I guess my reader is probably wondering how things went with the red tires and whether that made me look like a goof. Well, two others in my class also had the same red tires so my 'trendsetter' attempt failed. Although I can say that the others had too many other colours in their clothes and on their bike so I still succeeded a bit. Black, red and white do work perfectly together. Add blue to that and you get a bit american.

Unfortunately, all of our feeble style attempts were beaten by a guy in Super Speczial class (sport class). Picture this...silver singlespeed bike and a guy dressed in cycling clothes completely in black (no sponsors or anything, just pure black) and with one of those black BMX helmets. He also had some kind of special dismount technique that was quite spectacular. Yep, this was style!

So I guess strange-coloured socks is the way to go to attract attention. Any suggestions?

Despite the lack of royal visitors, Valhallcrossen was quite the success. I had to fix my brakes yet again before the start so that was a bit of stress I could have done without.

Since I have been having energy problems after 30 min of maxpuls (duh, wonder why???), I did an experiment and took one of those Enervit enervitene liquid gels after my test lap but before starting. This is what they suggest to drink after about 45 min of activity but I thought why not take it a wee bit early. And that strategy was a success!

There were 39 people starting in the veteran class which was quite amazing. The start went pretty much as usual and most took off but by the first hill (the only one, actually) there was a group of 5 of us still together. This course was mostly grass but my red tires worked perfectly in this. In fact, my dismount and jumping over the two obstacles was textbook. And running in the sand was much better than riding today since the sand was long and had a hairpin curve.

(Picture: Henrik Öijer www.cxcupen.se)

So what about those other 4 riders. One I took care of quickly but with the other 3 it was fight all the way. We were jumping positions all the time but I never let them get too far away. To catch them all I needed was a bit of a sprint in the grass. I was passed in the sand once and also in the slalom bit that was up and down a small hill in the field. But in the other parts I could pass and that felt great!

How did it finish, you say? Did my tire fall off? Actually, it didn't. With two laps to go we were getting lapped and I did a bit of a sneaky move and just pretended I was with the faster group. =) The guy realized but by then I had taken off. And the next had no energy left so he was gone. I also had no energy but I saw that they were stopping everyone so we wouldn't need to do the extra lap. So I could give it everything I had now and still finish. I realized this a bit late to pass the next guy but I was pretty damn close.

So, for the first time in CX veteran class I did not finish last among those who actually did finish! 36th place is just fine for me. I am satisfied...

Valhallcrossen is being held on an island near Drottningholm which, of course, is the home of the swedish royal family and is also a lovely place to have an autumn walk.

So now I have to put on a good show for Kungen et al. The problem is that I have a feeling my race will be cut short by one of the following things:
1) My red tires fall off the rims just after I pass the pit area so I will have to run the entire lap to change my wheel.
2) I lose a brake pad and then can't stop which means I fly off the track and into the water.
3) I catch my shorts on something during a dismount which leads to the display of my family jewels. Can I charge admission for this? =)

No matter what happens, I am here for the fun.

I am back now from the centre and there are a few new things but mostly same old same old. And once again I notice that no one will give you any space when walking and no one is paying any attention to where they are going. It is nowhere near this bad in Göteborg...unless you are a fjortis in Nordstan.

Anyway, the only stores that really had anything were Bengans (which is better in Götet) and Pub for their designer departments. Most of the designers I like are from Denmark so coming here for shopping instead of CPH is silly. But to defend Sthlm a bit, it does have some nice parts. But I didn't happen to get to any of those today.

Fredagsmys for me has been a nice sandwich and a cake plus Idol on TV4. Maybe not quite as exciting as gluing but it will do.

It feels a bit strange to drive to Stockholm. After 7 years of living here and driving away from it all the time, even staying in a hotel feels strange. I chose Scandic Foresta which is next to Millesgården on Liiiidiiiingö because the price was great and last year's CX race was close to here. This year they moved the location but this view makes it worthwhile.


So now I am off to the centre to see what has changed since last year. I already know that the traffic is still just as bad and the constant battle between buses and little cars like mine live on...

Although what I should really do is enjoy the gorgeous sunny day and just take a walk along the water instead.

Last night there was a Mölndals CK member meeting and this one was quite lively. Why? Well, we are in the process of designing new uniforms and no one can really make up their mind. Most of the LVG people want completely white uniforms but that doesnt work for anyone in MTB or CX because one muddy race = no more white uniform. So a black option was pushed through with some other kinda cool stripes in MCK colours. Once people stop arguing, I think it will look pretty good since they are designing the whole outfit and not just the shirt.

And some more good news...a plan for setting up a program for MTB since less people are interested in this fine sport for some reason. Maybe it is the white uniforms? Anyway, the proposed plan was to focus on all levels (including old slow adults like me) so maybe I might even have a rival to race in MTB also. At the same time, I hope that this also encourages people to race in their own class and not 'Sportclass' which is still supposed to be for beginners.

Anyway, tonight it is time for another glue party then it is off to Stockholm for CX.

Metro reported that experts fear Volvo will lose its reputation if bought by the Chinese company Geely. It seems that Geely makes cars for bönder.

But what cars to bönder in Sweden drive? Precis...a styled Volvo 740. It sounds like Geely have done their research.

My question is what reputation do they want Volvo to have? In Canada we saw Volvo as a luxury line equal with Audi or Mercedes. But here Volvo is the first choice for families. No matter who buys Volvo, they are already having an identity crisis depending on the market.

After work today I will drop by CykelCity again and buy another red tire. I think if I want to follow proper style rules, both tires need to be red. That is another fun thing about CX because you can get away with these attention-grabbing things. It is a chance to let your personality run free. Falu CK is great for this with one rider wearing wild-coloured socks and another with a bell attached to their seat. So now I will take the brave jump into the trend-setting world of cycle fashion and ride at Valhallcrossen in Stockholm with very red tires.

I may finish last but I hope to look damn good doing so...

Just got back from Skatås where we had the Criterium Race Coffee CX Cup Race #4 which is a damn impressive way of naming our local Göteborg series.

We started with the 1 hour intro and this time got some tips from cycle legend Emil Lindgren. The nice thing about CX is that you do have to think because there are different strategies to quickly run up stairs or get through sand and one can win a race by choosing correctly. And these are the kind of things I can train because my muscle strength is not likely to increase over the next 2 weeks.

So then it was race time and my rival from CRC CX1 was back which made me very happy. It is difficult to find someone at the same level as me but when I do I get to have that feeling of race. I also find that I dare to take a tougher gear or push myself harder if I know that my rival is right behind me chasing.

The start went well and I left behind most of the kids right away which is a nice change. My rival was strong but he made a mistake of riding through the first sand and got stuck so I caught up by running through instead. The second sand was possible to make it through by going full speed and then holding on and doing this made a hell of a nice show of flying dirt, most of which ended up on my face and in my mouth. So by the end of the first lap I had passed him but no matter what I did I could not get away from him. I was chased basically the whole race and that was tough because my glasses were fogged up and I couldnt see anything. Then it was time for my mistake in a muddy corner where I suddenly had no grip going uphill. So he could finally pass me and managed a fairly good lead while I messed around with the gears. Unfortunately, that was the last lap so I didnt have a chance to catch up again. But I was very happy with my performance and I actually lapped two people and that never happens.

My brakes actually worked and there was only one comment about the red tire. Well, a few of the women seemed to look and smile a bit. If that is how I can get attention, I might as well put a red one on the front too.

It seems that MTB superstar Emil Lindgren will visit our CX race in Skatås tomorrow. Racing in the same class as him would be an honour. So I guess I have no choice but to re-glue my silly tire so it faces the right way. Skål och välkomna to Day 2 of my glue party!

I took off on my mountainbike and it is a nice change to have wide tires and good brakes. This hour was mostly to get out and roll around a bit since tomorrow it is CX race day again.


What is wrong with this picture? Hopefully you guessed the mud. 'Twas not a dry day in lilla London but Vättlefjället is really beautiful this time of year even in the rain.

God morgon to anyone who actually might be reading this. I am unfortunately not up in Falun for the race today because it was a bit too much travelling for one month. But lycka till to those there...looks like no snow this year.

I am quite proud of myself for managing to adjust my brakes. Yes, they are gold because a little bling bling never hurt anyone.



Of course now you can also see my very red Tufo Prestige tire which is all I could find at CykelCity for what I wanted to spend. So what do the style police say about this? My uniform is red also.

You may also notice that I have stupidly glued it on backwards. The MCK guys will just love this mistake...

I certainly know how to spend a Friday night. I am sort of getting the hang of gluing the tubular tires to the rims. It is still a bit strange to think that pros do this all the time but I know that it makes a world of difference when riding. So bring on the glue!

And my new TRP Eurox brakes are on but I will leave adjusting the front set until tomorrow. It takes a wee bit more patience than I have at the moment.

So someone out there should have a beer for me because I am off to bed now...

I read yesterday that Nokia will sue Apple over 10 cases of stolen patented technology when they were developing the iPhone. And I think that it is about time. I used to be so 'pro-Apple' before as an alternative to Windows but lately I am just fed up with them.

My iMac had a hard drive crash almost directly and my MacBook had its crash after just over 1 year. And the current state of that computer is hopelessly unreliable. My iPod, however, did not have a memory crash but its battery life is half of what it used to be. So when I read stories of iPods spontaneously exploding and how Apple tries to cover it up, I know that I am not the only one.

If you look at the Nokia 5800, it is smaller than iPhone and has basically all of the same features. It is also almost half the price of the iPhone. So why not buy that instead and use your leftover money for something else? Like a new hard drive if you happen to own a Mac.

Sure, one could argue for design but in my opinion you need to have a decent product first before you can start saying that it looks good. Take a look at GM. Sure, maybe the re-designed a few cars but they still suck and no one buys them because of that. So why buy iPhone?

Last night was probably the last wednesday night training we will have this year because, well, the 'night' part is a bit too true. Of course I do need some practice with riding CX blindfolded but this seems like one of those advanced skills that a motionär like me would never use.

Anyway, my fun from the weekend had a few undesirable effects on my bike. First, I decided not to ride with my tubulars because of the bump in the tire. So I put on the old tires which are crap. So training started with me sliding all over since I had no grip at all. Because of the sliding, I tried to overcompensate with more braking but apparently I had worn off the pads so after about 10 minutes I had no brakes at all. I knew that I had to re-adjust them anyway but now everything is way off.

So while the others were racing on this course in Eklanda that we improvised, I was riding slalom in some grass because there I would not need brakes. That was also very effective training because riding on grass with old tires is just painful.

After a disappointing session, I went back to my car and found out that the adjustment thing on my shoe was busted so now I have to buy a replacement. Crap. Looks like I have to visit CykelCity now and hope that I can fix these problems and be racing again soon.

Yes, I went to Kumla and they let me leave...
Because I had to be there to test ride the course before 09.00 and I was staying in Örebro, this was an early morning. And I woke up feeling stiff in every muscle of my body. Then to add to my joy my car was frozen so I had to scrape windows and that kind of stuff.

Once I took a lap around the course and saw how fun it was, I knew that I had to start this race despite my paralysis. There was seedning based on yesterdays results and they put me in start group #2 of 3...uh...but I was last. Fine, so after the start I was back to last place and things seems right again. I chickened out a bit on the start because it was a fast downhill and then a tight and slippery hairpin curve. The first stretch was deep and wet grass which was a pain but still okay. I was on pace until a grusväg part when they took off. Something was funny with my back tire (tubdäck had a 'small' bump around the air valve, okay, it was a large bump) but I kept going.
Next came a fun forest slalom part which went quite quickly until the first tough hill. The whole course went slalom up and down that hill about 4 times. Ouch.


This was waiting for me at the top of one of those hills. Note to reader...I am supposed to be running here...

Then came a hole series of hills and corners and finally the stairs. I decided after my test lap that the fastest thing would be to put the bike over my shoulder and run up the stairs, around the corner and up the next hill. It was a good plan if I had actually been in the race. They were long gone by then. So what do you do when you are that far off? Well, just have fun with it.


For example, lets just ride through the toughest part of the sand and feel that back wheel kick out...


Or lets see what happens when the front wheel starts going sideways as well. Hmm...looks like a setup for 'dagens vurpa' to me. =)

Anyway, I had to do the extra lap this time and I made sure to do that a bit faster so their time schedule would not be messed up. So, today's finish was 25th with 4 DNFs this time.

I have some training to do...

Bilder: Henrik Öijer

First national race of the year and I promised myself that I would race in Veteran class because I am a gubbe and sportklass is usually MTB profs. The start went well and for once I managed to get my shoe in the pedal right away. Of course that became difficult later when I was covered in mud.



The first part was some grass up to a 'springbacke' followed by a slalom bit through some more mud. Lots of sliding here but things were still fun and I was keeping up.




And then we got to the 'fun part' which was a giant water-filled hole almost half a metre deep. Yep, 5C and hitting this...then I was awake. Surprisingly I was fine on the deeper part but got stuck coming back the other way. Still, I was not too far off yet.



Then came a fast downhill part. Check out my fine downhill position...

After that came a longer grusväg part and then a road bit passed my car and down to a really slippery football field. It was slalom time again and then another springbacke but not before it was time for 'dagens vurpa'. Actually, that was on the 3rd or 4th lap I think. I am not really sure what happened but by then I had lost a lot of distance and was getting tired as hell. So soon it was +1 varv for me and I was fairly happy that I didnt have to do the extra lap because I was absolutely dead. This was a tough premiere...



Could this be a winning smile? Well, I was soaked, freezing and completely dead. But I finished (23rd) which means I beat the 6 DNFs. So a smile was appropriate.




Do you think I should wash my bike now? Or maybe I should take another trip through that mud hole first...

Bilder: 1-3, 5-7 from Sven Abrahamsson, 4 from Henrik Öijer

The swedish CX series is short this year but still has the same number of races.

17/10 Gruvcrossen
18/10 Kumlacrossen
24/10 Lite Components Cross
31/10 Valhallcrossen
8/11 Evaldscrossen
15/11 Allecrossen



Read more here...

Yes, just what is cyclocross or CX for short? Well, some people on the net call it '1 hour in hell' but they are Americans and I won't get started on that topic.

Here you can take a look for yourself...


So why do I love CX so much? Why does this horribly tough sport = cykelglädje for me? Let's make a list:

1. I seem to be better at CX than MTB.
2. I am Canadian so the cold weather is fine for me.
3. MCKs uniforms are white and it is fun to cover them in mud.
4. Telling people that I have to jump off the bike, pick it up and then run up stairs with it over my shoulder sounds crazy so people think I am crazy. And that is the impression I want to make. =)
5. For some reason I am half-decent at running so I can pass people.
6. Training now will help me for next season and also helps me avoid thinking that it is dark here all winter.

It is just fun...try it yourself and you just might love it also.

A bit over 1 year ago I joined Mölndals CK...one of the largest clubs in Sweden. It is about 1/3 MTB and 2/3 LVG but we all meet in the fall for CX (more on that later). This club is also known for its training programs for kids which is a great way to keep them from setting car fires and other things common in some parts of this city.



Read more about MCK yourself...

I should probably introduce myself before I start posted pics of me in tight clothing. Oh, wait, I promised I would not turn into a fjortis bloggar...

Many many years ago I was born in Canada but 10 years ago I came to Sweden for a Phd and because I wanted to live in Europe. So why can't I write på svenska you might ask? Well, most of my work involves writing in english so it is best to try and preserve some of my language. Of course I know speak a lovely bit of swenglish.

Most of what I write here will be about cycling and training but maybe also some design, photography and other things I enjoy.

And in case I actually have any readers someday, du kan skriver på svenska if you have comments.

Enjoy!
Chris