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!