rail road trail for a couple of days it was a big change in scenery when we  biked into the Appalachians and across the US border. The hills started right away, and our thighes had to work harder than in a long long time. But it was worth all the pain and sweat, cause the views were amazing. Especially the part through White Mountain National Park, with lakes, bike trails and amazing views. Definatelty worth the detour we had to take to get there. After leaving the park we stoped in Warren, NH where we met up with Clint outside the public library. He brought us pizza and beer, and we had a nice chat before he jumped into his car and drove back home. When he had left we started looking for a place to pitch our tents and asked at a gas station. They informed us about a baseball field not to far away, but also warned us that there had been a lot of bears in the area lately. That information freaked us out a bit, so we decided to camp behind an elementary school instead. We put all our food on the schools roof, and hoped for the best. We had some trouble sleeping that night. If you know there are bears in the area every little sound outside the tent sounds like a hungry bear. However, we survived, and the next day we biked down to Clints house in Hanover, NH.

white mountain national park

Camping in Canada

Clint lives here with a couple of other students, but they’re all gone during day time, so we’ve had the house to ourselves most of the time, which has meant a lot of Olympics on the TV, home delivery food, time spent in the pool and long showers. Last weekend we and Clint drove down to Philadelphia where we stayed with Clints old college buddies. We spent two days there drinking, running up the Rocky stairs, eating cheese steaks, watching the liberty bell and a lot more. Being hungover one morning we watched the movie Harold and Komar go to White Castle. A half-funny movie, but it made us take a small detour on our way back to Hanover to stop at a White Castle to try their burgers. We were super excited when we saw the sign, but when we tasted the burgers we immediately realised we had made a mistake. They looked and tasted awfully. Don’t ever do our mistake. Stay away from White Castle!

rocky statue in Philly!

beerpong in Philly!

Party in Philly!

White Castle fast food

Back in Hanover we’ve played a lot of volleyball, hiked up the mountain Lafayette, gone river tubing, swinging from rope swings, jumping from bridges into the water, watched more olympics and alot more. The hike up Lafayette took us about six hours round trip and it was a beautiful hike both in forest and above the tree line. New Hamphire is truly a beautiful and peaceful state and we enjoy staying here. Tonight we’ll have a house party with some of Clints friends, and tomorrow we’ll go to Boston by car. When we come back to Hanover we’ll get on our bikes again and bike down to Soutington in Connecticut where we’ll meet up with Christofers friend Garret who’ll take us on a trip down to Washington DC before we bike the last few hundred miles down to NYC.

BBQ in Hanover

Hiking up Mount Lafayette

Hiking on the rim of Mount Lafayette

On top of Mount Lafayette with our Hanna Montana bags

Swimming in Hanover

This trip is definately going towards its end, and in two weeks we’re on our flight back home to Sweden. Right now we’re trying to see and do as much as we can on the east coast. It’s a privilige to have friends with cars here which helps to see and do much more than we’d ever have time to see with our bikes.

Now it’s time to hit the showers and prepare for tonights house party.
And congrats Team Sweden for reaching the finals in handball in the Olympic games!
/restless bikers

Hello Swedes, Australians, Americans, Canadians and everybody else.
After our last post we headed to Seeleys Bay where we were supposed to meet Jordan and Mike and spend a couple of nights at an island somewhere in that area. When we got there we called Jordan. Phone turned of. We called Mike. Phone turned of. We texted them, facebooked them and asked people in the town if they knew Jordan or his family. After 24h we gave up and left Seeleys bay. We still haven’t heard anything from them, but they seem to be back in Phoenix, Arizona, so they’re probably OK.
Instead of spending a couple of nights at an island we biked to Ottawa. On our way to Ottawa we experienced even more of the Canadian mosquitos who sucked our blood from our sweaty bodies through the tent, making us very unhappy.

But being unhappy with mosquitos, it was a real treat when we finally reached Ottawa and found our host, the Canadian/Australian couple Scott and Julie and their three kids. We spent two nights there and saw the sights in Ottawa before we said goodbye and headed towards Montreal.

The ride to Montreal was short, flat and along a nice river. It took us two days to get there, and the last hours we biked on a really nice biking path, taking us right into downtown Montreal, where our hosts – Melissa and Shahram lived. We spent a weekend in the city, which was really nice, cause there were a lot of stuff going on. One night we saw the movie The dark knight rises and then went out for some beer. After six hours in the bar our french speaking had improved a lot, and we ended up staying until closing time. The next morning we were supposed to get on the bikes. But since it’s inhuman to bike after spending six hours at a bar we decided to stay one more night. Thanks Melissa and Shahram!

That day we spent in bed and at restaurants, and the following morning we got up “early” and started biking towards Quebec City. The ride to Quebec was about 300km and took us three days. Most of the ride was on bike paths or bike lanes. Biking north east also made the weather a bit colder, ideal to bike in during day time, and a bit chilly during night time, which we loved. Up until then we used to sleep naked in our own sweat, but now we could actually start using our sleeping bags again. Nice feeling.
We came to Quebec City uearly Thursday morning. We spent the day looking around in old town, which was really sweet. People had been saying that it was like an European city, and it definitely was. We felt like we were somewhere in France when we sat at a cafe downtown.

In the afternoon we left Quebec City and started to bike south, towards the US border. We managed to find a bike path, actually an old rail road track, that took us straight down to Sherbrooke, which is rather close to US territory. This afternoon we’ll cross the border and head towards White Mountain National Forest, which we’ll bike through on our way to Hanover where our friend Clint lives. Clint has a fridge filled with beer waiting for us, and since the Olympic games have started we can’t wait to spend some time in Clint’s sofa!

After our last post we headed out and biked along lake Erie. After 50-60km the sky suddenly turned pitch black and a massive thunderstorm just exploded over our head. We became soaking wet in two seconds but still stopped to put on our rain gear. Christofer and Jonas stopped first but Christian continued for a bit to seek shelter under a tree. When Christian had disappeared into the darkness a car pulled up behind Christofer and offered shelter inside the car. Christofer jumped in, but Jonas stayed outside to finish putting his rain gear on, and at the same time Christian returned and told that a family had offered us shelter in their house. So we thanked the driver in the car and biked to the house where a family with two young daughters where waiting. It was chaos for a bit! They fed us and gave s a place to sleep in their basement. They really saved us from that thunderstorm. It truly was a massive storm, and we dont know what would have happened without the American hospitality.

The morning after we had breakfast with them before we said goodbye and biked towards Dunkirk where Kim was waiting. We arrived at around 5pm, had a beer, a shower, cut our jeans off to make shorts in the summer heat, and then we jumped in a car and drove to Kim’s aunts house. There we met her family, ate tons of food, drank beer and enjoyed the fourth of July celebrations. When the evening was getting late we jumped into the car again and drove down to the beach where Dunkirk showed that there still is money in the city budget by spending millions of dollars on a MASSIVE firework that lasted forever (and all because restless bikers had come to town). After the fireworks we danced with the locals at a hotel before heading to Kim’s sisters (Kitty) house where we took a swim in the pool before happily crashing in our beds.

We stayed in Dunkirk the following day as well, spending it in Kitty’s pool, and on the cinema watching the movie Ted (restless bikers approved). We spent the evening with a nice dinner at Kim’s parents house before returning back to the house for another good nights sleep. Thanks Kim and Kitty for your hospitality!

After leaving Dunkirk we headed towards Canada. It was a nice ride along lake Erie into Buffalo where we got lost for a while before finding our way out along Niagara river down to the falls. When we got to the falls it was pretty much time for sunset and we rushed over the Rainbow Bridge into Canada to be able to see the falls from the Canadian side, which is supposed to be the best side. We made it before dusk, but were a bit disappointed by the falls. It was sweet to see them with our own eyes, but they weren’t as majestic as we had imagined. It might also be because we see so much new things every day that it’s overwhelming. Maybe we’d appreciate Niagara Falls more if we hadn’t biked for twelve weeks already. After seeing the falls we had dinner at Denny’s and then went to a park where we fell asleep in a baseball dugout. We got a good nights sleep but were woken up at 6am by an early janitor. Damn Canada.

The day after we followed Lake Ontario and stopped for lunch break in Hamilton. We stayed a couple of hours by the lake and slept a bit under a roof, making up for the early morning on the road. When we were lying there a guy named Marty showed up and chatted with us for a bit. Short after we took of, but stopped at a McDonald’s to get some wifi. When checking the mail we saw that Marty had sent us a message, offering accommodation. We accepted, of course, and biked to his house were we had beers and wine with him and his mother. It was an awesome night and we lit a fire in their garden and discussed everything from Mexican food to bike touring. That night we slept comfortably in Marts basement. Thanks Mart and Marianne!

The morning after we woke up the smell of breakfast and the sound of the Wimbledon final. We saw the game, ate the food and then biked the last 50km to Toronto. Marty joined us on the ride, and showed us the best way to our new warm shower host in downtown Toronto. Our host was Chris and Nancy and their two kids Eva and Aaron. The first night we had dinner, played basketball (team Sweden vs team Canada. It was a fun game and we were so enthusiastic that Christofer sprained his finger and Christian got glass in his foot). We ended the night with Simpsons and ice cream. The following day Christofer got up early and walked around in Toronto the entire day. Christian and Jonas left the house at 2pm and went for a walk through the city as well. In the evening we played settlers and had dinner. The day after we said goodbye to the family and left Toronto in a good spirit. Thanks Chris, Nancy, Eva and Aaron. We had a wonderful time with you guys, and hope to see you in Sweden in two years during your great world tour!

After Toronto we biked along lake Ontario, a sweet ride in the sunshine. After 80km we reached Chris’s friends Susan and Brian and their daughter Sara’s house where we were gonna stay for the night. They had prepared a good dinner for us and served it with a couple of cold Guinness. We were happy. After dinner we took a swim in their pool with yet another Guinness before we fell asleep in our beds downstairs. The morning after we had breakfast, took a shower and went back out on the road. That day we biked along highway 2 to Brighton were we wild camped next to the beach in a park. We saw an amazing sunset before we had to get into the bushes and hide from the park rangers. For the first time in a long time we actually pitched our tents. The mosquitos were to many. In the morning we took a swim and then biked 50km to Brian’s sister in Oak lake, just north of Trenton. Here we are now. We’ve just went out on a trip with their rowing boat, and now the steaks are on the grill, so I bet dinner will be served shortly!

As you can tell we are being spoiled here in Canada. Sleeping indoors pretty much every night, having a good dinner with interesting people and showering every day. Not the life we are used to, but we appreciate it. The plan now is to meet up with Jordan and Mike, the bikers from Arizona that we met in Nebraska. Jordan has a cabin on an island just 140km east from here, so we’ll probably arrive there in two days and spend a couple of nights there. Really looking forward to that!

Now: dinner and a dip in our host families hot tub.
See ya!

The final day in Chicago was spent walking around on the streets as tourists. Going up in John Hancock building, drinking tea at cafés and walking along the river. We spent the evening eating an excellent dinner that Bill made for us and watching a movie.
The following day we, Bill and Kim biked along lake Michigan, into Indiana, and through Gary (USA:s second most dangerous city. We survived. Barely.). At the end of the day we ended up at Bill’s friend Ken and Curt’s cabin. There we enjoyed a warm shower, a tasty dinner and plenty of beer, wine and whiskey. We ended the day in the outdoor hot tub before we fell asleep in the comfy beds. The following morning we had breakfast and said goodbye to Bill before we and Kim continued to head east into Ohio. Thanks Bill, Ken and Curt for your amazing hospitality!

In Ohio we spent one night by a lake where we had beer, candy, pizza and of course a dip in the lake. We slept on a raft in the water, under a clear sky. A sweet place. The next night we slept under the stars behind a church which wasn’t to bad either! It was really nice to have Kim with us. Even though we like each other (most of the time) it’s nice with someone new to talk to! The days were really hot though, and we took long lunch breaks to avoid the worst heat.

The next day we reached Cedar Point, a massive theme park in Sandusky. We got there late Thursday night and tried to check in at their camping lot. When they refused, cause it’s a non-tent camping (idiots!), we cursed them and went to Thank God It’s Friday and ate while trying to figure something out. At the restaurant Christian started to feel really sick, which was probably due to the heat that day. We ate fast and decided to camp at another camp spot a few miles away. It was now 11pm and we were really tired, and Christian felt and looked really sick. When everything feels like shit u can bet that Murphy’s law will apply. First Christofer got a flat tire, then we got pulled over by the police for biking on a road that we couldn’t bike on. When we finally got to the camp spot it was way after midnight and we wanted to crash. Because it was incredibly hot we didn’t raise the tents, but tried to sleep under the stars. Bad idea. The place was filled with mosquitoes that liked our Swedish blood. We raised the tents and tried to sleep in there instead. Because of the heat we were sweating like crazy and couldn’t fall asleep, and at 2am Christian started vomiting. A few hours later he felt a bit better and we crashed in our tents at about 4am, soaked in sweat. A wonderful evening!

The next morning we checked into a hotel, had breakfast and then went to Cedar Point! First Christian thought about staying home, but when it was time to leave he felt better, so he joined us. He felt a bit sick during the day, but managed to ride a couple of roller coasters. Cedar Point was awesome, and when we got back to the hotel the clock was 10pm, and we opened a bottle of wine, ate some chips and made ourselves comfortable in our beds. And then we slept. Hard and long. With air con and without mosquitos!

The next day we went to the theme park again, but Kim had to go home, so we said goodbye to her before she biked away. Her last day on bike. We left our bikes at the hotel and took a taxi to the theme park. Our second day at Cedar Point was amazing. We pretty much rode all the roller coasters, and the best one by far was top thrill dragster. From 0 to 190km/h in four seconds is awesome! When the day was over we hitchhiked back to the hotel. A mother with three young girls picked us up and drove us back. Thanks girls! Back at the hotel we jumped up on our bikes, biked for a mile and then slept next to the road. Also this night was terrible. Humidity, heat and heaps of mosquitos. When we woke up we were soaked in sweat and our skin filled with bites. Nice.

The following days we biked along lake Erie and managed to find sleeping spots without mosquitos, and two days ago there was a big storm that made the humidity a lot easier to handle. Last night we set camp at a public beach, and before we went to sleep six young girls started talking to us, and promised us breakfast the following morning. We didn’t really believe them, but hoped for the best. After an episode of Game of Thrones we fell asleep, sleeping on huge rocks next to the water. A really nice spot.

The following morning we woke up to the voices of six young girls who came with hot coffee and Doritos, and soon after the mother of two of the girls came with more breakfast to eat! Thanks Kylee, Tamara, Kayla, Lizzy, Deangela, Freya and Renee!

Soon after the breakfast it started to rain, so we took our stuff and biked to mcdonalds where we are now, waiting for the rain to stop. When it stops we will bike to Kim’s parents house in Dunkirk where we’ll celebrate fourth of July tomorrow! It’s gonna be awesome.