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.