I will not get upset about any of the following things:

1. It is snowing yet again here in Göteborg.
2. Canada lost to the US in OS hockey which is actually way worse than if Sweden loses to Finland.
3. People honestly believe that all cyclists cheat, cross-country skiers are the finest athletes ever born and that Swedes would never think of doping.

Okay, I will not get upset about #1 and #2 but #3 pisses me off. At first I thought like you Peter in that maybe Saturdays ski race would bring more interest to cycling. But now I doubt it.

Cycling is one of the few sports that everyone can do no matter which level they are at. If you want to ride 20km in a race, you can do that. If you want 300km, you can do that too. No one is going to make you sit on a bench in cycling while the 'better' players get to play.

In 2005 when I decided to try my first ever MTB race, Långa Lugnet in Falun, and thought I could make it 110km on a hybrid, no one stopped me. (I stopped myself after 40km.) In fact the people in Falu CK were very encouraging. And now for 2010, my 4th actual season of racing, I am still welcome to grow and improve my skills. How many other sports would give me the chance to race in an SM after 3 years?

Cycling is the finest sport we have and I am more than fed up with having to defend it. Its no wonder why I will race a lot in Norway this season. Norwegians get the point of cycling.

Another day another gold, kan man säga. This time in biathlon with none other than Björn Ferry. Races are so much more exciting with jaktstart because then you have some idea of who is leading. Plus you can also ignore silly SVT commentators. Same in cycling...how exciting is it to watch a tempo race on TV?

I am sure that most of you have been watching the opening ceremonies so I don't need to write about the cool visual effects or the giant bear that came out of the floor of the stadium.

The obvious underlying message of today was to poke Americans in the eye for the way they act in this world. We have always done this and we always will do this. Anyone who has been to Canada can tell the difference right away.

Most of the show was talking about how people from any origin or country can live together happily in Canada. The USA segregates their immigrants and Sweden is somewhere between the two. I can't answer the question of how we became this way but it could be due to the French. As you may know, Québec, a province on the eastern side, threatened to separate from Canada in the 70s unless they became recognized as a minority group in the country. Since then, they have continued to argue in government for this recognition. During the 80s, Canada changed their immigration policies to allow more people to come in. Since we only have 33 million, one would think that there is lots of room for more people. But one has to think whether this openness started because of Québec. Sort of like this...if we recognize Québec we recognize everyone else.

So what about nature? Well, around Toronto where I grew up there are 10 million people to share nature with. Det går inte. Sure you can find little green areas around to go for a walk in the 'forest' but nothing like what is next to me here in Göteborg. Nature depends on where you are. In the Rockies, of course you will be impressed.

If you have any Canada questions, just ask. You can even email them to hejchris2 @ gmail.com if you do not want to comment.

Even if the flame lighting didn't go quite like the planned, it was still a good show. And I really appreciate that they left out Celine Dion...

Finally, the eyes of the world are turning to Vancouver for some fine winter sports. Perfect timing too since I am fed up with the lack of other things to watch on TV. Although the 'Fusilli Jerry' episode of Seinfeld never gets old. =)

Being a Canadian, I can say that our stores have been full of OS 2010 clothes, toys and other things ever since it was announced that we would have the games. Obviously, it is good for tourism to put up signs everywhere saying 'future site of olympics'. I have never actually been in Vancouver but I can say that it rains a lot there. So I would not be surprised at pictures of the city with no snow. Most of the events are up in the mountains. They have been improving the roads and railway up to these places just to handle all the extra traffic. And you can bet that every hotel chain has a place nearby now. So much money is invested. If you want, I can post some pictures of what they built in Montréal for their OS. Montréal was nothing before their olympics.

Of course now there is already a doping scandal (see GP article here) to take focus away from the opening ceremonies. Like I said before, the higher the gain, the more likely people will cheat. And you know that many countries offer big rewards for bringing home a gold medal...