Now my good mood is back. The car started perfectly and the roads are good again. So good that I drove to Hindås to check out their ski trails. The 7km one was supposed to be easy and perfect for Vasaloppet training so I took that.

My skis were prepared in a sloppy way (as usual) with Purple glide and for kick it was a Blue Extra base with a few top layers of VR45 which seemed to be rather right for the day. I still had no real glide but I did on the two nice long downhills. =)

I can definitely say that I will be transferring some spåravgift to Hindås SK for this because the track was absolutely perfect up over the fields. Superb! I even passed 3 people! Of course I was passed by more than that but who cares. This felt great. So great that I stopped after 7km since it had gone well and why spoil a good thing?

Guess where I will be driving more often?

How do you become better at MTB långlopp? If your answer is 'By doing many MTB långlopp' then grattis, you win an expired energy gel I found in my backpack! On Sveriges minsta cykelblogg we can't offer any better contests than this...

Anyway, I thought I should apply this same strategy to skiing. How can I be better at marathon skiing? By trying a couple ski marathons before Öppet Spår. Some searching led me to Intersportloppet which one could call rather perfect Vasaloppet training since it IS the same as HalvVasan. Will I manage 45km of skiing on 22 jan? I have no clue. But it will certainly give me a taste of things to come on 28 feb...

It's a sweaty -1C here so the snow is going and the road salt actually works. My car should start now but I am going to have to head inland to try and ski tomorrow. Over the next few days the snow will be gone here which probably means I will finally get my new skis.

I am in the process of feeling stupid again since it looks like I already missed the Sandbycrossen deadline and I am one day late for my licens application. This is my own fault as usual. Blä. But I am racing in Lund even if I have to take Sport.

For some therapy I have started looking into my MTB and things which could be changed. I know you have all seen this beauty of a new Shimano XTR vevparti and the fact that it is 40/28 makes it seriously attractive. So here is my tech question...if I already have XT (the 770 series from 2 years ago), can I still use this stuff or would I need to change everything?

This is proof once again that all I really need to train is a small field near home. You already know about my little field from Sävecrossen where I trained in the wet grass. Guess what? It is perfect for skiing also.

The part at the far end is basically flat so I arrived to find a perfectly untouched field of snow. No sled marks. No footprints. Just one snowmobile trail and that is it. So I made myself a little track with about 75m straight sections then another in the opposite direction until I had a zigzag of 4 fairly nice tracks, one with a bit of a hill. The more I went over the faster the glide became and I could actually set up some kind of interval-based pass. At the golf course you never get going enough but Säveski was pure diagonalåkning!

I can actually feel it in my muscles which is encouraging. Good skis or bad...this has done miracles for my mood! Probably because my car was not involved.

Should I start taking out spåravgift?

I am in a bit of a 'bad day' phase right now where everything is going wrong. Today the car did not start so therefore I missed Göteborgs Superprestige. I probably could have rode from here and made it but you know that they have not cleared any bike paths so I would just have fallen over and over and over.

One highlight of the day was the CX race in Zolder which was a fantastic snow story. But I killed my good mood shortly after by trying to get my new HP MiniPC to do anything at all. I thought Windows 7 was supposed to be better than Vista? Nothing works on it. Connect to the internet? Far too difficult for a netbook.

I also made the mistake of going to Allum which was packed so much that I could not even walk. Yes, getting hit by shopping bags and elbows is just what I needed. Did I find some good bargains? No.

Nej...this trend has to change. Time for some positive news. Give it to me!

Here we have the Christmas meal I just made and it is not so far from the real thing at home. Well, actually it is. But I tried my best with what I could find here. I did manage actual Paxo stuffing and Bisto gravy which they sell at the English Shop. Brussel sprouts are also an unfortunate part of this holiday so now I ate my share for the year. Okay mom? =)

Let's see how the Christmas pudding turns out...

I decided to brave the -12C cold but my car was not very enthusiastic. It started eventually but did not sound very happy. Up to Partille golfbana again and today I felt like it would be perfect. I put blue glide wax on with an actual iron so today would be great. And my kick waxing also looked professional. So why did I hopelessly fail again???

Glide? Not a shit. Kick? Plenty since I had no glide. Tracks? These were pretty crap also. I stopped after only 1 lap. I really didn't need this experience and I am thinking of training something different until my new skis arrive. Too many of these passes will kill my confidence. So, Pölder, what happened? An email said the skis were sent but Posten says they are stuck in Jönköping?

To top it off, I could not even get out of the parking lot because of the ice. I would personally like to slap the environmentalists that decided odubbade vinterdäck are da shit. They are shit. Completely worthless! Maybe they would like to ride in the backseat of my car while I drive through Öjersjö's 500 traffic circles and feel how the backend goes out in every one.

Good...now I have cleared my system and can enjoy Christmas day.

I know that you are all sitting down now for some Kalle Anka but before that I wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas!

Normally I am in Canada but this year is different. I was not really sure about my job so I decided it would be a bad choice to be there this year. Considering the airline troubles, I lucked out. But now I have been extended at work for all of 2011 so Christmas this year will be in March.

So here it is Christmas with myself which is actually fine. Many could never dream of having to go through this but I am perfectly okay by myself. We get along. =) It's one of those things that you have to get used to when living in a foreign country.

In Canada we celebrate tomorrow (25th) and I know that MCK has a TC-pass at 09.00 but I am not really sure I want that. I will probably take a quick ski instead and then sit and do nothing before making a nice little Christmas meal.

As most of you know, SCF is now requiring that all licensed cyclists take the UCI True Champion or Cheat training which you can find here. That is a pretty good initiative so long as they actually start checking for doping. Without checks, why bother?

In MTB I have only ever seen checks at SM but never at any of the smaller races. Like I have said before, it would be naive to just assume that Swedes are so innocent and would never cheat. But some like to believe these things. I used to hear people say that no one uses hard drugs in this country. Sure, and SJ's trains always work in the winter.

Anyway, make sure you keep an eye open for Lady GaGa's appearance in the very last module... =)

I finally managed to get up to Partille golfbanan after only 2 traffic circle slides in the car. Believe me...that is a low number. I was expecting -11C since that is what SMHI forecasted. So I did a good job of putting the Blue Extra in the kick zone and for some lyx I put on couple layers of Swix VR40. Out of laziness I went with the Purple Liquid for glide. So I headed out to the car and found it quite warm for -11C. Could be because it was actually -2C. Stupid SMHI.

It was very nice in the tracks today because there were tracks and enough snow the whole 6.8km. And the glide was great since I actually put the right glide wax on. The last two times were without since I had no clue how my balance would be. The kick wax? Nja...not very good. My diagonalåkning feels more like running than actual kicking and that meant I was actually catching up to someone on the uphills and falling behind going down. So this was 50 minutes per lap times 2 which equals a nice way to spend half of my birthday.

This speed means my Öppet Spår time is down to 11 hours now. =)
How can I explain my slowness?

1. The course
You would never compare 6.8km on an MTB XC course with 6.8km of långlopp and I think this is the same situation here. Partille golfbanan is not flat or straight and every time you get any speed, there is a corner, uphill or some other obstacle which means you need to start again. There are only really 2 or 3 spots flat spots where you can get any sort of constant speed. So I think this 6.8km is not really what I should expect in Mora. But it is very good training.

2. The skis
My skis are crap. Seriously. When I bought them I weighed about 3kg less than I do now and those skis are one size shorter than the new ones I bought. So I expect that I am slowing myself down with the kick wax. My new skis seem to be stuck in the mail in Jönköping but when I get them I expect one of those 'WOW' feelings. The exact feeling I got when I had a real MTB or my Ridley. Half of my problems are probably the equipment. I hope. But bad skis means way more effort and training for my arms.

3. No fanny pack?
Those bags around your waist seem to be important. Every store has special prices on them now.

We were talking at work yesterday about ways to predict if there will be a white Christmas. That's when I realized my prediction worked best of all. After I bought my rullskidor, I said that it would be cold and snowy for the rest of the year. And that is exactly what happened here in Göteborg. No rain or sloppy mess and depressing darkness. All snow and ice! Your welcome Göteborg...I fixed you a white Christmas.

However, my new skis are on their way and once I get those I expect it will start raining immediately. So that is why right now, once there is some kind of light outside, I am heading to the golf course for a round of ski.

Just thought I would take Inlägg number 500 to complain again. I should know better than to expect to get away from work on time for some skiing. It just never happens. Perhaps tomorrow I could manage but the forecast says -16C which would mean a very short ski trip.

I guess I am just a bit eager to get some kind of training now. And Wednesday morning will be the day. Since I need to stop by work on both 24 and 31 dec, enough is enough. Besides, it is my birthday. And my new skis are on their way just in time for that...

Twas a splendid plan. Wake up early on Sunday and make an attempt at preparing my skis for a lovely morning of training. What I was not expecting was the pile of new snow outside.

The plan was to check out the golf course in Vårgårda which is supposed to have 7.2km of perfect trails. After yesterday's iscrossen, I know what it underneath the snow on my local golf course. Pain. So it looks like my best choice is to wait until tomorrow or at least later on today when the tracks are prepared and lovely.

Yes...working on a Sunday is fine too. It's nice and quiet. Then I can disappear Monday afternoon.

When I arrived, Björn had already been there for awhile trying to find a good training spot and he seemed to be saying kanske inte to today's Kanskecross. The parking lot was covered in a thin layer of snow but under that was solid ice everywhere. I tried to ride over to where Björn had made a trail and took my first rather nasty fall. Icy road vurpa? Check. Rather sore arm now? Check.

After trying to ride on the grass and having no luck, we decided to try somewhere else. Meanwhile I was enjoying the humour in having pedal trouble next to the P Dahl building. The snow covered road was a bit better but I braked a bit in a corner and took icy road vurpa #2...aj. We ended up using a sort of cleared road but Chris was a bit cross already and I took it easy. Sorry for holding you guys up. Vurpa #3 came when I was not even on the bike...just on a little hill.

Finally we ended up in a spot where we weren't supposed to train and make a rundbana with some nice hard sand and no ice. Finally I could actually train a bit and then I was happy I showed up afterall. Of course everyone knows that the more you ride in hard sand, the more soft it becomes. But sliding or falling in soft sand is not going to give me pain for the rest of the week.

Anyway, I hope Lasse makes this an official Göteborgs Superprestige race and that we get bonus points per vurpa.

Now it is only 2.5 hours until Kanskecross in a special new location in Mölndal and I am behind schedule already. I thought I could get a lot of things finished before since it doesn't start until 14.00 but, well, nada.

Slept in. Had a peaceful relaxing breakfast. Had a shower. Now it is 11.25. Hej då Mr. Morgon. It is probably best to just eat and start digging out the car because that will take some time. And that I have just enough time for right now.

Soon...Snö Chris gets to play.

Before everyone starts their Friday night chips & beer ritual, I thought I would have a small philosophical discussion. As you know, I work in research and a good way to make breakthroughs and new discoveries involves thinking outside of the box. I have always been that type of person anyway. Like in music, I will like a group when it is new and indie but when everyone else catches on, I lose interest and move onto something else. Thinking outside the box is good for moving things forward.

The last few years I have been constantly thinking outside the box and my studies are showing that the box is not really correct anymore. Which is good because boxes are so square. There is nothing cool about a box. So my work has found that reality is better represented by a circle. This is great. But the circle still needs some work so now I continue my research thinking outside the circle.

Here is the problem which I just noticed this week. The people reviewing my applications are very much fond of their box. There is nothing more square about these types. No matter what evidence is produced, they will always stand by their box. The box IS the truth. My application says a lot about a circle and that is a foreign concept which sounds a bit like the box but isn't the box. Nej, the circle must be crap then. They are probably thinking like this: Wait...now he is writing from outside the circle??? Is he mental? I am trying to see his logic here but obviously he does not understand. What a horrible application. AVSLAG!!!

It looks like I have no choice but to write my applications in a very box-like shape so people understand. And maybe towards the end of the application I can be hanging a bit off the edge of the box but I should definitely not be outside of the box. And once I get the grant money, then I can say 'surprise...it's a circle' and continue doing what I want. Yes...the master plan is set.

And what news might that be? A free carbon bike for each person that reads this? Nej nej. Not that news. The news I was thinking about was where I announce that I am once again healthy and read for some serious training. And I will now cautiously say just that. I'm back!

And now that I am back, outside is a shite mess of water and ice everywhere so riding or skiing is not going to work. But the weekend looks pretty good in terms of weather, assuming I can get my car open after today's melt and freeze cycles.

So Saturday is on and Chris Cross is ready again.

Yes, you know you have CX withdrawal when you see a bunch of pictures from the weekend and think you have missed an entire season. Or perhaps after a weekend of online CX races from Belgium, you think that some guy on a bus in Sävedalen looks like Sven Nys. Without his hat, he looks nothing like our hero Sven.

This cold has given me some CX withdrawal but if I don't get healthy and back on my bike soon, I will also start hearing voices from sheep...

This morning is one of those strange ones. Somehow my legs feel like they do after a hard pass of cycling but have I rode at all in the last few days? Nope. Maybe I just felt some kind of sympathy träningsvärk after reading Björn's race report from Kristianstad. Anyway, this should go away after some sitting on my ass in front of the computer at work.

Good news is that I am almost through my cold and that is just in time since the MCK CX team is already discussing extra races of Göteborgs Superprestige and I have nothing better to do over Christmas so far.

What a better way to celebrate Lucia with some pics from earlyLuciacrossen? Well, okay, just one pic of me. But here is a gallery full of the rest from Björn Eriksson. If this is my new race face, I think I am in trouble for next season...

I am still sick and very pissed off about it, especially after seeing all that snow in Kristianstad. This is exactly what we have been training for. Would someone like to share some details about SuperSpeczialKlass? There is not so much written on other blogs yet. Sounds like all the action and equipment failure was in the women's class. Angelica losing a vevarm at the finish line. Classic. Lisa breaking not one but two bakväxel in one weekend! Was the snow that deep? And then we have Åsa who won both days. Guess who was well prepared for the snow after our Göteborgs Superprestige training.

Wish I could have been there to slide around myself. But I guess I should just stop complaining, get healthy and keep training for Lund. While everyone else is eating their way through the holidays, I can train like mad...

After sleeping like half the day I felt ganska bra again except that I keep coughing. I still feel a bit seg but this is probably just a cold and not a flu. I couldn't exercise so I read a bit before realizing I had to get out and do something. So I went to try and buy some skis...bad idea!!!

Every store said that the best ski for what I want is the Fischer CRS but no one has them and they are not getting any more in. So some tried to sell me their top model but warned me that they are harder to control. Not good. Then others tried to sell me a cheaper one saying that they were not that much slower. That is like saying my 14kg crappy MTB is only a bit slower than my 12.5kg good MTB. Finally, another tried to sell me a set of Atomics but said that my boots would not really work so well on them.

All of this pissed me off so I ended up ordering a completely different ski online from Pölder sport. I should have just done that first.

Sounds like I missed a hell of a CX race today. Dammit! =(

As you know, at my job we always go to work anyway no matter how sick we are. But for the second time this week my alarm clock did not bother to work. Could this actually be? The alarm clock that I bought at Clas Ohlson for 99kr on my second day in Sweden way back in 1999 has given up? Seriously, 11 years is amazing. By my quick calculation, that means 2.5 öre/day. My next alarm clock will not likely have that kind of running cost.

Anyway, the sore throat phase is done but the sneezing and coughing are here. That 'hit by a train' feeling is lingering also. Lovely start to the weekend.

Guess it is just time to accept it. Right now I feel like I have been hit by a train. And that is a very rare feeling considering that trains never move in this country. I am not at all happy with this but what can I do? So instead of fun, I get to sleep and sit inside. Oh joy.

I absolutely hate being sick. I guess I should be glad that it does not happen very often.

This is so jävla typisk if you ask me. I have been healthy and great for the entire CX season but as soon as I spend one night out partying I get sick. Fan! I tried the sovmorgon approach today and still woke up with a groggy feeling and a sore throat. So hopefully I will know by tomorrow whether this is just a cold or if Mr. Flu has stopped by for an unwelcome stay.

Sorry...this blog is quite useless this week compared to last week with all that wonderful skiing and cycling. And we just got another 7cm of snow today so it must be perfect for skiing. Bloody hell stupid cold shite...

Today has been very productive at work. But I feel really quite bläää. This kind of sore throat and sedated feel is never a good sign. The garlic treatment commences in less than 2 hours. So, no dating for Chris Cross the next few days. If there would have been any dating anyway is a matter for an entirely different kind of blog.

Why not check out these last 2 laps from Igorre on the weekend instead of reading my sick story. This is some serious mud and lovely stairs. With the current weather forecast for Skåne, we could be seeing some of this stuff very soon...

There are some things which are completely incompatible with sports and last night's work Christmas party was one of those. It ended up in a nice little house in the centre which was all mysig and stuff, plus there was free wine, beer and cognac. Excellent. So today started in a bad way...

Did I already tell you that the Finnish word for hangover is krapula? Indeed! There ain't no better word to describe that feeling. So, no sports reports today. But on a positive side, things are looking more healthy with da cash so next weekend's CX races are on in a big way. Should I bring my sunscreen for that hot southern weather?

My last entry was a bit negative so here is something to balance things out. Lasse has posted the latest Göteborgs Superprestige standings after earlyLuciacrossen. Check out 10th place! =) I also think we should get one extra point for every degree it was below zero. That would mean an extra 9 points last week and 1 from yesterday. Or why not last year's special 'double points for rain' rule? Triple points for snow would put me up into Top 5...

As you know, on Mondays I am usually pretty down and tired from my weekend of training/racing. But today I felt just fine. Well, until I checked my bank account. December is the month where money tends to fly away quite quickly but all I have done for the last week is eat. I am not eating THAT much but apparently it was enough to be shocking to the balance. This was a pretty heavy bill month in general but the difference is all of those silly things I have to pay now. Like tonight when there is the work Christmas dinner. Last year we had to pay for our own drinks and I pissed away 250kr on a single glass of red wine which was not even good. That bothers me. Then you have banks that like to take their annual credit card fees around this time. Yes, Merry Christmas. A couple more of these surprises and I will be living on Euroshopper noodles by the end of the week...

My day started with this lovely picture. No wonder people were staring at me and my bike. But will 10cm of snow stop us today? No way!

Lasse and Jonas succeeded again in setting up a wonderful earlyLuciacrossen course. Today's snow was different because underneath was not grass so grip was more of a problem this time. On my test lap, I (and everyone else) went full speed into a short hill with deep snow only to discover that our front wheel stopped dead. This is Chris Cross Air informing you that the emergency exits are rakt fram directly over the handlebars... It's been awhile since I have done that and it felt good that I could land in a pile of snow.

Today's real pain was the SPD pedals and actually any type of pedals. The only one who escaped this pain was Ted and I suspect that Tomas was involved in some shady business here. Afterall, last week he brought a friend who sat på rulle behind me and passed at the finish. This was opposite today. Ted had a great start and I didn't since I could not get my shoe clipped. I took many chances and could catch up to Ted at the end of every straight but as soon as I had to get off and clip in again, he took off and left me pounding my foot on my pedal.

The longer we went the more I was sliding like hell. One classic was when I jumped back on the bike and slid right off again. I also managed to slide in the corner where Aase was warming the glögg (Tack Aase!). Boy did I feel like heading into the depå for a drink but I waited till the end. Others seemed to be spread out all over and Mattias was in first until Björn took over for the last lap. And no I didn't get in anyone's way this time.

This was a lot of fun but and very technical and my legs feel strong when I can actually use them. Today was not one of those days. Again, I haven't felt fast since our CX Cupen race and it would be nice to have that feeling again this season. Let's see if the deep south will be warm and sunny for us.

Looks like we have gotten ourselves a healthy pile of snow overnight and that is great news! Cross Lasse and Jonas have probably worked out a nice little track for earlyLuciacrossen and this extra snow will mean snöhalka which is way more fun than ishalka. And the temperature is 0C which is like summer so I am more than psyched to start loading the car to slide my way over to Mölnlycke. Oh, and soon it is time to do just that. Yippee!

Now I have pretty much guaranteed myself a last place at Luciacrossen tomorrow. Or maybe using my muscles today is good? Probably, if I had been cycling and not skiing. I went again to Partille golfbana and today there were lots of people but not enough to make it actually crowded. The track was maybe a bit better than the other day since we had a couple cm of snow. But it was still quite slow snow.

Had my first fall of the season today but it was a slow speed thing where I kind of tripped over myself. This will happen a lot. I still haven't put a proper dose of glide wax on since I was hoping for more training effect but even with that it didn't feel like I was way out of breath. Under those conditions I can go on forever. And after 2 laps (about 15km) it was more my muscles that had had enough, not my heart.

I saw our dear friend Sven, designer of CX Cupen's best staircase. He has been home with his family sick so I could not convince him to try a bit of CX tomorrow. But he had superb skate technique so I am sure I will see him around in the snow again. The other thing I was a bit surprised about is that women actually ski. This probably sounds silly but cycling is a gubbsport and there are hardly ever women around. But skiing is almost opposite. Maybe we just need more women-specific bikes in this country.

Based on the time it took to do 15km today, Öppet Spår will take a little under 12 hours. But in my own defence, there were quite a few parts today where you had to stop and walk around rocks and things. So hope is not lost yet...

All day that silly De cross gaat door song has been repeating in my head and I apologize if the same has happened to you. Our Göteborgs Superprestige song is going to be much better. We can get one of those Bagges to write us something catchy but still relevant. A little love song since we all love this sport so much.

But to keep our costs down we should bring in one of those Idol people that didn't make it so far. Wasn't there some smiley happy girl from Lerum that just missed the Friday finals? (Edit: Madeleine Finck-Björgen is her name) She can sing our song. And while we are starting the creative process, we need some cool CX clips from our battles. In other words, someone should bring a videocamera on Sunday.

Seriously, Sunday's early Luciacrossen is going to be great and I hope that everyone will stop by Mölnlycke. For the map, check the MCK forum page.

Seriously, if I keep mentioning skiing I will lose all of my loyal CX readers. Philip posted this link in a comment earlier so, fine, I will post it.

If you try really hard and ignore the beautiful woman singing, there is quite a bit of lovely winter CX riding and a nice vurpa that took out Sven Nys. But they had way less snow compared to what is waiting for us on Sunday in Mölnlycke.

If that Belgian Superprestige can have their own song, why can't we? Who would like to write our Göteborgs Superprestige song? And then we need a singer.

Last night I checked around Youtube a bit for some tekniktips on skiing. Maybe I am not so far off.

This is a clip from a lesson by Elin Ek that makes me feel more that I just need to become efficient at my method and not learn entirely from nothing. Diagonalåkning I can do to some extent but if I get going to fast I lose balance and fall over. Maybe I should film that and put it on Youtube. Stakning is what felt most natural to start with so that is fine. But I can't say I have done stakning med frånskjut on purpose before.

So things feel slightly more possible...

Looking back at what I wrote yesterday, I can't help but laugh. It sounded like I was an absolute natural at skiing. But that is a load of crap since my technique was horrible and I was hardly moving. And maybe at the time I felt like Petter Northug during my stakning parts but, nej, I think he would take me in a sprint. Perhaps the strangest thing is my träningsvärk in places that make no sense. Yes...I need to join a ski club right away.

By buying rullskidor I have guaranteed that it will be this cold in Göteborg for the rest of the year. If I had bought new skis, we would have rain and 4C. That's how things work. After reading that Partille Golfbana in Öjersjö had 6km of half-decent trails, I knew it was time to make that premiere.

I have not been skiing for about 5 years and when I was skiing I was quite useless. Since then I have been training MTB and running so pulling the skis out of the bag was quite a step. They are pretty scratched and very cheap but oh well. I only put kick wax on since I was not too eager to fly along out of control.

So there I was on the skis and the first thing I could see was that the trail went downhill and there were no tracks. So I took off the skis, walked down and started there instead. Once I got going and could feel that I actually had balance, things got better. But I have absolutely useless technique. The snow was soft so I could slow down on hills and going uphill was fine since I had no glide wax.

It was basically dark and the tracks seemed to be going around every hole of the golf course so I ended up taking a bit of a shortcut. Honestly, I had no idea where I was but it was clear that the small hills all over made this a pretty good workout. Well, it would have been a good workout if I had any speed at all. Now I just have sore shoulder muscles. Anyway, eventually I saw the parking lot. So what about that hill I chickened out on? Well, I ended with that instead and it went wonderfully.

While you are warming up the bredband waiting for that other Superprestige, why not read about today's Introcross and Göteborgs Superprestige. It was nice to see some new faces but quite a few others were missing. I hope that my post did not discourage anyone. I was just pointing out how cold it was. And tomorrow in GP you will probably be able to read skiers complaining about reckless and crazy cyclists...that was us. =)

I did take my Ridley and for the hundreds of you visiting this page via searches for Ridley X-Ride I can add this little review...it is fantastic in the snow! So much more stable than my MTB in fact. Today's warmup was to ride through the deepest part (15cm) and see how far we could go. It was like sand yet somehow I could make it through this with some skillful steering and solid pedalling. The two with MTBs certainly had trouble there. But still my smygträning in snow has paid off a bit.

The lap for the big race was a bit shorter but Lasse added a part where we had to climb over 5 little sand hills and then run through the sand...seriously fun. While we were preparing for this, Karlsson provided some entertainment while practicing falling in snow corners.

My start was fine and the two on the MTB were behind me and Patrik was just in front. Everyone was taking it a bit easy on the first lap since there were no real grooves to drive in but I was having no trouble with grip yet. I caught up in the long grusväg part and had a fairly comfortable gap back but it was growing in front of me. The part around the field was not really working for me and I was sliding so my speed was lost. I saw Patrik pass Mattias who had some chain trouble but after that sand section they really took off.

Lap 2 was pretty much the same and I could see that he was gaining in that part around the field and the trail/hill after the sand but I could open up the gap in any of the technical parts. By Lap 3 I was pretty tired and he was basically på rulle by the end so I calmed down a bit to save some energy for the spurt. He didn't try to pass on the long grusväg section and not at the löphinder either since there were a few corners. He didn't even try on my weakest part around the field and I was really sliding since I was stressed. Over the hills and sand and I was a bit ahead so that he didn't try and pass on the hill. I was doing well this time. But in the last straight section he made his move and I tried to answer but he had about 10m on me by the time the snow/grass started. I kept up well but a slight slip meant I was just a bit far away to answer.

Nope, no little win for Chris Cross but this is still the most fun I have had on this bike. In a normal situation that guy on the MTB would have been way ahead of me but my CX experience meant that I could stay in the race. But I really need to work on the general speed. TC is probably the only answer...

Cross Karlsson posted on the MCK forum that anyone staying home tomorrow because of the cold are not riktiga Göteborgscrossare. I suppose that means I have to go if I want to still be called Chris Cross. In the event of an asthma attack, the fastest can take me to the hospital.

But my point of the post there was to inform everyone that we cyclists are not terribly welcome at Skatås right now. I received so many mean looks today while I was slowly and politely riding my bike passed people. It's like some kind of 'grumpy virus' has spread around the city. And skiers become furious when you walk in skidspår so riding our bikes through them will be much worse.

Anyway, I will be there in my 'cross lite' form with just one bike and really nothing else except every piece of clothing I can find. -5C and snow is what it says now...better than -7C and windy like today.

It looked very warm in Koksijde for the world's greatest CX course full of sand. Can't we have a bit of that now? I rode to Skatås on the MTB just to actually see if I could stand this cold. After only 30 minutes I was completely frozen in every part of my body except my legs (windproof ski pants). I have never needed to buy any winter clothes for the bike and it doesn't matter how many layers I pile on. This was very unpleasant. This is metal-cracking temperature. I had stopped taking my allergy medicine but what I just felt is on the way to an asthma attack. Bad news.

Tomorrow we have Göteborgs Superprestige or Introcross at 10.00 but I will see what I do about that. I may just make a quick stop on my MTB for socializing. Unless tomorrow the UCI will allow my slightly wider than 32mm MTB tires and brakes that actually work in snow.

Those of you living in Mölndal are probably way ahead of me on this topic. But I will write in anyway for everyone else. The Norwegian sports store XXL has just opened in Sisjön and if you believe the ads, this is like no other sports store in Sweden. That sounds good. When you look at the 3 Stadium stores in central Göteborg and see that they have absolutely nothing other than baggy clothes and jackets (actually, those are gone now too), a change sounds good. But out in Sisjön they have a Stadium XL so let's make a comparison.

XXL first reminds you of Media Markt and that is a good sign. Media Markt has so much choice even if they never seem to have anything in stock. XXL's shoe section is bigger than a typical Stadium store and the prices look very good. If you want the exact latest model, go to Löplabbet. The same is true when you get to the jacket section. If you don't care about a particular brand, XXL is great. If you want something like Peak Performance, Stadium XL is a better choice. XXL had a section for fishing and also hunting. They had an impressive number of tennis rackets also. These things you won't find in Stadium XL but you will find them in a specialty store. Their ski section was actually quite disappointing but still better than most stores. So my conclusion is that XXL is better than most sport stores and is good as a '1-stop' shop if you don't have time to visit your local specialty store. It will do well but true athletes will probably stick with be loyal to their local stores or shop online.

In terms of skis, Stadium XL was the big winner today in terms of my money. Their Vasaloppsveckan is on until Sunday and you get 20% off. I bought a set of One Way Classic 5 rullskidor for an amazing 950kr but then I learned that Salomon has changed their bindings in the past 5 years so my current shoes will not work with anything I can buy now. So I will need to buy shoes anyway before I can write a report about me falling. Hope you can wait patiently for that.

But now it is time for Mölndals CKs Christmas party...the perfect way to end a week!

It looks like I managed to get through the entire day yesterday without writing an entry here. Wow! Things have been busy again at work since now that I can start new things. Then we are also holding a course next week so I have to make a lecture and dazzle the students with my knowledge of variously-shaped plastic boxes and how this has any relevance for medicine...

Some training would be nice but outside is one of those frustrating times. They cleared the 5cm of snow so it is just ice leftover which makes cycling less fun. Running is not fun either but that is true any time. Skiing would be fun but the closest trail with snow is Alingsås and it is dark already. Suppose I should use my Sportlife membership for something useful.

I was very surprised today to get a positive letter at work. After applying endlessly in September and reading the word 'Avslag' over and over, of course it is surprising to get one that doesn't say 'Avslag'. So this will cover me until the end of April 2011 which is fantastic news! I have also heard some hints that more money is on the way but I will not believe any gossip. When I have a letter, then I believe.

So now I have no excuse to miss Öppet Spår. Other than the fact that I am useless at skiing. =)

The thing about working at a place called Medicinareberget is the daily climb up a large hill and serious set of stairs...excellent for 08.00 konditionsträning. And slightly adventurous in the 2cm snökaos of today. But this is also a nasty way of testing how much träningsvärk I have. And the answer today is not so much. Excellent!

On the topic of stairs, no other CX Cupen race has yet to match the deathtrappor we had at Mölndalscrossen. What a thigh-burner that was. Hope they are still around for next year.

Yep...no big surprise here. Running yesterday = paralysis today. But it is not the worst I have felt. I also have some mild stiffness in my shoulders and upper back so perhaps this whole stavlöpning thing has some benefit. Still, I don't think I can avoid rullskidor if I expect to have any chance of finishing.

Finally I feel like my TV-avgift has gone to some quality TV. Tonight I discovered a gem of show called Finska fenomen which explores the wild and crazy sports they have over in Finland.

Here are some links to SVTPlay so you can enjoy the first 4 episodes yourself...

Episode 1: Nakenmil

Episode 2: Kärringkånk

Episode 3: Sommarpilkning

Episode 4: Träskfotball

Hmm...could this be a way to make running more fun?

Yes, what to do when the forecast says rain and I have 90 minutes free. Well, I did some MTB yesterday so why not try something different? I hate running but I am not so bad at it so that was the choice. I also brought along my stavgång poles for the hills. After about 5 minutes of decent running I felt like I was about to die so this became a stavlöpning pass instead. I have never been terribly co-ordinated so the best I could manage was a jogging pace with the poles. But actually it felt pretty useful.

Up the hill to Furulund and the 7.5km trail today since I was 'only jogging' and did not really feel tired. But over this pass of around 12.5km total I worked up some decent pain in my arms which made me actually think that this might help for Vasaloppet training. Rullskidor would probably be more fun but they are 3000kr while I have the poles already. For 3000kr I can take a weekend trip to a place with snow and ski for real. But before that trip I should probably get some waterproof running shoes. This was wet today.

So this should give me some nasty träningsvärk for the next couple of days...

After a quick tire switch from my insane Race Kings to my more grippy Speed Kings, I added 2.5bar and went out to see how much I could slide around. I was hoping to beat the salt truck and I just managed that. The little roads over through Sävedalen were full of squished snow and it was slippery as hell. Nothing says 'Duhhh' like Chris Cross out riding a bike in the snow. But once I got over to the Skatås area and 8:an, it was more fun.

Most of the trail had been walked on and that was making it very bumpy for my back. But this is the best training for balance that I can think of. The whole freakin ride was me trying to keep balance. Wonderful.

After a side trip over to Rv 40 and greeting 2 other MTB cyclists and one on a CX, it was time to stop here for a sandwich.

No, this is not the finest pic of me. In fact, this is probably when my left shoe was completely submersed in ice-cold water.

After this came 'Dagens fråga' when a guy asked if I had changed to vinterdäck and I proudly said 'Nej!'. If this had been frozen snow, then I would need dubbdäck but that would have ruined all the fun today. And it has been awhile since I have had so much fun on my MTB.

When I got to the battleground for our Göteborgs Superprestige, I found a completely untouched field of snow. Riding in this kind of snow is heaven. So much heaven that I rode back and forth with a big smile on my face. I even tried a few corner slides and took the expected falls but why not...snow is very soft. Snow and sand together is not quite so fun though.

This became a distanspass that was not really long in actual distance but was 2 hours and 15 minutes in time. And that is about how long it would have taken to drive each way to Jkpg.

This is going to be an entry full of TLA's or 3-letter acronyms. Right now I am supposed to be taking my test lap in the snow over in Jkpg and generally enjoying the social atmosphere that is CX Cupen. But sometimes things go shite.

I overslept a bit and was loading my car at 09.30 and also clearing off a good 5 cm of wet snow. Good thing I had the vinterdäck put on yesterday. Bad thing that I haven't had time to actually use them before the snow came. They are odubbade which is fine for the snöslaskblää we get in Gbg but they are useless on ice. And ice is what SMHI was warning for.

My car has no TLA's like ESP or ASR to keep me on the road when things slide. In fact, I don't even have ABS brakes. So this is old school driving. And after some practice it is fine but today I felt like a certain Disney character in the wet snow. After a crazy 30 minutes of driving I was only at Bollebygd and decided to stop and decide if this was really worth it. A coffee would make that decision easier, tänkt jag. And that 20kr kaffe/bulle deal was enough for my Statoil card to be rejected. Lovely. This day is getting better and better.

So I decided to turn around and head home. If I really had to, I would have continued. And if I had already been in Jkpg I would have raced. But driving there and back in this slask/snö crap was nothing that felt terribly intelligent today.

Now I am home and can take a little winter tour on my MTB instead and then watch GVA CX this afternoon. I can have my own CykelFest here...

Tomorrow marks the end of a true marathon of CX-cupen races. History is already made since we have never had this many in one season before. AND...we still have 4 more races after this weekend. Cross is here to stay! Of course after this weekend we get two weeks of Göteborgs Superprestige. They are just as serious but I don't have to drive so far.

But my next phase is what I need to think about. Should I keep up the CX right through New Year and take a shot at Masters VM in January before it heads off to the US forever? Or should I spend all my time on rullskidor preparing for Öppet Spår? Or maybe I can just eat my way through December and the holidays just to take a break. Which do you vote for?

I just looked at SMHI's forecast for Jönköping on Saturday. Snow and -1C. Excellent. Halkfest continues.

Of course I will have my car's tires changed tomorrow since halkfest on Rv 40 is not quite so entertaining.

It is a beautiful sunny day today and I am not at work so my mood is way way up because I can actually enjoy a little trip to the sea. I can't help but think back to last weekend and the epic CX adventures at Kumlacrossen and Ramundercrossen. It is going to be tough to pick my favourite track this year since we have seen so many great candidates.

Looking ahead to Jönköping and Östercykelcrossen, I wonder what this rejäl backe will be and whether there will be another 3 just like it. I decided also just to race and return rather than stay over and go to CykelGalan or Cykelmässan. I was hoping to manage everything but it could be nice to have some money for Christmas.

Hallå from a more cheerful Chris Cross! Like I said, Monday is always bad after a weekend of racing but now I am back to normal again.

I noticed a lot of photographers taking pictures of moi on both days but I still haven't seen any. I will take all pics...even the ones where I look silly or in pain. Because we may not have another weekend of that much mud again so it would be fun to remember it.

Send any pics or links to me tack...

Mondays are always tough since I usually have some kind of general blää träningsvärk from the double CX races and I never sleep well on Sunday nights. But today has been horrible...

Arrive at work to see a letter about another rejected grant application. Fcuk. Mood goes down.
Måndagsfika with yummy chocolate brownies! Mood goes up.
Email about another grant I can apply to 'for fun'. Mood goes down.
Constant crashing of the website for that application. Mood goes down.
Short walk in the sun to buy some lunch. Mood goes up.
Interesting results from my student. Mood goes up.
Realization that it will take half a year to make a good story out of those results and I only have 7 weeks. Mood goes way down.
Checking bank balance after buying food and seeing that now I can't afford CykelGalan. Way way down.

Time for some therapy or I will hit rock bottom.
New 2011 line from Cérvelo. Better.
2011 line from Ridley. Good.
And why not the 2011 series from Canyon? Oh yes! Bike porn good...

Grattis to Söderköpings SK for making a World Cup course. There were 3 löphinder including one about 10m from a staircase, a small sand section directly after a corner and a phenomenal 6 hills of which I could only ride up 2. So I was off and on the bike 8 times per lap. And to top it all off, the rest was muddy grass that sucked the hell out of any speed you may have had.

The start was like slow motion as everyone sank and I actually ran into someone at the sand. So for once I managed a good start! But by the hill in the corner my dreams of a podium finish were gone again, just in time for the bridge and the zigzag grass part which was fun when we did this kind of thing at Hondacrossen but just pure pain today.

The 30s headstart for the women's class did not last long so then things were back to 'normal' except today was comical. Mirella was about 50m behind Lisa and Carina was 50m behind Mirella. And I was 50m behind Carina. This is how it stayed for the entire first lap and part of the 2nd when 'dagens star' Carina made an attack and passed Mirella so that now the order was Lisa, Carina, Mirella and me, again all about 50m apart. It much have been very funny to watch. Except Chris Cross was not smiling so much today.

I could not find one part of this course where I was faster or fast at all except maybe the fun and seriously steep hill after a hell of a gåbacke (springbacke it wasn't). With 2 laps to go I was just ready to die. This was like a TC-pass since I was pedalling but not going anywhere. Fy fan this killed me.

Since I was lapped and it took me so long to get around, I didn't have to do my 4th lap. But it was good enough for 27th place ahead of one DNF which will do nicely for cup points. I may be slow but by doing all the races I can finish well in the cup.

This gem of a pic is my clothes after these two races. Into the bucket with these since this much mud will break the washer. What a fantastic CX weekend!

I discovered that my vevlager was the thing stopping the pedals from turning but with a bit of encouraging, it loosened up and was fine. But when I get home tomorrow I will need to take things apart and grease it again.

Right, so now to Kumla. It was pretty much the same course as last year with a few nice changes. The Veteran start was okay until the first corner. I wanted to go faster there but then everyone stopped and I thought, okay, what idiot needs to learn to ride. But it was actually Tomas who fell and had to fiddle with his chain before catching up to me again. By the time we reached the hill (which was not as big as I seem to remember), I was already quite far behind and that was about it.

The grass/mud/snow part was absolute hell but I had actually caught up to someone from Almby IK. I thought he had some teknisk problem but he didn't stop in the pit. He was fairly close behind so I decided to start racing and took off in the long downhill with the sideways-banked mud part that was pretty exciting.

This year I actually did make it up the hills fine and ran a lot less. So I am actually improving since I can compare from last year. There was supposed to be 2 laps left so I thought I would try and pick up the tempo a bit even though my body was more thinking about falling over. Then in the short downhill after the pit and down towards the beach I made a hell of a slide and was sideways. By some miracle (or decent MTB technique) I stayed upright and could finish my lap with some style. And that was all I did since they stopped me.

21st place it would have been if I did the last lap but in the official results I seem to just be listed as +1 varv. Whatever.

I remember why I voted for Kumlacrossen as the best of last year. It was still a wonderful CX course even if this year there are ones even better. Excellent choice for SM!

During the day I also heard about Söderköping tomorrow...snow snow and more snow. Wet snow...

Forget what I said about Örebro yesterday. Norrköping is WAY cooler! With the spårvagnar and the wonderful industrial buildings along Motala Ström, this has a Göteborg feel for sure. Minus points though for hosting Dansbandskampen tonight...

Dagens huh so far was when I learned that prinskorv translated to English means 'little frying sausage'. Is this a local dialect or? Then again, if someone asked me that question I would not really know what to say.

But before we get philosophical, let's switch to skadeglädje which everyone enjoys. The last thing I did last night was just silly, even for me. And I didn't even drink. My pump is one of those floor models with the solid steel base and I am very careful to not hit myself with it. But last night it landed on the top of my foot and make a nice slice. Fan it stung! Today I will learn if the top of my foot is needed for CX.

And then the second thing is a classic and it sounds like others have done the same thing. But I will not distract her from the SM today or give any hints to her competitors. This could be a case of SM psyche. Besides, I am in charge of the sillyness. I readjusted the brakes and changed the back pads since they were basically gone. Then I cleaned out the pedals a bit and realized that everything was stuck...stopped...totally ceased up. FAN. Greasing is not something I can do in the hotel room so now I will spend the next 3 hours trying to fix this before deciding to ride my white bike instead. Bläää

Kära Örebroare,

I have made my share of jokes about your city. To me, Örebro has always been the place I stop for a lunch burger on my way to Falun or other parts of Dalarna. And today is not the first time I have stayed out at Quality Eurostop on the edge of town.

And then there is the gnällbältet thing. But today I decided to actually see the centre. After all my gnäll this week, I just might fit in beautifully. I was pleasantly surprised! Down at the castle is really nice and everything along the river has that wonderful mix of medieval and art nouveau. And Stortorget was seriously stor. Other stor things were a bit out of place though. It felt strange to see all these modern large office buildings and shopping malls a block away from such a historical landmark.

Anyway, it is foggy outside my 8th floor window so I can't even see Örebro now. Maybe that is a good thing? Or maybe not. You can think about that while I sit here, try and get healthy and adjust my brakes for halkfest tomorrow.

With only one day left before CX SM in Kumla, everyone should be starting with their psyche routines now. A quick look around at the blogs...Emil Lindgren has been quiet, Jens Westergren has said he will lose and others have said Magnus Darvell will take it. But I can bet that all of them have full control of the situation and are well-prepared.

I could join the game also in Super Speczial class by saying that I have had a few extra secret training passes this week. And this snow thing has given me a perfect plan. If I ride without legwarmers and use my white Merida, no one will see me. I will perfectly blend in with the surroundings and can sneak passed unnoticed. But actually I feel sick today and I can thank my work colleagues for that. It's really impossible to manage this many weekends in the autumn without getting sick. This one is prepaid so I will go anyway. Then after next weekend we can all relax and be sick.

Earlier in the week I wrote about Kumlacrossen and included the link to the film of the course. And I assume that all of you have now memorized every cm and know exactly when to attack. Earlier they also said it would be snow-covered and lovely but SMHI's forecast says rain all day tomorrow and a little bit of everything on race day. So my bet is that the SM title will go to someone that manages to actually stay on the bike. Halkfest is all I can say.

And looking ahead to Sunday and Ramundercrossen in Söderköping...2.9 km of grass and a little bit of gravel. Those of you jumping over this are probably going to miss a track right up there with Borås. Hjälp!

I am winning the battle against becoming sick so rather than train tonight and mess things up, I will continue with the vitlök method plus a lot of sleep. Other than that, things are shite.

Up until now, things have always worked out. But hänger löst is all I can say now. I have 3 months uppsägning on my apartment but only pay until the end of the year. Life savings? You know I blew that on my lovely Ridley. So I have a lot of tough choices ahead of me while everyone else is calming down for a nice relaxing Christmas. So I have no clue what to do.

Good thing I have all these cycling races on the weekend to get my mind of reality.

People still refuse to stay home when they are sick and there is nothing I can do about that. My daily dose of Actimel, vitamin C and chili has kept me quite healthy so far. But today I think I am losing the battle. So as a last resort I am hitting the vitlök. Why not? I am single. This is fine.

Our 2cm snökaos has also made me thing of skiing so I thought I would see about how much Vasaloppet will cost me. The skis I have are crap but my poles are okay. So the Fischer CRS Classic official Vasaloppskidpaket for 3400kr will do. And that is a whole lot less than my bike.

But, I guess I will need to spend that amount again on rullskidor and that amount times 3 for trips to Norway for training. But still I think that skiing is a better way to keep training in the winter than the silly gym passes I did last winter.

Yes, it seems that Chris Cross has become publikfavorit. Det bjudar jag på. Of course this does remind me a bit of Eddie 'the eagle' Edwards, the British ski jumper that became a legend just because he was so bad. But so long as I can race, I will be happily chugging along around last place, probably with a smile on my face.

I will remember the cheers now that I am sitting at work starting to write yet another research grant application. One of these has to work at some point.

There are tons of CX pics but I could not find any of me. Perhaps I was going so fast that cameras could not capture me? Nja, guess not.

This one here by Johan A is fantastic! Note that I lined my handlebars up perfectly parallel to the stairs so he could get it just right. This was obviously the lap where I had the right position.


And then we have these from Peter Hultman. See here for more. Not so impressive technique of riding through the sand but it was obvious that I was in the race.

Now I will have to stop my job of speaker for Dam Prestige because this is SM vecka and that means gubbklass for me. Even though it would make more sense to just clump everyone into a Super Speczial klass, apparently Almby IK wants this event to go on all day. But since Dam Prestige actually has SM status, it is best if I am not in anyone's way.

So I was one of only 3 from MCK that raced Kumlacrossen last year and this was my race report. Reading this now it was obvious that I loved the course but all I remember from the experience now are the hills of death and the neverending sucking grass part.

And then there was this picture. The elitcyklist in question still says that this was me. But he has been sick and had his season ruined so, fine, I can say that it was me.

Here is the lap on Youtube which I found on Ola Hellström's page. Enjoy! It looks like they have chosen a slightly different sucking grass section or maybe Kumla is growing because I don't recognize it.

At 09.30 things were looking quite bad and a lot of the track was not marked yet. But things came together so I could go and help with the pile of efteranmälningar which came right around 10.30 when things were starting. Many were in Superklass so I thought that just maybe they could 'get lost' on the way to the målbilen but I decided to behave.

Things were stressy and finally I got to change and take a test lap. I didn't really have time to warm up so soon the start went and I was completely cold in the fine November sun. I stayed with everyone for basically the whole first lap which is a nice change. Yet somewhere in the long straight and the MTB part I lost contact. It was really slippery in the forest section I called Chris Cross the other day. After that came the stairs and every time I was greeted with a flood of cheering which felt just great! But that downhill after was nasty and not once did I have my feet clipped in.
Tack Joakim Skretting for this. See more here.

So the second lap I was on my own enjoying the lovely curves on the two grusplan and everything else which was pure CX-glädje. Now the rest of this is going to sound iskall but I did not know that Dam Prestige started a minute before Super Speczial klass. I was slowly catching up to Carina Börjesson and was på rulle at the end of the start stretch. Knowing that I sucked in the MTB part I stayed behind to slide around undisturbed. I braked hard on the hill and she took off a bit but on the tung grass straight I passed and tried to open up a comfortable gap. Then I was on my own again for a bit while I started to get lapped.

People were finishing and I had one lap to go and Carina was not that far back so I pushed on. Again I could see Lisa not so far ahead but she was already at the MTB section so I was not expecting to catch up. Apparently she took a flygtur over the handlebars on that downhill that lap while I managed to do that perfectly for once. She was at the end of the grass straight while I was entering so I decided to try even if this would probably end in humiliation.

The gap was shrinking but only because I was taking every chance I could. By the grass corners out near the highway I was close but not quite there so I decided to stand up and try and nail the last grass part. For once this worked and I was flying. Gap of 25m out on the flat grus section before the long road finish stretch. Up to stora klingan and get ready for my humiliation. But instead I could have some glory and went sailing passed for a lovely finish. Again, I did not know that they started a minute ahead.

Despite all this I ended up 45th which was last except for a DNF but I was much closer to those in front of me. Slowly but surely I am getting the hang of this.

Lasse and Karlsson made us a wonderful CX track and I hope that everyone enjoyed it as much as I did. Welcome back to sunny Göteborg next year!

It's still grey out but the sun will be shining soon. My attempt to be there at 07.00 has failed miserably but after feeling a bit sick last night I needed a bit more sleep. And that was good since I feel fine now.

My first priority is organization but hopefully I can race too. Racing in front of the home crowd is wonderful...

So it was time again to head off to a sunny Borås (seriously) for some serious CX. After my test lap I declared this course to be worse than a kick in the balls and decided to just ride to finish. But the more I raced the more I started to like it.

The start was on their infamous slow uphill and I actually managed a great start and was beside Patrik and Roberto at the springbacke. Things were going well but some point in the muddy corner they took off and I was left behind a familiar sight from Falu CK. Since this is not the time to be losing a job, it was time to be a proper racerapportör.

Coming down the grass hill I was på rulle and managed a beautiful late breaking to slide passed Lisa on the corner. Excellent. What I was not expecting was for her to come flying passed me in such a way that made me feel like I should actually be in Dam Prestige. This was in the little grus section and I was obviously eager to answer that move. But then Carina Börjesson politely told me to get out of the way and I had to let her and Mirella Ehrin pass. It would not be polite to interfere with their battle for 3rd.

Lisa had opened up a nice lead at this point and Carina and Mirella were seriously determined so I ended up sitting for almost a lap watching them fight. At some point Mirella dropped a bit so I passed and I hope that Carina realized that it was me behind and not anyone else. Things were pretty stable with 3 laps to go and it was somewhere here that I started getting lapped. Hearing how hard they were breathing made me feel like I should push more too. Which was fine since I was starting to really enjoy the track at this point.

With 2 laps remaining I was side by side with Carina on the finish hill but she seemed to slow down at this point so it was okay for me to continue. And with a bit of effort (note the blue smoke above) I opened up a gap there and could run my own race now. I could see Mattias and Petter a couple corners ahead but we all know that in CX a couple of corners is an eternity.

Last lap and I had some pretty good flow in my riding so I did speed up when I could. I did manage to close some of the gap up to Lisa but I see that I was still back by 22 seconds.

I ended my race with a lovely spurt up the hill and was welcomed by cheers from MCK which felt just perfect! So this was good for a 34th place finish which was ahead of Mattias and Petter who did not do the last lap. So in a sneaky way I was not last. =)

Welcome tomorrow for some more proper CX.

We were working on the track this afternoon and I think you will find that it is worth the drive to Götet to race or watch. Here is a quick preview...

At the end of the long paved cykelväg section you come to Karlssons kurva which is a 90 degree left and up a short little hill. But, this hill is mud that you sink into about 2 cm. After that comes Chris Cross which I name after myself because I raked the leaves there and also because it goes back and forth in the forest with lots of slanted parts and corners that are banked the wrong way. Because we think LVG riders should also get to train MTB sometimes.

After that we come to Sven's masterpiece...let's called it Svennys stairs. The first 3 steps are at one distance and height but then it gets steeper and shorter for the last ones. =) And once you reach the top you get to ride down and immediately take a 90 degree right.

That is about all we managed but after this section it heads out to the grusplan which is full of water so that should do a bit of wheelsucking. The sand is in place also plus we have a grass section. After all this it was decided that a löphinder was not really necessary.

Let's see if Mattias has fixed an equally painful track for Ymercrossen tomorrow.

By some miracle I am still healthy and the weather for this weekend says no rain. Yes, it IS possible to have a sunny day in Borås and Göteborg. But last year's course in Borås was like Norberg...lots of hills, mud and grass and completely horrible for me. So my expectations are low and I expect to be floating around defending my last place.

After Stockholm, it seems like I am supposed to be racerapportör for a certain Falu CK cyclist in every race. So someone could give me an Öijer cam and a mic so Oskar Ekstam can pass off to me for a report direct from the action. It could go like this...

Lisa made a great start and she is now surrounded by a group of MCK cyclists. Just look at their new uniforms! What a great club! Over to you Oskar...

Oj...that was a big slide in that corner. She is never going to catch up riding like that...

Jaha, on this long start/finish stretch she seems to be giving the finger to the camera now. Or maybe that was directed at that Chris Cross guy who just passed her?


If I continue with this type of commentary, things may end up like this fine YouTube clip.

But seriously, I will try my best and enjoy myself and hope that I am not last. On the agenda today is a little track building this afternoon at Slottskogsvallen. And I am still in the mood for throwing things so this is a good opportunity.

Everyone at work is becoming sick and things are spreading around MCK also. So far I am fine but there is definitely something brewing inside of me. Still, if I raced last year with svininfluensa, this little cold should not stop me.

So this Vasaloppet thing has been on my mind now. Has anyone done it? How was it? My MTB långlopp experience should give me some type of kondition to start with but are rullskidor the only way to train down here in Göteborg? Or can I run/ride until I can get away for some skiing?

Then I also need better skis. Everyone with green skis (Fischer) passed me so either I need some green paint or an upgrade from my nybörjare-paket. I suppose I should also move to Falun so I can train every day on proper trails instead of a 2km konstsnö thing they have here. Yes, perfect plan when I am almost unemployed.

Those of you following my blog will recognize that this is Wednesday, the day I complain about being stressed and announce yet again that I have not glued my Vittoria Evo XM tires. And how could I disappoint you today?

Truth is I feel a bit stupid about my choice of tire since their treads are nowhere near as aggressive as the Tufo mud tires. So putting these on will mean that I still slide. At the moment my old red Tufo Prestiges are still taped on so why not leave them? Borås and our track are guaranteed to be wet and muddy so clinchers are the clear choice for me anyway.

I feel a lot better today and things will probably work out with my job. So anyone else hoping to claim last place will have to wait a bit longer...

I found Jahn Ekman's wonderful CX pictures on Facebook and as you can see from above, even I made it onto the memory card. This is from Lidköping and the first sand section which was deep but only a few metres. You could hit this section with good speed and then just hold on and hope for the best. That explains my look of terror. =) Many of us fell in the sand parts as you have seen/heard.

Only moments later my bike fell apart. But it looks damn fine here!

I already mentioned that 5 nov was an important day. But today ended up being the day I found out. Nej. Nada. NO. Chris Cross will not get a 4-year research position. I get to continue along a path of uncertainty hoping that the next application will work. I have been doing this for over 2 years now. Enough is enough.

In a 'dagens idiot' moment last Friday I signed up for Öppet Spår which is going to kill me. But now it looks like that may be the last thing I do in Sweden before leaving. I have felt completely drained today...the kind of numb feeling you might get if you decided to ride Finnmarksturen 3 times in the same day. I thought that this time would be different and this time they would understand what I was doing and think it was worthy. Obviously not. Well, I can take my brain to another country.

The problem is that I like it here. So any tips on some sort of job that might suit me would be appreciated at hejchris2 @ gmail . com. I also can proofread things, write in English and give lectures. My company is already set up in case today came.

Hopefully I can stay in Sweden and continue writing about my cycling adventures. But it's not looking to great...

MCK Cykelcross is this Sunday and so far the interest has been kind of low. Super Speczial klass is the largest as usual but when MCK makes up almost half of that, one gets worried. I realize that making a trip from Dalarna down to Borås and Göteborg takes some effort but we went up there. So it would be a shame to divide CX Cupen into north and south. Especially when we have set up a world class course full of all the classic CX moments.

And to those of you that come to Introcross and read this page, why not come and race Open Sport class which is basically empty? You can be first! Or if you have tävlingslicens, race me in Superklass. This is a completely different atmosphere compared to our normal battles in Skatås and you can also see some seriously talented riders in H Prestige. Efteranmälan is perfectly okay. I am helping with that bit...

Maybe it was the couple glasses of red wine last night or the guy in the next room 'entertaining' his nightclub lady. Either way, I had a horrible sleep. And this time change thing was confusing since my phone, laptop and the room TV all changed automatically so only when I arrived at the car did I really know that I was on the right time. And that time was late.

Pump the tubdäck to 2.7 and take a test lap to see if I would slide like a crazy Chris Cross. It was okay. Head back to car. Realize Veteranklass was starting in 20 minutes. Hmm. No time for the spare bike. I was still fixing my clothes when everyone else was on the start line but I made it.

Only 18 started so I could sit på rulle directly on the long gravel path. I was still with everyone at the fun grass corner section but on the next long path most disappeared. This happens all the time. I did have two behind me and someone from CK Valhall in front so I just tried to keep going while my body was cursing me in Italian.

I was surprised at how many were saying 'Heja Chris!' and started to think I was some kind of kändis. Of course this blog does get many visitors from Stockholm and it felt like it today. Two friends were watching also and I will post their pics here soon.

Anyway, back to the race. In the middle I had built up quite a gap between myself and the last two guys but the grass section was tung. I slipped at the löphinder and hit the bike on it while jumping which knocked my chain off. I had a hell of a time getting it back on but I did and saw that the guys were only 25 m behind. So I flew along the grass corner part in the start area and just loved my Ridley for stability. By 2 laps to go, there was no chance they would catch me.

I was lapped but they let me continue and finish my last lap and boy what a lap that was! For training value, I gave it everything I had left. Who cares if I slid in the corners because I didn't brake? On the last lap everything goes. My legs were burning through the grass section but it went fast. And I was accelerating beautifully! Yes, I love my bike!

I finished 13th which I am damn proud of! I beat 2 people in grand style and 3 DNFs and maybe if I hadn't lost time with the chain I could have caught the guy in front.

I left before the finish of Sport and it looks like Björn lost a spurt to Fredrich Hammarström from my old club MTB Täby. But the order was reversed yesterday. Cool.

Great job CK Valhall!

After 2 test laps my fork came loose yet again but CC Lasse fixed the problem right and it stayed the whole race. Like I said, today would be all about technique in the corner and smart racing...things which pass me well. There were over 60 starting in Super Speczial Klass and also D Prestige so I decided to chicken out a bit and start at the back. Big mistake. After the start it rolled along VERY SLOWLY and I even had to get off my bike in the hill since I was racing as Fixie Chris and not changing gears at all. Stora klingan (50) the whole way made riding a dream. With the tubulars, the bike is 8.5 kg and the Merida was over 10 kg.

So the start was crap and I was at the end in a klungan of around 5 riders. We all sort of followed but I could see that some were slow so I passed a few in corners. I made a mess of the stairs and actually hit myself in the face. I suspect the 5 photographers there got that one. After this I started following a guy in a blue jacket with no club shirt so I have no clue who he was. But he was pretty good. I tended to be cautious in the gravel but I caught up in the straights.

Together we passed I think two more riders and it seemed like everyone was slowing down. But I was full of energy so at the corner before the finish line I shoved my way into the inside corner and took off and flew up the hill and around to the fountain part. But there was still 2 with me and blue jacket guy passed me while I messed up yet another remount after the stairs and sand. So I sat på rulle and noticed that he unclipped on basically every corner but I just coasted and never really lost any time. This other guy had passed but was just getting in the way so I passed again quickly. This was all with 2 laps to go.

Heading into the finish area again just starting the last lap I decided to make another attack but with all I had left. Fan this was amazing! And it was successful. I had a good 25 m on him and for once managed to nail the stairs/sand/stairs remount, well, sort of.

I could see Jonas not too far ahead which is strange since I am normally never anywhere near anyone else. The final gap was only 10 seconds. Then I also saw Mirella Ehrin so I decided that if I passed her, the guy behind me would have no chance. So I passed in a corner and could relax a bit. That didn't stop me from flying across the finish line anyway...just for effect.

So Lisa Ström stayed ahead of me this time so I can't report on her race. But if I had had an extra lap, maybe I could have found her. In summary, my bike stayed together, I was not last, I passed people in race situations and my tires did not fall off. The Results are here. I finished 56th, was ahead of 3 others plus 8 DNFs.

What a brilliant race! And what a great ad for Mölndals CK which had strong riders in almost every class. Yes, we are cross.