And so it was time for another attempt at finding some form although I felt pretty tired after the race in Tidan. The first thing I did is change the pedals to the latest XT I have on my MTB and that made a world of difference compared to their older pedal. Clipping out was no problems and I was free to take some nice foot out MTB corners which at Vallen there is plenty of opportunity to try out.

Jumping right to the race the start was very aggressive and with a sharp left it was especially 'nice' although people were being a bit too pushy today. At the end of the grass section where there was a little trail up around a tree someone on an MTB decided to pass me in a very unpleasant way that almost sent me into the tree. Hell, this is for fun.

Anyway, since there were a lot of cyclists around me today's race had a very different character than yesterday's and I was max in many spots just trying to either pass or stay ahead. And there were a couple of these incidents with someone from Alingsås who I would pass and then he passed me and then I passed again. Eventually after a lap or so of this I could end it. Over at the easy section around the fountain I surprisingly opened up a gap and could look ahead to the next guy.

I had just caught him at the stairs and I was going to pass at the top but my remounts had been shite all day. Except I kind of ran into him since his remount was also far from perfection so he was still just ahead on the way down the hill. Then, somewhere here I got really pissed off because a couple of people that were lapping me did so in a way that sent me clear off the track. Normally I am nice and give enough space for passing but for once I was actually racing someone and now that was messed up. Come on guys...let me also race! Anyway I had lost a lot of ground and was far behind again but I was apparently much faster on the grass and managed to catch up again at the stairs. This time I did run right passed him and got in the way nicely while I remounted and with a little sprint up the hill I had a comfortable gap. What I did not expect was that all of these I was racing decided only to do the 20 min race and all stopped at the end of that lap. So then it was me on my own for the next 20 min feeling seriously tired...

Bonjour as they say in France and as I have said to a few people since returning to Sweden on Friday afternoon. So how has a month of fine cuisine and very little exercise treated me? Well, at least an extra 0.5kg has appeared somewhere on me. But it was not completely without training because I needed to ride a very old Giant MTB to get food. But this had a basket and quite the wobble and was seriously around 20kg which may have been why I was so surprised at my own bike yesterday in Tidan.

Yes, shock my system with a 45 min + 2 lap race in Prestige at Focus Cross Race. What could possibly go wrong??? Well, I took two test laps and felt kind of like I have never ridden a bike before but luckily the feeling came back over time. The course was much the same as 2 years ago with a slightly different hill part in the grass. It was dry but very bumpy so it was hard to get any flow at first. And on those test laps I never did make it up the last of the hills. So with all this experience I was obviously ready for start. Or should I say ready to wander around and socialize with most of CX in Göteborg.

The start went as starts normally go and I was fine at first except the grusväg section right at the beginning was slippery so I ended up losing a few metres already there. So all the way down the long straight I was trying my best to keep contact with the last 3 who had obviously done quite a bit more training that me. By the grass section things were already looking bad and I had to focus on actually staying on the bike. But staying on the bike was not always possible and I discovered that my pedals were shite and I couldn't really get out of them. Since this was also where everyone was standing it was the makings of a nice fall sequence. But I didn't fall, surprisingly.

Already in the first couple laps others were having technical problems so if I could hold on I would not be last. And I am pretty sure I passed one person and I think a second also who passed me again. But mostly I was just looking ahead to the gap and I could see that when I entered the grass section the closest in front of me was already heading for the tricky slide hill...quite the gap. But the 45 min passed and I felt okay and suddenly confident on the bike so I decided to go all in and accelerate som fan. This obviously led to a touch of heavy breathing but also it was working and I had flow and power. So on the last lap I could actually see Ida who was ahead of the person I thought was ahead of me and I knew I had to try with half a lap to go. Around this start of the grass section a group of 4 lapped me and 3 of the 4 had passed Ida before the slidy hill part. The 4th will not blog about this but the slight slowdown here was enough to get me på rulle and after surprisingly not messing up I could pass her before the löphinder and build up a 9 second lead before the finish. A finish that was still only good enough for 24th place in Prestige but considering my preparations I am very satisfied with the day.

But now to continue the shock training it is time for Vallen and GöteborgsSuperprestige...

Maybe some of you have noticed a slight disappearance of Chris Cross and I haven't really been updating much here. What I could say is that I am currently on a top secret training camp and am poised to completely shock Superklass with my stunning ability. And, yeah, why don't I just say that. It sounds nice.

But seriously I am working almost double in September so I will have the time to do the entire CX Cupen without any excuses this year. So the plan is to shock-start at Focus Cross Race in Prestige class (why would we choose Sport???) pretty unprepared with taped tires and clinchers. So the same as every other year, basically.

I will unfortunately miss GöteborgsSuperprestige this Sunday also but that only makes me more motivated to race. I also need to resist the temptation for a new Ridley X-Fire which for 2014 is available in GCK colours...