There is now a rather scary took which you can find here under Beräkna din sluttid. With 75% certainty according to previous results, they can predict how long a Vasaloppet will take.

Being a 35 year old male, I clicked the option for 'risk of not making it' and came up with 10 hours and 38 minutes at -8C and 10:51 at 0C. Ganska otränad is probably a better description of me and that gives 9 hours 43 minutes. Being vältränade gets things down to 8 hours and 55 minutes. None of these are terribly encouraging, if you ask me.

For tomorrow's UlricehamnsLoppet they have now set a maxtid for the first 21km lap. I have 2.5hours to get around or they pull me. Based on my time there before in the complete absence of people, I should manage. But with a ton of people...nja...I have no clue what will happen. There are also 3 dryckstationer and those are dangerous. It is nice to talk to people.

Finally I pronounce this week officially done. After waking up at 05.00 today to get to work early to help set up for the thesis defence, I have been pretty dead. The dinner and party tonight was lugn for me because I was already sedated before any drinks. Dansband music is not my shit and other 80s Swedish classics are also not my shit. A little Håkan in Göteborg would have done wonders but maybe that is taboo. Or maybe I have left the indie crowd behind me in Uppsala. Anyway, it was nice and now I can finally sleep...

I am the only person here that is happy to see some snow today. But there will be no snow angels because it is that wet snow that is not very fun. But inland in places like Borås and Ulricehamn, this is securing ski perfection for the next little while.

But last night I felt sick anyway despite my decision to just not be sick. Tomorrow someone in the group is defending her thesis so that means arriving here early to fix everything plus a dinner and party after. None of this is good for cold virus fighting but it will be fun anyway.

Sunday is UlricehamnsLoppet which will be my first ever ski race. Of course that is making me nervous, especially since I haven't been skiing since my first time there. The course is the 10km I did plus a golf course extension and some of the elljusspår. 40km total which means 2 laps and a clear risk that I may be lapped. Lapped? Nej...that can't happen in a 2 lap race. Or? Hmm...I will make not getting lapped my first goal.

I see that we have one guess about what my life-changing decision is. Nej, I am not shaving any legs until at least April. And a prof career in CX would be fun but, well, no bank loan is going to help a lack of natural talent. Anyway, when things are all final I will write about it. For now you can keep guessing...

Anyway, my complaint of the day is about scheduling. Of course summer MTB races tend to conflict with other things held during the summer like music festivals. The eternal conflict has been that Way Out West is on the same weekend at CykelVasan. Last year I chose the cycling and had to hear for months about what I missed. Yesterday they just announced that Pulp will play WOW so at the moment it is looking bad for CykelVasan. To feel better I can point out that CykelVasan was a ganska tråkig MTB race. But I did really well in it and the atmosphere was great.

In that typical way after a stress-filled weekend of moving and a hard work week, my slight relaxation on Sunday has left me very open for sicky sicky germs. And right now I don't have time to be sick. So my thought is to just not be sick. Simple as that. =)

In other news, I am in the process of making a life-changing decision. More on that later...

Nej, there was no cycling or running in my Sunday agenda afterall. Walking up and down stairs was plenty for me. But this morning I am back in business.

My only real pain was the back of my thighs and that has to be from the utfall while holding a 10kg weight. Nasty little exercise that is. Maybe my 20 leg lifts made things a tad worse. But that was only because I couldn't even manage 2 full body weight chin ups so I had to do something.

Sure...I have a bit of träningsvärk today. But not near as much as I thought I would have. So that means I should manage some kind of training today. But reality says unpacking is a better choice. These boxes are driving me mad.

Today was MCK MTBs training day at Allebike and naturally I am always tempted to buy things there because they actually have things. But I only bought some cleaner and ski guards so I don't scratch the glide sections. I did manage to escape the temptation of their lovely frames.

Anyway, after some outdoor warmup with the kids, Karlsson decided to kill us with some styrka. Naturally, those pilates balls were first on the agenda just to destroy the illusion anyone may have about their good balance. This stuff is always tough. I should be training this here now that I have a room and know where the ball is. The rest was your usual tough sets of weights and various lunges and other torture methods.

To top the morning off we had the obligatory 500m race on the rowing machine. Philip was the champion of the day. I delivered a decent 1:49 after sliding a bit off the seat in the middle so I probably could have done 1:47. I beat Tomas with this time since he fell off the seat with about 100m to go and decided his first experience with a rowing machine was not going so great. So with burning throats, it was time for a yummy lunch with some planning for the season.

After lunch was a spinning pass which was basically like a normal gym pass. No high intensity TC-style stuff...just typical climbing. This felt pretty good and by the hour I was still ready for some more. Of course now I feel like I want to die, but that is why we have sofas and TV.

Anyway, I felt like my skiing has had some good effect on my fitness level and strength. Good good.

So, now I am enjoying the view from my apartment in actual daylight and it is nice. But if I sit here any longer I will be late for our MTB training day up at Allebike. More on that later...

It seems like the two sports of skiing and cycling are in conflict with each other and I am straddling a dangerous line by doing a bit of both. Or is this just like LVG vs MTB? A quick look through most results lists shows that many top MTB marathon riders are also pretty good at skiing. And I would agree that skiing keeps my MTB muscles going during the winter and it is more fun than running. Or it could be frustration among cyclists in general. No one wants a cyclist to ride on the road and no media covers cycling. Skiers receive all the praise and are national heros.

In my case, I need to take a break from cycling once in awhile and do something else. In case you haven't noticed, I am racing quite a bit and I am sorry to say that towards the end of CX season I felt it was too much. That was mostly the snow and the fact that I am not so great at riding in snow. I tend to have the same reaction after too much XC...mostly there because I am so bad at it. So I am all for alternative training in other types of sports.

So my cycling readers...what is it about skiing that is annoying? Post a comment below. I will start...those bags you wear around your waist are silly. =)

Just for a moment there I was all excited by SMHI. There is a snow warning for tonight! But then I read it would only be 5cm which is useless unless someone picks it all up and puts it on a ski trail. Then it will be switching to rain tomorrow again so, yeah, no break for skiing this time. Things are looking more positive inland a bit though...

Here is a challenge for you. Take all of your sports stuff and put it in one place. This is what I did. And boy was I surprised!

It's a good thing I am single or this pile of stuff would be causing conflict all the time. The only conflict I have now is that I can't find anything...

After the move I am going through one of those 'Where the hell is that?' phase with basically everything I own. I made an attempt to find some bike things to start to prepare for Saturday and the MCK MTB training up at Allebike. But with no dubbdäck or any sort of mud flaps, I am not sure how welcome I would be on a typical winter pass. Then again, I am always at the back so mud flaps are probably not needed. I had them once but I have no clue where they are now...

Anyway, I am switching back to my 'I don't care' mode now that the next round of colds are spreading on the bus and the weather is very much useless for skiing. 45km of skiing in wet snow is easily the same as 90km in perfect snow and this is precisely what I will do on February 13 for Ulricehamnsloppet.

When we speak of fiasko in this country we are usually discussing hockey VM and another case of Canada winning against Sweden. But I have a fiasko of my own to discuss. With my moving I have happily ignored everything for the last few days. Now I am back. So how about the weather SMHI? 3C and rain or 2C and grey for the rest of the week. 5C and rain for Saturday. FAN!!! Even my new favourite place Ulricehamn is above 0C.

I know I wrote that I would not quit this time. But I am pretty damn close to doing just that. I can't drive 2.5 hours just to find snow while having a full-time job. Besides, did I mention that I have been in pain since last Wednesday? All I did was ski 24km and move... =(

I am on schedule with training for Vasaloppet 2012 but 2011 is looking bad.

So...end of story. The keys are returned to my old apartment and now I can devote all of my time to dealing with boxes in my new place. And here I will be staying for awhile.

Just to make me feel at home, I received an SMS from Posten saying that my skis have arrived! Yes, my shiny new Peltonen Acadia are here and a quick check of the preparation makes me rather happy with Pölder Sport again. They also have the proper NIS binding to match my boots and it actually says Classic on them. Now I almost wonder if these are better than my superelite Atomic WorldCup? By better I mean better for what I intend to use them for.

Now we are talking. The old apartment is almost clean and I have about an hour of stuff left for tomorrow. I also need some daylight since I have to take down the lights and it was dark in that place even during the day since it was half underground. So finally the moving story is almost done.

But this weekend has given me a ton of muscle pain which will probably last a few days...

Overall I have to complain about the crap live feed for CX VM but to see Styby and his Ridley dominate again was nice. Even if Sven was there, it was never really that close or exciting.

But...Emil Lindgren 26th was a great achievement! Grattis indeed! Hopefully he will make a nice report here on his blog. And the others? Well, I think that was Darvell in the crash right after start...

My storage is empty and the new one is actually quite organized. Very strange indeed. But that effort meant that I finished only 10 minutes before the womens CX VM race started. So I watched that and loved that slanted hill just after the löphinder. I remember when we had the same kind of thing in the grass at Skatås. But the result was expected with Marianne Vos crushing the rest on the last lap.

Since then my progress has been less impressive. The återvinning place is stuffed full so I had to walk back with my garbage. Now everything is out of the old apartment and that will make cleaning easier. But first CX VM and that little måndagsfika trip...

Earlier start today because I know that this will take awhile. Everything not related to cleaning is out of my old apartment but my storage remains. The goal is to move that now and take a lunch break for the women's CX VM, then get all the garbage and recycling down to the inconveniently located återviningsstation at the other end of the freaking neighbourhood. Then it will be time for break #2 for the men's CX VM followed at some point by a hunt for måndagsfika (no hembakade this weekend) and some type of cleaning attempt.

In other words, there will be a Moving Day #4... =(

It is after 15.00 now and I still haven't stopped for lunch. No wonder I am dead hungry. Pretty much everything is out of the apartment now. All that is left are kitchen things and food, plus garbage. But I have taken styrkträning to whole new levels the last two days. So much that I will now really take it easy, even if I end up using Monday.

My storage still needs to be emptied and like most storage rooms, it holds way more than you expect. And my new storage is in the next building so I have to go farther. As always, moving makes you see just how much useless crap you have.

Last night I spent my first night in my new apartment after a heroic afternoon of moving. And as you can see, my internet is moved also. Service this quick could only be managed by Telia.

So far I am just amazed at how someone can drill so many holes in a single wall and then just leave all the plugs. But these shocks tend to go over once the whole stress of moving is over. A sticky spot on the kitchen floor is, however, a bit much.

I think (hope) I am more than half finished but the little things usually take the longest to move because you can't just stick in on a cart and go. And I haven't found my storage yet either so the adventure continues. But things could be much worse.

It is safe to say that this weekend is going to be a nightmare of sorts. I was supposed to get the key to my wonderful new apartment yesterday but the tidsoptimist that lives there was delayed. So I still have no key now. Originally I hoped to be moved in by the end of Saturday so I could use Sunday for something more useful like training. But that is doubtful now.

On the positive side, this should be the last day I have two bikes sitting in my hallway next to the door and two other bikes in my closet. Having a bike and ski room is a dream on its own. Once the move is complete, things should be quite nice.

But trying to move internet on the weekend of CX VM is unfortunate...I saw Sven Nys on the bus in Sävedalen again and he looked eager to beat Niels Albert and Styby. =)

Okay, fine, now I am making up slogans for cities but it was so worth the 1hr drive today. If you visit Ulricehamns IFs webpage you can get all the info you ever need about their Skidstadion. I will admit to being nervous again since skidstadion implies a place where they might have races and not just a fun little tour in nature. And kuperat som fan it was. But the tracks were perfect and 500 people had not messed them up in the corners so this was truly the best ski experience I have had.

It would have been absolutely perfect with some faster snow since it seemed like konstsnö but not the scratchy stuff they have at Skatås. This was fine snow. I am amazed my klister worked at all but it did. So I did a lap of the elljusspår just to see how conditions were. Then I immediately decided to take the 10km trail since 15km was elitspår and 5km is not enough. The 10km was elit enough for me too. There were some serious hills there which I managed only because it was 'räls' on the track so I just had to sit there.

After that I was feeling a bit tired so I had a Squeezy gel and a couple cookies and decided another 2 laps of the elljusspår would be enough. Lap 1 was okay and during Lap 2 I still felt strong and had energy. This was so much better than last week! So I thought, what the hell, a 3rd and final superlap would be fun. I was basically running up the hills since I had no kickwax left and I was stakning like mad when I could. Someone even moved out of my way since I looked like I meant business. The final spurt was not a Northug style since it was uphill but I made the best of it. 15 minutes for that lap! I realize it was only like 3km but still the hills were there and the snow was slow. And at that speed I would be finishing Vasa in 7.5 hours. Not likely.

So this was 24km of skiing and a whole whack of confidence. The best thing is that I could have went longer...

Just had my first experience with klister and it was a sticky story. Fan. This is good practice for whenever I decide to start gluing tubdäck in CX. Everything in my ski corner is now sticky.

But now I am off to Ulricehamn and the funny part is that I may not even need klister there. But around Gbg it is ice and old crappy snow. Jaja...we will see.

Once again I was late leaving work on a Tuesday so no IK Stern training again. But I did manage to make it down to Stadium XL for their Vasaloppskväll with the 20% discount.

They had someone from Swix there who apparently did some vallning for Anna Haag. Yes, one of those few skiers with Atomic skis instead of Fischer. Maybe she was late with buying too. =) Anyway, this was an expert I could listen to and get useful tips. Good news is that I am doing just fine with the burkvalla although I need to mix things more. Some seem to pile on a little bit of everything. This klister thing is sticky though and I don't like the idea of spreading it out with your thumb. But it is fast.

So even if I can't ski, my vallateam will get to keep their job. This is a bit like CX and experimenting with different tires and pressures to pass the track conditions. Then you start the race and realize you were wrong anyway since the mud changes when people ride through it, just like snow.