I don't know what it is but I have been feeling miserable all day. It is usually my arm but that felt better even if things are moving to my shoulder. Others were annoyed with the weather but it wasn't that either. A third guess could have been money related since I was looking at those bikes online and then remembering that I actually have no money at the moment.

The only thing I can think of is that technically this is my last day of being a researcher. Research. The thing I took 6 years of university of in Canada and then 6 years for my PhD in Stockholm so that I could do. And the thing I have done rather unsuccessfully for the last 5 years. It must be this. I start my new Scientific Editor job tomorrow and I am really looking forward to it. I still get to research 1 day a week but I am certain that will stop when I run out of funding. So I think most of my worry is just the fact that I didn't get everything finished off this week so my weekends are shot for the next while. But on the positive side I found a real job!

I am already getting visits from Google for 'White XC Pro' so to be fair to the other stores I can mention them too. I said the other day that XXL has an Ultegra LVG for 13000kr and thought that was pretty cheap. But what does CykelCity have to offer at the same level? Quite a bit actually.

First we have their Columbus Pinta RS for 12000kr which is 105-spec and with Fulcrum Racing 7 wheels. In combination with the service and the fact that you will leave CykelCity with a bike that is assembled and set up for you, I think we have a winner here.

But, fine, you say that you need Ultegra. I myself like the feel of the Ultegra STi compared to 105 and the TRP EuroX brakes on my Ridley (Ultegra) have more power than those on my Merida (105). But other than that I don't notice any difference. So enter Columbus Vola E2 for 15800kr. Full Ultegra and Racing 5 wheels. Very nice. Okay, so then maybe you find Columbus ugly and want something else. Why not their BMC Streetracer 105 for 13000kr? Damn fine looking bike for the money if you ask me. I had been considering the Cérvelo S1 which is 20000kr this year but their spec list is kind of stripped compared to last year's so I wonder if BMC is not the best choice now.

Overall, XXL is not looking like such a good deal anymore. At least for LVG. But the fact still remains that we have no good MTB stores in the Göteborg area so for that I think it will be 1-0 Norway for mud.

Tonight I would have loved to be at the premiere for MCKs MTB training. But since my own premiere on Saturday my arm has been killing. So I can't see any cycling for me for April. Now the goal is to be race ready for mid-May or at the lastest June.

So tonight I just ran along the muddy trail in the valley and then up the hill to Björndammsterassen. Normally I take another trail so my worst hill comes later but this was right from the bottom in Sävedalen. Serious hill indeed. By the time I reached the top of that I had decided to just keep going and run back down instead of resting. Aktiv återhämtning is a good way to do things. So then I just headed back home since I did not want to kill myself the first pass.

I guess if Partille is big enough to be in Körslaget then why not have two cycling clubs. Partille CK is a LVG/CX club for adults with not very much time. So Hansen...does this mean Sävecrossen will make an entry into GöteborgsSuperprestige this autumn?

The biggest difference compared to Sävedalens CK seems to be the complete lack of sponsors. And I can understand this. If your club is attached to a store or has training weekends at a store, you always have this pressure to buy something. Worse still is when people selling socks, gloves, bags etc show up at meetings and then everyone sees who does not buy something. Why should I be made to feel guilty if I already have a perfectly decent pair of gloves? I am not dissing Allebike because they are actually a good store. But the whole concept of sponsoring seems silly for those of us this far from Elite level.

It seems like XXL has brought out its cycle collection and this is going to shake things up a bit. On the MTB side they have a full XT-spec with Reba shock under the name of White XC Pro MTB 10 for only 13000kr! And on the LVG side they have an Ultegra-spec called White RR Pro Ultegra CD LVG 10, also for 13000kr.

So now what? Should we take to the usual cycling snobbery and just call this cheap crap? That is what they say about Canyon despite good prices, unbeatable specs and very favourable reviews. XXL is not a mail-order thing so we can't use that argument either. And the bikes are not ful som fan either like Cube or several American brands. So what should we do? Embrace the cheap or diss it? With the money you save, you can buy a nice set of wheels.

Yep. I am ganska fed up with my arm. It hurts today about as much as it did 3 weeks ago. Maybe it is time to go back to my doctor and, after slapping him with a fish I buy in the fiskvagn outside his vårdcentral, I can politely inform him that perhaps my arm WAS in fact injured and that he should have sent me to a specialist right away. Because referrals take a month anyway, this would have been perfectly timed.

I guess I am going to have to run anyway. Bläää. Or maybe I should apply for the job of MCK MTBs official bike cleaner? Nej, we all know how that would go...

After my long sleep in I felt quite okay in terms of hangovers and things. But my arm hurt like hell. So with great worry over how things would go, I pumped the tires in my Full Dynamix and headed off for my 2011 MTB premiere ride.

My bike position is apparently okay since I did not feel any pain in my arm. My legs felt sort of weak in general but that is no surprise. I decided to stick to the Säveån cycling/walking path at first and that was crowded. Occasionally when I hit a bump it hurt in my arm but overall it was fine. Jonsered here we come...

I was well over the suggested 10 minutes of cycling since by this point I was enjoying how responsive my MTB felt. My arm definitely hurt when I stood up to more easily fly up the hills. I suppose I didn't need to do that but you know how it is. For all of you LVG types, I can say that most of the Partille cykelväg are clear of winter stones. But when you get to Jonsered it turns to grusväg and nice little trails. After this ride which was like 45 minutes, my arm killed. Then again everything else sort of killed. Welcome to pre-season Chris Cross.

I believe in functional rehab so I honestly would rather ride instead of run. But MTB is out for at least 2 weeks after what I can tell today. The impact of anything I hit is not absorbed by the shock. My arm gets most of it. But there are a lot of places I can ride grusväg and keep my legs going.

TV shows like House are based on medical mysteries and everyone loves a good mystery. So I thought I would make one of my own during my visit at Sport Rehab today. As you know, I did the exercises 3x15 reps once a day for around 6 days. It hurt too much so instead I tried 1x15 reps twice a day. After a couple more days I reduced this to once a day and was frustrated that it still hurt like hell. By 14 mars I had stopped all of the exercises and after 5 days of rest my arm felt very good. How can you explain this? Johan said this makes no sense at all.

Then I added that I was running intervals 5 times, the most intense ones were last week when I had stopped with the gummiband exercises. Then it made more sense because running will get more blood flowing to my muscles and also there is a slight arm swing. Now I am back in Sweden and my arm is starting to hurt again. Why? I am not running.

So I conclude that running is healing my arm. Let me repeat that in bold. Running is healing my arm. Seriously. Öijer would never believe this since he always says running is horrible. And maybe even Knä(Fika)-Björn would also feel the same way. But I have actually left Sport Rehab with the instructions to run and then do the gummiband exercises every other day and see what happens in 2 weeks. This is insane in their opinion.

I said that I would go out on my MTB this weekend but was advised not to. I will try a few minutes and see because I really have no idea how it will feel. It looks like I am writing off April for MTB but I am going to be damn good at running... =(

With all this sun and relatively warm weather, I am very in the mood for some cycling. I even thought that it might be warm enough for shorts too. Hmm...leg shaving time already or?

Probably a couple of you already figured out that I was actually in Canada for the last two weeks. I mean how often do I shy away from my MTB in spring or my running trail of death in Partille? I just didn't want to advertise that I was away.

The running was okay but the hills were like speed bumps. Then again I was starting from almost zero so taking it slowly is good. By some miracle of British Airways and the oddly efficient new Terminal 5 at Heathrow, everything worked out and I arrived on schedule with my suitcase. This was my Christmas since I couldn't take the trip in December but I definitely suggest Christmas in March for those of you that hate stress.

I probably said that I am from Toronto but the suburb I lived in during high school and university is called Burlington. And, funny enough, this year Burlington is hosting the Canadian cycling champs. I will have to find some clips and point out the sights.

But now I need to sleep and try and get onto this time zone. Blääää.

Earlier this week I just stopped my gummiband exercises and now my arm feels pretty okay. It hurts a little bit sometimes but now I can actually do some kind of functional training without risk of making things worse.

This is all very good because this week I am gradually going to switch over to MTB from running. I will be at a thesis defence and party on Friday so there is no way I will make it to Alingsås for the MCK training weekend. But there are plenty of places I can go around Partille.

Check Mölndals CKs website for all the details of upcoming training. We have our own link now from the main page.

It would be nice to take a långpass this weekend but work is keeping me away from that. So today I did the same interval pass as Thursday. It has been a challenge to find a weather-independent place that is close to home and that I can always use. But I managed.

I would almost say that I felt better today even though the 9th and 10th interval were torture as always. But I could jog home after without the weak feeling. Progress is fast with interval training...

I am still not going to admit to actually liking running because it is a pain. But running every other day has given me the kickstart I needed. Today was basically the same as Tuesday but with a strong wind on the second half of my rundbana.

Lap 1 was the warm-up again which I followed directly with an interval lap. I squeezed out 5 sets of about 20s at quite a pace which actually led to a cramp monster and some pretty satisfied feeling in general. Good. A bit of a walk to start Lap 3 and then a light jog for the rest of that before Lap 4 and another round of intervals. This was some serious sprinting which gave a few odd looks from the dogwalkers I kept passing but, fan, if I am going to do an interval I am going to do it right.

So obviously Lap 5 had some bending over, spitting, walking and a bit more jogging before I headed home. Now I think I am ready to start the real hills again, probably in Lerum on my 2.5km route.

Now I have something exciting to write or, well, something to write anyway. I chose a rundbana of a bit over 1km on gravel so I would not kill my knees. After a warm-up of light jogging, high knees and butt kicks, I took a relaxing first lap and decided on something semi-psycho...an interval of an entire lap. Ja ja, that went quite bad but it was nice to feel a bit of speed. A little finish sprint meant that I had to stop for a short break before the next part.

I jogged a 3rd lap and my legs felt quite good so I decided to do a 4th lap in more traditional interval style. Natural intervals between lampposts and trees meant around 20s and 4 sets over the lap and a load of cramp monsters. So I just jogged a 5th lap and did a cool-down so I can go out again in the near future. Quick and effective intervals again...

My arm still hurts and I have basically cut most of the gummiband exercises since I think I am making it worse. But it is improving.

Not much is happening at the moment so I think I will wait with the writing until something exciting happens. For now, the running is going well. My arm is feeling better. Work is still busy. That should keep you updated on the life of Chris Cross for awhile...

It was time to plan for a couple of MTB marathons in Norway since they have a nasty habit of actual becoming full. And Grenserittet was actually full with 7000 people already but they had some spots open for foreign riders. I mean someone has to win it so they have to make space for Emil or the Kalas guys. So 6 aug I will be doing this grusväg rally instead of CykelVasan the week after. Yes, Way Out West won.

But before that Farrisrunden is high on my list. This 18 juni race was quite nice last year despite the ton of rain but at 68km it is the type of långlopp that you can go all out in and still make it. And Larvik is lovely.

What is less clear is Raumerrittet the week before because that is such a brutal race in every way. Den Långa Dagen is the last weekend in May up in Ludvika and that is just road/grusväg and a nice little arrangement. Of course my bad form mean hitting the good old wall and feeling like I would die. But still.

May is still unclear. I might have to be on a training conference for my new job and that will mess up both the double XC weekend Hjo/Tidaholm plus Billingeracet. But nothing is settled yet.

It's amazing how running basically the same route can change so much with a few intervals. My legs felt stiff to start so I did some of those silly leg lefts and butt kicks that runners do to warm up and then I was ready for my first set of intervals on a slight hill. It became a natural 15s/30s and after 6 of those I was rather alive.

Light jog to the next part which was a short trail with a lagom steep hill which was again a 15-30 interval set. After 5 of those I had a lovely little cramp and decided that I should just run back instead of completely killing myself. There are other days.

Overall I am quite fed up with my arm. I think the exercises I was given are a bit too much. I have never really believed in the 3 sets of 15 method. 12 reps at the highest weight I can manage was far better to build my muscles. And in this case my muscles hurt like hell so torturing them seems a bit strange.

My wee running tour yesterday has not left my paralyzed and that is precisely the positive news I needed for the day! More running intervals for the people! Or at least for me. Other people can do whatever they want.

It was finally time to do something about my lack of training. My arm did not feel so great after a quick pass on the trainer so I suspect that a real ride where I need to brake is risky still. So all that is left is running.

I took a very flat route just to see if I can swing the arm with any rhythm and that part went well. But my latest colds have left me with zero energy. The legs are okay but fan it was rather uncomfortable in general. But now that the first pass is over with, the rest will be better.

A series of 30-30 intervals on a slight hill are what I really need to fast track my kondition for the rapidly-approaching MTB season.

I don't know about the rest of you but this was an 'on the ass TV day'. First another Vasaloppet and for the first time I actually recognized the track. Yes, CykelVasan does follow the real track. At the same time I am just confused that so many want to kill themselves to finish that race. I know that the tradition is enough to motivate people and there are few things more Swedish than sitting watching this on the first Sunday in March. But this is all really a battle against yourself. I cant't see that any joy or race feeling would appear in Vasaloppet. From my långlopp experience, somewhere around 4 hours there is not much energy left and you are running on will until you can have a gel or see a 10 or 5 km left sign and get that final boost. But what can it possibly feel like after 7 or 8 hours?

Maybe I should run a marathon or something just to get some idea of the pain. How many of you have run a marathon?

I really have to give a thumbs up to Johan at Sport Rehab for all the help with my arm exercises. I am into the gummiband phase now and these exercises are really working...even if they take forever to do.

I am still not quite well enough yet for some good hard MTB training but I will be very soon.

I have finally made a smart decision. I ended my membership at Sportlife! Why waste 299kr/month when I am never there? I already pay TV-avgift and that is another of those things you pay for and don't use all that often. So why have extra expenses too?

No one needs a gym membership when you have Mölndals CK. And anyway my training outside is way more effective than what I can do in a pass with annoying music.

Now my cold has lifted and I am pretty much ready to start training again. So this blog might just become entertaining. Even if crashes are entertaining too.

To start things off, let's discuss MTB tires. Is UST the way to go for short XC races or? I have noticed that the lighter Fulcrum wheels are all for UST now so it is time to consider it. Do you just put these tires on or are we talking about some sticky gluing too?

I can go down to about 2.5bar on my Speed Kings without flats but the grip is så där when things are wet. And the first 3 XC races are just those which are soaked and where some grip would be nice.

Send some comments please...