I was not the only cyclist out this morning. Can anyone believe that it is not even March yet and we can already have an outdoor ride with sun and 7C? CK Chris definitely took advantage of this.

Okay, it was not superwarm riding towards Utby along Säveån and together with the wall of wind there was a couple km of tire sucking mud. But things got a little more encouraging at Gamlestaden where I could switch back to some small roads over to the Alelyckan road heading north. So this meant a wall of wind from my left side which, to be honest, is not really any better. But I kept on passed that store with the annoying commercials and finally up to the old railway path through Lärjedalen. I could regroup a bit there while preparing for the painfully slow climb up to Gunnilse which went a bit nicer with the tail wind.

That's when the challenge starts. Up the hills to 190 which actually were icy. Then up a nasty hill to Angereds kyrka or Muur-Kapellmuur if you prefer. During this demonstration of massive leg power I several times had to deal with jumping gears so I wonder if I should just upgrade the whole XT set anyway. So after that was supposed to be pure cykelglädje on Lexbyvägen but it was pretty muddy for the first bit and kind of wet for the rest so I couldn't really let loose entirely. But this classic route is good to start with while my Furulund hills are still icy.

I rushed home yesterday to get some training in before the sun set so it was time for a 2012 premier for my MTB. Yes, there is a ton of grus over every possible bike/walking path but that just meant I could train riding on a very slippery grusväg. The ride to Jonsered went quickly as always because when I turned around the wall of wind was still there ready to catch me. Actually it was gusting quite a bit so a few times I was losing balance. Anyway, this was a fine 45 minutes.

So now it seems like others have noticed Dalsands XC and it seems like no one really cares about the SCF licens rule. So I can feel stupid for actually signing up with the club CK Chris even though it is funny.

I also heard from Sven that Göteborgs CK is supposed to be focused on CX and MTB but this will not affect MTB SM which will be some kind of collaboration with MCK. But I am still not thrilled about this news because it would mean spending my MTB upgrade money on yet another set of cycling clothes. I just want to ride. No politics please.

I see now that we are all in for a moral dilemma before the 2012 season. It seems that Göteborgs CK has appeared all of a sudden. Probably not everyone will move over but still it messes up the nice little MCK family. With no more loyalty I could just as well go to CK Master because it is closer or even Partille CK which is a block away. Or why not throw out all of the loyalty and join Falu CK instead?

But then my next complaint is about SCF and their 700kr licensavgift. My issue is this:
1.2.019
En licensinnehavare får ej delta i tävling som ej finns upptagen på nationella, kontinent- eller världsprogrammet eller som ej är kända av nationsförbund, världsdelsorganisation eller UCI. SCF kan godkänna speciella undantag för tävlingar eller speciella arrangemang i sitt eget land.

I became aware of this rule from someone at MTB Täby and had to use it before the first Hammarby Hill XC race. When I contacted the race organizers they immediately did all the work to get SCF certified out of fear of losing everyone. And now this is an issue again. I give you Dalsland XC, a nice little 50km on 5 maj. A perfect start to the season. It is even a seednings race for Grenserittet so there will be Norwegians. But I see no SCF approval and it is not in the race calendar. So here we have a perfect start to the långlopp season which you can't do if you already fixed your licence.

I mentioned this last year also because I find it very silly that one can race any of the Långloppscupen races as motionär with no licence or no club. But if you want to start a few minutes before, pay more and do the exact same race then get a licence.

At the moment I have not paid any club membership or licence fees. So for now it is CK Chris...

I love it when things are like this. The second I buy ice spikes for my running shoes it goes up to 6C and everything melts. Gotta love it! So, your welcome Göteborg for this little glimpse of spring. I claim full responsibility! Maybe I will actually take out the MTB or even the cross this weekend?

This morning I tried out my new ice spikes from Intersport and they were certainly a pain to stretch onto the shoe in the first place. Of course that was a hint that they would in fact stay on shoe no matter what I did. +1 Chris approval point.

I was making a hell of a noise on the road...so much that an old lady turned to me and asked if those ones were good. -1 Chris approval point. Hitting the pavement with these things just killed so against all of my better judgement I started running on the pure ice instead.

+50 Chris approval points! This was such a surreal experience. My brain was telling me to avoid the ice which meant I was sliding in the snow. But when I ran directly on the ice it was absolutely perfect. Running almost 12km on solid ice and I only very slightly slipped once. Amazing!

One has to ask the question of whether dubbdäck for bikes work this well. I seriously doubt it...

Yesterday morning I made the foolish attempt of trying to run on solid ice in normal running shoes. After the 4th slip and a total distance of about 400m I confirmed that this was definitely silly. Yes, interval training.

So after a long search I found my pedals and borrowed the quick release from my Tacx workstand and it was trainer time at Casa di Chris. My clock also happens to be a thermometer so I can report that my 30 min workout raises the temperature of the room by 2.5C. Not bad.

I just did a 10 min warmup followed by 5st 1+1 min intervals which obviously hurt in my state of unfit. Then I did a couple of minutes alternating between sitting and attack position with more resistance. This whole standing sprint thing is just never used in MTB but cross season is coming in 7 months...

Good good is the summary of this. But now this morning I will in fact run with my newly-bought ice spikes.

Well, it is almost feeling like winter is over for the year. Now we have to deal with this whole thaw-freeze thing every day and risk breaking legs on every trip outside of home. But what would life be without a little adventure?

As for my TC training, it was not quite that I could just jump on the Merida cross and start right away. I had to change tires and wheels because none of my rims had the right combination. Now that I have finished that, I still need to find the Tacx quick release to actually put the wheel on the trainer. I would also like to find the extra set of pedals I had so I can keep the Ridley in working order in case I have a cross urge. It is surprising how easily one can lose these things in a very small room with only a few boxes. Still, the room is ready for some TC and so am I.

I have been looking through the race schedules and I should manage a lagom mix of marathon and XC. Already on 5 maj there is a 50km MTB race I have never seen before so that is good practice before the shock of Långa Billingeracet.

I see that Philip has requested a blog entry so I think it is time to have an entry. It's important to keep the reader happy or the reader may get tempted to just look at silly YouTube clips instead.

At this point I would love to reveal that I have spent the last few weeks on some top-secret training program and that I am superstrong and ready for MTB 2012. But all I have managed in the fury of work that has followed me until last week is one run per weekend. Those runs have been respectful anyway, especially the 12km terrain on that day when it was -13C. And I can manage that distance without trouble or 3 days of träningsvärk. Still, compared to the form I had this time last year from all the skiing, things look bad. But I have not given up because I know that I can get to MTB training with my car now.

I will be giving a lot more priority to training now that things are under control at work. And there is no reason why I can't do some TC at home. Even if it does piss off my neighbour below it would only be for around 30 min a couple times a week. Others are not exactly quiet so why should I set an example.

So...let's start some discussion.
1. What upgrades are you planning before MTB 2012?
2. Have you already bought your 29" and what is the deal with those anyway?
3. Which races are on your schedule for 2012?