And so ends a weekend of top quality cyclocross from Tabor. The Mens Elite race went as I expected with a Stybar taking the title in grand style. Here is a crappy quality clip to encourage you to pay for a cycling.tv membership like I did.


I still can't believe that Sven Nys managed to take 3rd place after falling on the stairs, in a corner and over the first plank. Amazing finish! The Womens Elite was less dramatic with Vos winning by a lot. At least Van den Brand pulled off a 3rd place despite looking quite sick.

And over to Sweden, Nilsson finished an excellent 30th place in U23. Darvell was less fortunate in Elite with a flat tire, a fight with a Spaniard and a vurpa or two. Still, it is great to see them down there trying. I can think of many other top quality cross cyclists in Sweden who are not down there trying.

Thanks to Björn for hosting what was supposed to be a CX Sweden meeting. The coffee was excellent!

As you may have noticed, I said awhile back that I would do the 150km Ronde van Vlaanderen motionär race down in Belgium the day before the pros start. That was before all of this -15C crap ice weather.

I have been reading about this 'race' and it is a true cyclosportive. You start whenever you want and no time is kept so you have no result list to show off to anyone. And if you pay an extra 15€ they will give you a medal (the race only costs 25€). What do you get? Well, you get to ride with thousands of Dutch and Germans which probably means 6 hours of riding in the centre of a klungan the size of Falun.

The RVV website is full of great tourist tips for museums and how to get the real Belgian cycling experience...including beer. They also have three permanently marked cycling routes which take you over all of the hills and cobblestones; the 72 km Orange Route, the 80km Blue Route, and the 114 km Green Route are all you need to get the proper experience.

So the question now is simple. Why not just go there and ride the 3 loops over 3 days and actually use that as a pre-season training camp instead?

The first race of the weekend was the Juniors and at the moment every corner is full of ice and snow. So for those of you who appreciate a nice crash, you will not be disappointed. The best chance for crashing is after the bridge where they have a hell of a speed. And as anyone who has ridden in snow knows, after awhile you have no brakes. The race was won by Paprstka from the Czech Republic...could this be the start of a trend this weekend?

It is finally time to turn our attention to a snowy Tabor for the cyclocross worlds. I vote for Stybar in the Mens and Van den Brand on the Womens side.

For you patriotic types that may be currently placing all of your money on our two Swedish favourites, you might want to check these two videos from Team Kalas. First we have Mattias Nilsson showing how to change bikes...

And then we have Magnus Darvell showing us how to make it up snow covered hills...


And now that I have stopped laughing, I can be serious and wish Mattias a lycka till tomorrow and Magnus one for Sunday. It is great for Swedish cross that someone is out there fighting with the big Belgians.

Sunday is also time for the CX Sweden fan club annual meeting. =)

No, I am not suggesting travel tips now. I am talking about ice in general. Ice which is now covering the entire Göteborg region. Ice which has now completely frozen my car locks. Ice which is keeping us from cycling. And the same ice which will probably mean that I can't even run this weekend. Anyone who says that it always rains in Göteborg during winter is completely wrong.

So the question now is whether I should just go ahead and buy dubbdäck for my bike or some nice spiked running shoes. As soon as I do, it will be 5C and nice again. I just know it.

At least this weekend we have a reason to stay home on Sunday...

Meeting is the keyword this week. I was up in Sthlm yesterday for one of those express '1-day' meetings with 7 hours of train time thanks to the usual SJ delays and stupid environmental policies. Fine, taking the train one way is okay but both ways is tiring. 04.00 is not a natural time to get up.

And to continue the trend, today I have a meeting at 16.00. And based on common sense, that will not end on time so I can get to MCKs super pass tonight. =( So I will have to torture my body tomorrow instead at the gym or on my good old Merida at home.

Here's hoping for more morning meetings in the future...

After the last two days, I was expecting to be permanently stuck in a strange crouched over position by this afternoon. Visst I felt a bit seg and slow but I was perfectly capable of walking down and up the stairs to Bengans for their CD sale.

I guess training cross has put me in good shape for winter training which will then be a good base for next year's cross season. Me like.

After realizing that work is going to keep me from anymore training this week, I decided to do the unthinkable...testcykel for some kind of återhämtning. I call it TC for sadists. Gör så här...
1. Run for 13.3km, mostly terrain and many hills.
2. Sit on your ass all of the next day and stiffen up.
3. TC like this before dinner.
10 min warmup
5st 1+1 min intervals
Ingen vila, just up the resistance
5st 1+1 min intervals standing
5 min cooldown
1st XtraAllt pizza

As soon as I stood up, the pain was unimaginable. The last was only half a minute. My mind was full yet again of the voice of that spinning instructor......

Jennifer Brown - Alive
....Gud vad duktiga ni har varit ikväll. Jag är så himla stolt. Ni e underbara. Ni e starka. Nu kan ni lyssna till denna magiska låt och lifta upp. Visst...vi är alive. Take a deep breath...take a deep breath....

I probably remember this because she was cute but mostly because it was such a silly thing to say when half the room had kadens of 20 for the last hour while I was sweating my balls off for the whole 75 minutes.

Please get this song out of my head. Please...

I remember a spinning instructor in Uppsala who always ended her 75 minute endurance pass with the song Alive by Jennifer Brown. And when you really exhaust yourself for the full 75 minutes, a cheesy pop song like is pretty appropriate.

Yesterday about halfway up the first hill of death, I remembered that song. And right now while every muscle in my body is settling into cement-like states, I can't help but think of that song again.

Isn't training wonderful? =)

With a name as fun to say as Hoogerheide, you know that you are in for a great race. As usual, cycling.tv covered the womens and mens races. Both were quite similar with the world champ (Vos or Albert) taking the win but losing the World Cup series.

Van den Brand took some help from a teammate to keep close enough to Vos to take the overall title. And in the interview after she said it was not her best race...plus a bunch of other stuff in Dutch.

Stybar was in fairly good shape but somehow Albert managed to catch up after a start as bad as I normally do. With help of a teammate, Stybar managed to keep up in second after a slip cost him the lead over Albert after shoving his way passed in a beautiful corner (around 2:00 in the clip)

You can tell that World Champs are next week because everything about today stunk of psychology. Sven Nys, for example, was way off. And Stybar has another 'bad day'. Pure sports psychology from the lot of them.

Purely by accident I have found a place absolutely perfect for hill training, no matter if you are on bike or running. That place is called Paradiset. =)

Since these hills are short, steep and cover quite an elevation change, I will make a map of each so you can enjoy them yourself. I could see a lovely GP bana for MTB there.

Once you get up two monster hills, you enter the forest where I took the green/white 7.5km one 'for fun'. Killer terrain running indeed!

Distance: 13.3km
Time: An eternity
Höjdmeter: At least 300m

Now that I have done this, I won't need to do any silly spinning tomorrow at Sportlife. Now...UCI cross!

The guys of Team Kalas seem to be making instructional films now with a touch of Dala humour.


When it comes to hill climbing in cross, I used to follow Getstuckandfallovertekniken but things have been so much better since I switched to Öijertekniken. See, here I am in Valhallcrossen, my best race of the year, using Öijertekniken on a slippery hill!

Funny enough, this picture was taken by Henrik Öijer. Perhaps he wanted to promote this winning method... =)

Since my muscles felt normal, it was time to fix that with another gym session. This was essentially the same as the last but without the ski machine.

Oh, this was also at 07.00 which obviously meant no cues. What a way to wake up! The side effect may be falling asleep at work this afternoon but at least I will be strong.

I suppose you are all wondering about the top secret MCK testcykel pass and it just so happens that Björn Fredriksson has given away the secret. Here it is...

• uppvärmning 15 min
• långa int: 7/3 - 9/1 - 4x 3/2 – 7/3 – 9/1 (kadens 90-100)
• aktiv vila 5 min
• korta int, stå: 5x 15/15, 5x 30/30, 5x 70/20 (kadens 80-90)
• aktiv vila 5 min
• korta int, stå: 5x 15/15, 5x 30/30, 5x 70/20 (kadens 80-90)
• nedvarvning till krampryck

Ouch! This I will have to try at home first because the first aktiv vila would probably be aktiv collapse for me. But at least I have a goal to work towards. Try getting this kind of pass at Sportlife. From Björn's report, only 3 survived.

For now I will have a semla as laddning for the weekend which will consist of either running or this TC pass, some weights and cross on Sunday.

In honour of inlägg nr 100 and P3 Guldgalan, it was time to continue my tour of Belgian beers. Tonight's choice was a Leffe. Nja, this was a bit too much 'godis' taste for me. Maybe I should try another one just to be sure I get a complete understanding of the taste.

Drinkt u altijd bier?
Ja, ik drink altijd bier. =)

Remind me not to write blog entries when I am flooded with the sweet sensation of endorphins. Because now I am full of cytokines and my immune system is saying 'Fy FAN...repairing all this is gonna take me all night...stupid Chris'.

So I thought I would lie paralyzed on my sofa and watch Svenska Idrottsgalan. I have one word to describe this...pinsamt. Good thing P3 Guldgalan is tomorrow because that is what an awards show should be. Nej, this is bad. I am switching to Paradise Hotel.

Like Stybar yesterday, I was having a pretty bad day. I could feel my calves becoming stiff after my lovely 10km of running on Saturday so my ambition for tonight was a good old 'återhämtningspass'. I tried RPM which is supposed to be based on intervals and like most spinning passes you can make it as tough as you want. I could feel the benefits of cross right away because this 50 min flew by.

The interval parts or 'utmaningar' if you want were songs 3, 5 and 7. And, no, Song 2 was not our favourite from Blur. =) For the first utmaning we were supposed to choose motstånd 'lite jobbig' which is useless so I chose to go at twice the pace of the music instead. The song 5 intervals were a confused mix of sitting and standing 60/30/15 or something but I decided for a motstånd of 'skitjobbig'. By the time I had things figured out, song 5 was over and it was another slow crappy återhämntning song. Blä. Song 7 was a lovely expression of my growing leg strength but after a very short bit of pain, that was it...no more fun for me...cool down and boring stretches.

So what can I say? Good pass after a weekend of hard training but I need more than this. Wednesday and Thursday at MCK seems to be the best choice.

The UCI World Cup CX races in Roubaix did not disappoint with all that mud and technical downhills. And in grand fashion, Stybar crushed everyone and proved once again that Ridley is king of the mud. But the best part was the interview after where he said that he was having a bad day. Bad day? My VM pick is clear...if this is Stybar on a bad day he is unstoppable!



And on the women's side it was also all Czech with Nash far in front. Kupfernagel from Germany managed to pass Vos in the technical part by running. Yes, running. Can cross get any better than this?

Another Sunday morning Sportlife visit but today was ganska lugnt compared to the last time. And by April it will be empty which is good when they only have one of each machine.

8 min warm-up cross trainer
12 st chin-ups (biceps 50kg, triceps, 40kg, military 35kg)
Some extra biceps, triceps, chest
Two abs machines, shoulder press
SkiErg2 - 500m @ 3:05.4 which is an incredible improvement. It might also have to do with watching so much skiing on TV so I had a better ski position today.

All was good today...which is a good trend.

And so it is time for 3 back-to-back weekends of cross. Today's race is in the classic city of Roubaix and you can watch it on Cycling.TV or check the free links on Öijer's page.

Will the newly-crowned Dutch champion Daphny Van den Brand continue her winning streak against Marianne Vos? In Sweden, home of Emma Johansson, we like these kind of results. =)

And will Czech champion Zdenek Stybar again show why we should all be buying a Ridley? Maybe.

Since it is finally 'warm' again, I decided to do one of my 'spring tills jag spy' sessions. Nothing works better for endurance. The hills would give me some type of interval but other than that it was pretty steady.

The twist was I had with me my new Samsung Galaxy Spica phone which is a way better deal than anything from a certain fruit company. =) Their Android ap 'My Tracks' is supposed to follow you by GPS and then plot it on Google Maps. At first I couldn't get any contact with the satellite so I ran up the hill and tried again. Then it worked surprisingly well, even in the forest.

The first 2km was straight uphill so this is the summary from Björndammen, along the 5km trail and then back down the hill to Allum.
Total Distance: 7.56 km
Time: 51:27 (bit slow but it was snowy/icy)
Höjdmeter: 232 m

You can also get a nice graph of elevation and speed over time/distance plus the track on the map. Really cool. And when I can figure out how to get those pictures to here, I will.

The big surprise here was the 232 m of climbing. Add to that at least 75m from my place along the hilly little trail up to where I started the program and you have one hell of a running course. Try that in Uppsala!

I can't wait to see how this works on some of my favourite bike routes.

I thought it was time to fix things up a bit here. What do you think of the new design and header?

Time for some more weights and this felt like a true återhämtningspass. My legs were stiff from TC and the rest of me was also less than 100%. Still, no pain no gain. Sportlife was packed but I found most of what I needed on the 2nd floor.

7 min Warmup on the stepper/ass machine
Dips 10st@35kg, Biceps and military about 5 of each. Complete failure
Lower back, Abs, calves, leg press, shoulder press - all 12st and respectable
Chest press, row and extra bicep/tricep - Burn baby burn
SkiErg - 500m in 3.35

More stiffness guaranteed...

Since last night, a rather nasty odour has been lingering in the air of Sävedalen. And I have yet to find an explanation for this. I doubt that any farmers would be out fertilizing when it is -13C still. What could they possibly grow? Iceberg lettuce?

Maybe the city has run out of salt and sand for the roads so they have switched to manure? Could be.

Or worse...maybe the shitter is full.

Finally, after much thought, I can list out some goals for the next cycling season. And probably things will change again but I can start with this...

LVG
Not so much here. But I will try when I can.
1. Ronde von Vlandeeren - Belgium 3/4
The 150km will be tough and with the stones I consider this more cross than LVG. Forget Vättern, finishing this will be a nice start. Even if I will be way off the pace.
2. Tour of Sweden - Falun
I signed up because it was 95kr. Not sure if I want to ride 5 days in a row but the timing is perfect for långlopp season.

MTB XC
This will mostly be for teknikträning.
1. MTB SM Rättvik
It would be nice to finish this year. I will see how the first races go in Västgötacupen before I decide.

MTB Långlopp
This is really my focus.
1. Långa Billingeracet
This was a shock last year...I need to try again. Goal #1 is to beat Sven. =)
2. Mörksuggan and/or Lida Loop
Since MTB SM is there I should do this...faster than I did in 2007. I have done Lida twice and was slower the second time. Bad trend.
3. Norwegian triple: Grenserittet, Raumerrittet, Birkebeinerittet
The goal here is to meet their 'Merkekrav' which is the winning time + 50%. In Grenserittet I missed this by 30 min so this will be my biggest goal, by far.

CX
Finally, here come the big goals.
1. Build the super bike, with Ridley frame.
2. Start training cross in August so I am ready for CX-Cupen and the 40 min race time.
3. To score at least 1 point in Veteran class. That means finishing in the top 12 in a race, according to the current rules (this will be tough).
4. To find some gubb-races (Masters class) and race cross in Belgium at least twice. If they still have the Masters World Cup next year, that would be perfect.

So what do you think? Am I completely unrealistic? If I invest the time, something will come out of it. I can feel it.

It has been exactly one month since I was riding my bike outside. Honestly, that sucks. But I am hopeful that this cold spell is over soon so I can get back out again.

Because of total upper body paralysis, I will postpone my gym pass until tomorrow. So it was a nice 35 min TC pass here at home.

10 min warmup
5st 1 min intervals, low resistance
Alternating sitting 1 min, standing 1 min for 10 min
3st 15s 'starts'
1st cramp-like feeling in my calf muscle
And a cool-down

In other words, I pushed myself enough.

Right on time for the warmer weather and just after I decide to join the gym, MCKs indoor training schedule is now out:

Måndag: spinning with Tyson
Tisdag: kort interval
Onsdag: TC/styrka + pilatesboll
Torsdag: Classic intervals

Last winter all I did was the spinning with Tyson session...90 min of that was plenty for me. I would like to run the strength training I did yesterday about 3 times per week and the Bodybalance thing at Sportlife will probably give me enough ball stuff. But I need to try the TC sessions so I can continue them at home.

I am sure that Karlsson will want to add even more to my schedule once I list out my 2010 goals. More on that a bit later...

Today it was only -4C so I could have went running. Instead I took my first pass at Sportlife. My first impression of the 'Sunday 12.00' crowd was a mix of absolute beginners, a few too many kids and some big weightlifters. A pretty lagom mix for someone like me.

I will follow the Nautilus Method again since this worked for me in Uppsala. The idea of this is you set the machine to the weight for which you can do 12 reps. When you can do 13, you increase the weight to the next level. But if at the next level you can only manage 8, you go back down a weight. Over three months I was able to increase on everything.

Warm up was 10 min on the ass machine. Okay, I guess it is called elliptical or cross trainer but this is the machine those American commercials claim will give you a smaller and firmer ass. I like it as a warm up because it gets the arms moving.

Then I did a couple leg machines but honestly I will just do the leg press, partly because I can lift so much on that (good for confidence) but mostly because I would rather build leg muscles on my trainer or at MCK.

Next on the list was that chin-up machine for 'cheaters'. You don't have to lift your entire body weight but can set the amount. For biceps I did 12 reps at 50kg which is basically what I did 1.5 years ago. Good. The dips for triceps I did 40kg worth but could probably increase that. The military style was bad since I only managed it at 35kg. And that was not great news since it means my back is weak.

So then I did the usual sets of machines for chest, lower back and abs. And, once again, the shoulder press is my worst machine. Which was crap because at that point I was being watched by a lovely woman. Typisk.

Upstairs I was pleased to see one of those SkiErg machines. What a brilliant thing that is for someone who needs more upper body strength. And what a pain that gave after only 2 min. This will be my machine...I can tell.

Finally, some rowing. This I was strong at...so strong that I managed to slide off the seat on one stroke. So this will be my explosivity interval training, assuming I can stay on the thing.

But now, after a fine workout, I can sit and watch skiing on TV.

After a couple days of pushups and attempts to actually stay on my pilatesboll, my strength training is in trouble. So to decide what to do, I did one of those pros/cons lists that are nice for vuxenpoäng once in awhile.

Convenience: Home 1 - Sportlife 0
Home is where I start and end most days so this is a clear win for Home. But the new Sportlife here is only slightly farther than where I buy food. So that is also convenient.

Expert advice: Home 0 - Sportlife 1
There are no experts at home but I do have the internet so I could eventually manage to set up a good program. Or better yet I could go to MCK and get the best tips for cycling-related exercise...if only my car was not frozen. At Sportlife I will be able to watch and observe others and that is the fastest.

Cost: Home 0 - Sportlife 1
One would think that Home would take this category easily but nope. The Sportlife deal was 325kr up front and then 299kr/month which I think is quite reasonable. For my home gym I need freeweights which would be 500kr for a pair of 4kg ones plus 250kr every time I need to add more weight. Then I would like a chin-up bar but I can't figure out how to easily attach that without pulling down a door. Of course from May to September I find things like spinning classes at the gym rather useless. But I should never stop weight training.

So this was a pretty easy choice...vi ses på Sportlife!

Since this is a cycling blog, I suppose it is expected for me to comment on Nicklas Axelsson and his positive doping test. But to be fair we should really wait for the B sample before saying anymore. Still, no matter what happens cykelsverige will have to put up with negative press, bad public opinion and stupid comments from TV4 reporters. I am from Canada and we have had a few high-profile doping cases over the years. But none of them have made a comeback because once you cheat and get caught, you are done. So no articles in Kadens, in other words.

So what about doping in Sweden. Finns det? When I first came here in 1999, everyone was convinced that Swedes never use hard drugs. They only stick to alcohol and snus. But everyones knows that Stureplan brats/celebs are getting high on something and the facts clearly say that Sweden was a leader in amphetamine use. Looking at the stats now, many teenagers are using anabolic steroids to help them with their weightlifting...clearly a case of doping. So how do we know that Swedish cyclists are not guilty of doping too? I have only once seen a doping test at an MTB race in this country. I strongly believe that it is good to paint a picture of the clean Swedish cyclist but we will look pretty stupid if that isn't true.

Although I don't think that doping would be all that common in cykelsverige. First, winning races here will not get you that much prize money. If winning a race would give you 50000kr, I can bet that there would be more doping.

Unfortunately, I think many have considered doping at some time. Some people are naturally more vulnerable to get stuck in an addiction and this is due to many factors including life conditions, family history or personality type. I am sure that we all know someone who just can't stand losing. And I am happily not one of those since I lose all the time. But we all need to pay attention to 'bad losers' because they may be tempted to cheat to finally win and feel good. Qualities like risk taking and fearlessness can make someone great at MTB or other extreme sports but the same qualities are risk factors for alcoholism and drug dependence. And if you don't believe me, I can give you hundreds of medical papers for proof. Studying this is my job, afterall.

What do I suggest then? Even more education about the dangers of doping and addiction in general. If I could get any research money for this, I would kickstart this myself. But money is always a problem. In the mean time, cykelsverige can hope for a major doping case in some other sport so we can keep some kind of reputation.

Finally, I have officially trained for the first time in 2010 and it feels great to be back at it.

This is my Tacx Satori trainer holding my all-to-familiar Merida cross bike. Is there anything I can't use this thing for? And the 70s-inspired futon in the background is naturally from IKEA.

This 30 min session was supposed to be a series of kort-kort intervals but because I had problems with tire slipping, I could not accelerate so fast. Instead, it was a gradual increase in speed and around 1 min instead. Have to fix this.

And then I went for a nice walk in the forest where I actually could have run since there was enough new snow to cover the ice. But sometimes I just need to take in the nature at a fast walking pace instead.

It has been a bit bildfattig here lately so here is a picture of my bike storage room.

Or is that actually a closet in my apartment? Since I live alone, I am quite free to convert closets to bike rooms. I thought it was a good solution for wheel storage...at least until you need to take one down.

Just how is it going with everyone's winter training? Mine is going crap, to be honest. At first I thought that it was okay to take a little jullov from training but this is getting out of hand. The temperature here in Göteborg is a constant -8C so running is not all that safe. I am tempted to just go buy some spiked shoes because then, by fate, it will be warm again and I will have no use for them.

Tonight there is a testcykel pass at MCK so if I had planned better I could have actually went. Still, there is no excuse now. I have my cross attached to a trainer, afterall. I would just rather be outside enjoying the nature.

Maybe tomorrow I will take a nice walk to compensate for having to train indoors. Yes, that sounds like a plan. Or should I dust off my skis which I haven't used for 3 years? Skiing would work if I had any technique...

Now seems to be the perfect time to look back on my bests and worsts of the 2009 cycling season.

MTB XC
Bäst Västgötacupen: Ymerracet Borås
Something was right on this day and I could control my sliding in a wet Borås. This was the first time of the year where I didn't finish last and I passed 4 people by running up a hill, a strategy I used many times in CX.

Sämst Västgötacupen: Dynamitracet Uddevalla
Wet course...fell three times and I only had to do two laps. Most of the problem was that I could not find the place so I was too late to try the course.

Improvements for 2010:
I will still see these races as teknikträning and I will probably move up to Senior class to avoid starting with 40 people in Sport.

MTB Marathon
Bäst långlopp: MTB SM/Bjursåsbiken Falun
For the first time I had a great start and was keeping up with many along the grusvägar. At the halfway point I was in the middle of the battle between the leaders of D30 class until I had to stop for a drink (they had people to hand them stuff). If only I hadn't run completely out of energy around 55km. Still, 68km is the right length for me and this race proved that I do have the potential.

Sämst långlopp: Långa Billingeracet and Grenserittet
Neither of these were really horrible but because of my revbensfraktur I could only do three races. Billingen was worst because I was simply not trained well enough for it. But I did have a great finish and was not last place in H30. And Grenserittet gave me a taste for more Norwegian MTB races and was my first attempt at starting fast. But a hell of a cramp in the middle meant that I had to slow down. I also did not realize that the last 20km were essentially flat so I could have went faster. My last 10 km was impressive.

Improvements for 2010:
More races and more Norway are key parts of my långlopp strategy next year. Better training will also help. I also need to spend more time adjusting my bike so I can be more stable in tougher terrain and on the grusväg downhills.

CX
Bäst CX Cupen: Valhallcrossen Stockholm
My worst race in 2008 was this one but 2009 it was my best by far. For the first time I had the energy for the 40 min and I could battle away with others at the back of the field. This was the first cross race of this year where I knew that this is my sport and this is what I will emphasize most 2010. That kind of feeling is priceless.

Sämst CX Cupen: Allecrossen
I was sick for this and probably never should have started. Things went much better on this course at CRC CX1 in my first cross race of the season.

Bäst Göteborgserien: CRC CX6
How could I possibly close that much of a gap up to Peter and then manage to build up an equal gap in front of him in only 4 laps? This was magical.

Improvements for 2010:
Start training cross sooner is a major improvement. By the time my shape was coming, CX Cupen was over. But the main improvement will be a Ridley X-Ride frame in combination with the components I want rather than what the stock bike has. My Merida can be my second bike.

Other cycling:
I did a bit of other cycling in Göteborgserien so I got to try a few things I would not normally try.

Bäst LVG moment: DM at Fjärås
Even if I was actually lapped, the GP-style course was a great one and gave me a nice sense of speed.

Sämst LVG moment: Orust Runt
I pretended to be a motionär for this race just to test the rumour that it is much easier to ride in a group. I found a group which planned to average 30km/h for 80km, something I could never manage on my own. In a group this was a joke. I was basically coasting around. It was only out of kindness that I didn't spurt away from them for the last 5km.

Surprising LVG moment: The three tempo races in GBGserien
The bergstempot at Brudaremossen basically gave me an asthma attack. The second in Kungälv actually proved that I could push myself through the pain and managed over 40km/h on my 10kg cross bike! And in Landvetter I also had a respectable performance. In fact, after these races I felt stronger and had more confidence. Yes, interval training can be useful.

Once I have thought a bit more, I will list out my goals for 2010. But 2009 was certainly a year of great improvements and I owe that all to a truly great cycling club...Mölndals CK.

I can tell that the cycling season is on a break because my visit statistics have dropped way off this passed week. I have only had Google Analytics running since 21 nov so I missed the real peak of visitors I had after the link from Öijer and the MCK page. But I thought I would share some numbers anyway:

Visits: 285
Absolute unique visitors: 105 (great considering the number of people I know)
Page views: 654
Average time on the site: 2:46

Looking at the origin of the visits the toplist is:
Sweden: 252 (majority from Mölnlycke, Göteborg, Borås and Kinna)
United States: 6
Canada: 5
United Kingdom: 4
Belgium: 2 (excellent!)

And then we get to the most entertaining...which search phrases have led someone to visit this page. These are great!
ballet for cyclists (1)
bomnyckel (1)
belgian cyclist cock (1)
cyclist cock (1)
bilden beers (1)
extreme headache during svinflu (1)
canadians in goteborg (1)
fjortisar (2)

So to get my visitor numbers up, I will use this off season to fill my blog with what the people want...ballet, beer and medical information.

Thankfully, there was also one visit to my page following a search for 'MCK Elit 2010'. I can only wish... =)

I don't know about everyone else but when I have a bit of money to spend, my first choice is Copenhagen. That city has everything for design and cool clothes and last week things were even on sale. Copenhagen is also a true cycling city as you can see from this picture at the centre of it all.

In Denmark it is also quite okay to drive over people who walk on the bike path. I only wish I could do that here in Sweden.

You can read more about cycling at Copenhagen Cycle Chic, a site which has some political details, links to local info and quite a few pictures of women riding bikes in dresses. Have to give the people what they want, I suppose. Although the section on people carrying Christmas trees on their bike is fun also.