This whole SM and national cup thing is fine but we all know that the real battles take place at our local series. That is precisely why I keep saying GöteborgsSuperprestige instead of the more offical name Introcross which just lacks the same importance. And of course recognizing this importance I needed a new chain so I could ride my Ridley again. And of course I first put the chain on last night and had no time to test it out until I rode off towards Skatås today, with the whole drivetrain crunching and grinding away with all of this fall's collected mud, sand and water.

When I got to Skatås I remembered once again why my Ridley is so much better than my no-brakes Merida and I was ready for battle. We did the usual warm-up ripping nice holes in the football field and dodging the goals and I was already feeling fast and powerful. I had a good flow and was passing lots of people in corners and handling the bike like someone with far more skill than I have. Of course this overconfidence would come back to haunt me soon.

Lasse set up the classic grass corners with the wrong angle and also found a hole which is an old favourite for many's front wheels. But he was disappointed that it was not wet enough to cause any challenge. There was another steep up and down on some kind of manmade hill thing next to the volleyball courts but that was also just a matter of having enough speed to float up and then turning and dropping. So far so good.

Then came the sand. Someone seems to have placed more sand than there use to be so the long stretch beside the football field is suddenly a challenge. The first time through I went it with speed just like I always did before in this spot and did extremely well and made it all the way through despite a few wobbles towards the end. What a day! What a cyclocross master I was feeling at this point!

I have already given away the ending here and obviously the next trip through the sand was different. This time so many people had been through so the tracks were all over and crossing. That I noticed after accelerating massively so I could hit with even more speed than last time. I made it about 25 m or maybe even less before my front wheel got caught on something and I was airborn....

Of course we all remember Patrik E's masterpiece of a picture in Lidköping when Jens Westergren went flying over his handlebars in the sand. Lasse and Håkan said it was great to be so close and watch me do the same thing. Of course I like to please the public, like at SM when I broke my chain clear in two pieces.

Oh, right, I am still in the air...but not for long and I certainly did not get a chance to say WOOHOO before I landed hard on the front of my left shoulder with the bike on top of me. It may have been sand that I landed in but I new directly that this was a "season ender". In fact this is precisely how I ended my MTB season in Uddevalla except there I was going very slow and this time I had speed. I didn't move right away because it was a hard hit but eventually I got up, moved the bike and went over to see if I could move. Luckily there were many experts there in injuries (both treating them and getting them themselves) and apparently because I could move that meant it was not broken. Björn F checked a few times and said it was fine but tomorrow it would hurt. It already hurt som %&# then so I am not looking forward to the continuation.

My current state is semi-painful and I think something is dislocated in some way. So I guess I will be visiting SportRehab again very soon. To be continued...