Well, this is the week I make my tävlingspremiär with my first race in HSport in Kvänum on Wednesday and then it is time for 60km of fun for Dalsland X-Country on Saturday. The first race is mostly just to get some kind of feel for XC and I can only race in HSport with baslicens so it will be the easier course. Good good.

To prepare for DXC I decided for a longer trip today with more typical långlopp things like grusväg and a pile of hills with a few rideable singletrack along the way. And my 47km of pure hell was certainly the best option for this. Ouch. Today was a combination of two of my usual routes from last summer and it had 10 proper nasty hills. I only remember a couple of nasty hills in DXC so this was overkill.

I went over to Jonsered and then up into the part with what is currently the best trail I have been on this year. I thought it would be muddy but it was superb! This cuts over to those logging 'roads' above Aspen which go back and forth essentially up and down the same hill. And those downhills are still full of large rocks and scary as hell. So after that adventure you end up right down at the shore of Aspen and can ride around the waterfront walk and enjoy the sun before ending up at the road back to Partille where all the LVG people are. Actually that is the worst road to choose because if you turn left just after Aspen station and head up a true monster of a hill you end up at a perfect idyllic little road that ends up at the top of the hill above Jonseredkyrka, another fine hill.

From there I went up to Knipavägen which was a bitch of a wet sandy grusväg that had my legs burning quickly. I missed a turn and ended up all the way at the end and then turned back to check another traktorväg which was actually shite and I won't be doing that one again. But that got me back up to Tahult in Landvetter for yet another massive hill back up to Kåsjön. Then I ended with a nice little downhill back to home. So this was basically a whole långlopp on one serving of sportgryn, 750ml of water and a 100g Maxim gel. Imagine how much better it will be when I prepare properly...