Actually, I don't wanna be sedated. But I am. I had a very bad sleep on Monday then WTAI where I seem to have gotten a sunburn on parts of the top of my head. I haven't really caught up yet. Probably some would say that it has something to do with the Col de Tournament of work I need finish by tomorrow so I can take some vacation. But I have that under control.

Nej, I am going to sleep a lot tonight. Now that I have my mind set on Ränneslättsturen and the weather looks perfect for it. Gone with this sleepiness...be gone!

When I read Björn's article for Magasin Åre I immediately wanted to jump on the CX and tackle some mud. But there is no mud now. It is too hot for CX.

By now most of you have realized that I am not putting so much effort into MTB XC races. I will do my 4 marathons and whatever happens is fine. Every 90 min or 2hr pass I take around here is preparing my legs for CX but also keeping my mind fresh. I don't need to stress about this. But when CX season comes I will make the practices even if I need to start work at 07.00.

Cross is life! Chris Cross is ready!

I was at Where the Action Is yesterday trying to adapt my body to both sun and heat (and beer). That went quite well. Highlights for me were Glasvegas and Royal Republic but we can take the music tips later on.

The weather for Eksjö on Sunday looks to be around 20C and a bit of rain. Of course the forecast changes a whole lot. I will just say that I would rather race Ränneslättsturen in 20C than 32C. Rain also means I can blame my slow time on mud. =)

In a way it is good to start a week like this. It is Monday and I can blame my slö and dead feeling on training. Wonderful! But seriously I did use quite a few of my MTB muscles yesterday so återhämtning in the form of Where the Action Is tomorrow is good. And then I have 4 days to recover until Ränneslättsturen.

I started looking through the course description and the höjdprofil is nothing to be scared of when I think of the hill I live next to. Anyone have any tips? The first 19km seems to be pretty easy.

I almost didn't go out this morning because I just felt zero motivation for training. But I decided to just take my simple hill loop and just ignore the fact that next weekend I need to go much farther. Halfway up to Björndammen the noises started on the vevparti yet again and I was ready to throw the freakin thing in the small lake I was passing (except Sid...Sid I can save). So on pure rage I flew the rest of the way up to Kåsjön and then tried to calm down a bit over to Tahult and down the hill.

When you turn left on Härkeshultsvägen and ride up the hill, the forest starts and you get that lovely smell of pine needles. Just after that, there is a small 'road' which I always look at and then keep riding. Well, today I decided to explore it. It becomes a traktorstig which winds its way downhill and is quite a slippery little thing. Good start. It ends at a little clearing full of garbage (stupid people) and becomes Vildmarksleden which is obviously a classic for those of you living out towards Landvetter/Bollebygd.

This description deserves a new paragraph because this trail was so f&%#ing amazing! I am not saying it was easy because there were tons of roots and rocks to dodge your way around and a couple of challenging hills. But for the most part I was on the bike thinking 'This is why I bought an MTB!' That part of the forest was dry and did not have any of those large rocks which are common around Skatås.

The trail came out on a grusväg which actually is Knipavägen because it ended in the trail I rode twice last year and hated. The stretch from there to Kåsjön is still useless. The trail is not wide, there is swamp for at least 500m and the parts in between were pretty unrideable. I could see other tire tracks but still I would not suggest this part. It kills the cykelglädje. Turn right on Knipavägen instead and enjoy the neverending gradual uphill traktorstig full of all kinds of obstacles. At least you can ride.

Anyway, I guess I should just buy a silly momentnyckel so I know that everything is as tight as it should be. Because if it still comes loose I will know that I need to replace it.

I decided to not change anything on the bike right now. I loosened the steering a bit since it was too tight against the bearing which was causing my uncertain drifting. Now it is superb! So I can mention Ränneslättsturen in every entry so my blog can appear with the others on Långloppscupen.

The route I just took was heavy on XC. Starting as usual from Puketorp and into my fantastic little blue trail out to Bläcktjärn. I turned left and then right at a little unmarked trail which I rode with Hansen last summer. Parts of this are just horrible and other parts are brilliant. Either way you can't get more XC than this. It started raining and everything became quite slippery. There was a rather large root that was no match for Sid. Or, well, I did get the front wheel over but the back slid and sent me flying. But this is normal.

Since what I saw today is worse than any långlopp I will see and since today went well, I think I can stop with the XC for the moment and concentrate on grusväg and distance. 78km is a wee bit more than what I did this morning...and the race is next weekend.

Yes, and what do I have in my calendar today at 16.30? Meeting. It is like they are consciously trying to prevent me from making it to MTB training. Oh well. Now I have 3 days ahead of me and I a bike that works. Finally.

First of all I would like to ask Västtrafik for my 90 minutes back. I was on this spårvägn when it crashed into a truck and essentially shut down all traffic in the centre. Then because of some stupid bridge repairs after 17.30 at Svingeln they moved all of the Partille buses to Ullevi so I had to take Alingsåspendeln and walk back home from Allum. Did I see any sign of construction activity at Svingeln? Of course not.

Finally I got home only to find my package from Wiggle sitting outside my door. Stupid Parcel Force obviously doesn't care about the value of my Squeezy gels and new stem. But anyway all of the parts I need are now here.

It was 19.00 and I headed out for a nasty 'empty stomach' ride up to Furlund on the löpspår of death fully expecting the usual noises from the vevparti. But...NEJ! Perfectly silent! Makes no sense at all how a couple of mud bits could cause so much noise. But I did put a bucket of grease on so that may also have helped.

Now I am back!

I just took off the vevarm on the MTB to check for massive damage and, well, I saw nothing obvious other than a lot of grease and sand/stone crap. I didn't take the bottom bracket off because it looked just fine. So I cleaned it all and slopped on some more grease. At first I thought that there was a little plastic bit broken but, no, that was also fine. So I just put it back together with a pile of grease and tightened the screws evenly. Tomorrow I will see if this made any difference at all.

While I had the bike flipped and I put on the back wheel I checked the chain and gear adjustments. It is about as good as you can get with 3-delade but one thing I did notice was some type of gap between when I moved the pedal and when the wheel turned. So this may be a wheel/cassette issue.

The second time I raced Lida Loop I won a set of Mavic Crossride wheels which I have sitting on the betong Trek now. They are not amazing wheels but then again my Fulcrum Red Metal 5 are almost bottom of the line too. So if I don't notice improvement with the vevparti I can swap the wheel and check. But knowing that there is no obvious damage and that everything is tight, I see no reason not to ride it.

It has been easy to be a solskenscyklist here since we haven't really had much rain. The ground was dry and beautiful everywhere. But I know better to get confidence in dry times because it makes mud a painful lesson. After yesterday's rain, I had to get out today. And it was even raining a fair bit when I left.

Checking the bike. Bolts on the arm tight as Philip suggested? Check. As usual this made no difference and it was creaking away after 5 minutes. Correct air pressure in Sid? Yep. Correct pressure in the Conti X King Racesport? Nja...2.6 bar is a bit too safe when it is this wet.

For the most part the bike had 6 bags of grip (instead of the usual 8) despite massively wet conditions in the forest. I did discover that it has zero grip on pavement in a corner. Good to know. But everywhere else it was way better than Speed King or any other tire I have tried. But just to know for sure I made one attempt uphill on a slanted wet rock and that did not work. Gave me a nice frame bash right on my kneecap. But I have done much worse before. It will still slide on wet roots but Sid helps me to attack them at the right angle so I won't be in a situation of getting stuck or sliding.

Anyway, I even cleaned the bike out in the rain since I will now take it apart and check for cracks. It has to be a crack. It has to be something somewhere.

Yesterday I got home from work at 19.30. No chance for either training options in other words. But this morning I used a bit of my vacation day for MTB instead of driving to Norway.

All of that screwing seemed to help at first since there were no pedal noises. But then I turned up the gradual hill road and the squeaking started as usual. It only squeaks when I am putting a lot of force on the pedals. It is not the pedals themselves because they are the same I used for CX and I had no trouble there. It is also not the clips because it squeaked before on the old shoes too.

I have no choice but to take the whole vevarm/vevlager off and start again. I was hoping to do that today but my package from EvaldsMTB has just been sent now. So basically I have a bike that is probably fine providing I dont hit any hills. Guess it is time to move to Denmark.

I spent last night screwing and fiddling with the MTB to see if I could isolate this creaking problem. The vevarm was not terribly tight and when I did tighten it the opposite screw usually loosened a bit. So I probably have uneven wear on the bottom bracket which would explain another noise. I should have the BB today and my new stem will be here early next week.

Obviously I have decided to DNS Farrisrunden which is a shame. But I need to fix everything. I can't just ride it despite obvious problems. No more short cuts. I need to be able to trust the silly thing. At the moment it has problems during every ride.

Kanskecrossen is tonight AND the usual MTB training. But I am not even going to get my hopes up for making it by 18.00. I do have the next 3 days off though so that will mean a fair bit of cross and a KanskeMTB depending on delivery times.

I have never understood this whole bottom bracket thing. I mean sure it is at the bottom but where is the bracket? Vevlager makes way more sense. Whatever you call it, I need one. And after my usual disappointing trip about to a couple 'cycling stores', I have to order online yet again.

EvaldsMTB is probably the obvious choice for many here but for some reason I haven't used them before. I know I have checked a few times but did not find what I was looking for. But now they have everything plus a little 5% discount after joining. Then I can splurge an extra 20kr and go for the XTR instead of the XT.

Philip, it was smart of you to crack your Trek frame because at least you have a warranty. I am managing to break everything else. My plan was to get some mil in my legs and also work in the new Continental X King Racesport which is fantastic little piece of engineering. With one front and back now I am not sliding at all, period.

But today there were tons of noises and when I reached the running trail up at Furulund I felt the first signs of a busted bottom bracket. It is just not smooth anymore. You techie types can diagnosis the other problem. I have a clicking sound on every rotation of the pedals and it is much louder uphills when I put my massive leg strength into it. But with normal pedalling it is either silent or a faint click. I can't seem to figure it out but I have to now.

I have to have a serious think about my little Farrisrunden excursion next week which I was purely doing for the training value and to spurt passed a few Norwegians at the finish line again.

My attempt to take the one hour of work time for exercise I am supposed to get each week failed rather miserably. Even though I had it in my calendar and planned with good margin. Today's endless meeting has left me drained mentally so cycling would have been good. But things don't always work out. Fine. At least I have a job.

Aj. And so one remembers what true MTB is like. My back is rather sore today after my ambitious little round of XC. Sure Sid helps me go over things faster but that still doesn't prevent the use of my muscles while doing so. Nothing beats MTB for full body träningsvärk. =)

I am trying to ignore the 3 meetings I have, the first of which starts in a few minutes. These kind of days are tough.

By skipping a fika and being efficient, I managed to leave work early. It was still 18.00 when I made it home but anyway that is early. I had some clips to adjust. I started riding and at first I felt a bit in my left knee but it went away. So I guess it is fine despite several muscle spasms while doing things I would not normally do.

Up to Puketorp and across my blue trail was just as fun going in that direction as it was the opposite way the other day. At Bohusleden I turned left this time since my shoes were fine. Basically that is the toughest section between Kåsjön and Skatås but I managed things I have never made it up or over before. Sid is a miracle! No kick-back or anything.

By the time I was up to the running trail at Furulund, my bike was making the usual noises in the crankset and the back brake is squishy but I can handle these things. What I do need though is a X King on the front. So after a victory lap Vallhamra - Östra - Fräntorp and through Sävedalen I returned home after an unplanned 90 minutes of fun.

But now I need to see some mud to bring my overconfidence down a bit. And tomorrow may bring some of that. MCK training premiere? You bet!

I am having one of those many 'Hur tänkte du???' moments. How did I ever actually believe that I could make it to Uddevalla by 18.30 when I can't even make it to Änggårdsbergen by 18.30? I mean just driving to Kungälv on E6 at that time will take twice as long as normal. I would have to leave work at like 14.30. Besides, like I said I am having shoe problems still. A ride after work around Partille will fix that.

Then I wonder what CK Master is up to. 8 juni for Göteborgsserien was supposed to be LVG according to the schedule but now they are talking MTB. Nice to change things the day before.

But the good news is that I will make my MCK training premiere on Thursday! There is no excuse this time. Watch out Tomas...Sid is on your tail...

You will have to excuse this bipolar blog. Some days I am flying high and others everything is shite. Today I have felt it all. I started this morning with cutting the fork shorter by one spacer since I had made it long on purpose. I had to cut it no matter what since there was not enough thread to tighten the nut with that many spacers. So after more attempts and frustration I finally have the fork securely attached. Yippee!

Yesterday I went to XXL to try on some cycling shoes before buying online. But the difference in price was only 50kr so I just bought. The Shimano M161W feels wonderful and there is plenty of room for my feet to swell during långlopp. They are white and black which obviously won't last long and since Shimano refuses to have cool names, I will call them the Zebra.

New shoes means new clip adjustments and a rather annoying little ride with stops every km to re-adjust. I have the right shoe set but my left knee hurts after all of the changes so I am not sure yet. I also put a Conti X King Racesport tire on the back and it seems like I have about 4 bags of grip in the corners now. So much that I am not at all used to the feel. The superbike is there...I just need to learn how to ride it.

So the bliss came on a short little singletrack from Blacktjärn and back over to the one I tried in Puketorp the other day. It was like my first MTB ride...fy fan it was beautiful!

But the adjustments are killing me now. I feel confident though about finally racing in Eksjö though...

While I am sitting here yet again fixing my bike, I thought I would give you a food tip in Göteborg which I discovered yesterday. Restaurant 2112 on Magasinsgatan was started by two members of In Flames and some others in the pub business with what seems like the ambition to be both a pub and fine restaurant.

My friend and I tried the 2112 Black Angus Burger and I will actually have to conclude that this is one of the best burgers I have ever had! Go there now! Forget the training! I might as well given how much trying to train is annoying me lately.

Yesterday I had a visit from an old friend. I know he reads this quite a bit via RSS feed reader but since he is not a cyclist my Sid comments were confusing. =) So my training plans are a bit disrupted since the relaxing trip through the forest I was planning for today will mess up our afternoon plans. Any trip I have ever made on pure trails takes twice as long as I expect. But tomorrow is another day.

So I thought I should try and fix my more urgent matter...my MTB shoes. Sidi is fine but my shoes shrunk and I can't feel my toes after a ride longer than 90 minutes. This fact killed Mörksuggejakten for me last year. I think I need to check out XXL quick for Shimano sizing before I order online as usual.

After a frustrating day at work yesterday fighting with the computer and the fact that I still can't get caught up, I was in no mood for cycling. Today was a bit better. I headed out for my Björndammen - Furulund - Kåsjön trail fun plus Tahult over to Jonsered and back route and everyone seemed to be going the other way. Nationaldagsloppet is obviously soon.

The headset seemed a bit loose again so I tightened it and will probably need to replace it. The stem is not holding up either. It is one of those very cheap ones so even a BBB stem would be an upgrade. And the gears are clunking away and the back tire felt funny so I need to keep fixing it. But it is fully rideable. Uphill I needed to lean forward more since it is lighter at the front but it was a breeze to get up. Overall I could manage two gears harder than normal in every situation which automatically means more speed no matter what the weight difference.

Just on the way into the forest after Tahult something strange happened. There was a girl riding the opposite way. This was strange because she was absolutely flying, her bike was quite an old citybike and she was wearing a dress. To make it more strange she smiled at me even though my legs are the same colour as my frame. About 5km down the road a concerned dad was riding along and stopped me to ask if I saw a girl. Apparently they had started together. I said she was flying and way ahead and immediately asked if she was in a cycling club. Talent like this needs to be discovered. But then the dad said something I wasn't expecting. She has anorexia and can't control herself when she exercises. He left before I could offer help and that is a shame. Certainly we could be of help at Mölndals CK. And I work with doctors.

Anyway, things felt a bit heavy after that which is precisely when the hill of death came just before the turn to Knipavägen and a hell of a grusväg downhill which is a pain even when dry. At Jonsered there were some LVG riders doing interval training on the hill. Excellent. I thought one of the jerseys looked like IK Jarl.

Everyone with a bike was out tonight. On the wind road from Kåhög I was pushing along but quickly falling apart. I saw someone on a LVG so I decided I must pass him...without going to stora klingan. Superkadens. I managed too. On an MTB that weighs twice as much. =)

Anyway, the 25C temperature really killed my body tonight so I will sleep well.

It was a pleasure to find my starnut and the Pedros nut tool in my mailbox today. Last night I had mounted everything I could and it went very well. Tonight I hammered in the starnut and it was perfect. Screw everything together and, voilà, I have myself an MTB! Despite not even having supper I had to head out and try it immediately, with caution since a) Perhaps this bike was not meant to be so light up front and b) I put it together. RockShox does have a warning that improperly installed shocks could lead to death. Seriously.

And it certainly felt different. Sid is stiff. I was braking heavily and it barely compressed at all. Wow! Down in the little valley next to me had some minor little rocks and I carefully tried them out and felt nothing at all. It was like riding LVG. So towards the end I had some good speed and the bike was just floating. Excited I headed up to Puketorp to that MTB trail where I didn't go on when riding the cross. Good thing too since it is serious MTB with lots of big rocks which I usually fall on. My technique is rusty but Sid helps so much. I never had any idea that this is what a shock should be like.

Game on my friends...game on!