WHO ARE WE? LET US TELL YOU!
TRAVEL AS A FAMILY
MOM KATRINE, DAD JAKOB AND OUR TWO GIRLS, SOFIE & LÆRKE
More Time to Be…
WHO ARE WE?
We are a Danish family, who want to explore the world with our kids! We started out in January 2020 in the Philippines, but from august 2020 until… well, some point in 2021, we are planning to travel around Europe in our van, and with our mountainbikes joining us.
We are so very fortunate that both Katrine and Jakob are able to take a leave from their respective employments, so the jobs will be waiting, when we get back.
Our lovely home in Aarhus has been rented out until August 2021, so we have to stay in our van Molly until that 😉
WHY THIS THEN?
Where to go with your mountainbike? There are numerous trails all around Europe (and Denmark), but
definitely not all of these are made for kids! We want to explore different trails and see, if we can find
those, who are also interesting for children. Whether the kids are on their own bikes, or they are just
having fun in the surroundings, we could use this information as parents, so now we have decided to
bring you that information.
But the blog will be much more than this. How is it to travel with kids? And how is to travel with
hyperactive parents, who are always looking for the next trail? Can we unite our interest for mountain
biking with our interest for traveling? Sure we can. But can we bring our children into that equation and
still unite all of our interests and needs? We hope so…
BTW, the three letters ‘MTB’ can be seen as so much more than being short for mountainbike. In our case
they could mean: Man, wife and kids Travels with Bikes or: Molly Travels with Bikes and family or the most important one: More Time to Be
So for each chapter in our lives, it could mean something different, but there is no doubt that mountain
biking is going to be a huge part of this site!
KATRINE
Hi my name is Katrine, or Kat, as most of my friends call me.
When I was a kid, my parents often said – you have 2 gears, either you run around or you sleep 😉
I’m no professional mountainbiker, but I love it and I’ve been doing it on and off for 13 years.
I used to love riding fast and didn’t feel I’ve been out, before I felt the taste of blood in my mouth 
Getting older (not wiser) I have come to enjoy just riding for the fun of it – even the more downhill and technical elements are becoming my friend. I have often said things like: “I’ll never ride a 29″ or use flats” – and many more statements like that – Jakob can confirm that 
Now I ride 29″ with flats and love everything about it. So I’m quite the politician – I have an opinion, until I have a new one.
Besides MTB I’m a big fan of hot Inferno Pilates, yoga, skiing and just sports in general. I also love relaxing (hense the two gears), a great cup of coffee, white wine, sushi and dhal.
I’m a peoples person, and I find all kinds of people interesting – where are they from? What’s their story? I believe that curiosity and an open mind will get you far in this world.
I went to Greenland in 2018, and that experience did something to me – it made me want to be closer to nature, and so here we go…
When I’m not pursuing this dream, I work as a health and movement consultant in the second largest municipality of Denmark – it’s called Aarhus. I have worked with devoloping movement and movement skills among children age 0-18, and right now I’m the project manager of Movement for Life, Aarhus.
I have a saying that I like to use “kompetence knubs” which translates badly, so I’m looking for a good sentence – hit me if you have one. I believe that kids need to use themselves and learn by trying. Climbing a tree offers so much learning. We have become too afraid that children will hurt themselves that we have deprived frem doing many of those things – like climbing trees (high trees) and riding bikes at an early age. I believe (and PhD Ellen Beate Sandseter agrees) that children will only go as high, as they can manage, and exploring that and feeling the rush when it’s a bit dangerous will make them stronger both mentally and physically.
MTB facts and my recommendations:
I ride a Santa Cruz Tallboy – it is without a doubt the best mountainbike experience, I have ever had – that bike upped my game by 200%
My favourite mountainbike area in Denmark is Silkeborg – it offers tracks for everybody, and the scenery is absolutely stunning.
For a weekend getaway I would recommend Slettestrand. We had our wedding there last year. It offers great tracks, technical elements and you can end the stay with a dip in wild westcoast ocean. They offer great organic and local food all topped with a family feeling that is very special
JAKOB
The Father of the family and probably also the most enthusiastic mountainbiker, although the others are getting closer 😉
I work as a teacher at a Danish Folk High School, which is a place, where the students (around age 18-22) come to do a lot of sports and to be social with the other students. So my job is to teach a various kind of activities – not too bad when you love being active…
I love all sorts of sports, but I am the most happy and calm, when I am in nature. So trail running, climbing, snowboarding and, of course, mountainbiking are the activities, I enjoy the most.
I am not much into competing, and I am not into “training”, because I am not training to compete in anything, if that makes sense. I ride my bike, because I really enjoy it, and as a bonus, I stay fit – but even better – I stay balanced… Neither Katrine or I can live without doing sports. It is our way of staying balanced and mentally fit.
I really like all trails, when it comes to mountainbiking, but I am starting to enjoy going downhill more and more. The thing is, though, that we have no lift-supported areas in Denmark, and we also really have no mountains. So the longest downhill stretch in Denmark is about 1,5 kilometers – and therefore I am really looking forward to explore the mountains around Europe.
My Hightower LT is perfect for this! The 150mm of travel is a bit much for most Danish trails, but it is just perfect for bigger days in the European mountains – I rarely need more, since I am not a full blown downhiller.
SOFIE
Sofie was born a beautiful day in the beginning of February of 2013.
She came into the world with no rush, and so she continued her life – never in a rush but with a creative mind and a walk that makes any gymnastics coach envy.
Loves people but has grown to be more concious about who she lets in – you need to earn her trust.
LÆRKE
Lærke was born in April 2015 and so is two years younger than Sofie.
She does not see it that way… What Sofie can do, Lærke can do – according to herself. She is the mood spreader of the family and always makes people laugh. She has a warm heart and gives compliments to everyone – including herself.
Because Sofie is strong and agile as an Olympian, we tend to forget about Lærke’s abilities, but in reality she is probably just as strong and definitely more stubborn…
