I hadn't been on my bike for 2 weeks so I really had no idea what to expect out of training today. But to prevent a chill and getting sick again I decided for the full arm and leg warmers today plus even my ski pants over because the zipper on my warm-up pants broke. And there was no chill in the air at all so this was overkill. The warm-up was fine after a less than thrilling ride over to Skatås. In the wet grass the Conti XKings still amazed me because I seemed to have loads of grip and a nice steady speed. I am starting to wonder why I just ordered a pair of Tufo Flexus Cubus but I know it will be even better with tubes and the lighter wheels. So then it was time for a race up in the usual spot but with a new track which had my mind spinning for awhile. The difference today was the massive wind that would gust up unexpectedly, usually when I just started on the long gravel sections.

I was kind of squished in the start as usual and CC  Lasse had set up a rather nasty corner just after so I was way off the line and basically lost a ton of positions. But after that tricky grass section full of holes and the triple bunny hop on the uphill part followed by yet another down and up section I could then see where I was in relation to everyone else. Hmm. Not great. I passed Anki and one of the kids before the long gravel part where I could see three riding kind of together. They must be passed!

I kind of took it easy the first lap but then after the first part it was time to pass the first on a nice acceleration after a grass corner. One down. The next guy was riding the same MTB I have so obviously he had to be passed. I waited until the horse track and actually got both of them on one straight but it cost me a lot of energy. The next in front was Lasse and he was pretty far ahead so this would be tough. And I could also see that one of the guys I passed was still there behind me. Oh, I forgot to mention that I took a nice slide in one of the grass corners because I didn't slow down and that distracted the guy behind. I also heard him make some mistake on the bunny hop part so he was gone for awhile. Lasse was also slowing down so I tried to close the gap and was actually pretty close. Then I fell apart.

Yes...I am not a superhuman. Chris Cross has a limit. My usual strategy of going full out from the start seemed to have collapsed in what ended up to be the last lap. If I had known this I would have pushed myself harder but my leg cramp came on fast and by the time I was at the end of the horse straight I was ready to faint. Lasse was gone and the two behind passed and I was left saying hello to Mr. Wall. I managed to keep together enough so that I wasn't so far behind those two which is what is annoying considering it was the last lap.

From now on I will ride without the leg warmers because that is probably what caused my cramp. And I see the weekend in Kumla as a training weekend because they have the toughest track in the Cup in my opinion. Today was only 30 min too. Aj.