When you look back on your journey, what were the toughest parts?

“I think the toughest part was to be by myself almost all the time. That included managing everything that needed to be done every day for 30 days: navigation, planning, booking, and ensuring that I had enough food and drinks for the whole day. I couldn’t bring much stuff, so I had to find stops along the way. Coffee shops or gas stations were the kinds of places I used to stop at. I had good help from Google Maps and Komoot that helped me along the way to find my path along Europe.” 

“Another really challenging thing was pushing myself daily for a long time. I was on skis for 6 or 7 hours per day. I took coffee and lunch breaks, so I was on the skis for a long time every day. My typical day started at 6 or 7 in the morning. Then I used to ski for 2 hours and took a first break. Then I skied again for a few hours until I stopped for a late lunch break. And then I had to make a long push until an ice cream break to be at the hotel pretty late in the evening finally. When I was finally at the hotel, I had to do some washing, the bookings for the next day, get some food…”

“I also had to find the best way to navigate, prepare everything I needed for the day after, take care of my material, give feedback to the media, and post on my social media. It took a lot of time to prepare for the next day, and I needed to rest for the next day. It was tough to find the balance between what I had to do on my bucket list and just resting.” 

On the other hand, what were the parts that you enjoyed the most? 

“I already talked about it, but I really enjoyed the Jura Mountains. I also loved the crossing of Germany with all the good cycling paths when I was following the Rhin River. That made it very easy and not very hilly. Many of those paths were old railroads, so skiing was nice. When I came to Lyon, I followed the Rhone, and it was so nice to be able to ski along two big rivers across Europe.” 

What were the most significant differences between this journey and the crossing of Sweden that you made two years ago?  “There are some differences that I noticed. The first one was the weather. When crossing Sweden, I had 20 days of rain out of 28. For this trip, I had only one day with a bit of rain. Then, I had a tent in Sweden since I could camp everywhere I wanted. And finally, the temperature made a huge difference. In France and Spain, it was hot. I’ve been suffering because of the temperature for the last few weeks. That affected my performance because I had to stop way more often to get extra food and drinks.” 

Do you know how many kilometers and how much time you spend on roller skis? 

“Yes! I have spent more than 153 hours on roller skis for a total of 2336 km.” 

What is the thing that you will remember about this journey? 

“I have to say that I really appreciate being a European traveler. I have been really happy to experience different cities and be able to test drinks or local pastries. That slow traveling was great, and I really felt that Europe is healthy. I think it will be really exciting to follow the European project and the development of the European community.” 

Fredrik Erixon also talked with Langd.se and tells about his future project: 

“In 2025, we have decided to cycle the “Alps in an east-west direction,” from Istanbul to Bordeaux. But next summer is a bit open.” 

Now, Erixon can rest, and if you want to follow his next adventures, you can stay tuned on his Instagram account.