Mondays are always tough since I usually have some kind of general blää träningsvärk from the double CX races and I never sleep well on Sunday nights. But today has been horrible...

Arrive at work to see a letter about another rejected grant application. Fcuk. Mood goes down.
Måndagsfika with yummy chocolate brownies! Mood goes up.
Email about another grant I can apply to 'for fun'. Mood goes down.
Constant crashing of the website for that application. Mood goes down.
Short walk in the sun to buy some lunch. Mood goes up.
Interesting results from my student. Mood goes up.
Realization that it will take half a year to make a good story out of those results and I only have 7 weeks. Mood goes way down.
Checking bank balance after buying food and seeing that now I can't afford CykelGalan. Way way down.

Time for some therapy or I will hit rock bottom.
New 2011 line from Cérvelo. Better.
2011 line from Ridley. Good.
And why not the 2011 series from Canyon? Oh yes! Bike porn good...

Grattis to Söderköpings SK for making a World Cup course. There were 3 löphinder including one about 10m from a staircase, a small sand section directly after a corner and a phenomenal 6 hills of which I could only ride up 2. So I was off and on the bike 8 times per lap. And to top it all off, the rest was muddy grass that sucked the hell out of any speed you may have had.

The start was like slow motion as everyone sank and I actually ran into someone at the sand. So for once I managed a good start! But by the hill in the corner my dreams of a podium finish were gone again, just in time for the bridge and the zigzag grass part which was fun when we did this kind of thing at Hondacrossen but just pure pain today.

The 30s headstart for the women's class did not last long so then things were back to 'normal' except today was comical. Mirella was about 50m behind Lisa and Carina was 50m behind Mirella. And I was 50m behind Carina. This is how it stayed for the entire first lap and part of the 2nd when 'dagens star' Carina made an attack and passed Mirella so that now the order was Lisa, Carina, Mirella and me, again all about 50m apart. It much have been very funny to watch. Except Chris Cross was not smiling so much today.

I could not find one part of this course where I was faster or fast at all except maybe the fun and seriously steep hill after a hell of a gåbacke (springbacke it wasn't). With 2 laps to go I was just ready to die. This was like a TC-pass since I was pedalling but not going anywhere. Fy fan this killed me.

Since I was lapped and it took me so long to get around, I didn't have to do my 4th lap. But it was good enough for 27th place ahead of one DNF which will do nicely for cup points. I may be slow but by doing all the races I can finish well in the cup.

This gem of a pic is my clothes after these two races. Into the bucket with these since this much mud will break the washer. What a fantastic CX weekend!

I discovered that my vevlager was the thing stopping the pedals from turning but with a bit of encouraging, it loosened up and was fine. But when I get home tomorrow I will need to take things apart and grease it again.

Right, so now to Kumla. It was pretty much the same course as last year with a few nice changes. The Veteran start was okay until the first corner. I wanted to go faster there but then everyone stopped and I thought, okay, what idiot needs to learn to ride. But it was actually Tomas who fell and had to fiddle with his chain before catching up to me again. By the time we reached the hill (which was not as big as I seem to remember), I was already quite far behind and that was about it.

The grass/mud/snow part was absolute hell but I had actually caught up to someone from Almby IK. I thought he had some teknisk problem but he didn't stop in the pit. He was fairly close behind so I decided to start racing and took off in the long downhill with the sideways-banked mud part that was pretty exciting.

This year I actually did make it up the hills fine and ran a lot less. So I am actually improving since I can compare from last year. There was supposed to be 2 laps left so I thought I would try and pick up the tempo a bit even though my body was more thinking about falling over. Then in the short downhill after the pit and down towards the beach I made a hell of a slide and was sideways. By some miracle (or decent MTB technique) I stayed upright and could finish my lap with some style. And that was all I did since they stopped me.

21st place it would have been if I did the last lap but in the official results I seem to just be listed as +1 varv. Whatever.

I remember why I voted for Kumlacrossen as the best of last year. It was still a wonderful CX course even if this year there are ones even better. Excellent choice for SM!

During the day I also heard about Söderköping tomorrow...snow snow and more snow. Wet snow...

Forget what I said about Örebro yesterday. Norrköping is WAY cooler! With the spårvagnar and the wonderful industrial buildings along Motala Ström, this has a Göteborg feel for sure. Minus points though for hosting Dansbandskampen tonight...

Dagens huh so far was when I learned that prinskorv translated to English means 'little frying sausage'. Is this a local dialect or? Then again, if someone asked me that question I would not really know what to say.

But before we get philosophical, let's switch to skadeglädje which everyone enjoys. The last thing I did last night was just silly, even for me. And I didn't even drink. My pump is one of those floor models with the solid steel base and I am very careful to not hit myself with it. But last night it landed on the top of my foot and make a nice slice. Fan it stung! Today I will learn if the top of my foot is needed for CX.

And then the second thing is a classic and it sounds like others have done the same thing. But I will not distract her from the SM today or give any hints to her competitors. This could be a case of SM psyche. Besides, I am in charge of the sillyness. I readjusted the brakes and changed the back pads since they were basically gone. Then I cleaned out the pedals a bit and realized that everything was stuck...stopped...totally ceased up. FAN. Greasing is not something I can do in the hotel room so now I will spend the next 3 hours trying to fix this before deciding to ride my white bike instead. Bläää

Kära Örebroare,

I have made my share of jokes about your city. To me, Örebro has always been the place I stop for a lunch burger on my way to Falun or other parts of Dalarna. And today is not the first time I have stayed out at Quality Eurostop on the edge of town.

And then there is the gnällbältet thing. But today I decided to actually see the centre. After all my gnäll this week, I just might fit in beautifully. I was pleasantly surprised! Down at the castle is really nice and everything along the river has that wonderful mix of medieval and art nouveau. And Stortorget was seriously stor. Other stor things were a bit out of place though. It felt strange to see all these modern large office buildings and shopping malls a block away from such a historical landmark.

Anyway, it is foggy outside my 8th floor window so I can't even see Örebro now. Maybe that is a good thing? Or maybe not. You can think about that while I sit here, try and get healthy and adjust my brakes for halkfest tomorrow.

With only one day left before CX SM in Kumla, everyone should be starting with their psyche routines now. A quick look around at the blogs...Emil Lindgren has been quiet, Jens Westergren has said he will lose and others have said Magnus Darvell will take it. But I can bet that all of them have full control of the situation and are well-prepared.

I could join the game also in Super Speczial class by saying that I have had a few extra secret training passes this week. And this snow thing has given me a perfect plan. If I ride without legwarmers and use my white Merida, no one will see me. I will perfectly blend in with the surroundings and can sneak passed unnoticed. But actually I feel sick today and I can thank my work colleagues for that. It's really impossible to manage this many weekends in the autumn without getting sick. This one is prepaid so I will go anyway. Then after next weekend we can all relax and be sick.

Earlier in the week I wrote about Kumlacrossen and included the link to the film of the course. And I assume that all of you have now memorized every cm and know exactly when to attack. Earlier they also said it would be snow-covered and lovely but SMHI's forecast says rain all day tomorrow and a little bit of everything on race day. So my bet is that the SM title will go to someone that manages to actually stay on the bike. Halkfest is all I can say.

And looking ahead to Sunday and Ramundercrossen in Söderköping...2.9 km of grass and a little bit of gravel. Those of you jumping over this are probably going to miss a track right up there with Borås. Hjälp!

I am winning the battle against becoming sick so rather than train tonight and mess things up, I will continue with the vitlök method plus a lot of sleep. Other than that, things are shite.

Up until now, things have always worked out. But hänger löst is all I can say now. I have 3 months uppsägning on my apartment but only pay until the end of the year. Life savings? You know I blew that on my lovely Ridley. So I have a lot of tough choices ahead of me while everyone else is calming down for a nice relaxing Christmas. So I have no clue what to do.

Good thing I have all these cycling races on the weekend to get my mind of reality.

People still refuse to stay home when they are sick and there is nothing I can do about that. My daily dose of Actimel, vitamin C and chili has kept me quite healthy so far. But today I think I am losing the battle. So as a last resort I am hitting the vitlök. Why not? I am single. This is fine.

Our 2cm snökaos has also made me thing of skiing so I thought I would see about how much Vasaloppet will cost me. The skis I have are crap but my poles are okay. So the Fischer CRS Classic official Vasaloppskidpaket for 3400kr will do. And that is a whole lot less than my bike.

But, I guess I will need to spend that amount again on rullskidor and that amount times 3 for trips to Norway for training. But still I think that skiing is a better way to keep training in the winter than the silly gym passes I did last winter.

Yes, it seems that Chris Cross has become publikfavorit. Det bjudar jag på. Of course this does remind me a bit of Eddie 'the eagle' Edwards, the British ski jumper that became a legend just because he was so bad. But so long as I can race, I will be happily chugging along around last place, probably with a smile on my face.

I will remember the cheers now that I am sitting at work starting to write yet another research grant application. One of these has to work at some point.

There are tons of CX pics but I could not find any of me. Perhaps I was going so fast that cameras could not capture me? Nja, guess not.

This one here by Johan A is fantastic! Note that I lined my handlebars up perfectly parallel to the stairs so he could get it just right. This was obviously the lap where I had the right position.


And then we have these from Peter Hultman. See here for more. Not so impressive technique of riding through the sand but it was obvious that I was in the race.

Now I will have to stop my job of speaker for Dam Prestige because this is SM vecka and that means gubbklass for me. Even though it would make more sense to just clump everyone into a Super Speczial klass, apparently Almby IK wants this event to go on all day. But since Dam Prestige actually has SM status, it is best if I am not in anyone's way.

So I was one of only 3 from MCK that raced Kumlacrossen last year and this was my race report. Reading this now it was obvious that I loved the course but all I remember from the experience now are the hills of death and the neverending sucking grass part.

And then there was this picture. The elitcyklist in question still says that this was me. But he has been sick and had his season ruined so, fine, I can say that it was me.

Here is the lap on Youtube which I found on Ola Hellström's page. Enjoy! It looks like they have chosen a slightly different sucking grass section or maybe Kumla is growing because I don't recognize it.

At 09.30 things were looking quite bad and a lot of the track was not marked yet. But things came together so I could go and help with the pile of efteranmälningar which came right around 10.30 when things were starting. Many were in Superklass so I thought that just maybe they could 'get lost' on the way to the målbilen but I decided to behave.

Things were stressy and finally I got to change and take a test lap. I didn't really have time to warm up so soon the start went and I was completely cold in the fine November sun. I stayed with everyone for basically the whole first lap which is a nice change. Yet somewhere in the long straight and the MTB part I lost contact. It was really slippery in the forest section I called Chris Cross the other day. After that came the stairs and every time I was greeted with a flood of cheering which felt just great! But that downhill after was nasty and not once did I have my feet clipped in.
Tack Joakim Skretting for this. See more here.

So the second lap I was on my own enjoying the lovely curves on the two grusplan and everything else which was pure CX-glädje. Now the rest of this is going to sound iskall but I did not know that Dam Prestige started a minute before Super Speczial klass. I was slowly catching up to Carina Börjesson and was på rulle at the end of the start stretch. Knowing that I sucked in the MTB part I stayed behind to slide around undisturbed. I braked hard on the hill and she took off a bit but on the tung grass straight I passed and tried to open up a comfortable gap. Then I was on my own again for a bit while I started to get lapped.

People were finishing and I had one lap to go and Carina was not that far back so I pushed on. Again I could see Lisa not so far ahead but she was already at the MTB section so I was not expecting to catch up. Apparently she took a flygtur over the handlebars on that downhill that lap while I managed to do that perfectly for once. She was at the end of the grass straight while I was entering so I decided to try even if this would probably end in humiliation.

The gap was shrinking but only because I was taking every chance I could. By the grass corners out near the highway I was close but not quite there so I decided to stand up and try and nail the last grass part. For once this worked and I was flying. Gap of 25m out on the flat grus section before the long road finish stretch. Up to stora klingan and get ready for my humiliation. But instead I could have some glory and went sailing passed for a lovely finish. Again, I did not know that they started a minute ahead.

Despite all this I ended up 45th which was last except for a DNF but I was much closer to those in front of me. Slowly but surely I am getting the hang of this.

Lasse and Karlsson made us a wonderful CX track and I hope that everyone enjoyed it as much as I did. Welcome back to sunny Göteborg next year!

It's still grey out but the sun will be shining soon. My attempt to be there at 07.00 has failed miserably but after feeling a bit sick last night I needed a bit more sleep. And that was good since I feel fine now.

My first priority is organization but hopefully I can race too. Racing in front of the home crowd is wonderful...

So it was time again to head off to a sunny Borås (seriously) for some serious CX. After my test lap I declared this course to be worse than a kick in the balls and decided to just ride to finish. But the more I raced the more I started to like it.

The start was on their infamous slow uphill and I actually managed a great start and was beside Patrik and Roberto at the springbacke. Things were going well but some point in the muddy corner they took off and I was left behind a familiar sight from Falu CK. Since this is not the time to be losing a job, it was time to be a proper racerapportör.

Coming down the grass hill I was på rulle and managed a beautiful late breaking to slide passed Lisa on the corner. Excellent. What I was not expecting was for her to come flying passed me in such a way that made me feel like I should actually be in Dam Prestige. This was in the little grus section and I was obviously eager to answer that move. But then Carina Börjesson politely told me to get out of the way and I had to let her and Mirella Ehrin pass. It would not be polite to interfere with their battle for 3rd.

Lisa had opened up a nice lead at this point and Carina and Mirella were seriously determined so I ended up sitting for almost a lap watching them fight. At some point Mirella dropped a bit so I passed and I hope that Carina realized that it was me behind and not anyone else. Things were pretty stable with 3 laps to go and it was somewhere here that I started getting lapped. Hearing how hard they were breathing made me feel like I should push more too. Which was fine since I was starting to really enjoy the track at this point.

With 2 laps remaining I was side by side with Carina on the finish hill but she seemed to slow down at this point so it was okay for me to continue. And with a bit of effort (note the blue smoke above) I opened up a gap there and could run my own race now. I could see Mattias and Petter a couple corners ahead but we all know that in CX a couple of corners is an eternity.

Last lap and I had some pretty good flow in my riding so I did speed up when I could. I did manage to close some of the gap up to Lisa but I see that I was still back by 22 seconds.

I ended my race with a lovely spurt up the hill and was welcomed by cheers from MCK which felt just perfect! So this was good for a 34th place finish which was ahead of Mattias and Petter who did not do the last lap. So in a sneaky way I was not last. =)

Welcome tomorrow for some more proper CX.

We were working on the track this afternoon and I think you will find that it is worth the drive to Götet to race or watch. Here is a quick preview...

At the end of the long paved cykelväg section you come to Karlssons kurva which is a 90 degree left and up a short little hill. But, this hill is mud that you sink into about 2 cm. After that comes Chris Cross which I name after myself because I raked the leaves there and also because it goes back and forth in the forest with lots of slanted parts and corners that are banked the wrong way. Because we think LVG riders should also get to train MTB sometimes.

After that we come to Sven's masterpiece...let's called it Svennys stairs. The first 3 steps are at one distance and height but then it gets steeper and shorter for the last ones. =) And once you reach the top you get to ride down and immediately take a 90 degree right.

That is about all we managed but after this section it heads out to the grusplan which is full of water so that should do a bit of wheelsucking. The sand is in place also plus we have a grass section. After all this it was decided that a löphinder was not really necessary.

Let's see if Mattias has fixed an equally painful track for Ymercrossen tomorrow.

By some miracle I am still healthy and the weather for this weekend says no rain. Yes, it IS possible to have a sunny day in Borås and Göteborg. But last year's course in Borås was like Norberg...lots of hills, mud and grass and completely horrible for me. So my expectations are low and I expect to be floating around defending my last place.

After Stockholm, it seems like I am supposed to be racerapportör for a certain Falu CK cyclist in every race. So someone could give me an Öijer cam and a mic so Oskar Ekstam can pass off to me for a report direct from the action. It could go like this...

Lisa made a great start and she is now surrounded by a group of MCK cyclists. Just look at their new uniforms! What a great club! Over to you Oskar...

Oj...that was a big slide in that corner. She is never going to catch up riding like that...

Jaha, on this long start/finish stretch she seems to be giving the finger to the camera now. Or maybe that was directed at that Chris Cross guy who just passed her?


If I continue with this type of commentary, things may end up like this fine YouTube clip.

But seriously, I will try my best and enjoy myself and hope that I am not last. On the agenda today is a little track building this afternoon at Slottskogsvallen. And I am still in the mood for throwing things so this is a good opportunity.

Everyone at work is becoming sick and things are spreading around MCK also. So far I am fine but there is definitely something brewing inside of me. Still, if I raced last year with svininfluensa, this little cold should not stop me.

So this Vasaloppet thing has been on my mind now. Has anyone done it? How was it? My MTB långlopp experience should give me some type of kondition to start with but are rullskidor the only way to train down here in Göteborg? Or can I run/ride until I can get away for some skiing?

Then I also need better skis. Everyone with green skis (Fischer) passed me so either I need some green paint or an upgrade from my nybörjare-paket. I suppose I should also move to Falun so I can train every day on proper trails instead of a 2km konstsnö thing they have here. Yes, perfect plan when I am almost unemployed.

Those of you following my blog will recognize that this is Wednesday, the day I complain about being stressed and announce yet again that I have not glued my Vittoria Evo XM tires. And how could I disappoint you today?

Truth is I feel a bit stupid about my choice of tire since their treads are nowhere near as aggressive as the Tufo mud tires. So putting these on will mean that I still slide. At the moment my old red Tufo Prestiges are still taped on so why not leave them? Borås and our track are guaranteed to be wet and muddy so clinchers are the clear choice for me anyway.

I feel a lot better today and things will probably work out with my job. So anyone else hoping to claim last place will have to wait a bit longer...

I found Jahn Ekman's wonderful CX pictures on Facebook and as you can see from above, even I made it onto the memory card. This is from Lidköping and the first sand section which was deep but only a few metres. You could hit this section with good speed and then just hold on and hope for the best. That explains my look of terror. =) Many of us fell in the sand parts as you have seen/heard.

Only moments later my bike fell apart. But it looks damn fine here!

I already mentioned that 5 nov was an important day. But today ended up being the day I found out. Nej. Nada. NO. Chris Cross will not get a 4-year research position. I get to continue along a path of uncertainty hoping that the next application will work. I have been doing this for over 2 years now. Enough is enough.

In a 'dagens idiot' moment last Friday I signed up for Öppet Spår which is going to kill me. But now it looks like that may be the last thing I do in Sweden before leaving. I have felt completely drained today...the kind of numb feeling you might get if you decided to ride Finnmarksturen 3 times in the same day. I thought that this time would be different and this time they would understand what I was doing and think it was worthy. Obviously not. Well, I can take my brain to another country.

The problem is that I like it here. So any tips on some sort of job that might suit me would be appreciated at hejchris2 @ gmail . com. I also can proofread things, write in English and give lectures. My company is already set up in case today came.

Hopefully I can stay in Sweden and continue writing about my cycling adventures. But it's not looking to great...

MCK Cykelcross is this Sunday and so far the interest has been kind of low. Super Speczial klass is the largest as usual but when MCK makes up almost half of that, one gets worried. I realize that making a trip from Dalarna down to Borås and Göteborg takes some effort but we went up there. So it would be a shame to divide CX Cupen into north and south. Especially when we have set up a world class course full of all the classic CX moments.

And to those of you that come to Introcross and read this page, why not come and race Open Sport class which is basically empty? You can be first! Or if you have tävlingslicens, race me in Superklass. This is a completely different atmosphere compared to our normal battles in Skatås and you can also see some seriously talented riders in H Prestige. Efteranmälan is perfectly okay. I am helping with that bit...

Maybe it was the couple glasses of red wine last night or the guy in the next room 'entertaining' his nightclub lady. Either way, I had a horrible sleep. And this time change thing was confusing since my phone, laptop and the room TV all changed automatically so only when I arrived at the car did I really know that I was on the right time. And that time was late.

Pump the tubdäck to 2.7 and take a test lap to see if I would slide like a crazy Chris Cross. It was okay. Head back to car. Realize Veteranklass was starting in 20 minutes. Hmm. No time for the spare bike. I was still fixing my clothes when everyone else was on the start line but I made it.

Only 18 started so I could sit på rulle directly on the long gravel path. I was still with everyone at the fun grass corner section but on the next long path most disappeared. This happens all the time. I did have two behind me and someone from CK Valhall in front so I just tried to keep going while my body was cursing me in Italian.

I was surprised at how many were saying 'Heja Chris!' and started to think I was some kind of kändis. Of course this blog does get many visitors from Stockholm and it felt like it today. Two friends were watching also and I will post their pics here soon.

Anyway, back to the race. In the middle I had built up quite a gap between myself and the last two guys but the grass section was tung. I slipped at the löphinder and hit the bike on it while jumping which knocked my chain off. I had a hell of a time getting it back on but I did and saw that the guys were only 25 m behind. So I flew along the grass corner part in the start area and just loved my Ridley for stability. By 2 laps to go, there was no chance they would catch me.

I was lapped but they let me continue and finish my last lap and boy what a lap that was! For training value, I gave it everything I had left. Who cares if I slid in the corners because I didn't brake? On the last lap everything goes. My legs were burning through the grass section but it went fast. And I was accelerating beautifully! Yes, I love my bike!

I finished 13th which I am damn proud of! I beat 2 people in grand style and 3 DNFs and maybe if I hadn't lost time with the chain I could have caught the guy in front.

I left before the finish of Sport and it looks like Björn lost a spurt to Fredrich Hammarström from my old club MTB Täby. But the order was reversed yesterday. Cool.

Great job CK Valhall!

After 2 test laps my fork came loose yet again but CC Lasse fixed the problem right and it stayed the whole race. Like I said, today would be all about technique in the corner and smart racing...things which pass me well. There were over 60 starting in Super Speczial Klass and also D Prestige so I decided to chicken out a bit and start at the back. Big mistake. After the start it rolled along VERY SLOWLY and I even had to get off my bike in the hill since I was racing as Fixie Chris and not changing gears at all. Stora klingan (50) the whole way made riding a dream. With the tubulars, the bike is 8.5 kg and the Merida was over 10 kg.

So the start was crap and I was at the end in a klungan of around 5 riders. We all sort of followed but I could see that some were slow so I passed a few in corners. I made a mess of the stairs and actually hit myself in the face. I suspect the 5 photographers there got that one. After this I started following a guy in a blue jacket with no club shirt so I have no clue who he was. But he was pretty good. I tended to be cautious in the gravel but I caught up in the straights.

Together we passed I think two more riders and it seemed like everyone was slowing down. But I was full of energy so at the corner before the finish line I shoved my way into the inside corner and took off and flew up the hill and around to the fountain part. But there was still 2 with me and blue jacket guy passed me while I messed up yet another remount after the stairs and sand. So I sat på rulle and noticed that he unclipped on basically every corner but I just coasted and never really lost any time. This other guy had passed but was just getting in the way so I passed again quickly. This was all with 2 laps to go.

Heading into the finish area again just starting the last lap I decided to make another attack but with all I had left. Fan this was amazing! And it was successful. I had a good 25 m on him and for once managed to nail the stairs/sand/stairs remount, well, sort of.

I could see Jonas not too far ahead which is strange since I am normally never anywhere near anyone else. The final gap was only 10 seconds. Then I also saw Mirella Ehrin so I decided that if I passed her, the guy behind me would have no chance. So I passed in a corner and could relax a bit. That didn't stop me from flying across the finish line anyway...just for effect.

So Lisa Ström stayed ahead of me this time so I can't report on her race. But if I had had an extra lap, maybe I could have found her. In summary, my bike stayed together, I was not last, I passed people in race situations and my tires did not fall off. The Results are here. I finished 56th, was ahead of 3 others plus 8 DNFs.

What a brilliant race! And what a great ad for Mölndals CK which had strong riders in almost every class. Yes, we are cross.