The summer I got my freedom back

this post is a sponsored collaboration with FitNord & Sportproffsen

This summer I started collaborating with a brand that gave me my freedom back. Ever since our move back in November I had felt a bit trapped and isolated. Not from people necessarily. But from nature. I missed having a big forest 5 minutes from my house. Getting outside with my camera had become a bigger hurdle and so I mostly stayed home, cooped up inside.

Then one day I stumbled upon FitNord on Instagram. A Finnish brand that makes electric mountain bikes (and other models of bicycles). I don’t drive, and I thought – maybe this is what I need? A sustainable way to go further, faster? I found a Swedish retailer, Sportproffsen, and decided to contact them, describing my love for nature, sustainability and working with Scandinavian brands – values I was not surprised to hear they shared.

And so, a wonderful collaboration began, and I am free again. I can get to where I want to, when I want to. I can zoom into town or flow through fields and forests. My camera is always at the ready in the bag on my handlebar. It’s such a sustainable way for me to get to work and because my bike helps me out, I can arrive to a meeting, photoshoot or hike without being sweaty and exhausted, saving my energy for the job ahead of me.

Because I do so much of my work in the forest, and Sundsvall is a city with loads of hills, I decided to get a full suspension mountain bike. The FitNord Ranger 700FS in black. Doesn’t it look sharp? What a wonderful work vehicle!

Now I love to bike, and so even though the bike has 5 assist modes, I mostly use mode 0-3, being very efficient with the modes and what gear I am in. The other day when I headed into town for work, it was a lovely 30 minute bike ride and when I arrived I had 98% battery. I am mostly on 1, and in some hills going up I switch to mode 2. Really steep ones or if I am tired I will go to mode 3. Down hill I go to 0. It did not take me long to get into switching modes, and it comes as naturally as shifting gears now.

For the most part the city is not where we go, but we head to the forest together. To take photos, pick blueberries and forage for mushrooms. Because it’s a full suspension mountain bike I can take it wherever I please and that freedom is priceless to me. It allows me to head into the forest on tiny, rocky trails and because of it’s strong motor I know it can help me get up hills or carry loads of photography gear with ease. It has enabled me to go explore new places, and further away. It also let’s me be spontaneous and flexible: If I notice it’s a beautiful sunset, fog rolling in or something else that is spectacular – I can quickly head into to nature to capture it. I am the complete opposite of stuck.

I bike almost everyday now and I feel so happy. Something I had lost is found again.