Next spring I will need a new landsväg bike since my CX is not really that useful on the road. My first crazy goal of the 2010 season will be the motionär version of Ronde van Vlaanderen in April down in Belgium. Then later on after my MTB långlopp races I hope to race tempo since that was perfect preparation for my cross season.

So which bike to choose...tough call indeed. I have narrowed it down to these two:

The first is the new Cervélo S1, a fine Canadian bike which can make me feel a bit patriotic to my home country.


And the second is the Ridley Phaeton R which will certainly be more accepted in Belgium.

Both are the new Ultegra and the wheels are the same. Both claim to have special aerodynamic frames but I have never tested either so I have no idea. Which would you suggest?

I started my rest with a bit of work and then a visit to CykelCity for a break...or should I say brake? Oj oj, what a silly joke even for me. I have managed to burn my original brake pads in not very many races so it is time to switch to some quality from SwissStop. I had these on my first set of CX brakes and they lasted quite awhile. So tomorrow I will get back to the frustration that is brake adjustment.

Then to spoil my vilodag I continued moving some of my heaviest boxes. How can one accumulate so much junk over 10 years? I will sleep well tonight after this...

Yesterday was the UCI world cup race in Koksijde, Belgium and you can practice your dutch at their website here. And I found out that you can buy a subscription at cycling.tv for $20 and get the live feeds plus all of the old races. So I think that was worth the price. The Koksijde course was basically all sand which did not seem to bother these pros as much as it bothers me. Quel surpris?

And then today it was Superprestige in Gieten, Netherlands which seems to have this website. And this course was basically muddy grass, something I like better than sand. But the question of the day is which Swede started at the back?

Since it was nice out today and my entire body aches from yesterday, I thought I would take one of those nice motionär rides and enjoy the nature...or why not a pensionär ride and really take it easy!

Then I realized I only had 1 hour until Superprestige started and this week my computer could access sites from Belgium. So this MTB pass became a screamer instead. 53 min and only 18.8km but with the number of people out enjoy the weather around Skatås, this became 53 min of stopping, rolling passed the dogs and then accelerating som fan to get speed again, all in quite a tough gear. I need more of these 'quality' passes.

If only I were less paralyzed now. A vilodag or 3 is what I need now.

And so it was time again for the famous Göteborg series of cyclocross at Skatås. Since I did not have a Friday night glue party yesterday, I was not sure that my red tires would actually stay on. And my brakes are horribly unadjusted so I only had contact on one side of the pad. But I just hoped for the best and tried not to brake. =)

Today's course was reverse to what we usually ride and included some new things like a trail called 'punka stig'. On an MTB it would be nothing but the stones were a bit big for cross. And then there were the grus corners, one I fell in and two I was damn close. In other words, a course full of technical challenges. In other words, skitkul!

And skit describes the start I had plus I managed to fall in the little 10m bit of sand on the first and second lap. I suddenly realized that I was behind the wrong Alriksson rider so I had to pass her and then there was that all-to-familiar bit of empty space. No, wait...Peter was about 100m ahead. Catching him today was going to hurt. Passing him on the stairs hurt even more. Being passed while I slid in the corner was expected but passing him again and going full out on the last lap really hurt. But I am glad that it hurt because this will make me stronger so I hope to continue this story the remaining two races. And even if these races are supposed to be 'for fun', I will still say that it is 2-1 for me. =)

Tomorrow it is time for CRC CX-Cupen #5 or if you prefer Göteborgscrossen #5, once again at Skatås. Since I live nearby now, I could actually ride there. But with rain in the forecast and my memory of the condition of my bike after last time (i.e. more sand than a beach in Stockholm), I will take the car.

Hopefully Peter will be there so we can continue our prestige battle at the back of sportklass. It is 1-1 right now with 3 races left. And maybe Sven will be tired of resting after his ryggskada and ready to join the battle. Or maybe it will be raining and no one will show up so I can get double points.

Soon we shall see...

I suppose I should not be surprised. Running 9km on the hills here without any preparation is bound to give one nice dose of träningsvärk. So like after all good running passes, I am like a slow gubbe when it comes to stairs.

My genomtänkt training plan says that I should repeat the same run again today. But now I think I will stay inside and take a few intervals on the trainer. Maybe I might even try a few pushups if I feel for it.

Of course someone will search for pictures from the Cykelgalan in Jkpg last weekend. So why not give the readers what they want! Unfortunately I missed this too because I was supposed to be racing in Denmark.

Once again I will link to jahn ekman and the site media.namke.se. And it deserves another link for the endless supply of great pictures! There are also quite a few Martin Stenmark pics so maybe he won the 'Best MTB singer' prize.

Just thought I would include this pic of the MTB winners since I hardly recognize anyone without their cykelkläder. And since this is a blog, I should comment on fashion. Looove the dalahästar on Alexandra Engen's dress. It's like sooo 2009! They totally match Emil Lindgren's ubercool pink shirt!

You can find a list of the winners at Svenska Cykeldagarna and more pictures are promised.

I am trying to find some way to keep some form for CX without actually riding my CX. It is too dark by the time I get home so I chose running because it is about the only exercise I know that leaves me as dead as cross.

And boy did I find a knee-buster of a course. After about 1 km, the trail was uphill for 2km, levelled off for 500m and then continued up for another km. Beautiful, in other words. And downhill was ganska jobbigt also but for different muscles.

So this was 54 min of fun which is fine for someone who hasn't been running very much without my bike. This also gets a few bonus points for the surrealistic light off my pannlampa and the perfectly quiet forest.

Since someone has found my blog by searching for pictures from Allecrossen, I thought I would give them what they wanted.

Jahn Ekman was one of several great photographers at the race. All of these pictures are © jahn ekman and many more can be found at the site media.namke.se.


So here is the start and I am (as usual) the slowest MCKare in this pic.


And this is the nasty downhill where I was using no brakes. As you can see by the smile on my face, this was roligt.


But at this point I am starting to look as sick as I was.

Thanks for the great pictures!

With a race name like Cock's Bollekescross, how can I miss it? Hamme-Zogge is maybe a better name for it but the real one will get me a few bonus hits from Google.

But my day was ruined because the computer I was using seemed to be blocking all websites from Belgium. This is a problem which could only happen to me.


Just look at this track map I found from the race website www.cocksbollekescross.be. Cross can't get any better than this.

I have to see a race live.

Since I am about 90% healthy and that is about all I can expect at this time of year, it was time to start training again. And today was a lovely day for it. My goal was to just find my way to motioncentralen at Skatås and that was fairly easy since they have something called Turiststråket which goes right through it.

Of course before I found the marked bike trail, I winded my way through a few very muddy stretches which made the ride more exciting for a few minutes. Since I could not find the famous MTB course, I just ended up following this 'highway' all the way over to the 40. So this was not very fast since this is the same trail for running, rullskidor, walking and sometimes horses. Even when I slow down to almost a stop, the horse people yell. Could this be yet another reason why so few ride MTB?

Anyway, this was 90 min of fun which I really needed after being sick.

To continue the trend of this week, I have cancelled my trip this weekend. So no wet and slow grass in Helsingör and no grass/grus/road combo for me at the CPH CX Grand Prix. More info here if you are interested...DCU cyklecross

I am pretty much healthy now so technically I would be fine for Saturday. But I just have no drive right now. For CX you really need the motivation to push to the max and fight the fatigue. I just do not have that right now.

So I will wait for 5/12 and 6/12 for their next Öresund double race weekend and take care of some Christmas shopping at the same time. That gives me 2 weeks to get the spirit back...

Tonight is the prize ceremony for Göteborgs Cykelförbund and I was looking forward to this for many reasons. Emil Lindgren was scheduled to talk MTB and the pro life and then I actually finished 2nd overall in H30 class.

Some call the Göteborg Series just an advertising or propaganda thing to attract new people to cycling. And there were not so many in H30 class to compete with. But this is still big for me. This series let me try many different styles of racing (LVG, tempo, sprint) other than my usual MTB and all of this has helped me to become a better cyclist. Without a doubt, 2009 has been the year that I have improved the most. So naturally, I deserve a prize for this.

However, I have been home sick all day with this bloody swine flu thing so out of respect for those healthy people in the club, I will stay away.

I have no idea what the prize is but even a certificate is great for me! So if someone reads this, could they do me the favour of finding out how I can get the prize? And I will do you the favour of not infecting you with this flu...

My 'cold' continues yet another day but I think I may be through the worst of it now. My garlic lunch yesterday seemed to upset Mr Virus because I felt like there was certainly a battle going on inside of me. And all I can do is sit and watch TV, have soup and wait it out.

And speaking of TV, Paradise Hotel is finally back! Expressing my love for this show on Facebook yesterday led to more comments than I have ever had before. This show divides the population in two. Why do I like it?
1) All of the characters are from Sthlm and I like making fun of people from Sthlm.
2) It is so silly that it empties my mind of all thoughts which is perfect after a long work day.
3) It reminds me of good old Melrose Place, the finest soap every made!

But now it is soup and sleep time so I can get rid of this stupid cold...

So, it was time for the final of CX Cupen and for my club MCK to make us proud. And the MCK supporter section kept us warm with some wonderful soup and the dance was, as expected, street. And everyone did stay around to make a lot of noise so for one very small part of the course, we had a wonderful CX publikfest.

I probably should not have started because I was sick still and I felt that directly from the start. I was with the group at the first hill which was a tough drop that was muddy but with my 'no brakes, just kör' technique I managed quite nicely. Right after that, though, I was sliding all over so by the first lopphinder I was already quite far behind. And that was about it for me. Mud was everywhere but my red tubdäck were keeping me sort of stable. (By the way, red tires were everywhere! Was it me or the CykelCity sale that started that trend?) Then came the slow grass uphill which killed me back in september when we raced here...aj it was painful. But then it was time to enjoy the cheers of the crowd while running up the hill. Thanks everyone for the cheers! Maybe it was the bare legs. ;)

(Photo: Tina Dahlman)

But now I will have to be a 'sur gubbe'. By lap 3 I had a routine and I was about half a lap behind Björn and Tomas but that gap was constant. This is normal since I have a crap start but keep a fairly consistent pace the rest of the race. At the horrible grass hill I was lapped by Hans Mård who was way ahead of the rest and in my opinion should be in Prestige. So the next time I passed the finish line they pulled me off the course. It was decided that this year in the CX-Cupen Veteran class they would not do this so all could get their 40 min of pain. That is why I registered for this class and not 'sport' which happened to be going at the same time and for the same length(???). So I was quite pissed off about this. I was not in anyone's way and I do not see the problem with racing to have fun. If this kind of thing always happens, it is no wonder why there are so few cyclists in this country. Nej...this did not leave me in the happiest of moods.

So now I will try to get healthy and then it is off to Denmark next weekend for two CX races. In Denmark they never remove lapped riders. They also have a much better system of class divisions to equals race against together. Let the CX season continue!

As a few of you noticed, I was not in Borås for the CX veteran 'SM'. I decided to sleep instead because I felt quite crappy. Could it be the dreaded svinflu? Probably. It did feel more like a flu than a cold.

Anyway, after sleeping I felt fairly okay so I went for a walk here in Sävedalen. I found a nice motionspår which is basically uphill for about 2km so that will be perfect for intervals when I get healthy again. I also found a rather nice CX field with some wet grass and mud...things we love.

Hmm...so now the headache is gone but my throat is sore and dry. So I will probably be kinda okay tomorrow with a nice long sleep. Sunday should be better.

Soon we shall see...

Let's just run down the checklist and make sure I am ready for the races this weekend.

- Race plan and fighting instinct? Check!
- Enervit products from CykelCity so I can have fighting instinct? Check!
- Functioning brakes? Looks good, check!
- Glued red tires? They seem to be solid, check!
- Clean uniform and special SM socks? Check!
- Headache, fatigue and general slow feeling? Check! Oh, wait...crap.

I hope I will be fit enough to race anyway. It seems like my Sthlm/Uppsala trip has had some after effects.

I thought it would be fun to reflect on which races I have done this year. It seems like I have gone under the strategy of 'training by racing' instead of training a lot for a few key races. Maybe I should change that...

Running
22/3 GöteborgsVarvet Seedningslopp 10.55km
25/4 LerumLoppet 10km
3/5 GranitLoppet 14km
16/5 GöteborgsVarvet 21km

LVG
31/5 Orust runt

MTB
24/5 Långa Billingeracet
13/6 Ymerracet XC
14/6 Borås CA race XC
16/7 MTB SM Falun - tempo
17/7 MTB SM Falun - XC (DNF)
30/7 Grenserittet seedning
1/8 Grenserittet
15/8 Vårgårda MTB XC
16/8 Dynamitracet XC
12/9 MTB SM Marathon Falun

Cross
17/10 Gruvcrossen
18/10 Kumlacrossen
31/10 Valhallcrossen
14/11 Ymercrossen DNS (sick)
15/11 Allecrossen

Local cycling series
6/5 GBGseries 1 - MTB
13/5 GBGseries 2 - LVG Kvibergs GP
27/5 GBGSeries 3 - LVG bergstempo
16/6 GBGSeries 4 - MTB sprint
12/8 GBGSeries 5 - LVG
26/8 GBGSeries 6 - Diserödstempo
2/9 GBGSeries 7 - tempo
9/9 GBGSeries 9 - MTB
19/9 GBGSeries 10 - MTB
20/9 CRC CX1 - Alingsås
27/9 CRC CX2 - Skatås
4/10 CRC CX3 - Skatås
25/10 CRC CX4 - Skatås
28/11 CRC CX5 - Skatås
5/12 CRC CX6 - Skatås
12/12 CRC CX7 - Mölnlycke Luciacrossen

Hmm...now that I see it listed like this, I have been pretty active. Good season, in other words.

I guess by now you can see that I have many cultural interests which do not seem to fit with my cycling. But all of these things are so accessible in Sweden so I enjoy what I can whenever I have time.

Last night I saw Anna Ternheim at Pustervik. This was not the first time I have seen her in concert but it was certainly the most impressive. No band. No support. Just a guitar/piano and her alone. And while most artists fail miserably 'unplugged' and leave you longing for the rest of the band to make up for all of their mistakes, Anna was absolute perfection! So I suggest supporting your singer/songwriters and forget this Idol crap. Anna deserves it.

So if you are lucky enough to have tickets to one of her remaining shows, you are in for a treat. If not, by her special edition CD with the live tracks. Njut. Do it now...

The first start lists for the CX races in Borås and Alingsås were disappointing with only 13 starting in veteran class. But the latest lists are over 20 so things are looking slightly better.

Naturally, I would prefer starting with 40 or 50 because then there is a greater chance I will find someone at my level to race with. And I need this because the start in Borås is uphill and the first thing you hit in Alingsås after start is one of those bumpy downhills where you lose your chain. So it will be 'catch up' for me for the whole race.

It would be very nice if I could take these next few days to work on some CX skills but there is too much happening at work now. Both tracks are quite tough so it would have been nice with some extra training. At the moment it looks like saturday and sunday will be 'fun races' for me. But I still have my red tires. =)

The PM for MCKs CX race Allecrossen is out now and we are promised publikfest and dansuppvisning. Dance? I agree that the way some people ride CX is poetic and I can actually picture a 'pas de deux' from Swan Lake being performed next to where we will be dismounting and gracefully running up a hill. I can picture a lot of strange things after Dali. Yet somehow I doubt this is what they have planned.

My bet is streetdance or maybe Alingsås has a cheerleading team? That would be nice so long as they cheer for the right rider (me) in veteranklass.

Sounds like we are in for a great day.

This just in from the Birkebeinerrittet website...
'Rittet fulltegnet på 41 sek'
Yes, 17500 participants in an MTB race and it is sold out in less than a minute. They have also sold out the 6000 places for the 'fun race' on the Friday the day before.

What is Sweden doing wrong when it comes to MTB? Why can't we have a långlopp race that is this popular? Answer the survey question or suggest new ideas yourself.

So how does one spend a sunday when they have a slight bit of a hangover? Go to Moderna Museet, of course. I have never seen that many people there. But you can't beat an exhibition by Salvador Dali when your body is not really back to normal yet. Surrealism at it's finest.

With my new inspiration for twisted reality, I thought I should take some surrealistic pictures of Sthlm. I am very happy with them. What do you think?




Anyway, now it is CX time again. Mid-season break is finished. Let's race.

I have always found Finland quite fun and their language has many gems. The one of most relevance this morning is their word for hangover which is 'krapula'. It's just perfect. I can't think of a better word to describe what I feel at the moment.

Luckily, this hotel had eggs and bacon so I am in fairly good shape now. Last night was a nice dinner/party with a bit too much alcohol around. But this is Uppsala and we were at a student nation so none of this was a surprise.

My strange behaviours this time included singing along to every word of the 80s songs and also speaking skånska because it was so 'rrowleeet'. A good time, in other words.

I am still in Uppsala a bit longer. Sadia from the group I used to work in did a fine job of defending her thesis today. So now it is time to celebrate that there is one more Dr in this country. And that requires a suit. Since I almost never wear a suit, I had to take a picture...

Suit: Whyred, Shirt: Day, Supercool socks: Paul Smith

If I am going to write about cyclocross, I can hardly ignore a very important part of this sport. Well, an important part if you are belgian and are watching.

Of course I mean beer! Tonight I have decided to start my tour of belgian beers with a Duvel which is a fine choice. Despite the 8.5%, the taste is smooth and nice. Certainly nothing like those beers from here with swedish flags and things which are just normal pilsner with extra alcohol.

But rather than turning into that TV4 wine guy or the ladies I saw at 09.30 this morning with their glasses of wine, I will end this and let you try the beer for yourself.

What is your favourite belgian beer? Write a comment if you want!

I had time for a quick trip to the Östasiatiska museum which had an exhibit on japanese traditional and modern fashion. It was okay but could have been better.

I have always been fascinated by Japan and that is first on my list if I ever can start saving money. Everything is so high-tech yet their architecture is a lot like the miminalism of scandinavia. And more contrast is obvious from their TV shows and fashion. There is just something so interesting about that place.

Anyway, enough dreaming. I am in Uppsala now and will drop by my old workplace.

Malmö Aviation was my choice as usual for making the trip up to Sthlm for the second weekend in a row. But this was the first time that they were delayed since they had to change a tire. And anyone who owns a car knows it is high season for changing tires now.

But everything was fine...de hade ett plan. And what was that? Byt planet. I thought that this was ett underbart plan because that gave me some time for a little photography. I am like a little kid when it comes to planes.


So after a reasonable delay it was time to enjoy the gourmet sandwich, wonderful coffee and warm towels that this 45 minute flight always has. Amazing! Like the good old days when flying was lux.

My CX withdrawal continues and I will not make it to Lidköping this weekend which is a shame because the track sounds great. I am going to Uppsala for a friend's thesis defence and it is great to see that she has finished after all the negative results and delays with articles. Science is usually like this, unfortunately.

So while the rest of you are hopefully taking a nice bath in the mud stream coming off of the rider in front of you, I will be hungover. But it is 'game on' for Borås and Alingsås!

I saw a gammal tant riding her bike up a hill today. It wasn't going all that well for her. Clearly it would have been faster if she had put the bike over her shoulder and ran up the hill...

If she had done that, I would have even offered to help pick up her groceries which would have went flying out of her basket.

With my many moves over the years, I have a lot of experience with moving but I would never call myself an expert. Every move is different but I am happy to say that this is one of the better ones. I managed to get a bomnyckel and one of those kärra things with wheels so unloading the car is a breeze! Yes, I am moving with my car at first although I will get a truck for a few hours to get the big stuff.

I almost never move everything in one day due to lack of time to pack everything or problems getting enough help when I need it. So today, on this wonderful autumn day, I am packing things, moving them and then arranging things right away in the new place. Brilliant eller hur? So then I know exactly where everything is when I am done.

Of course my plan is failing miserably since my apartment has become the definition of chaos.

People who can move without chaos are also those who can always keep a perfectly arranged desk at work no matter what the level of stress. I will never manage that...

Here is an inspirational CX video from Holland. Just check out that wonderful mud!
"Why do they change them sir?"
"Cos it's muddy eh!!!"

By popular demand, you want me to write about fjortisar. When I think about this age group, there is always a bit of hatkärlek. How do you feel about them? Skriv gärna din åsikt.

We can start with the 'hat' side although there are too many things to list here. While there are many things wrong with typical fjortis clothes, the see-through leggings are a bit much. It seems like most believe that leggings are like pants so it is perfectly okay to walk around town only wearing a t-shirt and leggings or to sit and wait for buses in unladylike positions. Do us a favour and check these things out! I mean we all know that some cykelbyxor are see-through so then the exposure choice is up to the cyclist. But fjortisar don't seem to realize.

And then we can check the short list of things on the 'kärlek' side. Over my years in this country, I have been told many times that I look exactly like someone else. The first couple of times it was fine but this became jobbigt when everyone said it. At these times I would look for ways to change my look and be less 'common'. An example would be to buy a shirt that no one would expect me to wear. My autumn 2007 idea was to grow sideburns like Filmkrönikan Orvar. And while that was fet dissade by most people, fjortisar thought it was hot. So in a very strange way, fjortisar gave my ego a boost. Crazy but true.

Next time I will tell you how fjortisar can improve our fine sport of cycling. To be continued...

Well this morning is one of those days I really feel like a gubbe. My back is killing and I have a headache. Lovely start to my work week.

Did everyone enjoy Halloween with a little Rocky Horror Picture Show? Nothing is more Halloween in Canada than watching Janet and the others. =)

By an overwhelming majority, it seems that you want me to talk about fjortisar and then about myself. So häng med for my opinions on this all too visible part of the population...

I was looking for things to keep me training throughout the winter and I found the Polar Night Halvmara up in Tromsö, Norway. It is January 9th which would mean running on ice/snow and would almost certainly lead to injury but there is something fantastic about that city. The thought of running in complete darkness next to water, mountains and probably a bit of northern lights sounds like the spiritual experience of a lifetime. Should I do this?

I also managed to get a start position for Birkebeinerittet next year which was quite a pain.

Those who know me from Stockholm will remember that I moved to different apartments a lot. But that is unfortunately the reality for people who rent in this country.

A year ago I moved to a temporary place in Borås and under two months later I moved to this house because it seemed like a fun idea for a change.

The view from the window is fantastic (Vättlefjället).


And you can't possibly get closer to local wildlife than this...

So 'vad fan gör jag?' is a question I have asked myself a lot today with all this extra weight lifting. And the answer is simple...having no savings at all is not quite the same adrenaline rush I get from riding MTB. So moving is my best move. (sorry, that was silly) On a positive side, now I will be able to buy more cycling stuff. I will also be living near Skatås.

Back from Stockholm now and IFK seems to have lost. Yep, time to clear the city and bring out the riot police. Having lived in Solna for 3 years, it was hard to choose a winner today. But either way I win anyway since now that football is over I can get on to following some proper sports like hockey.

Honestly, my weekly CX-withdrawal is already kicking in. I am thinking of an invasion of Denmark since their season keeps going until January. Then I think it is time for a Belgium trip to watch the masters in action. Yes, then I can delay my withdrawal until March. Good good.