I have visitors arriving today so any of my leftover time this week has been spent with things like my dammsugare. And I will admit that this place looks pretty nice now. Except for the corner where I am building the cross...that will stay a mess until it is built.

I also had a search for my wheels and the old red Tufos and they could use a clean also. So much for my clean floor. Maybe someone should run after us with dammsugare to get rid of all that sand. Yes...dammsugarecrossen. Good for those of us with apartments and no good place to keep our bikes.

It turns out that I actually have to go to Odense on business in the next couple of weeks so after some persuasion from my cycle-loving colleagues, it seems I will be racing Biotex SuperCross løb on 3 oct.

To perhaps inspire someone at SCF, you can see the DCU online signup page here and you can read more about the premier race in the Danish CX season. I will have to do Elite C class and the race time is 60 min. Fan. But on the good side, this will cost me only 60DKK.

The status of my parts order is 'plockas' now so I should have the missing pieces on Monday and by Tuesday I will know whether to drop it off with an expert instead of building it myself.

As you already know, this year's CX Cupen will be longer with races almost every weekend. But if you are still wondering what to do on those empty weekends, why not check the CX Calendar for Denmark.

For example, on 3 October you can try Indian Summer Cross in Odense. Or if you think it is a shame to only have one race in Jönköping v46, why not try CPH CycloCross Grand Prix on 21 November?

No one can complain about too few CX races this season.

First there was Cross Karlsson and last year Cross Lasse appeared. But then something strange happened. I started noticing a lot of referrals from bjornfredriksson.se and what did I find there? I have become Chris Cross!!! And that sounds much better than Cross Chris.

Yes, Björn has a great imagination for names. Kanskecross? Pungcrossen? It's just great! Anyway, now I am psyched an impatient waiting for the last parts for my Ridley. Not to mention the superspecial new MCK cross tempodräkt.

With twice as many people as last week, you could tell that tonight's training was going to be a good one. One can definitely see cross withdrawal in many. I was still riding with my old bike and the worn out clincher tires and certain people were trying to psyche me out with their tubdäck. So it looks like I will have to bring out the old red Tufos for next week. Then I am going to fly.

I still need a lot of practice with jumping on the bike and despite loads of practice tonight, it is still not going well. Another exercise was cornering in grass and we were not allowed to use brakes which was fine because I don't normally brake in grass corners unless they are wet. I hardly used my brakes at all tonight.

Then it was time for a 2-lap race again and Sven was on my tail for the whole first lap and did very well on the hill. He was always there so I had to push harder but he would catch up at the gravel corners where I had no grip. But the 2nd time up the hill was where I could win. Finally my hill training comes in handy. Still, my lead was not enough to be all that comfortable...

After I did another 5 rounds of the full lap and everything felt great. I could go on forever at that pace which probably means I was not going fast enough.

20C and sunny...all I have been thinking this afternoon is how crap this is for CX. But now it is cloudy and a bit cooler which is a step in the right direction. Training CX when it is not wet or cold is hardly preparing us for CX Cupen later this fall. Let's hope for less bugs tonight anyway...

Here we have a picture of me from last Tuesday and you can see the rest on Björn Fredriksson's blog here. My question is are my legs really as white as my frame? Was my sunscreen THAT strong this summer? Maybe I should just start with the leg warmers directly...

Anyway, tonight sounds like a night of falling for me. Jumping on and off the bike from both directions is always my weakness. The running part should go well though. Welcome kl 18 Slottsskogsvallen!

This is a weekend where it feels like I am just eating and that's about it. Like carbo laddning but with less carbs and powder drinks and more beef and beer. I suppose I will be ready for Tuesday with this much energy in me. I would also be ready for an MTB marathon.

I thought it was best to go out this morning since I will not really have any time for training this weekend. So I probably just took my last MTB pass of the year. At least it seems like that. This was just a quick trip around the Furulund trails and then over to Jonsered on the bike path but no hills...just lugnt och fint today.

Lycka till to everyone doing Bockstensturen tomorrow. The weather looks perfect for it. But now I am focused on CX...

This entry has nothing to do with cycling or other training. I just wanted to say how f%&#*ng itchy my legs are right now after last night's mosquito pass. I remember now why I usually train during mornings.

Tonight was the premiere for MCKs CX training out at Slottsskogsvallen which I have to say is a bit tricky to drive to from Partille. Considering that I work about 5 minutes from there, maybe I should leave the car. Of course I don't think I could have managed the ride all the way home after.

It was great to see Sven back and ready for battle. And he has been doing some training... We started with some grus corners which is what my bike is pretty useless at and my clincher tires were completely wrong. But over time I was learning how to handle it and accelerate through the corners. I was surprised that my downhill technique was fine but my brakes were making way too much noise.

Soon it was time for 2-lap races and it felt like I was at max all the time. Yes...CX is back! And I am sure that any picture of me will show a decent 'race face'. So I am not surprised to feel quite tired now.

Of course I want to ride my new bike and I got a few tips tonight that will help.

The only problem with tonight was the mosquitos...

Now the first definite sign of fall is here...tomorrow CX training starts. Slottsskogsvallen kl 18 is the place to be and all are welcome.

I will of course be using my good old Merida since the Ridley is not together yet. I am still waiting on two last things. And this will be 'on the edge' since I have my clincher tires and no extra tubes. So this could be a short training unless I can find some on my way home tomorrow.

After the horribly long work day I just had, nothing will stop me from training tomorrow night. Finally CX!

There were many reasons why running yesterday was not my best idea. One, of course, is the growing amount of paralysis in my legs...especially when on stairs. But I know that if I just run more often, this problem goes away.

And then the first training appeared on MCKs CX forum. Everyone is welcome to these so any of my readers from Sävedalens CK are more than welcome. Of course today's pass was 3-4hr distans, but on a CX bike. Anything more than 90min on my Merida is just torture. The seat and position are not meant for distance. I also noticed that I have no tubes for my clinchers and no glue for my tubulars. Blää.

So instead I am sitting here at work fixing a presentation and preparing everything for tomorrow. And for this you can bet that I will take a half-day off later in the week...

After a frustrating day off yesterday where nothing seemed to go right, I had a nice sleep and planned for a run this morning. And the weather was on my side for once.

Off to Skatås I drove because I need activities that are max intensity for about 1hr with no water or other energy products. Because that is cyclocross. Running is the best I could some up with. I took a wrong turn immediately after starting and I have done the same thing on my bike so I felt a bit stupid. But eventually I was back on track.

The Milbanan is the second longest they have and is one that you have to finish if you start it...that's just the way it is. And this was a hell of a trail going up and down constantly so I was pretty tired. But I was only passed by 2 people the whole way.

Compared to 8:an where everyone is, Milbanan was a proper workout with several nasty hills in the last 2-3km. So this I would like to do again without the wrong turn. And I would also like to do this again without getting blisters on the bottoms of my feet...I have never had that before.

I have been writing about Birkebeinerrittet for awhile now but for some reason this morning my brain decided to ask the question...but why????

In October I find out about a grant which would give me a job here for the next 4 years. Unfortunately, my chances of getting that are not great. This means I have no job from 1 jan 2011. Even if I have started my own side business, I have no A-kassa and will probably have to leave. So one could say that it is not the best time to be throwing away money.

The hotel this weekend will cost 4000kr!!! Seriously. Gas, road fees and food will bring the grand total over 5000kr. All this for a race which is pretty similar to Raumerrittet or Finnmarksturen. No one cares if I do the world's largest MTB race and I know that I can do it so there is really no challenge to conquer. And the weather/mud status will just mean I am pissed off by the whole experience and will have even more to fix on my bike.

Seriously, I need to stop being so impulsive with these things. Especially when I have two very important work days on Monday and Tuesday and now is not the moment to piss anyone off when I need job references.

So that's it again. 5 MTB marathons in 2010 instead of 10. Which is great anyway but somehow I am disappointed with myself.

After the return of a pile of students and other people in the city and on the buses, my cold has had a bit of a renaissance. Then again, this weather is so crap so I am not at all surprised that everyone is sick. We should start CX season now while we have the weather for it...

When I left work today I saw a rainbow. Maybe I can even say that it was soooo intense. ;) A serious pile of rain just passed over Partille so it is good that I didn't go out for a ride afterall.

But the latest report on the Birkebeinerrittet page (click here to see the article and picture reference) has me quite worried. Rain is one thing but look at that mud!!! Gjørme-ritt is what they say in Norway.

But this fact that 20% of the riders last year actually became sick from Campylobacter is no fun at all. Yep, 1-3 days incubation time and then bring on the kräkningar och diarré just in time for my drive home. Excellent. Then again, I know a few restaurants which would be just as risky.

On this windy day in Göteborg, I am starting to accept the fact that autumn is here. That is, of course, good for CX season but bad for långlopp. So let's see what it will be like in Lillehammer this week. SMHI says rain and 8C from Wednesday on. Yr.no says 10-12C and rain the whole week. Happy Birkebeinerrittet anyone?

Back when I was in MTB Täby I was told that real men don't brake. And last year I hardly every braked on my CX bike. That annoyed many since I would sort of coast into the corners and get in the way.

So I was thinking of trying the same thing in Birkebeinerrittet until I looked at the downhill sections. Yes, I will need to brake. Aj. So I just finished changing a brake pad on my front wheel just in case. I changed the back one before but the front felt a bit strange. The quick fix again was half a new pad front and half of one back.

Then I read that the food stations will serve Powerade which is crap because I have my whole race planned on Enervit sportdryck. So I had to buy one of those blue Powerade mountain blast since that will be my only choice. Let's see how my body reacts to that on my test ride.

This morning I decided that I was healthy enough to get out on the bike again. And now I am still healthy so that was a good call. I headed up Lexbyvägen and off on the gravel road towards Angereds kyrka then up the nasty hill to a lake near Rannebergen as you can see above.

Another thing you can see is my backpack which is slightly over the 3.5kg minimum needed for Birkebeinerrittet. And if you are wondering why everyone has to pretend why they are carrying baby Haakan Haakonsøn on their back, check the story here. Anyway, the book World of Contemporary Architecture was perfect for the weight.

Perfect is not how I would describe my bike though. The squeak that started halfway through CykelVasan is still sort of there. But this is the last race so it doesn't need to last so much longer.

After spending a whole 10kr on two very solid pieces of steel from Bauhaus, it was time again to try and press the headset cup into my cross frame. But even with force against unbendable metal, the cup continued to slide in on an angle and no amount of fixing could get it to go straight.

I am assuming, of course, that Ridley included the FSA headset which actually fits in their frame. Something tells me I should not assume so much.

So I give up on this. I will take it somewhere and pay. The rest of the assembly is fine since I have done most of that already. But this fork stuff is driving me mad...

I found my name on the list of people who can get a better startpulje for Birkebeinerrittet after CykelVasan. That, of course, made me very happy but pulje 47 is not much better than 54 so I don't think it is worth paying for the reseeding. It is enough to know that I could be 1750 positions ahead of where I will start. Starttime of 11.25 is good for me and means I can sleep longer than last weekend.

Now I am basically healthy again so tomorrow I can take a spin to see if anything is broken. But I see little point in a week of hard training because that will not have any effect on performance next weekend. Some training is good though...hill training especially.

It was a rainy night in Göteborg which is a shame since it was nice and dry the rest of the day. The GP race was therefore full of unfortunate falls that really looked quite nasty. The pavé hill was where most of Mölndals CK was and lots of things were happening there.

The Elite class was exciting at first but once Team CykelCity started lapping almost everyone, there was not much left to see for the last 20 minutes. And things did not even end with a spurt since they were all on the same team. So it was a great initiative to have the race there but 45 min + 2 laps would have been good enough.

I am still wondering how CX will feel on Kungsan in Sthlm in October. That will draw crowds even in bad weather since there are always people around Kungsan.

I am still a tad sick so I am looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow. But before that I will stop by the centre of Göteborg for the GP race. I am sure you have not missed that this is CykelCity Race Weekend? Now is your chance to see LVG close up.

Women start at 18.15, senior/veteran at 19.00 and then Elite at 19.45. And I have seen their little pavé section and it is nasty so excitement is guaranteed. I can also suggest a stop by Ölrepubliken on Kronhusgatan if you get thirsty. =)

Forget YouTube...this you have to see. NRK has filmed all 94.9km of Birkebeinerrittet from the back of a motorcycle and posted the 2.5hr film on their website. Click here to see it.

Since I like surprises, I will only check the parts which are interesting hills or singletrack. But those of you not going can watch this and save a pile of cash and muscle pain.