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

Lida Loop

Had a nice setup for todays race 🙂 Very relaxed before the start.

The start up a small skislope went very much under control and much easier compared to Långa Lugnet and Billingeracet. Then it was 9km with runningtracks on gravel, fast, fast and fast. Felt ok and think I had some more speed than before today 🙂 Not the fastest on the singletrack but did my best and first and 2nd loop went. In the end of the 2nd loop I was riding the startslope and turned left, onto some gravel and lost my bike… Took down some tape, got some wounds and messed up my mind.

3rd loop felt same as for 2 years ago, just get in your mind and get through as fast as possible. Tired and hurt a bit from the crash.

Finished after 2h48min and it got me a 35th place in Men 30, 188 overall.

Feeding by Patrik today, awesome 🙂

And maybe I looked a bit fast a couple of times:

Pictures by Patrik, David, Happyride.se, Johan, Jaime and Rickard 😀

Thanks everyone for a great event

Map and stats: Strava

Långa Lugnet

2nd race in the Swedish XCM Cup today and John convinced me (pretty easy) to join so we left Stockholm for Falun yesterday and our superb apartment.

Early at the start today putting our bikes first, talking feeding the 2 guys helping us with bottles. And got som suncream by Emil Lindgrens wife to save my arms from getting burned. Also got a tip from Emil (that didn’t work with my shape).

I may not be the most competitive person but I always push extra on races and like riding fast. Mostly aiming to get a good time, beat my old ones if I have and hopefully beat some friends, like Ronnie who seems to be pretty equal to me 🙂 He started in front of me today and didn’t see him at all.

Got a good start and up Mördarbacken I felt my 8kg bike made a difference, a climbers bike for sure 🙂 Then it came fast gravel and I lost places, really need to get better going fast on my mtb. my old colleague Jaime came up to me on a singletrack and we rode together on a gravel road. Wasn’t happy seeing him as I want to be faster but a great guy 🙂 Accidentally dropped the group on the next climb…

Wasn’t so fast on my hardtail on the flat singletracks with a lot of roots and rocks but nice places to ride. Felt good when descending, not as affected by not having a rear damper then I think. Rode as fast as I could but after around 40km it felt like I was standing still. 20km to go, just like at Billingen but it was longer.

Had a thought of stop the race a couple of times but can’t when I just felt slow. Kept on riding and then the last of the 3 loops came. Some handbuilt singletracks and wide forest roads for climbing and descending. The climbs started to feel good again and the others seem to start get tired. I started to pass people, it felt fun 🙂 Down a rocky descend the bike felt awesome, up some gravel. and onto a small singletrack with motivation and speed at the right place. Felt smooth but hit a rock with my rear wheel and the hole was there. Sealant streamed out and fast off my bike. Shifter to the smallest cog, off with the clutch and got the axle out with my multitool I had in my rear pocket. Off with one side of the tire and put the tubeless valve in my rear pocket. Opened my Swat box and took out my sparetube. Into the tire and fast mounted it again. In with my Co2 (first time) and it popped. Back on the bike and started chasing again. Adrenaline chock and in some way it was fun fixing a flat fast and not just think about it.

Chased a bit then the adrenaline got down and I mostly tried to survive the last 5km. Fun last part but did some bad cornering 😦 Onto the stadium at Lugnet and one last u-turn before the sprint and finish. Pouff and I had a rear flat again 😦 Didn’t care and kept the speed as high as possible to the finishline 😉 S-Works tires are fast even without air inside :p

Had a thought of 3h, ended at 3h5min but it was enough to a 32st place, 5 spots better than Billingeracet in Men 30 🙂

Map and stats: Strava

And an Idolpicture for you: Me and John, the finishers today in Specialized Concept Store CK:

Jennie Stenerhag and Michael Olsson won!

Långa Billingeracet

In some way this is my favorite XC Marathon race. It got great atmosphere, many friends, awesome climbs and some beautiful flowy trails. Went down to Skövde yesterday with my teammate John and Mattias to stay at my sister 🙂 1st class.

Not even 5min riding to the start this morning which was perfect but maybe not the warm-up you needed 😉

It all started with a asphaltclimb that went into the forest halfway and I tried to take it a bit easy. Here was also the first time I noticed my easiest gear 34-36 wasn’t working at all. 34-32 as easiest for the rest. Felt good in the beginning except I didn’t have to power on the flat gravelsections or the gearing. Tried to hang on some groups but dropped a bit, got back up when it was going uphill 😉

The trails in Öglunda was amazing and my bike felt really good. The Fox fork works like a dream and I really like the geometry of my bike (and weight). The gravelclimb up after Öglunda went really good with a good flow 🙂

Up on Billingen I got a new bottle from my sister and then it came a really long singletrack part, was a bit hard on my hardtail. Down on the other side on some gravelroads and some great green singletrack felt nice.

Then the longest part, the singletrack section including some crocodiletracks :p which takes a lot of energy without any rest. Started to feel my back and after 57km it started to hurt. Was riding slow (according to a friend I rode with for a while) and a lot of stretching so dropped from some groups.

Finally the end came, 2 climbs which went much better than I hoped for with my back. 8kg bike makes difference and on the first climb I rode with 34-28 gearing and it felt great passing a couple of riders too. A bit singletrack down and some asphalt before the last climb, Strupen. Knew how it was but didn’t remember it got steeper and steeper. 34-32 in the end and standing up trying to have grip and passed some more riders.

It all ended in a small spring with me and a guy riding in a different class so I let him win 😉

Finished 34th in my category and 127th overall. 3h31min so 19min better than my earlier record 😀 Really tired but satisfied.

Here you can see who’s the fastest :p

And Mattias who never been riding so far rode 5min faster than me:

Like Benny Andersson said, a hardtail wasn’t perfect for the course. But I couldn’t have asked for more fun on my Specialized Epic HT, really nice with a SWATbox too so I didn’t have to carry a spare tube and pump in my jersey:

Always improvements to make but as this bike is what I want to have I have to make the improvements on my body instead 😉

Map and stats: Strava

Emil Lindgren and Jennie Stenerhag won!

Le Peloton #156

The ones who understand the picture understands 😉

A really cold morning today too, not proper May weather it feels like. -3° Celsius and many thought of riding gravel instead of asphalt on todays Le Peloton

I did the CX loop too as I wanted to get more comfortable on my Epic and ride fast on it. Went smart in the first climb and dropped the first group. Became 4 riders in a group behind with 2 mtb and 2 cx with me with easiest gearing which made it hard when it was flat and downhill. A lot of 34-11 today and maybe good for my cadence training :p First Oskar dropped me on a downhill and I had to chase up a climb. Felt good as long as it was uphill or a bit more technical downhill so you don’t pedal 😉

Thomas attacked before Erstaviksvägen and Fredrik, Oskar and me had to chase. Got up to him but dropped Fredrik. After Erstaviksvägen on the way back I dropped both Thomas and Oskar and rode alone almost all the way back. Thomas caught me in the end and we ended it all together. He with a lot of PR and me tired 😉

Was about to give up and shorten the loop when Oskar dropped me the first time but managed to get back and hang on. Did as good as I could and it felt like a good hard training session 😀 Satisfied and it was fun in our small group, so much more fun when don’t ride all alone the hole loop.

Map and stats: Strava

My bike worked fine too, just wanted a bigger chainring :p

Le Peloton #151 and a small race

It all started with a happy moment:

My plan was to do the shortest loop on my mtb just as a spin and for the breakfast. Ruined in the first climb where my Epic felt pretty fast. Tried to hang on Christian when he passed me on the next flat section a short while. Changed plan to ride fast uphill and ”easy” downhill. After turning in Erstavik it felt pretty good so changed my mind once again and tried to ride as fast as I could and maybe even get the KOM. Was fun but hard and when reaching Sickla at 6.50 it felt great. I thought the KOM was around 48min and we started a bit after 6. The bad thing was that Christian had the KOM at 44min…

Celebrated my 2nd place with breakfast at Le Mond:

After a productive day at work with both good and bad things it was time again. Got away a bit later than I hoped as it was a lot of customers in the end but rode to Årsta for a training race.

29 cyclists on a short intense course. 5 or 8 laps depending on which class, I did 8. Was a real tight course without any rest and always had to have your mind focusing. Did a couple of mistakes but except that it went pretty ok even thou I wanted to be a bit faster 😉 Fun to race on my Epic and get the season going. Me and my faster clubmate Magnus after the race:

And results:

Happy people arrange these small events. 🙂 Well done!

Map and stats: Le Peloton and race in Årsta

XC and Sockdoping

Started the day with riding mtb with some friends. Some fast and some technical trails and for the first time mostly hardtails 😉 Except John. Need to get better in finding some fast trails around here 🙂

Ended with coffee and lunch at Le Mond.

Then I took a longer route home to find some small roads on gravel, and wood:

Was a year since I rode down there last time and I got a couple of nice climbs too 🙂

Map and stats: Strava

Today I wore plain pink MB socks in wool. Sometimes it’s the simple that feels right and sometime not. Got a couple of new Gelatosocks so my collection is complete and I have a bigger problem choose socks for tomorrows Le Peloton and race:

😀 Perfect for me as I really love Icecream, and cool cyclingsocks 🙂

Lightweight Lizard and Speed Lunatic

For the first time on gravel this year I had a lighter bike than Emil 🙂 He on his Ridley X-Trail and me on my Specialized Epic ht, was nice to try it on gravel too. Emil had some more speed as in his nickname Speed Lunatic when it went fast and my 34-11 wasn’t made for going fast. But an 8Kg hardtail with 2,1″ Specialized Fast Trak tires was really fun on gravel too. We had a great morning in the sun watching animals, talking children and discussing #aeroiseverything

Also sat some Personal Records and I got top 10 around Flaten after following Emil over some bridges:

Map and stats: Strava

After we had breakfast the clouds came and the weather turned grey. So happy I got up in time to enjoy the sun this morning with the fastest Sumo.

Berk barcombo

Finally it arrived, the 2nd part ordered for my Epic. The barcombo made by Berk Composites. 720mm wide with a 80mm stem:

Saved almost 200g compared to the bar and stem I borrowed and the bike should be under 8kg even with heavy Candy pedals 😀

Looks pretty fat with 38mm wide flat stem too, almost like a Syntace Flatforce but lighter and with a smaller angle.

The front matches the rear 😀

Keps Cup Rönninge

The ultimate test for a new mtb have to be in a race. If it’s just as you hoped or if something doesn’t work properly.

So today I went with my teammate John to Rönninge and find out if my Epic was as awesome as planned.

A bit cold in the beginning even for me. Testrode a lap which was really nice but with some mud and wet roots. Liked the small gravelsections between the nice singletracks and all in all it seemed great.

Down at the start talking shit with nice fast people. Got a little nervous and then the start went. Full speed with locked fork up the gravel. Got passed by some people and finally up the hole climb and onto the first real singletrack it felt hard:

It just felt like I rode slower and slower but also passed rider after rider who punctured, a lot of punctures today. My bike felt really nice, even better than I imagined. Great stability downhill without any worries when I rode down steep things and super agile uphill which made me smile a bit 😉 Need some finetuning with the fork but worked great, open all the way except on the longer gravelsection where I put it in the middle position.

Not my best shape after a hard week but was so funny being back in the XCO racing, this is the best. Me and my old friend Johan talked and missed the Västgötacup too, need more great races in this country and grow the sport, not just Enduro.

My teammate John won the hole cup (2 races) and got a cap:

He also won the race today, a race which I thought I was last but ended 3rd 🙂 and also last as it was 7 DNF riders behind, people need to get better tires or riding skills…

Map and stats: Strava

all pictures except the last one by Åsa Larsson