Gravel fondo with an American

[GravelSachs]

Hello all,

I am coming from Kansas to Stockholm from June 14 to July 2. My sister has been living in Sweden for a year and a half; my family is visiting to attend her wedding party.

I am bringing my Felt F3x cyclocross bike with me. I would like to do shorter rides within the city and surrounding area, as well as a longer ride of at least 200km through the countryside. I have in mind taking a train or bus North to Uppsala, Gävle or somewhere in between and riding back to Stockholm, using as many small country roads and gravel or dirt roads as possible. I am used to racing in endurance events on US Midwest countryside gravel roads such as the Dirty Kanza 200 mile so experiencing this side of Sweden is very appealing to me.

My sister’s wedding party is June 16 and she plans to take us on a sailboat camping trip the following weekend, so my long ride will likely be during the weekend of June 30-July 1 or perhaps a weekday in between. I am looking for advice for such a ride as well as potential riding companions for it and the shorter rides. Any help would be much appreciated; for example, I have heard that taking bikes on trains in Sweden is restricted but don’t know the fine details.

Thank you all for your consideration and I look forward to meeting members of the Swedish adventure cycling community!

Cheers,
Ben Sachs

 

[GoranS]

Except during rush hours, 6.00-9.00 and 15.00-18.00 on week days, you are allowed to take your bicycle on the commuter trains. With these you can travel to Uppsala. However, you are not allowed to get on or off the trains with a bicycle at the Stockholm City train station, so you’ll have travel from the station at Odenplan (just a couple of kilometers away so it is no major issue). It does not cost anything extra to bring your bicycle on these trains.

In Uppsala, you’ll have to change trains to Upptåget. They run quite frequently to Gävle and there are two designated places on each train where you can place your bike. As I understand it, these places cannot be booked. Rather it is a first come first serve rule that applies. You need to pay a fee for the bike. That fee is paid on the train and you need to pay with a card.

 

[mmmrrrr]

An alternative could be to take the train south to Södertälje, ride south to Trosa on mostly gravel, and then north back to Stockholm, over Mörkö. Should be able to find a path there that's mostly gravel and about 200 km, will have a look in the evening.

 

[GoranS]

Generally, I would say that taking the commuter train to get out at least 20 kilometers, or preferably a bit more, from central Stockohlm will help you avoid some navigation problems if you ride by yourself. Also, the first part when riding out from central Stockholm is not much fun from a cycling persepctive.

There is a schematic map of the commuter train lines on https://sl.se/ficktid/karta/vinter/Ptag.pdf For the northern lines, I would recommand going at least to Sollentuna or Barkarby (depending on which line you chose). Then you can ride up over Järvafältet (the red-marked area) and continue to the north.

Or, perhaps even better, go to Kungsängen or Upplands Väsby where you will be out in the countryside for real within a few kilometers from the train stations.

If going south, I would recommend going at least to Handen, but preferably down to Västerhaninge, if going on the line to Nynäshamn. As for the other southern line, a previosu post mentioned Södertälje, which would certainly be a good starting point. Also, cycling southe from Tullinge should be possible. Personally, I mainly ride my bike on paved roads, but I have been out walking quite a bit south of Stockholm and there are numerous gravel roads that I think would be ideal for a cyclocross bike.

 

[konstruktören]

Dalkarlsvägen is an old trail from Dalarna to Stockholm

www.dalkarlsvagen.se

 

[Bikzz]

Or try this service. http://roadfinder.se/ If you zoom in you can see all small roads, if not colored it´s gravel, but probably not 100% correct.

 

[GravelSachs]

Wow, it looks like I found the right forum! Thanks everyone for some excellent help figuring out the logistics of this route. Now, is anyone interested in riding with me?

 

[emilh]

Welcome to Stockholm!

There are lots of great gravel roads around and it looks live you've gotten some good advice already.
I'd recommend that you check out the local gravel riding oriented Facebook group "Stockholms Explorer Klubben" https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=880977108685392 for more.

Here are some routes south and west of Stockholm, not quite 200km though:
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/25706547
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/25267332

If you take the commuter train to Östertälje you can also ride the route of the 200k Gravel Brevet taking place in September.
It's roughly 75% gravel: http://www.gpsies.com/map.do?fileId=kgsatnpldjusvxva

I'd love to show you around but will be out of town the weekend you had in mind.

 

[emilh]

Another tip if you want to make your own routes and really want to stick to gravel roads Trafikverket (Swedish DOT) has a mapping service that allows you to see road surface materials.
The interface is a bit clunky and only in Swedish, but none the less you can find it here: https://nvdb2012.trafikverket.se/SeTransportnatverket

Set the options according to this screen shot and you'll see sealed roads in red and gravel roads in green:

 

[Stumpy]

Not 200 km, but nice gravel roads south of Stockholm.
Tour de Retard

 

[GravelSachs]

Thank you!

I’ve been getting a lot of good advice. This will make for a nice half day ride.

 

[tuta]

I might be up for some ride on the south side of Stockholm, like the "Retard". I'll bring my F1x. :) I can't guaantee that I'll be available but you can always shoot me a PM and we can see if it works out.