Mid summer testing

A fair amount has happened since my last post. Some great training, some cool races, and lots of family time.

Firstly, training. I've had some tough weeks planned, and coach Rob has had me pushing hard. We had a B-race during week 24 which had a few days taper, but other than that it's been full-packed weeks.

Highlights have been the nice sunny days when I've been able to get out with Albert in the trailer on my own, or rides with Malin if we've had babysitters. Then more recently the family rides with both kids in the trailers and a 'fika' or cafe stop thrown in. We also had a lovely weekend away with some great friends the Nilssons and Tobias & Neo in Värnamo for Swedish Midsommar (eat lots of good food, drink lots of snaps, celebrate summer and the longest day, usually in the rain). Why Värnamo? That's where the Swedish National Champs are going to be held in the third week of July. So, yes we celebrated midsommar and drank a few beers, but we also trained on the course both Saturday and Sunday. It's gonna be tough! The course is very tricky, with lots of technical sections, rough singletrack with roots and rocks, and seemingly endless climbs! The downhills are fun, but don't allow any time to recover, so it's going to be a very hard race for all. I didn't really find a good place to take a drink, which is normally a sure-fire sign of a tough course!

Jonas and me before the first day's ride in Värnamo

Race spec on the Fourstroke - other than new tyres before race day. New Vittoria Peyote in stock at Musette Malmö!

Helen, Tobias and me before day 2 on course

The course has a few really nice sections, some drops, drop-offs, double jumps, and nice flowy corners. Here's a few pics Helen took on day 2:

Bermed corner over the bridge, then another climb up to a super steep drop-off

The second of the big drops with a fairly steep landing

The family rides have been a really nice way to break up the training weeks, and apart from the wind a couple of times we've had some nice weather for those rides too. I take Hilda, and Malin takes Albert, not sure how long that will last as he's catching up with her in weight pretty quickly!! :-O

Out in the sun with the trailers

Rude not to stop and fill the tank!

As for races there have been two since my last post. The first was the planned B-race at SRAM Liga (Danish national series) round 3 in Varde on the 18th June, and the second just yesterday (4th July) at Vallåsen with a 2 hour team race where Malin and I raced in the mixed pairs category. 

The SRAM Liga course was really nice as usual for the Danes, although this one is pretty flat (rode here in 2014 too), so it doesn't really suit me so well. That said I had a really good start and felt strong for the whole of the first lap, even pulling out a 10-15 second gap at the front until roughly halfway round the second lap where a group of riders working together caught me. They sat behind until the end of the third where two passed by while I grabbed a bottle from Malin in the feed zone. I hopped on the wheel and sat in 3rd place going into the first flowy singletrack section. The lead rider had a technical before we'd left the woods and I momentarily got slowed as he moved to my side of the course. The leader got a 5 second gap, which I first closed, but then unfortunately the gap grew again for the next couple of kilometres as I struggled to match his fast pace.

Another two riders were still behind me and we rode in a group for around half of lap 4 until one guy said he'd had enough and allowed the other guy past. He passed me too just before a tricky little singletrack section, but I managed to hold his wheel pretty well until I made a silly little mistake when he braked harder than I anticipated, a foot down for me and.....whack! CRAMP! My right hamstring locked out and I struggled to get pedalling again. Not the best spot for it to happen with some short-sharp climbs with tricky step-ups coming up. I struggled on and then managed to stretch out a bit as we came to the second feed zone on a fire-road. At the end of the fire-road the cramp had all but gone and I could start to push on again. But 2nd place was now around 20-30 seconds up the road. I pushed as hard as I could muster for the rest of the lap, and the whole of the last (fifth) lap, but finished still 30 seconds down in third place, with roughly 50 seconds back to fourth. The leader had put in two amazing laps and finished over a minute up. Still pretty happy with my performance, and the form felt good after just a short taper of a few days. This was my first race on the new Amaton wheels, and they felt absolutely amazing. So fast and stiff, they have really transformed the handling of the bike. Luckily they seem to be able to take a bashing too, as the course had quite a few jumps and drops!

One of many drops in Varde - SRAM Liga Rd 3

Bit of a flat landing on this jump, no problem for my BMC Fourstroke though

Soft landing in sand, this is where stiff, responsive wheels really help with control!

The team relay race as part of Båstad Bike Week was supposed to be a training ride for Malin and I. I had planned to do a 90min tempo ride, and Malin was to do 2 x 20 min intervals. However, we hadn't read the rules properly, and our plans of riding our training straight were scuppered when we read rule No. 3. Each rider may only ride 2 laps in succession! DOH! Plan B then was to allow Malin to ride a little shorter, and me a little longer (and slower) by me doing 2 laps, and her 1 before a swap. It worked pretty well apart from the 'slow' bit. We both pushed pretty hard as the red mist fell and we led the mixed pair race from the first lap. Our 2:1 plan also made for a faster overall race time compared to our competitors who rode 1:1. Perhaps in hindsight we'd have had more fun doing that too. But still, it was still cool to race in the middle of the week, and also great to have friends on the podium with us at the end! Well done to Ulrika & Daniel, and Helen & Jonas who took home 3rd and 2nd places respectively. We will definitely be back for more next year, we hope for big things from this race. A well organised, although small race with a really nice laid back atmosphere. Who can argue with the venue too, an arse-kicking climb, followed by a DH course descent.... Win win win!

Podium from Mixed pairs race

Super fun course!! :-)

Only 2 1/2 weeks left until the National Champs now. Getting excited already! This weekend we have a local XCup race at one of my favourite venues - Hovdala castle in Hässleholm. Then two weeks of taper before we drag the house on wheels up to Värnamo once again. Fingers crossed for a beautiful Swedish summer week!