Gravel, Mosquitoes & Reindeer - Bikepacking Lapland

Join me on my first adventure of the bikepacking season. A 3 day gravel bikepacking trip deep in the forest of Swedish Lapland.

[@BikeTouringMike]

By the way, Ryan has just released the first installment of his trip here in Sweden. If you haven't watched it yet, you're in for a treat. Go watch it at kzbin.info/www/bejne/d3_aY52ijdSJbZY

[@JohnMFlores]

I like the quiet mood of this video. Thank you

[@BikeTouringMike]

Glad you enjoyed the video!

[@user-vh1sh1xl5k]

Birds' singing is REALLY cool! Glory to the Creator of Lapland! Great camera work, thank you, Mike!

[@chrisbailey2861]

Beautiful!!!! That's all I can say....simply beautiful. 😊

[@johnleenane4571]

Thanks Mike, enjoyed it as always👍

[@BikeTouringMike]

Thank you John!

[@wolframgarten4365]

Good to know that I am not the only one to search through all paniers when looking for certain parts of the equipment.. ;-) Thanks, nice video!

[@BikeTouringMike]

Haha! You're not alone!

[@livingsimplytosimplylive6817]

I haven’t even started watching the video but I’m so glad that you’re posting again. I know life gets in the way and that KZbinrs do need to take a break so I appreciate the break that was given and I am glad you’re back.

[@BikeTouringMike]

Thank you for understanding! Yeah, it's tricky trying to juggle everyday life, work and family obligations with producing videos. Hopefully I'll be able to be more consistent for a while. I have a lot of videos line up.

[@franknobody5965]

So glad that you are back!!

[@BikeTouringMike]

Thank you Frank!

[@simonwiltshire]

Thankyou mike, i enjoy all your vídeos they are so well put together.

[@BikeTouringMike]

Thank you! Glad you enjoy watching them.

[@7654321asdq]

That Kona looks like a great winter bike too

[@nathanmace3936]

Duzer sent me! Subscribed!

[@BikeTouringMike]

Welcome to the channel!

[@Torsan1977]

Ahhh, that sound of bike tires on gravel is so nice. 😊

[@BikeTouringMike]

Yes! I enjoy riding on gravel more and more. And it's a treat sitting down with your headphones on editing the videos when I get back home.

[@grafo8536]

Ďakujeme.

[@BikeTouringMike]

Thank you! Very kind of you.

[@harrygrimley4352]

Hello mike. New subscriber. This was beautiful. Thanks for sharing this with us. I like your relaxed style. Ive been following Ryan's adventures for a few years now. Looking forward to seeing more of Sweden.

[@BikeTouringMike]

Welcome to the channel. Glad you enjoyed the video!

[@jjthiessen5631]

Hi from Cochrane, Alberta, Canada. Found you a few months ago through Ryan's channel and I've really enjoyed catching up on all your videos. All the background info you provide on the areas you're travelling through is interesting and your videos are very relaxing , so thank you!

[@BikeTouringMike]

Thank you for the feedback! Glad to hear you've enjoyed watching the videos.

[@reeceholmes8546]

thanks Mike, as usual some beautiful shots of Sweden, will be cool to meet up with Ryan, great stuff

[@BikeTouringMike]

Olé, olé, olé!

[@reeceholmes8546]

@@BikeTouringMike HAHA thanks Mike

[@PumpkinVillage]

What beautiful country and can't wait to see you next video too. Thanks for the video and take care, Al

[@BikeTouringMike]

Thank you Al! Glad you enjoyed it.

[@dougfinch452]

Great to see you back Mike!

[@BikeTouringMike]

Thank you!

[@Rlaplante73]

I always look forward to your next video. What a great job you do with various camera angles, sights and sounds, soft background music selections at times, etc. Such a beautiful country. Blessings Mike!

[@BikeTouringMike]

Thank you! This one took a little bit of time, especially with the audio and music selections. Glad that you enjoyed it and thanks for the feedback!

[@Gianingiro]

Hi Michael, your videos are always amazing. Last month, finally free from commitments, we had a beautiful 4-week tandem trip in southern Sweden. From Trelleborg to Kalmar along the coast, then from Färjestaden we went around the island of Öland and back to Kalmar we returned to Trelleborg passing through Nybro, Tingsryd, Kristianstad and Sjöbo for a total of 1151 km in Sweden. For the first time we have exceeded 1000 km of tandem travel. We have seen beautiful places and met wonderful people. I took many photos and some videos that I still have to prepare. We wish you a good summer and see you soon with new videos. Giancarlo e Cristina

[@BikeTouringMike]

So wonderful to hear from you Giancarlo & Christina! And to hear that you visited my country. I hope you were here before the weather changed for the worse, so you got a good impression of Sweden. Lately we've had lots of rain and cold temperatures for the season. Only about 15C during the day. But I guess it's better that the heat that you've had in Italy. I saw that Rome had over 40C for a couple of days. Has it been as bad in Bergamo? Looking forward to seing your videos when you put them on KZbin. Ciao!

[@edlaws6867]

Good to see you back in the saddle Mike. Those reindeer always look drunk to me when they’re trotting along. A wise man told me that red wine vinegar on the skin keeps mosquitoes away, gotta be worth a try. Can’t wait to watch the videos with Ryan, the EDT looks epic. Love to the family, Ed

[@BikeTouringMike]

Great to hear from you Ed! So here's the thing. Sometimes it doesn't matter what you use as a weapon against them, repellant, thermacell and son on. When I filmed this video they were bareable. I got bitten about about a hundred times, and scratched my legs every day for the remainder of the week. But as I said, they were still bareable. The next week however, when I met Ryan, I wasn't even able to film with my camera, it was so bad. I've never experienced mosquitoes like that. And I'm pretty used to them. It's going to be funny watching Ryan's next couple of videos, and his opinion of them. Stay tuned ;-)

[@alafenetre81]

Nice to see a new video! It's great that you put a maximum of ambient sounds, I love to hear the nature, and the Swedish nature is my favourite :-)

[@BikeTouringMike]

Thanks for noticing! I've put a lot of time into getting the sound just right for this one. Had to sacrifice myself for the mosquitoes a couple of times to record some nature sounds. But I hope it's worth the while in the end.

[@alafenetre81]

@@BikeTouringMike It's very immersive, relaxing.

[@yanlap2183]

another great trip 👍

[@BikeTouringMike]

Thank you!

[@sureshchinnappa2290]

Great to see you again mate!

[@BikeTouringMike]

Thanks!

[@frankcaputzal5643]

A great trip!! Most of it was gravel riding !! Good for you !!

[@BikeTouringMike]

Yeah, I think about 90% of that weekend was on gravel. There are so many great gravel roads around here that I have to explore. That's kind of the reason that I bought this bike. I had toured basically all the paves roads in my area, so I needed to switch things up to find some new inspiration. And I love it! It's a treat sitting down editing these videos, hearing the gravel through my headphones. I'll definitely do more of these types of trips.

[@Scor-ah]

Bugs in the North are bad everywhere. I used to live in Northern Canada and had the same experience trying to do anything outside in June. Looks like you cope fairly well😂

[@tonysegadelli9421]

Earlier today I checked to see if my Notifications had been removed on your channel Great to see you again

[@BikeTouringMike]

Everything is probably working as it should, it's just that's I've been a bit lazy editing the video's for the last couple of month's that's all... My bad!

[@FollowThomas]

I just happened to find your channel, looks so peaceful. Are you from Sweden or just bike touring there? I'm from Estonia but live and bike touring here in Florida and up nort at this time of year.Take care and enjoy your bikepacking tour.👍

[@BikeTouringMike]

Hi Thomas! Glad you found my channel! Yes, I do live in Skellefteå where I ended this short tour. Skellefteå is located on the coast of the Bothninan bayand is a part of Swedish Lapland, but I often like to take a bus up to the real Lapland to get away from everything and just be be immersed in nature.

[@pavlosioannides9316]

Great video Mike! Beautiful scenery. Sweden is a beautiful country! Mosquitos seem to be a problem over there!!😀😀It would be nice to make a short video about your new bicycle. Thanks!

[@BikeTouringMike]

I'll make a video about it soon. I have already filmed one, where I'm unpacking the bike and setting it up. But I'm thinking of scrapping that one and do one about my impressions after riding about 1000 km on it instead.

[@pavlosioannides9316]

Thanks Mike! You have always been a geat inspiration!!

[@alanhanley9515]

Looking forward to your chanting of "no slammies, no whammies etc" when you meet Ryan....

[@BikeTouringMike]

And a bunch of "ole, ole, ole's" as well!

[@Jamie.S.]

Great to see you back Mike. Always love your videos. What happened to the last video of North Cape series? Seems the last one is missing.

[@BikeTouringMike]

They (there are three videos) are coming. Probably after these next couple of videos when I'm riding with Ryan. Sorry about that.

[@Jamie.S.]

All good mate just thought one was missed or something. Looking forward to seeing them. Oh and the bike, is it a Unit X, looking forward to that video as well. 👍👍

[@dmncwlk]

Great video! Do buses in northern Sweden take bikes?

[@sorlindquist]

Härligt film! Vilken cykel kör du med i detta avsnitt?

[@BikeTouringMike]

Tack! Det är min nya Kona Unit X. Det kommer nog en recension här rätt snart. Men överlag är jag väldigt nöjd med den än så länge.

[@klasjansson5814]

👍

[@harryapriyato2610]

Hi, Mike… have you ever met Darren Alff again in 2023?

[@BikeTouringMike]

No, unfortunately I haven't seen or spoken to him for quite a while now.

[@kevinstephens2980]

Hi Mike, worth the wait. Hopefully in Sweden beginning of September, do you know if i can rap my bike in thick plastic bag from Stockholm arlanda airport?

[@BikeTouringMike]

I guess it depends on which airline you're flying with. But SAS and Norwegian will allow it. My ti is to contact the airline and ask ahead of time.

[@kevinstephens2980]

Thanks, can't wait to see some of your lovely country and hopefully not too many mosquitos.

[@BikeTouringMike]

Haha! Go and watch Ryan's next couple of video's and you'll see lots of them. No, but seriously, if you're here in September you're in luck. There won't be any mosquitoes around.

[@bolleolympus]

👍👍❤❤😊😊👌👌

[@BikeTouringMike]

Thank you!

[@Chris-wj4ze]

"Järvträsk". That's a funny name. I think that means "wolverine swamp" (no Google translate cheating.)

[@BikeTouringMike]

Correct!

[@madaprak]

What is that anti mosquito device you used while setting up your tent? Do you use repellent?

[@davidwpinkston4226]

need an episode on your new bike

[@BikeTouringMike]

I'm probably going to do that one pretty soon. I've filmed when I got it and set it up, but I'm not sure that will be a video that I'll release. I've ridden about 1000 km on it so far, so I figure I might do a video about my impressions of it so far instead. What do you think?

[@DeTomaso2001]

@@BikeTouringMike As much detail as possible would be great. I know that its different entirely to your touring bike but it would be good to know how you feel they compare. e.g Could you use it for most of your typical tours? Great video, thank you. Lots of work involved in putting these films together. much appreciated.

[@kelvingrover4043]

Can you make a video of the ALL the gear you use update version please thank you from the Pacific northwest thank you

[@BikeTouringMike]

I've actually already filmed that video. Just have to edit it. It will be out in the coming weeks.

[@mauritzallberg7302]

Why not the video to alta, your travel to north cape??

[@BikeTouringMike]

It's coming up, just wanted to get this one out first. Sorry about the videos being a bit out of order.

What bike do you use in this video? How long have you had it and are you pleased with it?

[@BikeTouringMike]

It's a Kona Unit X. Got it for this season. Have ridden about 1000 km on it, and I am very pleased with it so far. Will do a review of it in a couple of weeks.

How is not having front suspension working out? Pros/cons? :)

[@BikeTouringMike]

@PerNissila I thought it was going to be a little bumpy, but it's quite the opposite. The wide tires take up all the unevenness, so I didn't really feel a difference compared to my hardtail. But then again I wasn't going on the most technical trails either.

@@BikeTouringMike do you adjust the tire pressure when going on long paved roads vs gravel roads?