Le Peloton #178

Can you see the dry asphalt? A miracle working waking up in the middle of the night, ride with heavy legs since yesterday and meet some nice people. Manage to hold Peter’s wheel up to Nacka Forum:

Then at the redlight at Storängen I dropped for real. Nils and Rille in the front today riding superfast, can’t believe how they can average 35,5km/h on studded tires…

Took a couple of shortcuts and ended up at Le Mond with tired legs, out of shape today. Tomorrow it’s restday and then hoping for better legs on Friday 🙂

At least I had a new kit today, team cx speedsuit matching my bike 🙂 #lookprogoslow today 😉

Map and stats: Strava

2017-

Time to look back and see the ups and downs of this year. What to learn from the sad and what to remember as good.

The big things seems to start with Racemile Showdown in the end of January, this year not so cold but really icy as seen on the picture above. My Sequoia came to it’s perfect use with 42mm studded tires:)

A weekend with friends and a big Thank You to Hagen for arranging 😀

Then came a spring with a not so fast Sequoia which didn’t seem to give me any extra leg muscles. Instead it became a dropping time on Le Peloton with a too low handlebar and I felt slow…

It may have seen like many people on the picture here but my thoughts has been Le Peloton is loosing people to other things. Like Morningspins:

Without finding the speed on my roadbike I found it on my superlight Epic ht mtb and cut my PR at Långa Billingeracet with around 20min 🙂

The fastest bike I’ve ever had and super agile. Unfortunately it didn’t have an rear damper and I seem to have been older making my back hurt after like 40-50km Marathon racing. Felt fast uphill, it felt really good downhill singletracks but on on flat singletrack with roots and rocks it felt like I was standing still.

So I ate ice-cream instead:

And I tried to ride with fast people, SUMO style:

Manage to do a Randonneur with these great people in awesome pace 🙂

And according to Strava the one I was riding most with in 2017 is Emil who’s super fast:

A thing I didn’t think was I was going to do Vätternrundan once again. Riding around a boring lake on boring roads with stressed people. But Stefan convinced me to apply and what a team. Known and unknown people having fun going fast for almost 300km 😀

I never thought I would do it at 7h27min, and remembering it as fun. Riding with Henrik, getting to know Glenn, seeing how simple everything seems for Calle and Fredrik. Everything together with Jukka and Karl keeping things together. And the biggest effort by Erik for making it all possible and making us have a calm knowing everything is in control and skipping the stress so many people got for Vätternrundan. Skoda Cycling Team is not just a team effort, it’s like being a pro with everyone trusting you 🙂

The summer passed and the next big event came.

Race Across Skåne. Another friend like Hagen arranging a top notch event. Waking up in Malmö that day not feeling on top was a bit sad as I really longed for being in top shape that day. Got dropped sitting totally wrong in the crosswind pretty early, feeling like on a spring Le Peloton but at a 190km race instead of 40km training. Ending up with meeting my good friend Emil who saved the day. Cruised on this wheel feeling shit the rest of the route:

We had a crash in a group and it started raining. Everything felt just bad so at the last stop I got an ice-cream…

It’s always fun with an ice-cream, always 😀

The day after I felt worse, driving to my mum instead of doing an recovery spin with the rest. Got fever but manage to get good until our adventure trip. Me, Emil and Emile went to Norberg with gravelbikes and target to explore some new roads in the middle of nowhere. I felt slow after my illness but I love new roads and places. I found a straight fast road on a sunny day outside Norberg, or the road maybe found me…

The end of the summer after a stupid crash. But the start of knowing I got so many kind friends always there to help out. So thankful for everyone making my recovery easier. I missed Rapha 12 Hills and many many kilometers of sunny cycling but it could have been worse.

I got back on a bike outside 😀 Have been feeling slow all autumn but I’m riding and no matter of speed cycling is a beautiful sport. And with help from Specialized Nordic and Specialized Concept Store Stockholm I’m more motivated than ever. Got the dreambike which I’m hoping to ride everywhere, all the time and with a smile (when the salt is gone from the roads)

Travelled to Girona for some sun and met some cool people:

So 15437km later the year ends and I’m still not tired of cycling. The best way to explore our beautiful world and meet nice different people from all over the world.

For 2018 I want to go to new places, new countries. Want to enjoy every moment no matter if I ride in sunny Italy or just commuting to work a rainy grey day. Want to be a good friend. Want to watch some proper roadracing and maybe even meet Annemiek van Vleuten. Want to be an ambassador of our beautiful stylish sport without judging people. Because style is important 😀 

So welcome 2018 and good luck having more fun! Let’s enjoy every moment 🙂

Lussespins

In Sweden we celebrate St Lucia the 13th of December, today so to speak and what suits better then to do it with a Morningspin around Djurgården ending with eating lussekatter at Vahallabageriet which they only bake this day.

Klas didn’t just arrange, fix glögg and took the picture here above, he also was the only one doing a proper instalap:

-6° C made it a slow story, for me even slower as I don’t seem to work as good in the cold… But we all got around 2 laps and got lussekatter. A great start as usual of a working day 😀

Map and stats: Strava

Le Peloton #173

I’ve been riding Le Peloton in all sorts of weather. Once last winter it snowed so much I got too late to leave my backpack at work, it’s been soaking wet and really icy. And sunny and dry 😉 But today was the first time of my 173 rides it was just me.

All alone in the darkness, got a couple of small showers but small enough to get cover by my Café du Cycliste windjacket. So can’t even brag that I was hardcore 😉

After not been riding since last Thursday in Girona but had a busy time moving made my legs slow. Decided already on my way to Urban Deli to take the shortest roadloop around Älta and Storkällan. Did like that on the cycling paths as I was feeling so slow.

Made it to Le Mond and got saved by Kalle making the early start worth it.

And instead of stopping my Garmin at Le Mond I started it again going home for a shower, odd 😉

Map and stats: Strava

Ready 4 Girona

What I had in mind for August got changed, now I’m going to Girona instead. 5 days of vacation hopefully with great people, awesome roads and good coffee.

Fixed my bike yesterday with new 28mm Specialized Turbo Cotton tires and a new white Fizik 2mm superlight bar tape (the best) so now it’s beautiful and ready to see the sun.

If you are in Girona, Spain and want to ride with me Monday-Thursday, write a comment. So far no plans than enjoying. On my dreambike, let’s see how good it is on real roads in some heat 🙂

add friends

Slept without setting an alarm today, first time in a long time. Took my time to get up, to eat breakfast and thought of my day which wasn’t planned. Thought of riding my bike, maybe on my winterbike with a friend I haven’t met in a long time. No answer made me think even of riding on the trainer, or not at all. Maybe just go into town for a coffee being casual.

Then it all got saved by Emil who just wanted an easy spin around the cx loop, great for my sore legs that didn’t work today. Felt hard but great to do a little spin at Erstavik:

Ended it all with panncakes, talking about etap, Spain and how many people it was at Le Mond. 🙂

Map and stats: Strava

Did all I could to be pro to cover up for my legs today. Glasses like Ted King, clothes like Veronica Larsson, bike like Christoph Sauser and riding gravel like Fredrik Kessiakoff 😉

Trick or Gravel

Selfiegame went strong on todays ride. 3-4h gravel for everyone from Le Mond was announced. Started like this:

Then we hit the gravel with smiles like if it was dry and the spring came

Awesome weather and with some fast and some slower sections, sometimes we had to get off or just wait for friends:

We also rode into the mist before coming to the gunfire with big guns.

mostly riding nice gravelroads in the sun:

Turning around before Häringe slott back to Stockholm, got up some speed to Västerhaninge and then it all went into pieces. People started to long home and the group got split into 3 groups riding and 1 group taking the train. I rode with David who got to see a very tired and low on energy Jonas. Had to take a gel with less than 5km to go to Le Mond as I couldn’t ride straight…

But all in all an amazing day. Feels in my heart and my legs. My bike managed it all great even with me getting it all dirty

Thanks to Emile for pictures and to all who joined for a great Saturday ride 😀

Map and stats: Strava

Campagnolo brakes

This isn’t so common on this blog, rimbrakes… And pretty heavy ones too. But when looks, function and price comes before weight it end up like this. Sold my Engage brakes that was 130g lighter as they wheren’t feeling that good and didn’t suit my Colnago perfectly. My C40 demanded Campagnolo Skeleton brakes.

And while Potenza is a cheap group I think the brakes looks pretty good 🙂 Satisfied and the bike is ready to be used again (after winter passed).

Fornstigen on mtb

There is the dry part of todays mtb ride. Being back in the forest for the first time since July felt really fun. Was really wet and muddy and I’m not so good at it but still fun and I got some extra confidence with the new Specialized Ground Control tires with Gripton 🙂 got guided by a great couple of friends as I never been there before and it’s always more fun riding with friends 🙂 Not so many pictures as I mostly tried to hold on to my handlebars and get safely over the roots and up the hard short climbs 😉

It was also my first ride on the new Specialized Epic. Borrowed a testbike from work that got a bit dirty…

It may have been better with a Camber or something but I prefer the Epic. It’s a racebike and pushing on the climbs is super fun. Used the rear brain just for transportation today as it was a lot of roots and the damper works better fully open like all do. And there is something going downhill on an epic compared to for example a Stumpjumper with dropper post. It’s great to train on such bike but riding an epic with high saddle makes you feel a bit more skilled 😉

Fornstigen was great, except when I hit a tree in the end with my body, felt like a flipper ball.

Riding mtb in the mud is something different than riding on road or gravel, such a bigger effort for the complete body and I can really feel that now. Was tired after last Sunday’s ride but more tired after today’s ride, and not just my legs but upper body too. Should do this more often 😉

Ended like this at Le Mond:

Empty, so tired I didn’t had the energy to ride my Diverge home after washing the Epic at work afterwards, rode an e-bike instead to be able to get home 🙂

Map and stats: Strava

SCS adventure

Stockholm is surrounded of gravelroads, some of them are surrounded by Stockholm. Christer and Johnny found some new roads, shared with Magnus who fixed Johan as a Garminguide for todays ride. Me and Viktor joined and helping making it an adventure:

Everyone had the best bikes and smiled more than the hills where steep 😉

My Diverge tackled every obstacle better than its rider too 😉

Not every day I got use of 44-42 but that’s the good thing with it and new roads, ready for everything 🙂

Map and stats if you want to do the same awesome ride: Strava