For some reason I decided to check my visit stats and I have succeeded in grand style. Indeed this is Sveriges minsta cykelblogg. In fact no one in Sweden is reading it at all. The only visits I have are Google hits for my review of my fantastic Ridley X-Ride. In fact I deserve a discount or a free one for all this fine publicity...

So I could write about my new CX-etapplopp SlalomCrossen which I completed today. Obviously my Chris Cross name came from my enthusiasm for riding slalom between trees at training passes and certainly not my hiphop skills. And SlalomCrossen is definite proof of that. Yesterday some guy stopped walking his dog to look in fascination (or disgust) at me ride lap after lap around a set of 8 well-placed trees. And slalom is king when you get to 8:an and other nice grusväg parts around Delsjön. The great thing about cross training is that I can keep myself thoroughly amused without having to go anywhere else. For långlopp training I have to go far and spend a long time. Anything I do on my CX will make me breathe heavily. Interval is da shit.

Then I have written the word confessions in the title above...oooh...what kind of saucy secret will I tell now, you might wonder. But, nej, nothing like that. I just have to confess that my MTB from Full Dynamix is complete crap and it always has been crap. I have kept tolerating it because, like many Italian things, it looks fantastic and it cost a lot of money. First off the frame has always been too big for me and many have told me this. It is fine for långlopp with simple terrain but it is a rolling death trap in proper singletrack. I improved this a bit with Sid because the Recon on it was a hopeless shock. But the singlemost explanation for my problem in singletrack is the bike size. The second problem you all know very well...the clicking noise when I pedal. And I have still not managed to find the source of this despite taking everything off. And why have I not just put on the new XT group I bought? Well, the bottom bracket seems to be rusted on. Not to mention a worrying wiggle in the frame which I was noticing in Mörksuggejakten. I was slow in the downhills for a reason. So the whole bike is showing many signs of low quality and I could be so much better if I could only trust the material. My Ridley lets me hit speeds I would never dare to on my MTB. It is quality right through.

So when I keep cancelling races (like this weekend) or decide to not do any XC races there is a whole more behind it. I have to get rid of this rolling death trap of an MTB...and soon I will.

The ever-dependable SMHI had a Klass I warning for heavy rain and lightning this morning and there actually were some nasty dark clouds so their forecast might be true. To me it just sounded like absolutely perfect weather to jump on the Ridley and have a nice wet grass session.

My theory that you have to be a proper athlete to actually train in such crap weather was proven true because the only person I saw was runner Mustafa Mohamed. Okay, I also saw a guy on a LVG who looked very pissed off in the rain. To help him feel better I decided to pass him on the grass. I am so kind.

It looks like I need to vary my locations quite a bit because on this my 5th pass I can see a nice trail. Luckily Sävedalen is full of so many little grass hills that I can spread out my tracks and perhaps hide under the disguise of different cycling clubs. But after seeing what horses can do to trails in Jonsered I don't feel too bad about actually churning up some wild grass here and there. Over at Kviberg around the old military building there are also some very nice grass hills for strength sessions.

It wasn't quite wet enough today to get that proper sucking grass but my pass tomorrow after all this rain should be lovely...

I work with many people who think that 15C is not summer weather. If that is the case summer is over and it's time for CX season. I have had two passes already...what about you?

Of course this is partially because I finally started to fix my noisy MTB. I started with the obvious and changed the chain but that did not fix any noise and actually put all the gear adjustments out of whack so it felt like I was back on my old Trek 6500 again (dropped chain every time there was a hill). But when I started fiddling with the gears I saw that the wires were useless also. I have bought the new XT groupset and was planning to save it for a nice new frame and then just use this bike as my cykelglädje spare. But now it looks like the best bet is to put the XT set on this one and see if that is good enough for the type of race I do. I am in no hurry to do that because if I will I am going to do things right and that means properly cleaning the old frame and actually checking for problems. For all I know there could be a crack somewhere. To be honest Mörksuggejakten was a fine way to end an excellent spring season.

Right, so I mentioned 2 attempts to revive Sävecrossen, my own local variant of the infamous Hondacrossen grass hell. Once again I have to start by praising my Ridley X-Ride because it just feels superb in every way! Much more superb than my unused back muscles in this particle bike position. Here there are plenty of little grass sections with small hills and obstacles so I could take around 5 laps and then move on to the next spot and experience pretty much everything I will see in a CX race (except fast cyclists, of course).

Training now is not at all a bad idea given that the first CX Cup race is mid-September and certainly all those local Kanskecrossen and Introcrossen things will want to be started long before the cup premiere. So maybe this is a good time to take an MTB break. I might actually be good at CX this season with some practice...

After trying out the perfect MTB trails at Lugnet in Falun (see Biking Dalarna) it was time for my 3rd Mörksuggejakten. This race still has it all so I am happy to see that over 1000 people started. If anyone asks me which XC marathon they should try first, the answer is always Mörksuggan.

I decided to start in Group 5 and apparently every motionär chose the same group. It was a bit of a panic with 400 all at once and people were cutting in and out all over the place through central Rättvik. The famous hill was also crowded so I had to shove my way through to be able to go the speed I wanted. Honestly it is not that bad. I stayed on middle klingan and passed a ton of people because the hill was no worse than what I ride up in Partille all the time.

As promised, the next part was muddy but my tires were so much better so I was pretty stable. Already here there were many in a hurry to get passed and I had already decided that I was racing against myself and not anyone else this time. My body was not feeling super strong after a crappy sleep in a useless Tällberg hotel. Back on the grusväg downhill section I was cautious as usual and I just don't get why people choose to sit 'på rulle' behind me on these parts. I did use my brakes because the rain had just started and it was slippery.

The first food stop was quite early on so I just grabbed an Enervit cup and didn't stop. By this point the track had already passed through pretty much everything one can expect from a race...and that is only the beginning. About all I remember from this part was that a lot of people passed me. I wondered if anyone was still back there but I suppose I really did pass a lot of people on the first hill. These races are always strange because you end up riding on your own and yet there are lots behind you. Strange.

And then it was time for Nedre Gärdsjö which is where you remember that this is Dalarna, land of red houses and cycling supporters who even brave the rain to cheer on everyone. Here I did stop for a Squeezy gel and I had put the equivalent of 5 gels into their little bottle which saved me loads of time. Shortly after this Mörksuggan tried to hitch a ride but I just politely waved and sped off to the famous bridge over the small lake and the start of the best part of the race.

The next 15-20km is basically all singletrack. It was here in 2010 when my dehydration kicked in and my shrunken shoes started pinching my toes so that every bump was pure pain. And again this time I could see that my body needed more singletrack training because this did start to hurt towards the end. My strategy was to just take it easy and not make any mistakes because it was wet and slippery. That meant a queue was building up behind me and also that several took spectacular falls when they did try to pass. I was not trying to get in the way but I was not going to just stop and let people pass either. This is how I run my race. And this also allowed me to enjoy the fantastic nature and get through with only a couple of minor slips. This is also when it becomes obvious that full suspension could be a good idea.

There is a climb up to Östbjörka but I never seem to remember it. After racing in Norway this particular climb was nothing to worry about. The rain had really started here so after a quick refill including the 'joy' of having Enervit dumped all over my hand (sticky? Oh yes) I was still kind of cautious since it was getting more and more slippery. So again it was slow and steady on the trails and careful on the little uphills and this time I was leaving the queue behind me. Consistency is a winning concept. Finally it was time for the two last climbs and actually these are the worst. Perfect for 15km from the finish and this was the only time I felt a slight hint of a cramp.

So the worst was done. Or? Actually no. The last 7km is quite tough and I admire that they dare to end this way. Many races choose to just make it easier and easier but this is a proper finish. Problem was I could not see anything because my glasses were fogged up and I couldn't clean them properly. So I did my most cautious downhill of the day pretty much blind.

Last 5km and time for my final sprint attempt. I managed to get my glasses clear enough to psychotically plow through lots of rough trail until a muddy downhill when my front tire went wild and I almost flew off. After that was those lovely little 'springbacka' as the skiers call them. Just a serious of pointless but fun little hills to see who has a cramp.

Then the finish. The extra little loop in the stadium was fun although no one was even looking at the cyclists. I was surprised to see that no one was making any effort here. The finish is in sight...WHY are you relaxing??? I passed 5 people here in grand style and rolled across the line in a semi-dead state. Good good.

I only had a rough idea of my time and it looked like I beat my old times by a little bit. So I had to wait until the next morning to see that my 2012 time was a satisfying 3:44:54 which placed me 311th of 405. That is almost 14 minutes faster than 2010 on the same bike! But better still that is 10 minutes faster than 2008 when conditions were perfect. So crushing my old times in the rain on a slippery course is wonderful. Now I can officially declare that I am improving...