A visit to the CX Sweden website will tell you that cyclocross in this country is on the verge of greatness. CX was brought here by dedicated people with a passion for this wonderful sport and their continued effort really deserves some praise. Now people all over the country have taken their valuable time to arrange CX race series which manage to attract 40 or more cyclists. And the key to success is simple...exactly, keep it simple. A single start for everyone so that you can battle it out with your equal no matter what their age, gender, wallet size or licence status. This is cyclocross at its purist and I love every minute of it. And I look forward to the day when this spreads to MTB.

But wait. These races have results lists and some even have prizes. Uh oh. Svarttävling? I doubt that SCF has sanctioned these wonderful events. So that means most of the cyclists racing CX in this country should be fined för brott mot SCF:s tävlingsregler 1.2.019. Or does this only apply to races in Malmö? Or are these races actually träningstävlingar which are okay? I think my point is clear. If there is a way to sneak around a rule I see little point in having the rule at all. Svarttävling means no fee to SCF. I like.

So now I will keep quiet for a few days and let you all write about your preparations for SM in Sunne and your subtle ways to try and psyche out your competitors. And maybe the results list will be more accurate than the rest of the races this year.

My plans are to check out this Wåffelcrossen everyone is talking about. And next week I will boycott Sthlm and head to a true Danish classic in Kalundborg.

And so we enter Day 2 of my boycott of SCF and Dagens Nyheter has decided to continue their journalistic attacks on cycling with this article. How can you not react to an article that starts with the line 'Cykelsporten, där alla alltid bedyrar att de aldrig har dopat sig'??? How can SCF continue to not bother defending our beloved sport? Do they realize what it is like to have to defend cycling at work fika or any other place we go?

The only one who has said anything at all in defence of cycling is Jens Westergren. His comment is this...
Lämpligt att nämna cykelsporten i rubriken för att sedan sammanfatta dopingens historik i alla idrotter... Den som tror att det inte sett likadant ut i alla andra idrotter är naiv. Doping inom en idrott är direkt relaterat till idrottens omsättning, så där kan man ju se hur cykelsporten ligger till i den rankingen...

Extremely well put. If only SCF would make more of an effort...

I was not the first to start on this question. Andreas Lindén did a fine job with pointing out that doping may even exist in Sweden. But now it seems like all is well and back to normal on the SCF website. Ulf Näslund is happy with the apology from DN and another media storm is avoided. Do we really want a cycling union that covers up everything and hides from debate? I don't. Enough is enough.

What we want:
A cycling union should represent views of the cyclists. We do not need a group of politicians running SCF so it is time for some fresh faces and new ideas. If a cyclist points out an issue, SCF should respond. But, more importantly, they should take it seriously and be dynamic enough to adapt to the changing needs of cycling. And now is a good time to start this process.

The boycott:
The only way to get any change is to boycott SCF. Cutting off the money sends a clear message that we want change. Here are some ways to make this happen now:
1. I personally will not participate in any SCF-sanctioned races until something is done. Unfortunately that means missing CX in Sunne but I am not going to back down now that things are going...unless #3 happens.
2. Do not pay your licensavgift for next year. This is the most obvious source of income for SCF.
3. If you are a race organizer, do not pay SCF their portion of the race fee. Of all the options this is the best one because then the cyclists are not punished.

If you support me or want to leave a comment, do so below. Or you can email me if you want to be anonymous. Du kan skriver på svenska om du vill. I am not hiding from any discussion here. In fact, the more specific we can be with our demands the more likely a change will occur.

As you have already read this morning, DN has decided once again to diss cycling. And this time they used SCF's anti-doping representative Ulf Näslund to confirm their story. I could have just left this issue at that. Media always wants to focus on dirty stories. But when Ulf Näslund posted this response on the SCF website I lost it.

Yes, Ulf said that it was wrong to connect him with the amphetamine comment. But if he read the article he would see that that particular comment was connected to Fausto Coppi. Apparently Ulf does stand behind everything else in the article which essentially said that cyclists have spent the last 60 years trying to cheat and stay ahead of the doping tests. I said in my last post that I wonder just how many cyclists are cheating. But Ulf knows the answer to that. We all are. Yes, you. And me too.

We can't have a person like this in charge of anti-doping at SCF. Assuming everyone is guilty is the wrong strategy and I am not at all pleased that my 700kr licence fee and a part of every race fee goes to an organization like this. Enough is enough!

So, now to time to put my research knowledge to use. Let's address this amphetamine issue. Amphetamine is one of several drugs in the family called psychostimulants because they act on the brain and they increase your activity. Staying alert meant that it became popular among university students who needed to study a lot but discoveries that it also led to weight loss made it a favourite for those Stureplan celebrity types. But amphetamine produces one of the strongest addictions possible and it is extremely toxic to your brain so I can see why Ulf did not want that connected to him.

Chemists have given us many other drugs that are like amphetamine but not as strong. An example of this is methylphenidate or Ritalin if you prefer the brand name. If someone has ADHD they often have trouble concentrating or focusing on their work. The strange reality is that if a person with ADHD takes Ritalin they actually become calm and can focus and perform normally...in other words the complete opposite of the expected effect. The problem here is that psychiatrists may not bother to correctly diagnose the person with ADHD. The old saying went 'Are you giving my kid Ritalin because they are a pain in the ass or are they actually sick?' Because giving someone without ADHD a dose of Ritalin will lead to stimulance and probably dependence.

So probably there are cyclists that have been prescribed Ritalin and are taking it. The question is whether they really have ADHD.

I have never really liked Dagens Nyheter and their article Den besudlade cykelsporten certainly hasn't changed that view.

Do you think Ulf Näslund, SCFs anti-doping person, really intended to give the view he did? What is the strategic point in confirming DN's view that doping has been a part of cycling for 60 years??? What's more worrying is when things like Dopingtråden appear on motionär forums like HappyMTB. So now journalists have SCF's view that all professional cyclists use some kind of doping and then HappyMTB gives the proof that hobby cyclists are also cheating. How does this help anyone's image of cycling?

I only use energy gels containing sugar. I am one of the slowest cyclists in every race. One has to wonder about the rest of the field.

If SCF wants to do something useful it should somehow reward cyclists for staying clean or reward clubs or trainers for promoting clean cycling right from the start. Having us do an online test is not going to help.

We had some visitors from Norway at work this week and we started talking about dialects. Then one mentioned this lovely clip from their TV show Uti Vår Hage. The first Dane has a punka on his bike and needs to fix it. So he heads into a shop but can't remember the word for cykelslang. So he tries a few words but the shop owner doesn't understand either. So the obvious moral of this story is that Danish cyclists should use tubular tires so they won't get a flat...

It seems like a helmet cam is 'Årets tidig julklapp' among Göteborg cyclists as you have seen from the CX Sweden page. But this one below from Björn F is beautiful!



Why? Well it is video proof that I managed to have a great start for once in my life. At 0:15 you can see I am på rulle with Laila who had a perfect start. By 0:29 I had made my attack in the tree allé. At 0:37 I am 3rd around the corner. And this whole sequence is great while I closed the gap in the grass. From 1:20 you can see my careful ride through the mud corners. But then after 1:40 things became worse. I remember now that Cecilia had slipped and I stopped and had my foot down. Then the rest of this sequence shows my realization that it would be pointless to remount so close to the drop so you get to see me running down the hill. And by 1:59 I am no longer in the picture. Yes, staying in front of Mr. Startraket himself for 2 minutes is a major achievement!

Right, so now to the injury update. Yesterday at work I talked to our local ergonom. who happens to also be a secret supertalang in MTB, skiing, marathon running and now triathlon. Yes, Stefan is the obvious first choice before any programs at SportRehab or appointments with a painkiller-crazy doctor. He said that my finger should be fine in a couple of days and was just swollen and pulled a bit. But throughout the day I could feel that my infamous shoulder injury was returning yet again. I managed a whole 2 months without pain but now it is back again. Fan. And then there is my ankle which looks more like a bear attack than a cycling scratch. This lovely work of art is also making me limp a bit when I walk. Gorey pictures are available if anyone is that interested...

Somehow today was not raining although it was every other day this week. So when I arrived at Slottsskogsvallen for the next GöteborgsSuperprestige battle I knew this would be a tough day for me. Of course the track would include the steep drop before the stairs. And of course it would have all those muddy corners which killed my confidence back when we had started training here a couple months ago.

We can skip over the intro part of Introcross since so much happened in the 4-lap race. I started in the 2nd group and had planned to follow Laila who was directly in front of me and then make a quick pass before the sharp corner. That strategy worked very well and after a perfect start Cecilia from Uddevalla was first, Laila second and me third at the corner and all down the allén part. I passed Laila somewhere here and entered the forest part for the first time and was already sliding all over. One of us fell already here and I know that my first time down the drop I could not turn at the bottom and ended up way off the track. People were starting to pass at this point but I was holding position quite well here. Then I missed in the second downhill and almost hit the statue. For those of you there you will certainly remember that the statue was nowhere near the track...

So now I was losing positions and Mike had flown passed but took a nasty fall on the left turn on the way into the grusplan. Over at the löphinder, which became a bunny hop because it was just a log, I made it up fine but slipped and fell in the corner and somehow I had managed to stick out my arm towards someone who was passing. I actually had my little finger wrapped around the spoke of his wheel and was lucky that I didn't lose a finger. Still, the pain was massive and I was slow for a few minutes after that...long enough to get back over to the forest again for Lap 2.

I fell quite a bit earlier this time in the slippery right turn but was back on the bike quick. The drop was fine this time although I was sliding everywhere. But I seem to remember falling somewhere up on the top part. To be honest I lost track of all the falls. I know I did better on the downhill this time but was still taking the 'statue line' way off the track. By Lap 3 I remembered that this was still a race and started to look around. I seemed to be leading a group of 3 of which the first passed on one of my mistakes. There was an MTB approaching (or UFO as CC Lasse calls them) and he was right behind me at the forest part and obviously had way more grip so he passed. I tried to do one of those cool CX tricks and ran down the drop and carried the bike and that kept me just behind the MTB. I  knew I could pass again after the forest if I could stay on my bike. Nej. Not today. I took the right line on the second downhill and managed for once to stay on the track but in the banked corner at the bottom I fell yet again and MTB was gone.

Three were close behind so I knew I needed to build up a gap in the fast grus parts. That I did quite well and by the time I was back to the forest I could be careful and concentrate. This was good. Finally I managed to stay on the bike for the whole first part and things were great until the second downhill again. I took the right line and made the banked turn but fell just after that anyway. Only I could manage a feat like this. I was pissed off now. So you can imagine I was even more pleased when I jumped on the bike and discovered my chain was off. Fan.

Someone passed me here. And Cecilia had apparently just went straight into the tree on the downhill and was later on the way to the hospital. And once I was on the bike and down on the grusplan I could here Laila shouting something like 'I am catching up!'. And she was. So I was keen on getting a lead again but obviously when in the last corner I could see Laila basically beside me, that was not going well either. The finish area was full so I had to actually go to the right side of the clock to avoid hitting people. This confusion meant that I just managed to beat Laila. But probably she would have won if we had had the space.

This was only the first race. And my confidence was zero so I decided to skita i the second race. Things would not have gotten better. So now I have managed to open up the sore on my leg from last week and add another couple next to it. But my finger is the problem. It is not broken but it feels like it has been pulled to the side and there is a constant dull pain. So that makes the '4 weeks 4 countries' decision easy. This may be the end of the season for Chris Cross.

To end this massive post I have to say that the Tufo mud tires are complete shite! Even if I still haven't found the right tire pressure they should not be this bad. Seriously. And the main design flaw was obvious after a few minutes in the grass/mud. The mud sticks to the side walls of the tires and is never cleared. So even if I had grip in the corners the mud stuck to the tires would have killed that anyway. This is something the Conti CycloXKings are great for. The mud clears directly so you always have grip. So no one should be surprised if I show up with clinchers again...

I have to sacrifice part of my weekend to finish an assignment for a pretty boring course I am taking at work. So, as you can expect, Spotify has been on all day, I have tackled my mountain of laundry and now I am writing this...

After more discussions about CX racing internationally I decided to search around to see how possible that actually was. And it would be surprisingly easy from Göteborg. Next weekend there is a race in Norway and the week after is SM in Sunne. And then off to Kalundborg in Denmark for a classic CX race course. And to round off the tour there is a race in Kiel, Germany the week after that. And once you are that far you can keep going with Denmark, Norway, Sweden and then Denmark again for a Lucia weekend.

My first response was 'COOOOOL! I have to do this!' But the realistic part of my brain that also makes me a slow cyclist soon pointed out all of those other things that need to be done before Christmas and just how much stress this would cause. But...but...Mr. Brain...this is cyclocross! You know that you like cyclocross as much as Mr. Liver appreciates a fine Belgian beer! You have to reconsider!

And with that internal conflict I should probably get back my my assignment.

I was happy about my picture the other day but now my smile is permanent. Erik Birgerson has taken a set of wonderful pics from Falun which you can see here. And despite clear instructions not to post separate pics I will anyway. To make up for this I nominate Erik for president.

First we have this action shot from the top of the first of the steep drops and hairpin curves. Check out the concentration and focus in my look. Maybe I could see the grill from here. You will also note that this was from Sunday's race since my leg is bleeding less. Yes, a lovely ad for Falun Lugnet...


But then check out this masterpiece! Look at the speed and the more aggressive race position. And doesn't the Ridley X-Ride look fantastic here? Yes, this pic was beautiful. To again make up for the separating the pics from their original source here is the link to Erik Birgerson again, in case you missed it.

And now to one of those fine moments that make a rainy day more manageable. On my way home I jumped off at Grönsakstorget and was walking behind a pretty typical tant carrying a shopping bag. Or? She was pointing at the övergångs markings on the road and that is when I saw one of those ever-present commuter cyclists that just kept going without slowing down. According to the rules this cyclist should have stopped. Our shopping tant knew this and kept walking. The cyclist narrowly squeezed by without a crash and to my surprise the shopping tant lifted up her bag and WHACK...slammed the cyclist in the back. Excellent. What a great scene!

I leave you with this...

I was starting to wonder if I came up with some kind of stealth coating for my Ridley which made it impossible to take a picture of me. I have been very invisible lately.



Since changing to Göteborgs CK I have only seen one picture of me. This beauty from Farrisrunden is a good one and the fact that it is so blurry shows that I did not slow down to pose. But what about a nice CX picture. I know many have taken pictures of me but I have yet to see any posted. Is my 'race face' a bit too much for the internet?





And then this picture came along on Jonte Stark's blog and I was quite happy despite the vampire white skin. This was Lap 1 from my story before things started to fall apart. This was just after the top of segbacken when I was in pursuit of a J Lindeberg cyclist.


To be specific, this is the cyclist I was chasing. And this is precisely the kind of 'race face' I thought I had. =) Too bad I made so many mistakes and missed the chance to end this in a spurt. But there will be other chances. We will meet again...

I saw that Öijer changed my result to read 40th instead of DNS so that made me Mr. Gladgubbe. And I was also glad that I could enjoy a peaceful hotel breakfast after the chaos of all the sports teams there during the weekend. Then I read the newspapers which you have already heard about from various sources. Falu Kuriren gave about a third of a page to CX and the rest to the orienteering. Dala Demokraten had a rather controversial half a page about the guys with no mention of Lisa Ström at all. Obviously this reaction appeared. Yes, the same Lisa who was hit by a bus two weeks ago. This was a very newsworthy comeback story. So newsworthy that I am pointing it out a second time. Sadly, it seems that my blabbering here gives more coverage to Dam Prestige cyclocross in this country than any other media source.

And so I get to the actual point of this inlägg and the thing I have been thinking about on the whole drive back to Gbg. Where are the cross fans? They used to be there. What cyclist could forget the roar of the crowd and the Flanders flag at the top of the famous steps at the Gbg cup races at Slottsskogsvallen? Or why not look way back to the year when the Sthlm race was at Bosön and the whole event felt about as Belgian as possible this far north.

One simple explanation is that all those wonderful cross fans bought a bike and are now racing. This is certainly the case for many and is naturally great for the sport. But I find it remarkable that with over 75 cyclists starting there is basically no interest from anyone. It is hard for cyclists to cheer on each other because of the scheduling and race prep. And that leaves it very empty around the track. The media itself is not helping cycling with all those 'mamil' articles. It just seems like people see cycling as a sport that you do, not a sport that you watch.

Björn F has been writing before about a 'huvudstadstrippeln' and even though Oslo hasn't caught on yet there is a 'scandinavian triple' chance already now. So for the sake of CX in this country I will venture out into the unknown on a mission to see if our neighbours have figured things out. Norway is mad about cycling but their CX experience is just starting. Read about their cup here. And in Denmark they have raced cross for many years. Here is the link to their cross page and this is their race schedule. Do they have more fans? I will find out soon...

I was going to make this a nice little tail of courage and how I fought through the race in Falun today despite having a completely shite day. But then I saw the results on Oscar's blogg which listed me as DNS so now I have to be Mr. Surgubbe. I mean he even talked about me while I was passing once so obviously I was there. Even the women's list is wrong too so probably there are mistakes everywhere else too. How hard can it be to keep track of the race? Sorry but this should not happen. I hope everyone that reads this checks their own result because this kills my motivation to continue with CX Cupen at all.

Right, so what about that race which I officially did not even seem to start? Well, I took two practice laps and was using 2.6 bar instead of 2.7 but since there was a light rain the whole day my change seemed to have zero effect on my grip. I was sliding all over. So with SM in mind and trying out the first ever H30 championship I decided to take it easy.

I started in Led 3 again and had an okay start and was with everyone until the top of the start hill when someone fell in front of me and I had to swerve and go away from my perfect line. He was quick on his bike but this cost me about 10m behind. I could close the gap by the end of the straight and then it was time for the Chris Curve which I name after myself after yesterday's nasty crash. Things were slow through here but since everyone was bunched together I was still in the game. I was behind two from that J Lindeberg club and immediately thought how cool it would be if we had a guest designer for our GCK uniforms. But the classic Gbg brands like Elvine or Velour would probably put us in some kind of lumberjack shirt and boy would that lead to many Canadian jokes...

I didn't seem to have any energy in segbacken today and those in front were far more eager that I was. So things were looking bad for Chris Cross already. I had a hell of a time on the first corner after the uphill from the pit/sand and somewhere here Angelica passed followed by Åsa på rulle. And by the time I was at the start straight Lisa went flying passed also. So it was time to just concentrate on finishing and not breaking anything. That didn't go very well.

Second time down Mördarbacken I slid at the top but managed to put my foot down instead of falling. So I clipped in and slid the rest of the way down until the bottom when I turned and fell immediately. The mud was soft so this was nice. But back on the bike I realized that my chain was off so I had to put that back on. This went fine now that I removed that stupid chainguard thing. By the way, thanks for the cheers here. It helped.

So then I was passed by Ida and I actually think it may have been her I was battling positions with last Saturday in Kumla. This pass happened after the löphinder because I couldn't get my shoe into the pedal because it was now full of mud, sand and small stones. Things were looking shite this lap but I really tried to keep some kind of pace and accelerate along the long straights. By the next lap I had caught up to Ida again who seemed to be slowing down on the straights and resting. There were two laps to go but I could see that I would be lapped soon so now it was time to hold on as long as I could and make this a hell of a lap.

I had caught Ida in the start hill but didn't feel like passing on the fast downhill section so I planned my corner near the start area for maximum crowd pleasing effect. No one seemed to care but I thought it was lovely. I slowed down a bit more, took a different line, ended up on the inside of the corner and accelerated passed as fast as I could and had a decent gap by the time I reached the Chris Curve and the rest of the grass curves of death. Of course it also helps when you are racing against someone who is not racing you. I had a comfortable gap up segbacken which went brilliant except for the fact that I was lapped here.

So I played smart here and just concentrated on not messing up while also moving out of people's way. And naturally I could not get my shoe in the pedal yet again so I was happy to be almost done. I decided for fun to not let the last guy pass in the final straight and see if I could win a spurt. I didn't do too bad because he only did pass in the last couple of metres because I was being told to stop. Yes, you. You who told me to stop. You much have been keeping track if you knew that I was lapped. Why didn't I get my 40th place???

Well, the good news is that I can continue cycling because once again I did not manage to have a perfect race in Falun. But it wasn't my worst performance here so I am making some progress. Somehow I was given Startled 3 which means there were a lot of people behind me so in the start I was not instantly last. I was still in it by the end of the hill up to the pit but when I took the curve too wide I did end up last down out of the stadium area. Things became close again in the grass curvy part and I passed the guy from Ludvika right away this time and went after the next group that was still within reach by segbacken. That part was fine but my cautious descent in the muddy bottom part of Mördarbacken meant they could take off quite a bit. I was still battling down towards the sand and someone from CK Master missed on one of the fun little springbacke slalom things so I could pass and continue quite well.

Around this point the women had caught up and I guess I could have focused on my own race but I decided to be a gentleman and give Åsa lots of room in the start corner and then also let Angelica pass easily in another grass corner. It was a tough day for many because somewhere here Tomas went flying passed and then his bike fell apart. And there was someone lying in the muddy hill the first time I passed. But I was surprised when Lisa passed me on this same hill by taking the left line. You can't get any tougher than this. Get hit by a bus one week and jump on a cross soon after. Respect.

But I think I also deserve a bit of respect at this point because I was fast approaching someone from Borlänge. I was doing extremely well on the long straights and before I knew it I passed him. But he stayed with me for a bit until segbacken when I opened up a pretty nice lead. Excellent. So my confidence was massive and I was flying along the last straight out of the stadium and up to the grass. The first corner went fine but the next right didn't. Boom. Slipped and went crashing down on my right side. My first feeling was 'Holy fcuk what is under that grass...it is jävla hård assoshit'. And that feeling stayed as I cautiously went through the rest of the corners which, naturally, meant I was passed by the guy. I knew it was 2 laps to go and I tried to not fall apart completely. In the back of my mind I was wondering why no one had lapped me yet so perhaps that would happen soon. But after getting up segbacken and down muddy hill I was ignoring the pain and made a pretty good second half of the lap.

This is when I realized that for the first time in CX Cupen history I would not be lapped. In fact, I had at least 3 full straights to spare. Wow! That has to be a worthy goal. So to celebrate actually managing to do every lap of the race I decided to make the last one a good one. After a bit cautiously taking the grass corners I could see that the guy from Borlänge was having a tough time on segbacken. So by making an insane attack I could actually get within a possible distance of him. I tried to not lose so much time on the muddy hill and the downhill after but by the sand it was looking like the distance was too far. Still, I had to make a final sprint anyway just for my own sake. It was a beauty.

So what did I think about my Tufo Flexus Cubus? Well, the bike did feel lighter but I can't say the corner grip was any better that the Conti CycloXKings. Maybe it will take some time to wear them in a bit. But probably my pressure is still too high. I am sure I have written about pressure here before so maybe I was using less even with the tape. Either way, 2.7 bar was not right. Tomorrow I will try less.

Overall I was surprised that I enjoyed the track today. On the map it looks pretty boring with all those long straights. But what was between those was pretty fun and it seems like I needed the long straights.

Today's performance left me in 42nd place, ahead of two people who were lapped and then at least 3 DNFs. And I know that many people took pictures of me today so hopefully I can put them up here later. 

I am looking out the window here towards Lugnet getting psyched for start. I have said many times now that if I ever do well at a race in Falun I would retire from cycling because I would end on a high note. But luckily this never seems to happen. Maybe this is the weekend?

Race goals is maybe silly to say. Obviously I will go all in tomorrow and then crash and burn on Sunday. The track looks pretty much the same as what I did two years ago which probably means I will be left long behind by the time we hit segbacken the first time. But my tubdäck might just give me a better start. So that is really my only goal...to get a better start and try and be in the match for as long as I can.

Well, okay, maybe I can try for a bit more than that. This track looks a lot like our Introcross track with lots of fast parts so maybe I can make a few crowd-pleasing passes also. And I still have no pics of myself this season so that also has to change...

I think I have managed to take the term 'fusklim' to new levels because I just used the Tufo tape to glue my tubdäck. And after some stretching they went on without trouble. So this Thursday night was much nicer than my stressful Thursday last week when everything went wrong. I just had a quick test ride and it feels completely different but then again I did inflate to 3 bar just to be sure the glue sticks well at first. I also noticed that my gears seem to be adjusted perfectly for this wheelset so that solves last week's shifting crisis. Good thing because I remember 'segbacke' is just as bad as Mördarbacken.

Okay Falun...bring it on!!!

Now that the muscle pain is over for this week I can start to think of important things...like shopping. But does my Ridley X-Ride really need anything or is it me that is the problem? I mentioned before that I am running a 50-34 vevparti which is pretty useless for cross. And I could have one of the new Shimano sets for 2-3000kr depending on which level I choose. But considering I am usually sitting on the middle of the cassette with 34 front do I really need 36 yet? Yes, this is the advice from the logical side of my brain.

But the part of my brain that tends to be involved in these decisions is saying 'BUY IT NOW...YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO!!!' and this is why I tend to run out of cash long before CX Cupen is finished. If I buy now I will have to cut Sthlm from my schedule. And Sthlm is where I seem to have more people at my level to race. Yes, this is the message from the 3rd side of my brain...the side which likes passing people.

And so it was time for Day 2 of torturing my body and covering myself in mud...gotta love it! The twist with today's course was the reversed direction in the park section which I have to say was WAY more fun. And of course the obstacle was the Stairway to hell/Bridge of death. It did look this bad and the hairpin turn at the bottom of the hill meant a whole lot of braking. How nice that I discovered just before start that my front brakes were basically gone.

My less than superb finish yesterday meant I was still starting last and the women started after so I really was last down the start straight. Again it was a story of me and around 4 guys and things were quite close together at first through the even muddier grass section and through the windy bit. I passed the guy from Ludvika in the wind because there was space and I put a good gap in up until my favourite little start hill bit. Speaker Oskar even told the crowd I had fine technique at this point. But those in front of me were gone now and I was on my own. It was around here that Åsa and Angelica passed and it looked like they were having a serious battle.

First time down the Bridge of death went okay except that I had the wrong foot clipped in and made a pretty nice slide in the corner at the bottom but it was fine. Somewhere in this lap there was a guy stopped so I passed him but he passed me again later on. Then I could see Lars ahead of me at a reasonable distance so I pushed on and tried to close the gap. That was going perfectly until the next time I took on the Bridge of death. My pedal hit the bridge and I didn't have either foot clipped in and when I started to pedal at the bottom is was going way too easy. Fan. Chain is off. I had this happen in Sthlm and just like then I could not get the chain passed the silly plastic thing I have to prevent the chain from falling off. Yep, fcukload of good that did. I lost an eternity but finally it was back on and I could power away through the sand.

By the time I was over to the muddy grass I saw the guy from Ludvika again so apparently I had built up a good lead before. But he had to be passed again and I did that and took off yet again knowing full well I could mess up again. This lap was great and nothing major happened but I had lost time so it was time to be lapped now. They held a '2 laps' sign for me but I knew I would be passed quickly and I could see that the Gbg clubs were 2nd-4th at that point. I considered closing the gap after that but there was no gap to close since people were flying passed. But just when I was going down the hill into the sand part I heard 'Hup!' and had to look quick to see skier Adam Steen flying passed on my left. This led me down the wrong line and into the right side of the sand which was almost enough to send me flying. A 'vänster' would have been more helpful.

Anyway, that was it and I ended up 2nd last of those that finished but with more starting today I get even less points. Still, this was a fun day and considering I did not expect to do well at all in Kumla I have to say this weekend has been beyond expectations. But now I have to calm down and prepare for a week of meetings and other non-CX things...

I am sitting on the 11th floor at Eurostop's Quality Hotel after managing to get a fine deal. It is a unique design because I could enjoy the view of Örebro while I took my shower after today's race. And with some major fire at a heating plant this was certainly special.

So, this was my 3rd time starting in Kumla and the last two times I seemed to remember the course as pure hell. But today it felt way better. Superklass was massive as usual and unlike the local races I started dead last. They were supposed to start Dam Prestige 2 minutes after but decided to just let everyone start at once. Now there are more of them so in fact many were behind me except for one from Ludvika who started beside me. The start was panic as always and I was out to the side and just taking it easy because that was the plan for today. I was right behind the one from Ludvika but I passed her and was right on the tail of a group of 3 guys. Good, something to work on.

The latest problem with my bike is that I can have it in the easiest gear but then I have to shift down 3 because the chain jumps on everything between. That made the hill section after the forest kind of strange because I didn't need the easiest gear to get up but my other choice was too hard for Lap 1. This became the spot I seemed to lose time. Well, also the jumps, the hill after and the stairs which were slippery as hell.

Surprisingly the 'grassy mud of death' part over behind the parking lot went extremely well and I didn't lose any time. In fact I caught up to the 3 and passed the first one. On the second lap there was a guy from CK Valhall that seemed to be having a rough day so I could pass him in the grass part behind the red houses before that part with the hill up to the start area. That actually went perfectly today.

Then the rest of the race became a mind battle with Jessica from Alingsås. I was kind of på rulle through the muddy grass which explains why I finally managed to get mud on the front of me. She slowed down on the grusväg section so I passed and she was following me instead. I was strong in the forest section but my lead was gone by the hill because of my stupid gear and cadence of 2000. I was gaining on someone else and I am sure I passed someone else although someone passed me too. Then at the top of the stairs I was slow so Jessica passed again and had a bit of a lead through the finish area when the '2 laps to go' sign was up.

Time to get serious. Probably she had tons of strength left and I was going to kill myself with an attack but one has to try. Again while she was resting on the grusväg part I decided to pass and keep at the harder gear as long as I could. She was again right there but I managed the perfect approach to the start area hill and flew along nicely which gave me a great gap. Steady pace through the forest making sure not to make any mistakes. Up the hill on the harder gear as long as I could. Not enough of a lead. And then I saw Axel who was leading and realized that if he passed me I would not have to do the last lap while Jessica would.

So I could afford to make a final push, let Axel pass me at the bottom of that 2nd park hill and then do my best not to fall in the sand or mess up the jumps and stairs. It went perfectly and I could stay ahead!

I was 3rd last in Superklass after all this fun so maybe I should say 4th in Dam Prestige instead after this battle. Honestly, when CX is like this I don't care if I am competing against someone in another class. This is cycling at its most fun!

Okay, tubular tape is a great thing but I forgot the most painful part of this process. I have just spent about an hour trying to get the fcuking Tufo tire onto my rim and it just won't go. The last set of tires I had from them went on without any trouble but this one was a nightmare. I actually didn't even open the package for the second one because I am all but ready to return it and save myself the trouble. The way I was pulling it was not good so I suspect the tire is busted already and my rim is bent. One should not need THAT much force to put on a tire.

So I am back to my Conti CrossXKings before I even left them. And honestly that is just fine with me. They are great tires and I am not exactly at the front of the pack so it doesn't matter. Lasting 40 minutes is the limiting factor at the moment...not the tires.

I am pretty sure the average age of my readers is older than me so if I mention mix tapes and the 80s it will bring back fine memories of those crazy pre-internet days when if you wanted to steal music you had to sit and wait for the song to come on the radio and be quick with the Record button. Actually, all this has nothing to with what I will write now but anyway my topic is tape...the sticky kind.

My Tufo Flexus Cubus arrived along with a load of their tubular gluing tape. It seems like Cyclecomponents is one of the last places still carrying it. A couple years ago when I was concerned, I emailed Tufo and asked why they no longer sold their cyclocross tape and their response was that I should not use tape for CX at all. But since then they have released MTB tires and gluing tape for those and that also involves mud and wet. So I was delighted to open the tires and see instructions inside for how to use their gluing tape. So I see no point in opening any glue tubes this year again.

I never had any trouble with the tape before but of course I am not using extremely low tire pressures. I was always around 2.7 bar which is certainly better than the 3 bar I have with the clinchers. There is always a tradeoff sooner or later so I will stick with what works for me. The last time I use tubes was in Sthlm 2 years ago and the tape is still holding. I just remember how fast the Ridley was that weekend. Yes...bring on some speed.

When my so-called leg cramp seemed to stick around for awhile I started to realize that it was more likely a pulled muscle of some sort. Great. Yesterday's walking around (in the rain getting soaked) was pretty good since this morning it feels better. But there is still a bit of pain walking up stairs.

I take this as a warning sign that I need to in fact start changing gears on hills rather than just assuming I can fly up singlespeed style. It was that grass section with the bunny hops behind the buildings that put too much strain on my muscles and also the mud/wind in general. I will still race in Kumla but I see it mostly as quality training because obviously I need more training. Besides, the track in Kumla is notorious for being as tough as it gets. I don't want to be injured for my nice long weekend in Falun.