Were the bikes always this heavy?

This photo, taken this morning in our friends Marko and Jasmina's staircase, marks the beginning of the last leg of our journey. We have five days (or five and a half if it's an emergency) to cycle across Sweden, from Gothenburg to Stockholm. It should be a completely realistic timetable but somehow our legs felt especially heavy when we carried out the bikes this morning.

It's never easy to leave the company of friends and their soft couch - and maybe we're even starting to feel a tiny bit tired of the constant change of scenery after a month on the road...