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.

I hadn't been on my bike for 2 weeks so I really had no idea what to expect out of training today. But to prevent a chill and getting sick again I decided for the full arm and leg warmers today plus even my ski pants over because the zipper on my warm-up pants broke. And there was no chill in the air at all so this was overkill. The warm-up was fine after a less than thrilling ride over to Skatås. In the wet grass the Conti XKings still amazed me because I seemed to have loads of grip and a nice steady speed. I am starting to wonder why I just ordered a pair of Tufo Flexus Cubus but I know it will be even better with tubes and the lighter wheels. So then it was time for a race up in the usual spot but with a new track which had my mind spinning for awhile. The difference today was the massive wind that would gust up unexpectedly, usually when I just started on the long gravel sections.

I was kind of squished in the start as usual and CC  Lasse had set up a rather nasty corner just after so I was way off the line and basically lost a ton of positions. But after that tricky grass section full of holes and the triple bunny hop on the uphill part followed by yet another down and up section I could then see where I was in relation to everyone else. Hmm. Not great. I passed Anki and one of the kids before the long gravel part where I could see three riding kind of together. They must be passed!

I kind of took it easy the first lap but then after the first part it was time to pass the first on a nice acceleration after a grass corner. One down. The next guy was riding the same MTB I have so obviously he had to be passed. I waited until the horse track and actually got both of them on one straight but it cost me a lot of energy. The next in front was Lasse and he was pretty far ahead so this would be tough. And I could also see that one of the guys I passed was still there behind me. Oh, I forgot to mention that I took a nice slide in one of the grass corners because I didn't slow down and that distracted the guy behind. I also heard him make some mistake on the bunny hop part so he was gone for awhile. Lasse was also slowing down so I tried to close the gap and was actually pretty close. Then I fell apart.

Yes...I am not a superhuman. Chris Cross has a limit. My usual strategy of going full out from the start seemed to have collapsed in what ended up to be the last lap. If I had known this I would have pushed myself harder but my leg cramp came on fast and by the time I was at the end of the horse straight I was ready to faint. Lasse was gone and the two behind passed and I was left saying hello to Mr. Wall. I managed to keep together enough so that I wasn't so far behind those two which is what is annoying considering it was the last lap.

From now on I will ride without the leg warmers because that is probably what caused my cramp. And I see the weekend in Kumla as a training weekend because they have the toughest track in the Cup in my opinion. Today was only 30 min too. Aj.

Well, the curse seems to have returned. Yesterday morning a Klass III headache moved into my brain and I was feeling very bläää all day at work. I took my temperature at home and it said 35.5 C which only means that my thermometer is broken and/or cheap because I know a fever when I get one.

Today is not much better so I have already cancelled my night in Karlstad and will have to see how I feel tomorrow morning and whether a pre-race 6 hour drive is going to be possible or not. Two years ago I would have just raced anyway but since this is for fun I have a different view now.

So we shall see what the day brings for Chris Cross.

I suppose many of you are wondering what my excuse was this time for missing practice. And probably there is some speculation about secret plans and special training in preparation for Branäs. And that is kind of true.

Sooner or later those of us lost to CX start to realize that a race weekend requires two bikes because if you trash the bike the first day you are left watching on the Sunday. I started with my Merida Cross 4 which I bought at CykelCity Sthlm quite a few years back and this was enough to get me hooked on the sport. But I soon realized that to fit in here in Gbg one had to have a Ridley and building my X-Ride was the start of a new era of cycling experiences. The point of this story is that tonight I had to get both bikes in race shape.

This is the first time I have ridden both back to back and what an incredible difference. The Merida felt like it was 20kg and was slow starting and had a geometry that was all wrong. Maybe this is what a 29er would feel like for me? But after a few minutes it felt okay and things were in top shape so it was time to switch. Yes, I made the right choice indeed. Ridley X-Ride is da shit. The difference was absolutely incredible! And the good news is I fixed my bottom bracket noise so now it is race ready.

The moral of this story is that I need another Ridley X-Ride and when I do get one my Merida Cross 4 will be retired to being a commuter bike...

It is always nice with positive surprises on a very dull Monday morning. Unfortunately it was not an email from Ridley offering me a bike for all the promotion and hits for X-Ride here. And it also wasn't the bank to say that I deserve a free house for being such a good customer. Okay, actually the news wasn't all that exciting but it did the trick anyway.

I wonder who will get the task of keeping track of everyone in H30 and H40 class scattered across Super and Prestige? Either way, this is great news for me because finishing 45th is not exactly great for points. But something around 20th could be possible given that H30 has always been the smallest class.

My last minute interest in Branäs has meant a bit of shopping for some extra brake pads. And now I see that I am out of chain oil and my gloves are not in top shape either. There will be no time to look at my tubdäck because I now need to make sure both the Ridley and the Merida are in running order. I am not exactly sure about my bottom bracket fix yesterday and I am starting to realize that I am pretty shite at repairs in general. But I try.

Anyway, it looks like the track is full of corners and that is great for me. But I wonder just how far up the ski hill it goes. I hope we are not in for a Lund thing all over again.

So it was time again for the highlight of the weekend and another CX race. Yesterday I was out for a bit of tjuvträning and testing the XT pedals I had moved over from my MTB. It was pretty wet everywhere so I saw pretty quickly that the XKing tires are not absolutely perfect when there is mud. But I did learn a bit more about how to handle the bike. On my way home I felt my vevparti coming loose so I tightened that up and this morning on my ride over to Skatås everything was clunking away making a hell of a noise. That brought me down as much as my lack of sleep. Later on I found out it was because I had the arm too tight against the bottom bracket so I think it is fixed now. But I should probably change the bottom bracket anyway.

Warm-up was some corners in a little sand field and that was also going very wrong. The starts went better this week since I just concentrated on pedalling rather than waiting till my shoe was clicked in. They click in sooner or later just automatically. Still, my starts were going very well.

For the first 'race' we did a tempo lap around a portion of the track and the fastest would get to wear a leader jersey (Hisingens CK shirt). Björn did not seem to be so thrilled to wear that but ya gotta love the Gbg humour. I nailed my start and accelerated well along the back straight even though I instantly felt sick. It is tempo so that is the right feeling. Things were going superb and my dismount and run up the hill were great but on my remount I slipped on the pedal and lost 2 seconds so I had to put in a serious sprint to come in at 1:16. The fastest was 1:06 and correcting for the 2s meant I was only off by 8 seconds. Not bad.

Then it was time for the real 5-lap race where once again I got to start at the front. I was next to Sven and he pretty much took me out in the start because I had nowhere to ride but I got a start anyway and was pretty far from last. I passed Lasse at this first part and was right on the tail of a group of around 5 riders. It was kind of crowded still so I was kind of calm and just concentrated on not running into anyone. At the end of lap 1 I was behind a woman from Uddevalla CK and I passed on one of the straights near the finish line to see who was next in front. Next was Anton, the man with the greatest race face in the business. But there was some kind of race yesterday so when he hit something on the first part of the singletrack I could pass in a pretty aggressive way. A bit farther along when the long grusväg part started he passed me again but I was not ready to give up. So I tried to sit på rulle and on the straight after the mud puddle I attacked and got ahead. I just kept consistent and the more I looked back the more farther ahead I was getting. Good good.

So then in front of me I could see an MCK jersey and this felt like a repeat of last week with Sven. So I thought I would try again because with every straight I was gaining a little bit. Peter could see me coming at the parts where the course turned back on itself and I could see that he was getting a bit slow. Maybe this could work. Time again for a super last lap. By the end of the long straight he was less than 20 m ahead and I did my best to fly through the grass and over to the tree section. The way out of that was rough so I couldn't really get the attack I wanted but at the finish line I had closed the gap to around 5 m. Almost.

If I can keep up this steady pace for 40 minutes I think the real races will be pretty nice.

When your boss is suddenly very happy to see you it does not take a genius to predict that a pile of work is on the way. But in my case that same boss is also the one that approves my vacation days. So I was willing to sacrifice training today for some key days off in October. I have also been sneezing all week and I have to teach some med students tomorrow so there were lots of obstacles today.

Anyway, I finally made the proper choice and sent in my tävlingslicens application. So bring on CX Cupen! I doubt I can get everything fixed by Branäs so the plan is to make my cup premiere in Kumla, one of the classics. They have everything but it is a rough way to start the season given the serious hills and the sucking grass in the park. But actually that is perfect training for Falun the week after. Tanumshede is obviously close but there is a Norwegian alternative and I am keen on a 3-country season. And they always draw a huge crowd over there. I have never seen the tracks in Sunne so there is a definite and Sthlm is the place I always find someone to battle against since there are so many people starting. And by then the Danes will be going so I can end the season in CPH with a race or two. Yes. Now I am psyched!

And so it was finally time to finish the week in the best possible way...with cyclocross! My roll over to Skatås from home was anything but superb despite being the time that I always train. But the more I rolled the more I woke up. After rounding up people who were scattered all over it was time to give Lisebergs camping a taste of CX. We started with dismount training and starts before heading over to take a few trips through the sand in front of thousands of fotball-playing kids. But this is all boring compared to the race so let's jump right to that.

Two races at 15 min each is good since not much tends to happen after the group gets spread out and plus I assume we will get points for both races. I was given #5 which is probably the closest I will get to the top of anything so why not. Startled 1 as always. Everyone passed me at the start, as always. But I did keep up all the way until after the obstacle and grass hill climb. I seemed to be sitting behind Lasse (I think that is the name, if not I fix later) and kind of rode a third of a lap behind but I realized it was better to just pass and take off since I was certain to make a mistake. Besides, Åsa Erlandsson was in front of him. And this made no sense because she is actually fast so I thought, wait, could this be my chance to pass someone who has actually won CX SM??? My non-cycling friends would like to hear this. So it was time to unleash the extra horses and give this a shot.

I was being 'Fixie Chris' again and sticking with the same gear but I did have two more down before I was maxed on the 34. But this really worked well because I could accelerate enough to close the gap up to Åsa. And then she fell in the grass corner which was kind of sloped downhill at the finish so I asked if she was okay and then took off as fast as I could. I passed! But she was still there and I then realized I didn't really know where I was going so I led us the wrong way a couple of times. But then I missed a whole section and had to turn back so Åsa and Lasse had passed and I was starting again with a lap to go. Crap. I was på rulle with Lasse just at the start of the singletrack section and he seemed keen to stay ahead so I had to skip over the braking part in the tree corner and could fly passed and see what Åsa was up to. Hmm...need those extra two gears now. I did a massive sprint down the last long grusväg part and went into that fun grass corner at top speed (superb tires, I say!) and had caught Åsa. And then she fell again on the same hill and I could roll pass and be the winner of Dam Elit class. =)

Race #2 was entirely different because I had killed myself in the first race. So my Startled 1 was again wasted although I made an effort and I think I could keep up with better utväxling. Åsa was way ahead this time since she let some air out of her tires so this race was uneventful. I passed Lasse again on the first lap and then there wasn't anyone else in any close range. I could see Sven around 75m ahead so I thought I would try and basically did the rest of the race flat out. I might have gained a bit at first but Sven could see me and had things under control. Either way, this was an excellent day for Chris Cross.

Honestly, why am I even considering skipping CX Cupen? I have the car. I have vacation days left. I even have the money. Branäs is already out but the rest are still open. Hmmm...

Since this blog is only text it might be nice with some questions. When I am training I rarely stop so there is just no time for pics. And my guess is that you would rather see pics of someone else. So, what kind of questions are there in this lovely pre-CX period?

1. Will there be a Focus Cross Race this year in Tidan? It is usually in September and was a blast when I tried it 2 years ago. They also have a very large Sportklass so I would have many to race against. If anyone knows anything just post a comment.

2. Will I manage to get a deal on a tävlingslicens? CX races are considered 2013 so why can't I get a licence for now and use it next year too? Of course making that change would screw over everyone else so I don't expect much support for that idea. Still, I have emailed SCF and will see what I get for reply.

3. Why am I not busy gluing my tubdäck? Yes, exactly. Why not? I do have a set of Vittora XM which have been sitting here since late 2010.

4. Why is it sunny this weekend? Göteborgs Superprestige needs a bit of wet grass and mud if you ask me.

5. Why have I not ordered a 46-36 crankset yet? How many times do I need to be shown that 50-34 is wrong because I end up always on 34 with a cadence of 2000.

6. And finally, which CX Cup races will you be doing? Add a comment below. If I am stuck with engångslicens and Sportklass I will do the Falun weekend (for tradition) and the Tanumshede weekend because it sounds nice. And then two weekends in Denmark depending on where around CPH they are. So 4 weekends + the local races is just fine. And if the licence works out I would add Sunne to my list and probably Kumla.

Last night it was time for the real world test of my new Continental CrossXKing tires at CX training...now with even more snabba pojkar. I was a bit late with the driving so I was iskallt when it was time for the first exercise of the night which was 'not a race'. Or perhaps we can call it 'stafett of death' now that it is a reoccuring event. Yes, start sprint down to the end of the grusplan, dismount while panic braking, remount and then sprint back again...first on your own and then in a group of two. Nope, no racing here. Being iskallt meant that everything here went entirely wrong. But I did get warmed up.

Next was some stair training which I suppose Philip did not enjoy given a nasty fall right away. Hope your back is okay. This was my first feeling of 'race stress' because obviously I am not use to riding with a whole bunch of others around. But I managed to get around and be able to get some feel for the tires. I would not say that the grip was superb because I was still slipping a bit in the loose gravel/dirt and the faster I went the worse the slipping became. But I think the difference is that I can actually go faster with these tires and so once I train at higher speeds these issues will disappear. But the RS20 wheels feel completely unstable and fragile so I guess there is no way around a new wheelset.

Tomas announced that he will do teknikträning on Thursdays and to give a taste of this we tried an example. Run 50 m with your bike at max speed and then jump on without any hesitation. Yikes. I am not sure what the teknik was here but 'tripping over the bike' is one possibility and naturally there are many other outcomes when one jumps on a bike seat and misses. Anyway, I did not plan for 2 sessions this week so I doubt I will make it today. But next week is better.

Yes, and then there was that race which was not an actual race. CC Lasse decided again that we should try and keep together to practice riding with others (good thought). So the first lap us slow people were allowed to skip over the stairs and get a head start so the others would be chasing us. One other idea was that anyone who got a 50 m lead should have to brake. Or my idea that they should have a 'straffrunda' and have to take the stairs 3 times. None of this really helped and we still all ended up spread out. Oddly enough many people disappeared after the start...that was quite the lead! The track was fast and pretty flat so I could keep the same gear all the way. I was experimenting with utväxling and was up on my 50 klingan for the last 2 laps. When it is dry I should certainly be able to manage this but a 46-36 is also likely in my future.

Anyway, Sunday is the first Introcross and it will be at Skatås kl 10. There was some confusion about the name since there never seem to be any new people showing up anymore. So Outrocross was a new name suggestion. But I will always call it Göteborgs Superprestige. A whole pile of points were also promised since some MTB people would be racing in Uddevalla that day and since 'this is not a race' there is no reason to be that honest with points and things. We should also bring 20kr but I assume that bringing more will be good for more points.

Speaking of Continental CrossXKing tires, I noticed that their 2013 line-up includes a tubular version. Yes...give me now. I try. My guess is a tubular CrossXKing would pretty much take care of any tire choice dilemmas.

And then the schedule for Introcrossen has suddenly appeared in my Inbox. Nice nice. With this many races the motivation to get a tävlingslicens drops even more. So, Göteborg Superprestige lives on...

I realize that most of you out there would never dream of considering anything but tubulars for your cyclocross. And I also understand the benefits of tubulars and know the feeling of when things float along nicely. But Continental just released the CrossXKing tires which are the cyclocross version of the MTB tires that changed my life. On my MTB those things work in every condition and I was flying along effortlessly. Those tires have saved me many minutes in long races. So obviously I had to try the cross version.

The numbers look pretty good. Their RaceSport version is race-legal 32 mm and 3 pli/180tpi is certainly comparable to the Vittorias and Tufos I have tried before. But their suggestion of 3 bar will probably turn off most of you immediately.

After the sliding incidents back in the 2010/2011 season I chose to get a very serious mud tire and use it all the time. The name CX Pro was obviously just a name because these had the steel wire to keep them in shape and treads the size of BMX tires. The grip was amazing even if it felt like 2kg on each wheel. But that was the snow season when organizers made every track into MTB so I needed grip. I threw on the CrossXKings on the only other clincher wheelset I have, the very non-cross Shimano RS20s. But still it was guaranteed to feel better than the bomb-proof rims from my old Merida and the 2kg tires.

Better? Oh yes. Having ridden yesterday with the old tires and today with the new I can definitely feel the difference. And I also know that they have least grip at first and just get better after a few weeks of use. The best thing is that they have a nice line of treads right on the edge of the tire and for the first time ever I was able to lean way down in the corners without any sign of slipping. The wet grass was also quite positive. I could constantly sustain my pedalling 2-3 gears lower than yesterday with the old tires. This was exactly the same improvement as when I first tried my Tufo Prestige tubulars.

But we will have to wait until Wednesday and the 'real-world' testing at Slottsskogsvallen...

So now the day is here and we get all this info about CX Cupen that we have been eagerly awaiting for. So there is plenty to read at SCF, CX Sweden and Facebook. Since CX Cupen is no longer a kind of dictatorship there are not really any drastic changes. Drastic changes are impossible in a democracy and would lead to another 89 comments on Facebook.

I find it interesting how no one is just directly pointing out the real problem. People who are fast are racing Superklass and they always win. And we could all give a list of the names of these 'people' because it is pretty obvious which cyclists are always at the top. So I think it is great that the varvnings rule is gone in Prestige but I still think someone has to kick a few Superklass winners up to Prestige. It should be enough to win two races in Super to be banned from it. So I fully support the testing of some kind of A/B points system because that is perhaps a more polite way to kick people.

In terms of my racing it is not looking great. I still have no tävlingslicens and to waste 700kr for only a couple of races is not my idea of fun. The fact that I have been able to do 4 top-quality MTB marathons without a licence demonstrates the flaw in the system. Either everyone should have a licence or no one should. If there is a way around the system everyone will start to use it. And they do.

Open Sport Mix is still 30 minutes and that I can do with engångslicens but it will mean that I probably only do one weekend of the Cup. I can see that there is some bitterness since tradition is broken. Falun is not starting the Cup and Sthlm has taken the finale from Göteborg. So I smell a bit of a southern revolt and a few lovely weekends in Copenhagen. I won't need a licence there and I can race 50 minutes.