Monthly Archives: November 2017

THE TRIO

To most of you who’ll ever find your way into this little corner of cyber space I’m a girl whose story begins and ends with her Swedish butt glued to a bike saddle. Forcing deserts for breakfast and crossing mountain ranges like most do zebra crossings. At home nowhere, and everywhere. Happy on her own or even happier in the company of strangers who’ve just become her friends or even family.

While those mountains – actual and metaphorical – generally involve a world of effort more than you get to see here, I guess that’s all true today. It’s been a long time now since this truly became my life. However. What all of this isn’t – is my story.

On the hour one week ago I was making it into Bern, Switzerland and I couldn’t keep my hands from trembling. Rolling down the perfectly paved bike path my heart was pounding like if someone’d told it I’d made a wrong turn and suddenly ended up at the peak of Mt. Blanc.

I hadn’t.

This drumroll inside my chest was bigger than lack of oxygen. Because I’d finally made it back to what I left behind all those moons and million pedal strokes ago. I was about to reunite with – that’s right – my story.

It’s funny how life, and perhaps even more so time, works. How many lifetimes three years can be. How those few seconds following the knock of a door can be even longer. And how when it finally opens, literally 60 seconds are enough to cry, hug, laugh and love everything back to right where it was once left off.

When we were 15 years old Olivia, Marie and I were 3 random teenagers in a random school in a random town in the woods of Sweden. Bored, insecure and just as clueless as only 15-year-olds stuck in a too small of a town with too much snow can be. Like everyone we each had our shit. But also – most importantly – we had each other. And we wrote our story together.

Parents. Boys. (JHV). Teachers. Coaches. School hall assholes. They would all fall short. Not because they couldn’t get to us. But because taking on the world together our side was stronger than theirs. Our heartbreaks would be mended. Our failures forgotten. Our secrets would be kept. And our teenage lie alibies 100% bullet proof. Perhaps best of all our jokes would be laughed at – hysterically, endlessly and with absolutely zero relation to how (not at all) funny they actually were.

Isn’t it curious how time can stand still when you’re 15? How you’ve already checked the clock 4 times in the last minute and still can’t believe that the late afternoon biology class hasn’t already ended. How you let gravity win the battle against your eyelids and silently drowse off for the last little bit of it.

And then suddenly wake up 26.

In Bern. After having ridden a freaking bicycle around the world and back? Sitting in what is now supposed to be Olivia’s Swiss living room? With her 8-month-old son in the lap?? You look around and all you ever knew is gone. Except the feeling of living hand in hand with those two good old best friends. Continuously laughing at the jokes that if anything have become even worse during the decade the calendar tells us has passed.

Life sure is a peculiar thing.

To most of you I’ll still be that Swedish butt glued to a bike saddle. Forcing deserts for breakfast and crossing mountain ranges like most do zebra crossings. At home nowhere, and everywhere. Happy on her own or even happier in the company of strangers who’ve just become her friends or even family. And I’m happy to be that for you – because it’s who I am.

Happiest though, am I to be something else entirely for YOU. And I love you endlessly for blessing me with a life big enough for both.

We praise people who go chasing their dreams these days. For those who reach them we see their rewards in endless social media feeds and self-bloated blog posts. What we don’t see though, is what and who is no longer there. We don’t see the permanent heartbreak, doubt and guilt of endless one-sided sacrifice. Mostly I think because I’m not the only one who as a pure defence mechanism, so rarely even see it for myself.

I love you. I know that you know it already. And I know that you don’t feel the need to always understand. Still – I LOVE YOU. And I truly wish I had the words I would like to give you.

Thank you for the best week in a million years. If you guys only knew.

Now..

Where in the world does one continue from here..?

Until next time,

Fredrika

By |November 26th, 2017|Uncategorized|

Leaves Falling Autumn Calling

Some of you who already follow me on Instagram or Facebook might already have seen this. Most of you probably haven’t. Regardless – take the few seconds to read the lines of this post from a few days ago. Because they’re all what this blog entry is about. Actually, they’re all what everything is about.

For you, this is another sort-of-pretty photo to scroll past on the way down your feed. Now let me tell you what this line of trees means to me. _ This is Canal du Midi in fall. I've been here once before. On a bicycle. With colors just as pretty. _ In 2013 I stumbled onto a blog (not too unlike this one) & was introduced to the concept of cycle touring. To the simple idea of heading out to ride your bicycle without returning back home at the end of the day. – Weeks later me & an old friend stood outside Budapest airport. With some time on our hands, 2 crappy bicycles we'd semi-stolen from family members & not a clue in the world of what we were doing. Laughing hysterically. And agreeing on that 'Shit. We really should've brought a map..?' – _ Fast forward a bunch of westward pedal strokes & I was here. Riding below these very trees, hopelessly and irreversibly in love with this life on the road. Secretly playing with then impossible thoughts of the big one. – This dream was born here. Under the long line of trees along Canal du Midi in fall. _ I try to imagine what that girl would've said if someone told her that in 4 years time she'd be back. Following her own tracks in the opposite direction. Heading home. After fulfilling that too-big-to-grasp dream – of riding her bicycle around the world. 🍂🌍

Ett inlägg delat av Fredrika Ek (@thebikeramble)

I’m on my way home.

Never has this felt more overwhelmingly clear than now. Now – when I’m suddenly back where this journey began. Not began as in where it’s first peddle stokes were taken. I’m back where it began – as in where that first grain of an idea silently took form in the head of a young Swedish girl, so endlessly clueless of the life changing snowball she was about to set in motion.

The air is crisp and fall has never been more beautiful. Someone told me the colours of the leaves match my jacket. Maybe. More than anything though, they match my inside.

Because for the very first time – am I now at peace with having reached the autumn of this ride.

To answer the one question I’m receiving more than any other these days:

No. My life will never be the same again. But then again… That was never the point.

This post ends up being both late and short. I’ll let you in on all the how come’s as soon as possible, though for now I intend to stay 100% present on the cloud 9 on which I’m currently floating. To write about the most beautiful parts of life, one first has to live them. Now if you’ll excuse me – I’ll go right back to doing just that.

Greetings from Bern, Switzerland.

Until next time,

Fredrika

By |November 20th, 2017|Europe, Travel Logs|

Star Aligning & Coin Flipping

Happy Sunday!

Can you believe we’ve reached the final destination of yet another week? In last Sunday’s blog post I left it to you lot to decide what story you wanted told, out of a whole bunch of options.

And the verdict was clear.

My intention was to shoot you a bonus blog post, telling this tale already days ago. I was excited about it too, as it so happens to be a good one. Then – as it does – life happened. And it’d be a shame to go all throwbacky and not even let you know about it.

Let’s do like this.

Someday soon, from somewhere not too far away – I’ll jot down the lines from this absurd Alice in Wonderland inspired camp night experience on the Spanish countryside. It really is too randomly hilarious to be forgotten.

And for now – get you guys a quick real time update on what has been and is going on in the universe of this bike ride around the world. Just yet it’s not really, but more and more frequently I’m smacked over the head with the realisation that this adventure of a lifetime is rapidly closing in on it’s final act.

So. Where am I at?

Since late Friday evening – the answer is simple.



I just woke up in France. Just outside Narbonne to exact.

The past week’s rush up the Spanish Mediterranean was swift. The (way too) few magical days of rest and reunions in Barcelona were out of this world. The temperatures are sinking by the kilometer and I’ve finally admitted to myself that summer is now 100% replaced by long johns. And the life I’m blessed to be living has rarely felt this beautiful.

Soon enough you’ll hear about the whats and whys around this. Though for now all you need to know is that I’m headed for Bern, Switzerland. And literally I can’t get there fast enough. Please send me a thought from time to time, and let’s keep our fingers crossed for that for next week’s blog post I’ll join you from there.

Wight this moment I’m about to throw myself into the terribly stubborn autumn headwind that has kept me company for the past days.

But first I figured I would still leave you with a small camp night tale. This one taking place on the evening and night of yesterday. As our paths crossed I randomly met up with swedish-blog-reader-kickass-girl Julia, currently well on her way to conquer Europe on her first big solo tour.

I’ll leave a few photos, but will let her tell the story.

Make yourself a favor by not missing this one. Surely it has happened before that two people come together to randomly share a windy camp night together. A girl deciding to leave her entire faith to the flip of a coin though – isn’t one to ignore. Espeacially not when that coin redirects her destiny to Africa.

Julia’s blog post: Flip the Coin


Photo: Julia Olah

Julia. Sending all strenght and good vibes your way. Summer’s around the corner, Morocco is the best and I absolutely know you’ll smash it.

Tailwinds Sister! You got this.


Photo: Julia Olah

Now. I’m getting my ass to Switzerland.

Until next time,

Fredrika

By |November 12th, 2017|Europe, Travel Logs|

Casual Cliffhanging

Now – how’s that for a sunrise?

It’s another early Sunday and once again it’s time for this little slice of the internet to cough up yet a new blog post. One that after a few failed attempts of writing it, will take on a bit of a different shape than most. Sometimes there simply aren’t enough characters.

You’re in for a string of photos from the past week. Random snapshots from the road – or a lot more than that. It’s up to you this time :-) Out of the million little side plots that constitute my rolling life I always struggle with choosing which tiny fraction of it to share with you each week.

This time I’ll be sneaky enough to let you take on the decision making for me!

Each one of the photos below marks the beginning, middle or end of a beautiful / spooky / hilarious / too-random-to-be-true story that I would love to share with you. Scroll carefully now – and have a look to see if one of them might spark your imagination.

So. If there is one – which of these tales would you say is worth bringing to life also outside the covers of my journal? Let me know in the comments. And keep your eyes open the bonus blog post coming up in a few days!

Until next time,

Fredrika

P.S

Someone once told me a decent cliffhanger is proven to extend the average persons life with a good 20 minutes. You can thank me later :-)

By |November 5th, 2017|Europe, Travel Logs|