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Nisse was there for pretty much all of it. Others were there for some of it. It was a 1000km weekend but that was more a coincidence than the result of any particular aim to do something exceptionally hard or difficult. It just happens. Many of the things in here aren’t actually that well planned or thought out to serve a very specific purpose. It’s just for fun. Let me try to explain what happens when the “Great Idea Reactor” starts accelerating out of control towards a total core meltdown.</p> <p>The Voice Inside: “it would be fun to do a brevet somewhere else – maybe Gothenburg, that’s pretty close – Johan is drawing up a killer route from Vänersborg – 600k with lots of hills, Norway, maybe some gravel – that’s perfect – you could leave Friday after work and take the train up – you could take the train to Gothenburg and ride from there, it’s less than 100k – you’d have to leave work pretty early, it’s basically a half day – might as well take Friday off and chill a bit – if you’re taking Friday off you might as well leave Thursday night a make a thing out of it – how far away is Vänersborg anyway? – 400km, no problem – actually, 400km is quite far, maybe SOME sleep would be a good idea if you hope to ride the 600k nonstop – yeah, yeah, short nap – Alrighty then, overnight 400k, crash somewhere in Vänersborg, ride the 600k brevet, get home somehow”.</p> <p>Somewhere around here you realise telling your wife is probably a good idea… but she already knows, she can tell. She might not like it but she knows when a “Great Idea” has gone past the point of no return. And you know the meter is running and will continue doing so until there’s no way you can pay the bill. Being a rando junkie is hard. As is being married to one…</p> <p>In the run-up, Johan helped organise some of the local practicalities for this cultural exchange and we were all set when the big Thursday came and it was time to head north. The bike was fully packed with frame bag, saddle bag and handlebar bag holding some sleeping kit, civilian clothing and cycling stuff.</p> <p> </p> <div data-shortcode="caption" id="attachment_4023" style="width: 559px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-4023" data-attachment-id="4023" data-permalink="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2017/07/14/a-thousand-k-getaway/img_73281/" data-orig-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_73281.jpg" data-orig-size="3264,2448" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"2.2","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 5s","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1499293273","copyright":"","focal_length":"4.15","iso":"320","shutter_speed":"0.058823529411765","title":"","orientation":"1","latitude":"55.632775","longitude":"12.573275"}" data-image-title="IMG_7328[1]" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_73281.jpg?w=300" data-large-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_73281.jpg?w=960" class=" wp-image-4023 aligncenter" src="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_73281.jpg?w=549&h=412" alt="IMG_7328[1]" width="549" height="412" srcset="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_73281.jpg?w=549&h=412 549w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_73281.jpg?w=1098&h=824 1098w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_73281.jpg?w=150&h=113 150w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_73281.jpg?w=300&h=225 300w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_73281.jpg?w=768&h=576 768w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_73281.jpg?w=1024&h=768 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 549px) 100vw, 549px" /><p id="caption-attachment-4023" class="wp-caption-text">The Randominatrix – Fully Loaded</p></div> <p>I left home around 20.00 in order to make the 22.00 ferry and thus be on time for the rendezvous with Nisse outside Helsingborg. Strandvejen with tailwind and evening sun makes a pretty good start to any ride. After bulk buying candy on the ferry I rode out of town and as the night closed in the familiar duo headed north on very familiar roads.</p> <p> </p> <div data-shortcode="caption" id="attachment_4026" style="width: 561px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-4026" data-attachment-id="4026" data-permalink="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2017/07/14/a-thousand-k-getaway/img_73901/" data-orig-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_73901.jpg" data-orig-size="3264,2448" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"2.2","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 5s","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1499375179","copyright":"","focal_length":"4.15","iso":"32","shutter_speed":"0.0015600624024961","title":"","orientation":"1","latitude":"55.927202777778","longitude":"12.518613888889"}" data-image-title="IMG_7390[1]" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_73901.jpg?w=300" data-large-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_73901.jpg?w=960" class=" wp-image-4026 aligncenter" src="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_73901.jpg?w=551&h=413" alt="IMG_7390[1]" width="551" height="413" srcset="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_73901.jpg?w=551&h=413 551w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_73901.jpg?w=1102&h=826 1102w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_73901.jpg?w=150&h=113 150w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_73901.jpg?w=300&h=225 300w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_73901.jpg?w=768&h=576 768w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_73901.jpg?w=1024&h=768 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 551px) 100vw, 551px" /><p id="caption-attachment-4026" class="wp-caption-text">For sake of good order – that’s Glumslöv seen from Denmark</p></div> <p>We weren’t going slow but the pace was still different. Most people might not call a 400km overnighter a social ride, but that’s what it was. The only real cutoff we had was the much anticipated hotel breakfast in Borås after about 300km (from our respective starts). Swedish backroads on a Thursday night in the vacation period are quiet. Very quiet. The most exciting things that happened was that I’d only brought one knee warmer, hence rode on in shorts, (I want to thank @dvnder for kindly lending me a pair on knee warmers to use for the brevet, would have been chilly otherwise) and that Nils spotted a moose which I missed as I was staring into the sky to see if there might be serious rain. We stayed dry and didn’t see another moose. Just deer. Damn, I wanted to see a moose.</p> <p> </p> <div data-shortcode="caption" id="attachment_4034" style="width: 396px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-4034" data-attachment-id="4034" data-permalink="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2017/07/14/a-thousand-k-getaway/img_74121/" data-orig-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_74121.jpg" data-orig-size="2448,3264" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"2.2","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 5s","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1499399287","copyright":"","focal_length":"4.15","iso":"40","shutter_speed":"0.058823529411765","title":"","orientation":"1","latitude":"57.019261111111","longitude":"12.967616666667"}" data-image-title="IMG_7412[1]" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_74121.jpg?w=225" data-large-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_74121.jpg?w=768" class=" wp-image-4034 aligncenter" src="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_74121.jpg?w=386&h=515" alt="IMG_7412[1]" width="386" height="515" srcset="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_74121.jpg?w=386&h=515 386w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_74121.jpg?w=772&h=1030 772w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_74121.jpg?w=113&h=150 113w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_74121.jpg?w=225&h=300 225w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_74121.jpg?w=768&h=1024 768w" sizes="(max-width: 386px) 100vw, 386px" /><p id="caption-attachment-4034" class="wp-caption-text">Yeah, we can fika pretty hard</p></div> <p>Just before 4am we arrived at the luxurious wooden bus stop in Drängsered where we rolled out our bivvy bags and enjoyed a classy fika consisting of Gammeldansk and self-smuggled pastries before turning in for an hour’s sleep. The 100km to Borås were covered in an orderly manner. The route turned out to include some cyclocross bike carrying across a closed bridge and a series of gravel roads – it’s nice to be woken up properly.</p> <p>SPORTGRUS MORNING</p> <p>We walked into Scandic Plaza in Borås just around 9 in the morning and payed the, under the circumstances, nominal fee for the breakfast buffet. Two young (yes!) men who have just ridden 300km unsupported overnight are likely the worst customers ever to let near an all-you-an-eat buffet. The amount of eggs, bacon, pancakes, sandwiches and fresh fruit we ate is bordering on embarrassing. We took our time…</p> <p>When we left Borås it quickly turned out that none of us had scouted the route at all. It turns out they have hills just north of town and a 15% gradient is exactly what you need after a solid breakfast. At the top of the climb it turned out we’d come across a pretty lengthy gravel section as well. Even better. And the sun was shining.</p> <p> </p> <div data-shortcode="caption" id="attachment_4032" style="width: 551px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-4032" data-attachment-id="4032" data-permalink="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2017/07/14/a-thousand-k-getaway/img_75061/" data-orig-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_75061.jpg" data-orig-size="720,1278" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="IMG_7506[1]" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_75061.jpg?w=169" data-large-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_75061.jpg?w=577" loading="lazy" class=" wp-image-4032 aligncenter" src="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_75061.jpg?w=541&h=960" alt="IMG_7506[1]" width="541" height="960" srcset="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_75061.jpg?w=541&h=960 541w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_75061.jpg?w=85&h=150 85w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_75061.jpg?w=169&h=300 169w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_75061.jpg 720w" sizes="(max-width: 541px) 100vw, 541px" /><p id="caption-attachment-4032" class="wp-caption-text">There’s nothing I can write here that’s better than those two signs.</p></div> <p>So we were chugging along just enjoying ourselves and at some point around mid-afternoon (intentionally unspecific here – it’s not about the time) we rolled in to Vänersborg and set about preparing for the rest of the day: buy ice to chill beer. Buy beer. (no, you can’t buy cold bottled proper beers in Sweden). We met up with Johan, who organizes the Vänersborg brevets for a brief chat before heading to Hotell 46an for a shower and a (voila!) cold beer.</p> <p> </p> <div data-shortcode="caption" id="attachment_4029" style="width: 551px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-4029" data-attachment-id="4029" data-permalink="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2017/07/14/a-thousand-k-getaway/img_75411/" data-orig-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_75411.jpg" data-orig-size="2448,3264" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"2.2","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 5s","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1499440955","copyright":"","focal_length":"4.15","iso":"320","shutter_speed":"0.03030303030303","title":"","orientation":"1","latitude":"58.383822222222","longitude":"12.327925"}" data-image-title="IMG_7541[1]" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_75411.jpg?w=225" data-large-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_75411.jpg?w=768" loading="lazy" class="alignnone wp-image-4029" src="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_75411.jpg?w=541&h=722" alt="IMG_7541[1]" width="541" height="722" srcset="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_75411.jpg?w=541&h=722 541w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_75411.jpg?w=1082&h=1444 1082w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_75411.jpg?w=113&h=150 113w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_75411.jpg?w=225&h=300 225w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_75411.jpg?w=768&h=1024 768w" sizes="(max-width: 541px) 100vw, 541px" /><p id="caption-attachment-4029" class="wp-caption-text">Do you even after bike?</p></div> <p>After a few more beers and an afternoon nap Johan (a different one… do I need surnames here? Nah..) and Otto, who we were sharing accommodation with, arrived from Gothenburg and we could all go out for dinner before going to bed and sleeping like babies (you know, when they sleep). This bit, hanging in Vänersborg from Friday afternoon until the Saturday morning start and having the privilege to share a room with some fellow cyclists was one of the best things about going away to do an event. Usually I rock up 15 minutes before the start and 15 minutes after the start I ‘only’ have Nisse for company.</p> <p>At the start nine happy randonneurs (apart from the already mentioned Johans and Otto there was Jan-Erik, Ulrika, Lotta and Freddie), were lined up outside the Shell station and at the stroke of 8 we rolled out in tidy formation at a good cruising speed. Both the Johans and Jan-Erik rode Sverigetempot, last year so there were plenty of war stories to catch up on. We were rolling with the punches as the rain came and went and came and went but the temperature was good and there was no wind to speak of and 2 out of 3 ain’t bad. Less than 10 kilometers before the first control Mr. Black’s fancy Italian skinwalls decided it was time for a break. Nisse was kind enough to help fix the flat, while the rest of us stood around laughing and taking pictures whilst nibbling away at our food. This is how it’s done nowadays. 50 shades of fixing a flat on social media within a minute.</p> <p> </p> <div data-shortcode="caption" id="attachment_4033" style="width: 609px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-4033" data-attachment-id="4033" data-permalink="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2017/07/14/a-thousand-k-getaway/img_75611/" data-orig-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_75611.jpg" data-orig-size="3264,2448" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"2.2","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 5s","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1499509171","copyright":"","focal_length":"4.15","iso":"32","shutter_speed":"0.00041407867494824","title":"","orientation":"1","latitude":"58.767769444444","longitude":"11.880919444444"}" data-image-title="IMG_7561[1]" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_75611.jpg?w=300" data-large-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_75611.jpg?w=960" loading="lazy" class=" wp-image-4033 aligncenter" src="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_75611.jpg?w=599&h=449" alt="IMG_7561[1]" width="599" height="449" srcset="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_75611.jpg?w=599&h=449 599w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_75611.jpg?w=1198&h=898 1198w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_75611.jpg?w=150&h=113 150w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_75611.jpg?w=300&h=225 300w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_75611.jpg?w=768&h=576 768w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_75611.jpg?w=1024&h=768 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 599px) 100vw, 599px" /><p id="caption-attachment-4033" class="wp-caption-text">Most of us… några simmade ur bild</p></div> <p>With most of the others planning for sleep in Lillestrøm after about 370km we knew from the start that there would be a split at some point. This point turned out to be the control in Ed (86km) where some took a little coffee break while Nisse and I said goodbye and headed for the border. The border crossing wasn’t exactly fortified. After the sprint we turned to take pictures of the sign and then hung around for half an eternity to ‘instamagram’ about this historic event – our first ever sprint across a border between two countries. I could have easily brought a significant amount of contraband with me: butter, parsnips, pizza at serving temperaure – you name it.</p> <p>For the first 30-45 minutes it was as if Norway wanted to prove me and anyone who’d ever said a bad word about the weather there wrong. After the wettish start to the ride Norway now greeted us with dry roads and sunshine to accompany the (expected) lovely scenery. Off course this was just a little joke and before long we were yet again zipping up our rain gilets (great piece of kit – much better than a jacket, more on that <a href="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2017/02/20/ive-got-nothing-to-wear/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>) as the rain increased, increased and increased. In the last descent into Ørje the rain was actually hurting our forearms. Still not cold though, so let’s not exaggerate the level of suffering…</p> <p> </p> <div data-shortcode="caption" id="attachment_4057" style="width: 553px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-4057" data-attachment-id="4057" data-permalink="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2017/07/14/a-thousand-k-getaway/img_75851/" data-orig-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_75851.jpg" data-orig-size="2448,3264" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"2.2","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 5s","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1499520621","copyright":"","focal_length":"4.15","iso":"32","shutter_speed":"0.000999000999001","title":"","orientation":"1","latitude":"59.312922222222","longitude":"11.647938888889"}" data-image-title="IMG_7585[1]" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_75851.jpg?w=225" data-large-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_75851.jpg?w=768" loading="lazy" class=" wp-image-4057 alignnone" src="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_75851.jpg?w=543&h=724" alt="IMG_7585[1]" width="543" height="724" srcset="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_75851.jpg?w=543&h=724 543w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_75851.jpg?w=1086&h=1448 1086w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_75851.jpg?w=113&h=150 113w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_75851.jpg?w=225&h=300 225w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_75851.jpg?w=768&h=1024 768w" sizes="(max-width: 543px) 100vw, 543px" /><p id="caption-attachment-4057" class="wp-caption-text">The road</p></div> <p>In the small village Ørje (166km) we more or less expected to find nothing so it was a rather surreal experience to be greeted by hoards of young men and women, wearing nothing but their underwear, carrying inflatable beach toys down the high street in the pouring rain. It turned out we’d timed out visit to coincide with the annual <a href="http://www.orjegummibat.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ørje Gummibåtfestival</a>. The little we saw looked like a fun jippo so I’d suggest everyone with underutilised inflatables lying around to pencil this in their calendars for next year.</p> <p>We had actually planned to stop for proper coffee and cake here, but despite the significant influx of people everything except the CircleK was closed so it was business as usual with hotdogs and machine coffee while the rain kept pouring down outside. After a while we figured we should probably stop sulking and get going. The rain would be intermittent, including some downright comical downpours, for the next 100k or so, but it’s only water. At least it washed the roads clean, including the road in front of Løken Kebab (I just like the name).</p> <p>I picture of rain would have been good here but you can’t really take pictures of rain so here’s a link to a <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BWSoNxbFD6Y/?taken-by=oscaralphahotel" target="_blank" rel="noopener">video</a> instead.</p> <p>At 244km the sun was out as we pulled into the control at CircleK in Kjeller so we hung around a little bit to dry our clothes before poking them back into pockets and bags. We then kept riding north towards Gardermoen Airport (which, as many of you know is nowhere near Oslo) as the road got progressively hillier before the actual climbing across the 500m ridge started. This bit was pretty cool – a completely empty road, occasionally blocked by sheep, through the woods, interspersed by a few lakes. We came through the 300km mark in just over 12 hours – our relaxed attitude, the nature of the course and the slight lack of spark in our legs was evident also on the clock.</p> <p><img data-attachment-id="4037" data-permalink="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2017/07/14/a-thousand-k-getaway/img_76901/" data-orig-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_76901.jpg" data-orig-size="2448,2870" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"2.2","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 5s","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1499543630","copyright":"","focal_length":"4.15","iso":"32","shutter_speed":"0.00017001020061204","title":"","orientation":"1","latitude":"60.285252777778","longitude":"10.838758333333"}" data-image-title="IMG_7690[1]" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_76901.jpg?w=256" data-large-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_76901.jpg?w=873" loading="lazy" class=" wp-image-4037 aligncenter" src="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_76901.jpg?w=553&h=648" alt="IMG_7690[1]" width="553" height="648" srcset="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_76901.jpg?w=553&h=648 553w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_76901.jpg?w=1106&h=1296 1106w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_76901.jpg?w=128&h=150 128w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_76901.jpg?w=256&h=300 256w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_76901.jpg?w=768&h=900 768w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_76901.jpg?w=873&h=1024 873w" sizes="(max-width: 553px) 100vw, 553px" /></p> <p>We descended into Lunner (311km) for the next control, naturally at the local CircleK. I guess I might as well cut to the chase – Norway really is the perfect rando storm of brutal terrain, shitty weather and useless fastfood. The dinner options on offer in Lunner were indeed underwhelming… Ok, low meat content hotdogs in plastic skin were expected and I guess on some level I knew they weren’t going to serve mashed potatoes made form potatoes, or at all… Fair enough, when in Rome and all that, I’ll have fries instead… but then “May I please have some salt for my fries?”. “We haven’t got any”. Curtain. Like when you’re told to sit but notice there isn’t a chair…</p> <p>I mean, I’m not saying Lunner should compete with the gold standard in Scandorando feeding stations – <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BUVOMsSlvhO/?taken-by=oscaralphahotel" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Eurostop in Halmstad</a> – but surely they could have salt? They have salt in Jokkmokk.</p> <p>Now to add to the brutal terrain, the shitty weather and the useless junkfood, Norway also sports a bunch of charming locals adding to the country’s attractiveness as a randonneuring destination. Nisse and I had a lovely chat with two girls on the bench outside. I don’t know about the rest of you but I still get a bit self conscious when a girl comes up to speak to me and I’ve been wearing the same cycling clothes for 700km and much of the last 300 in rain… you can smell your own odor even outside. At least this didn’t seem to deter anyone in this particular situation and apart from the usual disbelief about how far we’d cycled we also covered essentials like aunts in Sweden and footballers from Skåne (mainly Daniel Nannskog, he’s big in Norway). Regrettably we couldn’t accommodate their request to give a lift back to the farm but all in all it was a Saturday night well spent for all involved. The girls set off on foot and we by bike for what was the longest and gentlest section of the course.</p> <p> </p> <div data-shortcode="caption" id="attachment_4031" style="width: 582px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-4031" data-attachment-id="4031" data-permalink="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2017/07/14/a-thousand-k-getaway/img_77151/" data-orig-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_77151.jpg" data-orig-size="3264,2448" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"2.2","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 5s","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1499551253","copyright":"","focal_length":"4.15","iso":"40","shutter_speed":"0.03030303030303","title":"","orientation":"1","latitude":"60.190491666667","longitude":"10.719122222222"}" data-image-title="IMG_7715[1]" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_77151.jpg?w=300" data-large-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_77151.jpg?w=960" loading="lazy" class=" wp-image-4031 aligncenter" src="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_77151.jpg?w=572&h=429" alt="IMG_7715[1]" width="572" height="429" srcset="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_77151.jpg?w=572&h=429 572w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_77151.jpg?w=1144&h=858 1144w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_77151.jpg?w=150&h=113 150w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_77151.jpg?w=300&h=225 300w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_77151.jpg?w=768&h=576 768w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_77151.jpg?w=1024&h=768 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 572px) 100vw, 572px" /><p id="caption-attachment-4031" class="wp-caption-text">Posörerna</p></div> <p>Much of the following 180km leg to Halden was tracking a river valley towards the sea, meaning we rode many kilometers in a gentle downhill. There was no wind, as in NO WIND – they way it will never be in a flat coastal landscape. We rode along lake Harestu (or however it would translate) and got a lovely sunset. There were a few bit out on the big road but traffic was sparse and visibility good so no issues there.</p> <p> </p> <div data-shortcode="caption" id="attachment_4080" style="width: 559px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-4080" data-attachment-id="4080" data-permalink="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2017/07/14/a-thousand-k-getaway/img_77081/" data-orig-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_77081.jpg" data-orig-size="2448,3264" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"2.2","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 5s","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1499551153","copyright":"","focal_length":"4.15","iso":"32","shutter_speed":"0.0048780487804878","title":"","orientation":"1","latitude":"60.197097222222","longitude":"10.715491666667"}" data-image-title="IMG_7708[1]" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_77081.jpg?w=225" data-large-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_77081.jpg?w=768" loading="lazy" class=" wp-image-4080 aligncenter" src="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_77081.jpg?w=549&h=732" alt="IMG_7708[1]" width="549" height="732" srcset="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_77081.jpg?w=549&h=732 549w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_77081.jpg?w=1098&h=1464 1098w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_77081.jpg?w=113&h=150 113w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_77081.jpg?w=225&h=300 225w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_77081.jpg?w=768&h=1024 768w" sizes="(max-width: 549px) 100vw, 549px" /><p id="caption-attachment-4080" class="wp-caption-text">A thousand words.</p></div> <p>We passed Lillestrøm, now to the west. I actually want to hand out some praise to Lillestrøm – they have made a genuine effort to build proper bike lanes around the city. Not just glorified footpaths with bikes painted on them but wide lanes with smooth turns where you can actually ride a racing bike without pulling your hair in frustration every 250m. Well done Lillestrøm – 3/5 Critical Copenhageners (which is a very high score for a city not in Denmark or the Netherlands).</p> <p>Darkness wasn’t really an item as we kept heading south. The sky was pretty clear, there was a full moon and the sun kept lingering just below the horizon all night. The road was undulating a bit across various types of farmland before we suddenly hit a sharp descent into a valley, came around corner and the majestic sight of the Solbergfoss Hydropower plant appeared in front of us. At 426km we pulled into the CircleK in Sekkelsten. The reason we stopped here was that it was our only opportunity to get any kind of service between Lunner (km 311) and somewhere in Sweden, possibly the finish depending on speed.</p> <p> </p> <div data-shortcode="caption" id="attachment_4036" style="width: 549px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-4036" data-attachment-id="4036" data-permalink="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2017/07/14/a-thousand-k-getaway/img_77401/" data-orig-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_77401.jpg" data-orig-size="3264,2448" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"2.2","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 5s","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1499563864","copyright":"","focal_length":"4.15","iso":"2000","shutter_speed":"0.058823529411765","title":"","orientation":"1","latitude":"59.637813888889","longitude":"11.15425"}" data-image-title="IMG_7740[1]" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_77401.jpg?w=300" data-large-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_77401.jpg?w=960" loading="lazy" class=" wp-image-4036 aligncenter" src="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_77401.jpg?w=539&h=404" alt="IMG_7740[1]" width="539" height="404" srcset="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_77401.jpg?w=539&h=404 539w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_77401.jpg?w=1078&h=808 1078w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_77401.jpg?w=150&h=113 150w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_77401.jpg?w=300&h=225 300w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_77401.jpg?w=768&h=576 768w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_77401.jpg?w=1024&h=768 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 539px) 100vw, 539px" /><p id="caption-attachment-4036" class="wp-caption-text">They don’t make ’em like this anymore…</p></div> <p>There was drama in Sekkelsten – I looked in horror as Nisse order a coffee, some pastries and payed for it WITHOUT GETTING HIS CARD STAMPED. I reminded him again and again, then offered to take his card with me to get it stamped along with mine until he eventually pointed out to me that this was not a control, haha. Some habits are VERY strong and my brain simply could not understand that we were stopped at a place that wasn’t actually a mandatory control. In fairness, all of this took place to the sound of the local youngsters playing Rune Rudberg’s “<a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/3c69GDcAV2OP9byeDVjHV1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Heja Hølje’s Rallycross</a>” at an absolutely deafening volume on their car sound system. On repeat. For at least 30 minutes. (disclaimer: neither Nisse or I had any clue what song they were playing, it was only after returning to Vänersborg we started researching and unsurprisingly found very few songs on Spotify with the word “rallycross” in the title).</p> <p>With food and coffee in our bellies, water bottles and snack supplies refilled we rolled into the (very) early morning. It wasn’t even 3am but real daylight was fast approaching. Also approaching was some rather serious sleepiness on my part. This was a bit problematic. We discussed taking a break to sleep but a chilly fog had also rolled in and we both knew such a stop would be most unpleasant. I was gonna have to suck it up. Sometime later I’d come around and Nisse was sleepy. Sorry, still too cold, we’ll keep going. We hit a lumpy gravel segment before rolling into a sleepy Halden around 5am where we instead of a stamp took a photo of a stone signpost.</p> <p><img data-attachment-id="4072" data-permalink="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2017/07/14/a-thousand-k-getaway/img_77721/" data-orig-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_77721.jpg" data-orig-size="2448,2448" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"2.2","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 5s","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1499577217","copyright":"","focal_length":"4.15","iso":"40","shutter_speed":"0.02","title":"","orientation":"1","latitude":"59.122288888889","longitude":"11.402202777778"}" data-image-title="IMG_7772[1]" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_77721.jpg?w=300" data-large-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_77721.jpg?w=960" loading="lazy" class=" wp-image-4072 aligncenter" src="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_77721.jpg?w=508&h=508" alt="IMG_7772[1]" width="508" height="508" srcset="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_77721.jpg?w=508&h=508 508w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_77721.jpg?w=1016&h=1016 1016w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_77721.jpg?w=150&h=150 150w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_77721.jpg?w=300&h=300 300w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_77721.jpg?w=768&h=768 768w" sizes="(max-width: 508px) 100vw, 508px" /></p> <p>Just south of Halden there are a series of pretty long climbs and suddenly the pace was wound up very high… I wasn’t in my best climbing form but there was no way I was gonna let him get away so we pushed and pushed and pushed all the way up.</p> <p>We were now only a few kilometers away from the next highly anticipated point along the course – the Sweden border sign in Kornsjø. This turned out to be one of the hardest sprints ever (possibly beaten by Nisse’s long range attack on my fevery sorry self at the end of Blekingerundan 2015). At first he went super hard for the sign and I countered with a max effort only for both of us to discover that the sign read “Sweden 1km”… I then went to the front and tried another max effort at a small hill, but that didn’t shake Nisse and it turned out I still had 500m to go. When the sign eventually appeared in the middle of the little bridge we both had lactic acid spraying out of both ears, a 400 + 520 km weekend in our legs but we were going for it full gas. With 30, 20, 10 m to go the outcome was still undecided but in the end I managed to win by a very small but undisputed margin. Then we stopped to take pictures.</p> <p><img data-attachment-id="4038" data-permalink="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2017/07/14/a-thousand-k-getaway/img_77831/" data-orig-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_77831.jpg" data-orig-size="2581,2448" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"2.2","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 5s","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1499582220","copyright":"","focal_length":"4.15","iso":"32","shutter_speed":"0.0031152647975078","title":"","orientation":"1","latitude":"58.9348","longitude":"11.671033333333"}" data-image-title="IMG_7783[1]" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_77831.jpg?w=300" data-large-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_77831.jpg?w=960" loading="lazy" class=" wp-image-4038 aligncenter" src="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_77831.jpg?w=539&h=511" alt="IMG_7783[1]" width="539" height="511" srcset="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_77831.jpg?w=539&h=511 539w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_77831.jpg?w=1078&h=1022 1078w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_77831.jpg?w=150&h=142 150w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_77831.jpg?w=300&h=285 300w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_77831.jpg?w=768&h=728 768w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_77831.jpg?w=1024&h=971 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 539px) 100vw, 539px" /></p> <p>Sometime just before 8am the sun FINALLY broke through the fog and clouds and sparked a significant striptease session at the final control in Hedekas, from where we had a mere 57 km left to ride. Continuing in short-short in the morning sun we realised, horrified, that we hadn’t had any ice cream at all on the entire trip. Luckily we had been suffiently slow for the supermarket in Färgelanda to be open so with 37km remaining we took a break on bench in the sun.</p> <p>In Vänersborg we missed the chance to chill all the way in as we were busy trying to wear each other down before the sprint, only to realise there was no city limits sign on the route. Instead we cruised into town, collected our last set of stamps a relaxed 26 hours 45 minutes and 620 kilometers after we left. We washed off and headed for the train station, sat down and cracked open a beer. The rest is history…</p> <p> </p> <div data-shortcode="caption" id="attachment_4030" style="width: 520px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-4030" data-attachment-id="4030" data-permalink="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2017/07/14/a-thousand-k-getaway/img_79431/" data-orig-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_79431.jpg" data-orig-size="1065,1420" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="IMG_7943[1]" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_79431.jpg?w=225" data-large-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_79431.jpg?w=768" loading="lazy" class=" wp-image-4030 aligncenter" src="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_79431.jpg?w=510&h=680" alt="IMG_7943[1]" width="510" height="680" srcset="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_79431.jpg?w=510&h=680 510w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_79431.jpg?w=1020&h=1360 1020w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_79431.jpg?w=113&h=150 113w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_79431.jpg?w=225&h=300 225w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_79431.jpg?w=768&h=1024 768w" sizes="(max-width: 510px) 100vw, 510px" /><p id="caption-attachment-4030" class="wp-caption-text">#whatshortsarethey</p></div> <p><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BWSoNxbFD6Y/?taken-by=oscaralphahotel" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Strava link for the brevet.</a></p> <p><a href="https://www.strava.com/activities/1075420095" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Strava link for the ride up.</a></p> <p>Finally – great work by Johan on this route. Norway, I love you dearly and I’ll be back in a couple of weeks. I’ll bring salt.</p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <div class="wordads-tag" data-slot-type="belowpost" style="display: none;"></div> </div> <footer class="entry-meta"> This entry was posted in <a href="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/category/uncategorized/" rel="category tag">Uncategorized</a> on <a href="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2017/07/14/a-thousand-k-getaway/" title="8:42 pm" rel="bookmark"><time class="entry-date" datetime="2017-07-14T20:42:42+00:00">July 14, 2017</time></a><span class="by-author"> by <span class="author vcard"><a class="url fn n" href="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/author/oscarahellstrom/" title="View all posts by oscarahellstrom" rel="author">oscarahellstrom</a></span></span>. </footer> </article> <article id="post-3575" class="post-3575 post type-post status-publish format-standard hentry category-uncategorized"> <header class="entry-header"> <h1 class="entry-title"> <a href="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2017/06/21/ackligt-disciplinerat-malmo-600k/" rel="bookmark">Äckligt Disciplinerat – Malmö 600k</a> </h1> <div class="comments-link"> <a href="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2017/06/21/ackligt-disciplinerat-malmo-600k/#comments">1 Reply</a> </div> </header> <div class="entry-content"> <p>Full gas, comfort level zero. How long will it take to ride six hundred kilometers?</p> <p>That was the outset as Nisse and I prepared for this 600km brevet. It’s easier said than done to actually ride as fast as you can all the way and never, ever waste any time at the controls. But after a couple of attempts where we haven’t quite managed we were gonna give it a go.</p> <p>This attitude was also clearly visible in the equipment choices. I went all in with the Cervélo S2 and Zipp 404s. I even borrowed Patch’s shorty clip-on bars to try and squeeze some extra speed out and to offer some further relief options for my ailing hands.</p> <p>Some will look at below picture and think that I could have gone lighter for a midsummer brevet (some will probably also think that’s a very lightly loaded bike for a 600k ride). But actually my equipment list was ridiculously short – a gilet, a sleeveless baselayer, arm warmers, gloves, cap and buff was all the extra clothes I had in additon to the light shorts and jersey I was wearing. The frame bag contains mainly food, some repair equipment and batteries. The plan was to fill water on the first three controls and then have a quick meal stop in Karlskrona after 360 kilometers. To be able to keep the stops really short you must be largely self-sufficient on food.</p> <div data-shortcode="caption" id="attachment_3582" style="width: 511px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-3582" data-attachment-id="3582" data-permalink="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2017/06/21/ackligt-disciplinerat-malmo-600k/img_6540/" data-orig-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/img_6540.jpg" data-orig-size="3264,2448" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"2.2","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 5s","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1497684012","copyright":"","focal_length":"4.15","iso":"320","shutter_speed":"0.04","title":"","orientation":"1","latitude":"55.629530555556","longitude":"12.649336111111"}" data-image-title="IMG_6540" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/img_6540.jpg?w=300" data-large-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/img_6540.jpg?w=960" loading="lazy" class=" wp-image-3582 aligncenter" src="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/img_6540.jpg?w=501&h=376" alt="IMG_6540" width="501" height="376" srcset="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/img_6540.jpg?w=501&h=376 501w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/img_6540.jpg?w=1002&h=752 1002w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/img_6540.jpg?w=150&h=113 150w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/img_6540.jpg?w=300&h=225 300w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/img_6540.jpg?w=768&h=576 768w" sizes="(max-width: 501px) 100vw, 501px" /><p id="caption-attachment-3582" class="wp-caption-text">Randominatrix</p></div> <p>The seven strong startlist consisted largely of familiar names and after little banter it war nearly 8am and we went outside to get our bikes. Here our plan to go really, really fast suffered a slight setback as Nils discovered his rear tyre empty. So while five riders left Malmö at 08.00 sharp we hung around a little while longer. It really only takes one person to fix a flat so, as it’s commonly done these days, I left him to it while I documented and informed the rest of the world about our situation.</p> <div data-shortcode="caption" id="attachment_3583" style="width: 449px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-3583" data-attachment-id="3583" data-permalink="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2017/06/21/ackligt-disciplinerat-malmo-600k/img_6544/" data-orig-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/img_6544.jpg" data-orig-size="2448,3264" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"2.2","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 5s","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1497686462","copyright":"","focal_length":"4.15","iso":"32","shutter_speed":"0.01","title":"","orientation":"1","latitude":"55.574916666667","longitude":"12.990138888889"}" data-image-title="IMG_6544" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/img_6544.jpg?w=225" data-large-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/img_6544.jpg?w=768" loading="lazy" class=" wp-image-3583 aligncenter" src="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/img_6544.jpg?w=439&h=586" alt="IMG_6544" width="439" height="586" srcset="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/img_6544.jpg?w=439&h=586 439w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/img_6544.jpg?w=878&h=1172 878w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/img_6544.jpg?w=113&h=150 113w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/img_6544.jpg?w=225&h=300 225w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/img_6544.jpg?w=768&h=1024 768w" sizes="(max-width: 439px) 100vw, 439px" /><p id="caption-attachment-3583" class="wp-caption-text">Are you done yet?</p></div> <p>At 08.08 we were on our way and negotiating Nobelvägen turns out to be a bit quicker as a duo anyway and once out on the road we were hammering straight away so within 30-40 minutes we had actually caught and passed the others and set of in pursuit of… ourselves. The weather was nice and warm, but not perfect. The wind was from the north west which gives A LOT of cross and headwind on this route. The first 30-40 kilometers are close to the Swedish west coast meaning the wind was quite noticeable. After that the wind impact reduced quite a bit but 600km is a long way and if you could choose between starting with 230 kilometers of crosswinds or not, you would choose not…</p> <p>“Keep the stops short” is a bit of a cliché in this sport as everyone actually knows that’s what you need to do if you want to go fast. You can be at the mercy of the chosen establishment; there can be a queue, you might be slow yourself or the staff isn’t quite quick enough to get what it’s about. Not so in the “Madame Plantier” flower shop in Kågeröd (59km). As we screamed to a halt (not a major exaggeration) outside the shop just before 10.00 the two women working there immediately paused their breakfast and rushed (laughing) to the till to get the stamp ready. At this stage we didn’t need any water and so, although I didn’t use a stopwatch, I’m certain we were unclipped from the pedals for less than a minute before heading for Söderåsen. Surely a record!</p> <p>And so we rolled along, probably a bit too fast. Occasionally we’d realise and ease off about half a percent for a bit before getting too absorbed in our thoughts, looking at cows or eating sandwiches and BOOM, full speed again.</p> <div data-shortcode="caption" id="attachment_3585" style="width: 3274px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-3585" data-attachment-id="3585" data-permalink="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2017/06/21/ackligt-disciplinerat-malmo-600k/img_6576/" data-orig-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/img_6576.jpg" data-orig-size="3264,2448" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"2.2","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 5s","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1497702634","copyright":"","focal_length":"4.15","iso":"32","shutter_speed":"0.0028011204481793","title":"","orientation":"1","latitude":"56.494244444444","longitude":"13.617402777778"}" data-image-title="IMG_6576" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/img_6576.jpg?w=300" data-large-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/img_6576.jpg?w=960" loading="lazy" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-3585" src="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/img_6576.jpg?w=960" alt="IMG_6576" srcset="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/img_6576.jpg 3264w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/img_6576.jpg?w=150&h=113 150w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/img_6576.jpg?w=300&h=225 300w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/img_6576.jpg?w=768&h=576 768w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/img_6576.jpg?w=1024&h=768 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 3264px) 100vw, 3264px" /><p id="caption-attachment-3585" class="wp-caption-text">Rullfika. The observant reader will notice this is a “twin barrel Magnum”</p></div> <p>In Markaryd (132km) we needed to fill up on water which meant there was also time to get some ice cream while the friendly staff at Järnvägskiosken filled our bottles. Obviously we had no time to eat the ice cream, but that’s easily done while cycling so off we went towards Markaryd.</p> <p>When you turn off road 120 towards Pjätteryd you end up on a ridiculously small and pretty country road where all the houses have nice wooden porches and all the women wear summer dresses with flowers on. At least in my mind they did. In reality we didn’t see many people but when you’re busting ass in the sun it’s easy to imagine sitting on the porch with a beer.</p> <div data-shortcode="caption" id="attachment_3626" style="width: 494px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-3626" data-attachment-id="3626" data-permalink="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2017/06/21/ackligt-disciplinerat-malmo-600k/img_6608/" data-orig-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/img_6608.jpg" data-orig-size="3264,2448" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"2.2","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 5s","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1497709446","copyright":"","focal_length":"4.15","iso":"32","shutter_speed":"0.0010718113612004","title":"","orientation":"1","latitude":"56.754530555556","longitude":"14.211177777778"}" data-image-title="IMG_6608" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/img_6608.jpg?w=300" data-large-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/img_6608.jpg?w=960" loading="lazy" class="alignnone wp-image-3626" src="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/img_6608.jpg?w=484&h=363" alt="IMG_6608" width="484" height="363" srcset="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/img_6608.jpg?w=484&h=363 484w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/img_6608.jpg?w=968&h=726 968w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/img_6608.jpg?w=150&h=113 150w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/img_6608.jpg?w=300&h=225 300w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/img_6608.jpg?w=768&h=576 768w" sizes="(max-width: 484px) 100vw, 484px" /><p id="caption-attachment-3626" class="wp-caption-text">photo bombing my own #nlcvinkeln ?</p></div> <div data-shortcode="caption" id="attachment_3631" style="width: 496px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-3631" data-attachment-id="3631" data-permalink="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2017/06/21/ackligt-disciplinerat-malmo-600k/img_6618/" data-orig-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/img_6618.jpg" data-orig-size="2448,3264" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"2.2","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 5s","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1497709692","copyright":"","focal_length":"4.15","iso":"40","shutter_speed":"0.00021901007446343","title":"","orientation":"1","latitude":"56.76725","longitude":"14.23195"}" data-image-title="IMG_6618" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/img_6618.jpg?w=225" data-large-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/img_6618.jpg?w=768" loading="lazy" class="alignnone wp-image-3631" src="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/img_6618.jpg?w=486&h=649" alt="IMG_6618.JPG" width="486" height="649" srcset="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/img_6618.jpg?w=486 486w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/img_6618.jpg?w=972 972w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/img_6618.jpg?w=113 113w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/img_6618.jpg?w=225 225w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/img_6618.jpg?w=768 768w" sizes="(max-width: 486px) 100vw, 486px" /><p id="caption-attachment-3631" class="wp-caption-text">Stand and deliver – give me all your lupines!</p></div> <p>We arrived Alvesta (230km) at 15:30 and we were thirsty. It was too warm to do 100km on two bottles of water so while the pizzeria (no, we didn’t get pizza) guy filled our bottles we down a couple of soft drinks each. Setting out on the 130km leg to Karlskrona we finally got some tailwind.</p> <p>At this point Nisse had been riding on a slowly deflating front tyre for a couple of hours and while for a long time it appeared not to leak any further we eventually had to stop to fix it. We found a spot in the baking sun (why?) and unlike at the previous puncture I made myself useful and patched the two punctured tubes while Nisse pumped up the new one. I was actually quite proud of myself for thinking of doing that there and then – you don’t want to be patching tubes in the rain at night.</p> <p>We rode along lake Åsnen, where everything is pretty and all systems seemed to be working. We still had a looong way to get to Karlskrona but our bottles were already running low. We were looking and looking for someone watering something in a garden or, which would have been even better, some kids selling lemonade. The lack of lemonade selling kids was probably the biggest disappointment of the entire ride. I even had cash on me! I thought there’d be more entrepreneurs in Småland, haha.</p> <p><div data-shortcode="caption" id="attachment_3697" style="width: 3274px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-3697" data-attachment-id="3697" data-permalink="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2017/06/21/ackligt-disciplinerat-malmo-600k/img_66641/" data-orig-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/img_66641.jpg" data-orig-size="3264,2448" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"2.2","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 5s","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1497720312","copyright":"","focal_length":"4.15","iso":"50","shutter_speed":"0.01","title":"","orientation":"1","latitude":"56.578341666667","longitude":"14.794988888889"}" data-image-title="IMG_6664[1]" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/img_66641.jpg?w=300" data-large-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/img_66641.jpg?w=960" loading="lazy" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-3697" src="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/img_66641.jpg?w=960" alt="IMG_6664[1]" srcset="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/img_66641.jpg 3264w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/img_66641.jpg?w=150&h=113 150w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/img_66641.jpg?w=300&h=225 300w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/img_66641.jpg?w=768&h=576 768w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/img_66641.jpg?w=1024&h=768 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 3264px) 100vw, 3264px" /><p id="caption-attachment-3697" class="wp-caption-text">The Usual Suspects</p></div>In the end we had to swing in to a petrol station in Tingsryd just around the halfway mark to fill up water and, while we were at it, buy two ice creams each (The “twin barrel Magnum” for on-the-bike consumption) before taking on the last two hours to Karlskrona.</p> <p>Water wasn’t all we ran out of around this point – the sea breeze started reaching us and so we yet again had to work against the wind. Nisse had a bit of a down period here (heat? too much ice cream? wrong jersey? the theories are many, answers few) but I was feeling pretty OK. I tried to offer encouragement by pointing out sunrise was only about 8 hours away. It says a lot about a sport when one can even consider 8 hours to be “soon” AND somehow get the idea that someone may find this fact encouraging to hear even before having had dinner.</p> <p>We rolled up at the Karlskrona Shell station at 360km just after 20.00, i.e. very nearly maintaining a 30km/h total average. At this stage we were in need of a slight break and some “real” food – basically recompose ourselves ever so slightly before the home stretch. Filling our bottles, washing our faces, devouring a serving of sausage and mash (and räksallad!) and putting on a base layer took exactly 20 minutes, then we were rolling again. Not bad for the “evening break”.</p> <p><div data-shortcode="caption" id="attachment_3696" style="width: 514px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-3696" data-attachment-id="3696" data-permalink="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2017/06/21/ackligt-disciplinerat-malmo-600k/img_66881/" data-orig-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/img_66881.jpg" data-orig-size="2448,3013" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"2.2","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 5s","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1497730256","copyright":"","focal_length":"4.15","iso":"64","shutter_speed":"0.01","title":"","orientation":"1","latitude":"56.203669444444","longitude":"15.641736111111"}" data-image-title="IMG_6688[1]" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/img_66881.jpg?w=244" data-large-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/img_66881.jpg?w=832" loading="lazy" class=" wp-image-3696 aligncenter" src="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/img_66881.jpg?w=504&h=620" alt="IMG_6688[1]" width="504" height="620" srcset="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/img_66881.jpg?w=504&h=620 504w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/img_66881.jpg?w=1008&h=1240 1008w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/img_66881.jpg?w=122&h=150 122w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/img_66881.jpg?w=244&h=300 244w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/img_66881.jpg?w=768&h=945 768w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/img_66881.jpg?w=832&h=1024 832w" sizes="(max-width: 504px) 100vw, 504px" /><p id="caption-attachment-3696" class="wp-caption-text">A balanced meal</p></div>Obviously the sea breeze was more or less done for the day so sometime after Karlskrona the westerly wind started filling in again. I do believe that if things are genuinely hard it is unnecessary to exaggerate, so it’s really just for completeness that I point out that we had about 500km of cross- or headwinds. Most of the time it wasn’t THAT windy, but it does zap your strength.</p> <p>Just before the 400km mark we got our third puncture when my front tyre lost pressure. When you puncture out on the road it tends to take about 10 minutes to fix. Most of that time is used to ensure whatever foreign object caused the puncture isn’t still in the tyre. You really don’t want another one straight away. The only tyre not to puncture on this ride was my rear tyre which is ironic considering that tyre was definitely the most worn out of the four. I actually think it was the one I rode Sverigetempot on. Goes to show you need a bit of luck sometimes…</p> <p> </p> <p>If you look at a map of Blekinge you’ll see that the E22 motorway is very straight and the smaller roads, where you can ride bicycles, are not. This means that there is very little car traffic on the minor roads, especially late in the evening and at night. This makes for quite relaxed night riding – while you’re obviously alert the risk of a close encounter with a car is small. Add to that that this was the shortest Saturday night this year it was really rather pleasant to tick along.</p> <p><div data-shortcode="caption" id="attachment_3698" style="width: 467px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-3698" data-attachment-id="3698" data-permalink="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2017/06/21/ackligt-disciplinerat-malmo-600k/img_67191/" data-orig-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/img_67191.jpg" data-orig-size="2448,3264" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"2.2","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 5s","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1497744496","copyright":"","focal_length":"4.15","iso":"320","shutter_speed":"0.04","title":"","orientation":"1","latitude":"56.161627777778","longitude":"14.455086111111"}" data-image-title="IMG_6719[1]" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/img_67191.jpg?w=225" data-large-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/img_67191.jpg?w=768" loading="lazy" class=" wp-image-3698 aligncenter" src="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/img_67191.jpg?w=457&h=610" alt="IMG_6719[1]" width="457" height="610" srcset="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/img_67191.jpg?w=457&h=610 457w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/img_67191.jpg?w=914&h=1220 914w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/img_67191.jpg?w=113&h=150 113w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/img_67191.jpg?w=225&h=300 225w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/img_67191.jpg?w=768&h=1024 768w" sizes="(max-width: 457px) 100vw, 457px" /><p id="caption-attachment-3698" class="wp-caption-text">The brief darkness</p></div>We arrived Karlshamn (433km) at 23.01 and got going again within 5 minutes with only a stamp and some chocolate to show for it. That’s pretty much all I have to say about that.</p> <p>When we last rode this route two years ago I started feeling really sick the last 100-150 kilometers and it turns out there are large sections of the course I have very little recollection of. One unfortunate effect of this was that I didn’t know there were quite so many little hills in northwestern Skåne. I remembered one, but the rest were a surprise.</p> <p>It was also getting a bit chilly and on some level I regretted taking two extra sandwiches instead of knee warmers. Especially since I ended up finishing with two uneaten sandwiches in my frame bag…</p> <p>At one point we surprised a family of wild boar on the road. Apart from this wildlife observation this Saturday night appeared to consist largely of house parties. I lost count of how many booming houses we rode past.. .a nobody noticed us though despite our reflectives and exceedingly bright LEDs.</p> <p>From the final stop in Kristianstad (499km) we had about 106km left to complete the 605km course. We got our stamps at 01:19 and remounted the bikes at 01:25 after filling up water and sharing a small coffee (diluted with water, not Coca-Cola, to get it down to drinking temperature fast). This meant we’d have to average 30km/h to get to Malmö in under 21 hours. After a while it became obvious that there was too much headwind, too many little hills and, let’s be honest, not quite enough gas in the tank for that to happen this time. In the darkness up on Linderödsåsen we pulled over for some form of technical stop. I’m not quite sure on the details. It was a bit chilly.</p> <p>As the new day began to dawn we descended into Hörby where we were treated to some cyclocross running across grass to be able to get into the cemetery (where coincidentally my maternal grandparents are buried) and thus get around the roadworks unexpectedly blocking our passage. After this we had the little climb to Lyby (really – is that it? Two years ago it felt like Mt. Everest and i was NOT Sir Edmund)</p> <p> </p> <div data-shortcode="caption" id="attachment_3588" style="width: 3274px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-3588" data-attachment-id="3588" data-permalink="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2017/06/21/ackligt-disciplinerat-malmo-600k/img_6728/" data-orig-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/img_6728.jpg" data-orig-size="3264,2448" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"2.2","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 5s","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1497756231","copyright":"","focal_length":"4.15","iso":"250","shutter_speed":"0.058823529411765","title":"","orientation":"1","latitude":"55.835366666667","longitude":"13.617880555556"}" data-image-title="IMG_6728" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/img_6728.jpg?w=300" data-large-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/img_6728.jpg?w=960" loading="lazy" class=" size-full wp-image-3588 aligncenter" src="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/img_6728.jpg?w=960" alt="IMG_6728" srcset="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/img_6728.jpg 3264w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/img_6728.jpg?w=150&h=113 150w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/img_6728.jpg?w=300&h=225 300w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/img_6728.jpg?w=768&h=576 768w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/img_6728.jpg?w=1024&h=768 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 3264px) 100vw, 3264px" /><p id="caption-attachment-3588" class="wp-caption-text">Sun and moon. Lyby kyrka.</p></div> <p>While we wouldn’t manage Sub21 this was not an excuse to slow down. We’d agreed to ride all the way and so kept trading turns, doing a good job of keeping it above 30 now that we only had the wind, i.e. no more hills, to fight against. We were well past the point where most of the conversation consists of “mhmm” and “jaha”… but that seems to be the way we like it.</p> <p><img data-attachment-id="3587" data-permalink="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2017/06/21/ackligt-disciplinerat-malmo-600k/img_6745/" data-orig-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/img_6745.jpg" data-orig-size="3264,2448" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"2.2","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 5s","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1497758540","copyright":"","focal_length":"4.15","iso":"64","shutter_speed":"0.03030303030303","title":"","orientation":"1","latitude":"55.745288888889","longitude":"13.406166666667"}" data-image-title="IMG_6745" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/img_6745.jpg?w=300" data-large-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/img_6745.jpg?w=960" loading="lazy" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-3587" src="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/img_6745.jpg?w=960" alt="IMG_6745" srcset="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/img_6745.jpg 3264w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/img_6745.jpg?w=150&h=113 150w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/img_6745.jpg?w=300&h=225 300w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/img_6745.jpg?w=768&h=576 768w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/img_6745.jpg?w=1024&h=768 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 3264px) 100vw, 3264px" /></p> <p>Only the home stretch remained… past the ditch in Flyinge where I fell asleep and crashed last time, through Södra Sandby, Lund, Hjärup, Åkarp, Arlöv and then for the big finale at the Malmö city limit sign. I took a long solid tempo turn through Arlöv, basically to avoid having to kick too hard and managed to surge across the line!</p> <p>Nobelvägen at 5 in the morning is quiet (unlike when you finish the 200/300/400km) so it was pretty straightforward to keep riding tempo all the way to Shell Holma where we finally allowed ourselves to stop after getting the last stamp at 05.20.</p> <p>21 hours, 20 minutes. Moving time 19:50. The rest split between the six controls and three punctures. Full details <a href="https://www.strava.com/activities/1041849551" target="_blank" rel="noopener">HERE!</a></p> <p>It was one of those finishes where you slump to the floor. After leaving Karlskrona we initially didn’t eat much. I didn’t need to and I don’t think Nils could. Then you suddenly find yourself in the last 100k and realize you’re better of just snacking a little, focus on riding and empty the tank. It works great but you do arrive empty.</p> <p>I bought a petrol station Calzone which was tolerable and a coffee that I turned out not wanting. Not sure what Nisse got. I was sat on the floor when he shook my hand and said goodbye. A few minutes later I got up to buy something else to drink and found him sitting on the ground outside, apparently still contemplating how to get home.</p> <p>Compared with this season’s previous brevets, it does make a big difference when you cut out the breaks and put in those last 5% of effort. Add to that the slight misfortune with wind directions and punctures it was a hard earned 600km personal record for us.</p> <p><div data-shortcode="caption" id="attachment_3733" style="width: 533px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-3733" data-attachment-id="3733" data-permalink="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2017/06/21/ackligt-disciplinerat-malmo-600k/img_67571/" data-orig-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/img_67571.jpg" data-orig-size="2448,3264" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"2.2","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 5s","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1497761641","copyright":"","focal_length":"4.15","iso":"64","shutter_speed":"0.01","title":"","orientation":"1","latitude":"55.655677777778","longitude":"13.133652777778"}" data-image-title="IMG_6757[1]" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/img_67571.jpg?w=225" data-large-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/img_67571.jpg?w=768" loading="lazy" class=" wp-image-3733 aligncenter" src="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/img_67571.jpg?w=523&h=698" alt="IMG_6757[1]" width="523" height="698" srcset="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/img_67571.jpg?w=523&h=698 523w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/img_67571.jpg?w=1046&h=1396 1046w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/img_67571.jpg?w=113&h=150 113w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/img_67571.jpg?w=225&h=300 225w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/img_67571.jpg?w=768&h=1024 768w" sizes="(max-width: 523px) 100vw, 523px" /><p id="caption-attachment-3733" class="wp-caption-text">Home.</p></div>Next up: Road trip! Watch this space. And other social media.</p> <div id="atatags-370373-67eb2bd5d381a"> <script type="text/javascript"> __ATA.cmd.push(function() { __ATA.initVideoSlot('atatags-370373-67eb2bd5d381a', { sectionId: '370373', format: 'inread' }); }); </script> </div> </div> <footer class="entry-meta"> This entry was posted in <a href="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/category/uncategorized/" rel="category tag">Uncategorized</a> on <a href="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2017/06/21/ackligt-disciplinerat-malmo-600k/" title="11:34 am" rel="bookmark"><time class="entry-date" datetime="2017-06-21T11:34:37+00:00">June 21, 2017</time></a><span class="by-author"> by <span class="author vcard"><a class="url fn n" href="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/author/oscarahellstrom/" title="View all posts by oscarahellstrom" rel="author">oscarahellstrom</a></span></span>. </footer> </article> <article id="post-3247" class="post-3247 post type-post status-publish format-standard hentry category-uncategorized"> <header class="entry-header"> <h1 class="entry-title"> <a href="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2017/05/29/vastkustrundan-revisited-malmo-600km/" rel="bookmark">Västkustrundan Revisited – Malmö 600km</a> </h1> <div class="comments-link"> <a href="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2017/05/29/vastkustrundan-revisited-malmo-600km/#comments">1 Reply</a> </div> </header> <div class="entry-content"> <p>Balance. While my usual M.O. tends to be a max effort this ride was all about balance.</p> <p>Rather fittingly it’s taken a while to find time to finish this report. May is a busy month in a our family with no less than three birthdays. I’ve also been busy camping and teaching the youngest daughter how to ride a bike. Important stuff.</p> <p>This 600km brevet was another ride I wasn’t actually supposed to do. Very much as last year it was the day before Copenhagen Marathon but unlike last year I had absolutely no desire of a double. At the beginning of the year I thought I’d run the marathon but just running another marathon, the same marathon, seemed less and less appealing as spring progressed. And I do have a thing for 600k’s. I find them relaxing.</p> <p>So when Patch asked me sometime back, I guess it must have been sometime in April, whether I would be able to do it I got quite excited about the prospect of trying a 600k in a different setting. Like an act of magic I was able to add another 600k to my already busy calendar.</p> <p>In the preceding weeks it became clear that there was a wish and ambition to ride in under 24 hours. I guess on some level I felt a responsibility to make that happen as it’s something I’ve done a fair few times before. You don’t actually have to ride THAT fast as long as you avoid wasting too much time on other things. We planned for short breaks and solid riding – not furious riding and not too strict for comfort at the stops but enough to get us home in time. While you don’t have to ride THAT fast you have to be able to ride for 600 kilometers, it’s no good if you fade miserably say in the last 200, so sensible pacing would be crucial.</p> <p>As the day was approaching it began to seem as if nothing could go wrong. The weather forecast was shaping up very well, the successful 400k a few weeks back had been a confidence boost for many and more and more strong and experienced guys joined the ranks.</p> <div data-shortcode="caption" id="attachment_3255" style="width: 527px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-3255" data-attachment-id="3255" data-permalink="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2017/05/29/vastkustrundan-revisited-malmo-600km/img_5429/" data-orig-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_5429.jpg" data-orig-size="2448,3264" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"2.2","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 5s","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1495270462","copyright":"","focal_length":"4.15","iso":"32","shutter_speed":"0.00036496350364964","title":"","orientation":"1","latitude":"55.772755555556","longitude":"13.057930555556"}" data-image-title="IMG_5429" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_5429.jpg?w=225" data-large-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_5429.jpg?w=768" loading="lazy" class=" wp-image-3255 aligncenter" src="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_5429.jpg?w=517&h=690" alt="IMG_5429" width="517" height="690" srcset="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_5429.jpg?w=517&h=690 517w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_5429.jpg?w=1034&h=1380 1034w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_5429.jpg?w=113&h=150 113w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_5429.jpg?w=225&h=300 225w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_5429.jpg?w=768&h=1024 768w" sizes="(max-width: 517px) 100vw, 517px" /><p id="caption-attachment-3255" class="wp-caption-text">Yellow</p></div> <p><strong>Goin’ Up The Country</strong></p> <p>From a total of ten starters a group of seven formed early and set out on a glorious Skåne morning. I and several others started in ridiculously light clothing, confident that the forecast would hold. We had a light tailwind pushing us along towards the control in Kågeröd, making light work of the first 2 hours. Indeed so easy that the group started questioning whether I’d be able to find anything to write about in this blog, known for foul weather tales and indulging in misery.</p> <p>Up and over Söderåsen the riding was controlled, rather nice actually looking at the bright green beech trees instead of pushing furiously. A little later, just before Klippan, we suffered what would turn out to be the only real mechanical issue when Martin had a very severe puncture, to the point where his rim worked through the tyre. Patch and I had been teasing him a bit about the substantial amount of luggage he had on his bike but he got the last laugh when he fished out a spare tyre and shortly after we were on our way again.</p> <p>We were cruising along at good speed, trading turns at the front. At one point I was at the front discussing the pace with Ebbe and I recall telling him that I was just setting a pace that I felt comfortable holding for 500 kilometers more. I realise now that statement was essentially true. Part of the deal before this ride was that it was not all on my terms. When Nisse and I ride alone we go as close to our limits as we can but that’s not very enjoyable for most people and part of the appeal of doing this event was the opportunity to see other people’s perspective and be part of keeping it together (within the agreed framework, mind) all the way home. So I tried to make myself useful – when I went to the front I didn’t go hell for leather for 2, 3 or 5 kilometers as one would typically do. Instead I tried to set a solid but controlled pace for 10, 20, 30 kilometers whenever I came to the front. Others did their parts, taking on the share of the work they felt comfortable with whilst leaving enough in the tank to make it home. All in all this was a well-fucntioning group.</p> <div data-shortcode="caption" id="attachment_3256" style="width: 494px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-3256" data-attachment-id="3256" data-permalink="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2017/05/29/vastkustrundan-revisited-malmo-600km/img_5519/" data-orig-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_5519.jpg" data-orig-size="2448,3264" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"2.2","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 5s","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1495301197","copyright":"","focal_length":"4.15","iso":"50","shutter_speed":"0.01","title":"","orientation":"1","latitude":"57.136683333333","longitude":"12.647052777778"}" data-image-title="IMG_5519" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_5519.jpg?w=225" data-large-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_5519.jpg?w=768" loading="lazy" class=" wp-image-3256 aligncenter" src="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_5519.jpg?w=484&h=646" alt="IMG_5519" width="484" height="646" srcset="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_5519.jpg?w=484&h=646 484w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_5519.jpg?w=968&h=1292 968w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_5519.jpg?w=113&h=150 113w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_5519.jpg?w=225&h=300 225w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_5519.jpg?w=768&h=1024 768w" sizes="(max-width: 484px) 100vw, 484px" /><p id="caption-attachment-3256" class="wp-caption-text">Tuck in</p></div> <p><strong>Signs</strong></p> <p>Apart from Söderåsen the first 150 kilometers up to Strömsnäsbruk, actually the whole 215 to Hyltebruk, are pretty easy and we were going fast without too much effort. The section between 100 and 200 kilometers also contains the vast majority of the -ryd and -hult sign sprints on this route. Approaching Skånes-Fagerhult, the first one, I was starting to think nobody in this group was going to be silly enough to do sprint repeats in the first quarter of a 600k. But then I didn’t know Fredrik who suddenly accelerated from second position, cheered on by Ebbe (yes, the sillyness was essentially Ebbe’s fault haha), resulting in a flat out sprint with just under 500 kilometers left to ride… We had many hard fought battles over the coming kilometers and if you got cocky and didn’t go full gas, you lost. There should be room for some fun and games, the ride is long enough anyway!</p> <p><strong>Not Dark Yet</strong></p> <p>After Hyltebruk the 120 kilometer leg to Kungsbacka is hillier and on this particular day we had a headwind to battle also. Now, the shift from southerly to north-westerly was expected and was to ensure a sweet ride back to Malmö, but for now it made for slightly tougher progress. I felt pretty good though and continued spending a lot of time at the front. But everyone was taking turns and though they differed in lengths it’s not a free ride at the back either. As I’ve written repeatedly on these pages <em>endurance sport is a mind game</em> and riding rolling hills in a headwind, trying to hang onto people that are stronger than you all while knowing there’s more than 300 kilometers to go is hard on body <em>and</em> soul. Keeping morale up, keeping everyone involved and engaged is a team effort requiring everybody’s contribution, which is easier said than done when we all have our own demons to battle as well.</p> <p>When we eventually made it to Kungsbacka (335km) we’d been at it for 12 hours. As far as sub24 was concerned we were doing well but off course we had a respectable 270 kilometers and an entire night remaining. The 120 kilometer leg from Hyltebruk had taken its toll and the break was much needed to collect our thoughts a bit ahead of the night. As said I felt good out on the road and I kept telling anyone who wanted to listen that things would get better once we’d gotten some food, put some more clothes on and turned downwind. But inside the service station I felt pretty drained and had a moment of just staring at my food, wondering whether I’d be able to hold it together all night (“I’m actually pretty tired”, “shit, what if I’ve forgotten how to stay awake” etc etc). But <em>endurance sport is a mind game</em>, so I tucked into the rather oversized serving of junkfood I’d ordered. I expect the other went through similar processes but we eventually got back on our bikes and headed home.</p> <p><strong>Homeward Bound</strong></p> <p>‘The bit between Hyltebruk and Kungsbacka had been surprisingly chilly. The wind and the cloud cover was a far cry from the (relatively) tropical conditions we’d expected and dressed for so I think most of us over-compensated a bit when getting changed for the night in Kungsbacka. As when set off south the wind was on our backs and there was even a bit of evening sun over the sea. This brought the smiles out and everyone enjoyed making good speed along the coast with pretty moderate effort. I was sitting at the front and conveniently requested a stop to change to clear(ish) lenses in my sunglasses right at the spot where Nisse and I took shelter from the rain to try and true his wheel after last year’s #spokegate (well, he trued and I took pictures). It’s become a bit of athing for me to take a picture there whenever I ride past.</p> <div data-shortcode="caption" id="attachment_3257" style="width: 497px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-3257" data-attachment-id="3257" data-permalink="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2017/05/29/vastkustrundan-revisited-malmo-600km/img_5581/" data-orig-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_5581.jpg" data-orig-size="2384,2394" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"2.2","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 5s","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1495315394","copyright":"","focal_length":"4.15","iso":"50","shutter_speed":"0.03030303030303","title":"","orientation":"1","latitude":"57.299019444444","longitude":"12.180541666667"}" data-image-title="IMG_5581" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_5581.jpg?w=300" data-large-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_5581.jpg?w=960" loading="lazy" class=" wp-image-3257 aligncenter" src="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_5581.jpg?w=487&h=489" alt="IMG_5581" width="487" height="489" srcset="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_5581.jpg?w=487&h=489 487w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_5581.jpg?w=974&h=978 974w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_5581.jpg?w=150&h=150 150w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_5581.jpg?w=300&h=300 300w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_5581.jpg?w=768&h=771 768w" sizes="(max-width: 487px) 100vw, 487px" /><p id="caption-attachment-3257" class="wp-caption-text">Det var här det hände.</p></div> <p>As it got darker I felt an onset of sleepiness, as I usually do around 11pm, and thought that maybe others were feeling the same. I ‘generously’ offered a turn at the front to anyone wanting some wind on their face to stay awake, but the boys all declined and that’s how I came to sit at the front the entire 122km leg between Kungsbacka and Halmstad. It was a lot easier than it sounds to be fair; we had a tailwind and the ambition was never to hammer home so I just rode a comfortable pace.</p> <p>As per usual, once I get to CircleK in Halmstad the home stretch begins. We took our time to have a cup of coffee, as this was likely to be our last inside stop before Malmö. I think it was a bit after 1am by the time we left and it had gotten a bit chilly outside so it was time to out the knee warmers and wind breaker on before heading for Skåne.</p> <p>The 90km to Helsingborg are rather nice on a 600k, broken up in the middle by the climb of Hallandsåsen and somewhere on the other side you’re usually greeted by dawn.</p> <div data-shortcode="caption" id="attachment_3258" style="width: 3274px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-3258" data-attachment-id="3258" data-permalink="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2017/05/29/vastkustrundan-revisited-malmo-600km/img_5601/" data-orig-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_5601.jpg" data-orig-size="3264,2448" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"2.2","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 5s","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1495338703","copyright":"","focal_length":"4.15","iso":"320","shutter_speed":"0.058823529411765","title":"","orientation":"1","latitude":"56.097891666667","longitude":"12.796502777778"}" data-image-title="IMG_5601" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_5601.jpg?w=300" data-large-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_5601.jpg?w=960" loading="lazy" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-3258" src="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_5601.jpg?w=960" alt="IMG_5601" srcset="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_5601.jpg 3264w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_5601.jpg?w=150&h=113 150w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_5601.jpg?w=300&h=225 300w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_5601.jpg?w=768&h=576 768w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_5601.jpg?w=1024&h=768 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 3264px) 100vw, 3264px" /><p id="caption-attachment-3258" class="wp-caption-text">Dawn.</p></div> <p>And what a lovely morning it was. Coming off Hallandsåsen we were all a bit cold, judging by the fierce turns they took on the front maybe Fredrik and Martin were a bit colder than the rest of us. On the plains outside Ängelholm Patch and I fell back to try and get some power to his rear light (as seen from above picture we failed) and then had to ride 40km/h to catch the others. It was good to see everyone was awake, haha. At the stop in Helsingborg you’re not allowed inside before 5am (“nattlucka”) and due to our very nice progress we had to take our breakfast outside. But around 4.30 in the morning it is light, we were dry and in good shape so I will go as far as saying it was a lovely breakfast.</p> <p>Unless the wind is awful or your legs are completely smashed it rarely takes more than 2h10min to ride the 62 (or is it 63?) kilometers between the Helsingborg and Malmö controls so when we rolled out at 04.40 we were good for a sub23 time unless we embarrassed ourselves. There was no reason why we’d embarrass ourselves , everyone had been in good spirit during the stop so surely we could do another 2 hours. The sun was up as we crested the hill in Glumslöv and despite the early morning people already started removing some clothing.</p> <div data-shortcode="caption" id="attachment_3260" style="width: 550px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-3260" data-attachment-id="3260" data-permalink="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2017/05/29/vastkustrundan-revisited-malmo-600km/img_5639/" data-orig-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_5639.jpg" data-orig-size="2362,2362" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"2.2","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 5s","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1495346374","copyright":"","focal_length":"4.15","iso":"32","shutter_speed":"0.00065789473684211","title":"","orientation":"1","latitude":"55.742508333333","longitude":"13.029919444444"}" data-image-title="IMG_5639" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_5639.jpg?w=300" data-large-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_5639.jpg?w=960" loading="lazy" class=" wp-image-3260 aligncenter" src="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_5639.jpg?w=540&h=540" alt="IMG_5639" width="540" height="540" srcset="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_5639.jpg?w=540&h=540 540w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_5639.jpg?w=1080&h=1080 1080w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_5639.jpg?w=150&h=150 150w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_5639.jpg?w=300&h=300 300w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_5639.jpg?w=768&h=768 768w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_5639.jpg?w=1024&h=1024 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 540px) 100vw, 540px" /><p id="caption-attachment-3260" class="wp-caption-text">Maybe this is why?</p></div> <p>With 30 kilometers remaining Nisse (for sake of good order: NO, he didn’t contribute at all with any pace setting) turned up to chat and take some pictures and maybe to see if he could beat me to the Malmö sign when I had 600km in my legs (in truth I don’t know if he actually tried to sprint). Up until the Malmö sign we maintained an acceptable tempo, but after that we slowed down almost completely such that our final 6 kilometers was more a Sunday stroll than a bike ride. This was lovely. When the minutes don’t matter, the sun is shining and a great group of guys has kept it together for such a long distance that is how it’s supposed to be.</p> <div data-shortcode="caption" id="attachment_3259" style="width: 457px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-3259" data-attachment-id="3259" data-permalink="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2017/05/29/vastkustrundan-revisited-malmo-600km/img_5638/" data-orig-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_5638.jpg" data-orig-size="2448,3264" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"2.2","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 5s","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1495351150","copyright":"","focal_length":"4.15","iso":"32","shutter_speed":"0.0042735042735043","title":"","orientation":"1","latitude":"55.574741666667","longitude":"12.990269444444"}" data-image-title="IMG_5638" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_5638.jpg?w=225" data-large-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_5638.jpg?w=768" loading="lazy" class=" wp-image-3259 aligncenter" src="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_5638.jpg?w=447&h=596" alt="IMG_5638" width="447" height="596" srcset="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_5638.jpg?w=447&h=596 447w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_5638.jpg?w=894&h=1192 894w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_5638.jpg?w=113&h=150 113w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_5638.jpg?w=225&h=300 225w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_5638.jpg?w=768&h=1024 768w" sizes="(max-width: 447px) 100vw, 447px" /><p id="caption-attachment-3259" class="wp-caption-text">22:48</p></div> <p>When the deal was done some people went straight home but a few of us slumped down on the benches outside, enjoying a cup of coffee in the morning sun before going our own ways. It was a great ending to a great ride. Also, for the first time ever, I had ridden a 600km brevet without any rain. Who knows how this season might end?</p> <p><a href="https://www.strava.com/activities/997927126" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Strava Activity</a></p> <p><strong>Postcript: From Seven to Five</strong></p> <p>I said we started out as 7 but only 5 of us came to finish together. I was talking to Tony at the beginning of the ride so I knew he never really expected to hang on all the way. When he dropped off the back around Ullared after 260 kilometers or so that was that.</p> <p>Before then we’d already lost Jeppe from the group. At the control in Strömsnäsbruk (149km-ish) I was outside filling my bottles when I got word Jeppe had fainted inside. He reportedly had fallen straight backwards into a shelf and onwards to the floor were he was now lying. He was conscious and didn’t have any visible injuries but in light of the head first fall to the ground we obviously called an ambulance. During the 15-20 minutes that passed before the ambulance arrived he started feeling better and suggested we should keep riding. The rest of us were adamant that this was unwise which we made very clear. Head injuries can take some time to manifest themselves and a few of us had personal experiences of the effect of such injuries.</p> <p>Further to that, while this incident occurred in the relative safety of a petrol station it may just as well have occurred our on the road in which case the consequences could be much more serious, also for the rest of us. When the ambulance arrived the situation was under control; Jeppe was safe and in the hands of professionals so we got back on our bikes and carried on.</p> <p>A few hours later I received a message from Jeppe that he was back on his bike (I later learned that various tests had been taken in the ambulance and when declared healthy he had taken the decision to carry on). He did complete the brevet on his own and now, more than a week later, is doing well which is obviously a relief.</p> <p>It is difficult to talk about safety in the context of endurance cycling. There are inherent risks that everyone must consider and manage but at one time or another I’m sure everyone who’s involved in this circus have taken risks we shouldn’t have. I know I have but I try to be conscious about it and not repeat my mistakes. But I’m probably not holy enough to judge whether Jeppe took a risk he shouldn’t have on this occasion – I don’t know all the facts and circumstances. But what I do ask is that everyone involved in these kinds of activities consider the safety of themselves and fellow riders carefully. We’re just playing…</p> <p><strong>Who’s Next?</strong></p> <p>The 600k I was actually supposed to ride was “Blekingerundan” on June 17th. Nisse and I rode that route in 2015. It was raining and raining and raining. It was cold and in the moring there was some hail to make things even better. The last 100 kilometers was one of the absolute low lights of my sporting career: I’d become ill during the night and with a high fever I was clinging desperately to his rear wheel as I couldn’t see any other way to get home. In the early morning ours I got sleepier and sleepier and eventually crashed in a ditch outside Flyinge. I like to think I’ve learned from that. So, a few weeks from now we revisit that route with the aim of being wiser and faster last time. Conditions allowing, we’ll try to find out just how early we can get home…</p> <p>See you out there.</p> <p> </p> <p> </p> </div> <footer class="entry-meta"> This entry was posted in <a href="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/category/uncategorized/" rel="category tag">Uncategorized</a> on <a href="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2017/05/29/vastkustrundan-revisited-malmo-600km/" title="8:54 am" rel="bookmark"><time class="entry-date" datetime="2017-05-29T08:54:17+00:00">May 29, 2017</time></a><span class="by-author"> by <span class="author vcard"><a class="url fn n" href="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/author/oscarahellstrom/" title="View all posts by oscarahellstrom" rel="author">oscarahellstrom</a></span></span>. </footer> </article> <article id="post-3088" class="post-3088 post type-post status-publish format-standard hentry category-uncategorized"> <header class="entry-header"> <h1 class="entry-title"> <a href="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2017/05/08/sunsoutgunsout-malmo-400km-brevet/" rel="bookmark">#sunsoutgunsout – Malmö 400km brevet</a> </h1> <div class="comments-link"> <a href="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2017/05/08/sunsoutgunsout-malmo-400km-brevet/#comments">5 Replies</a> </div> </header> <div class="entry-content"> <p>Foreword: upon completion of this text I realise that it doesn’t really contain much misery at all (my daughter excluded) which I know will disappoint many readers. For this I apologize, but there are still plenty of old posts to read to satisfy your lust for misery. End of foreword.</p> <p> </p> <p>I wasn’t supposed to ride at all really, but a sudden change of plans on Wednesday afternoon left an opening in my calendar which my darling wife kindly let me fill with 400km of ego tripping in Sweden. A 400km brevet might not be a HUGE deal anymore but there are still a few boxes to tick so Wednesday evening I had to clean and service my bikes (I admit it would have been clever to make a decision about which one to use thus saving half the work, but hey…).</p> <p>Thursday night I went on a great little hit out with “The Ladies” with a subsequent after bike in Greg’s dungeon, I mean basement, ending much too late. I was very much looking forward to a quiet Friday night tinkering at home but that wasn’t to be either. Instead I got a call at work from our children’s daycare – the youngest one (three years later this month) had gotten her finger caught in a door and needed to go to hospital.</p> <p>During the wait for the doctor I head over to Angus (who luckily lives in the neighbourhood) to pick up the new rando wheels he’s built for me. (H+Son Archetype on DT 240s with 32/28 DT Competition spokes, if anyone’s keeping score of my equipment)</p> <p><div data-shortcode="caption" id="attachment_3127" style="width: 392px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-3127" data-attachment-id="3127" data-permalink="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2017/05/08/sunsoutgunsout-malmo-400km-brevet/img_49401/" data-orig-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_49401.jpg" data-orig-size="720,1278" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="IMG_4940[1]" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_49401.jpg?w=169" data-large-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_49401.jpg?w=577" loading="lazy" class=" wp-image-3127 aligncenter" src="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_49401.jpg?w=382&h=678" alt="IMG_4940[1]" width="382" height="678" srcset="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_49401.jpg?w=382&h=678 382w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_49401.jpg?w=85&h=150 85w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_49401.jpg?w=169&h=300 169w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_49401.jpg 720w" sizes="(max-width: 382px) 100vw, 382px" /><p id="caption-attachment-3127" class="wp-caption-text">#morehcthanyou</p></div>It turns out Hedvig is one badass little girl so despite her finger being broken and in need of two stitches the Hellström family has a pretty ok Friday night at Amager Hospital. But, it did end up taking most of the evening. By the time we got home, put some food (any food!) in the kids, get them to bed and cook some dinner for ourselves it was 22.30.</p> <p>Sometime after that I could get started on the last preparations for the next day’s riding. Social media had informed me in no uncertain terms that both Nisse and Patch had been ready hours ago… I put tyres and cassette on the wheels, made sandwiches (egg&bacon and peanut butter & banana, some on white bread some on rye) and loaded up the Cervelo S2 (I had somehow chosen… it’s an intuitive rater than rational thing). This being my newest (road) bike it’s still from 2010 and back then 25mm tyres and wide rims hadn’t really been invented. Continental GP4000s II on archetypes measure 27.5mm leaving about 1.5mm to each chainstay, which is arguably less than ideal but I decided it would have to do.</p> <p>Being a parent to two young children is excellent training for a sport where ability to handle sleep deprivation is a clear advantage. But even by my standards the bedtime on Friday night was in the category “far too late”. To make matters worse I perversely woke up at 5.40 despite the alarm being set for 6.00 as I simply wanted coffee too much. At least this left me with plenty of time to have breakfast and get dressed.</p> <p>As previously outlined the <a href="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2017/03/20/oresund-runt-xl-a-hardened-fck-up/">worst ride of the year</a> is done and so we were looking forward to a dry and sunny day. I went pretty light on the clothing with only merino arm warmers, wool gloves, a buff and wind/reflective gilet to support my otherwise summery outfit. I then rolled out in the spring sun and jumped on the train to the old country.</p> <p><div data-shortcode="caption" id="attachment_3131" style="width: 565px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-3131" data-attachment-id="3131" data-permalink="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2017/05/08/sunsoutgunsout-malmo-400km-brevet/img_48351/" data-orig-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_48351.jpg" data-orig-size="3264,2448" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"2.2","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 5s","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1494055139","copyright":"","focal_length":"4.15","iso":"320","shutter_speed":"0.04","title":"","orientation":"1","latitude":"55.629547222222","longitude":"12.649463888889"}" data-image-title="IMG_4835[1]" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_48351.jpg?w=300" data-large-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_48351.jpg?w=960" loading="lazy" class=" wp-image-3131 aligncenter" src="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_48351.jpg?w=555&h=416" alt="IMG_4835[1]" width="555" height="416" srcset="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_48351.jpg?w=555&h=416 555w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_48351.jpg?w=1110&h=832 1110w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_48351.jpg?w=150&h=113 150w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_48351.jpg?w=300&h=225 300w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_48351.jpg?w=768&h=576 768w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_48351.jpg?w=1024&h=768 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 555px) 100vw, 555px" /><p id="caption-attachment-3131" class="wp-caption-text">Tyrandosaurus</p></div>The route to be ridden is new for this year, called “Dansk Utblick” due to the lenghty section along the west coast of Skåne, and yours truly has played a big part in making it. I will probably praise the route a bit later in the text but who’s to say you can’t blow your own trumpet in this day and age?</p> <p>Rolling out at 8 sharp as per the usual procedure we were also back to familiar ways, i.e. having turned up on normal bikes instead of cargo bikes Nisse and I were out in front rather than hanging off the back. With Patch, Ebbe and Mattias we were a quintet that rolled through the increasingly green forest to Blentarp (50km) for the first control. After that followed a 160km stretch to the next control in Laholm. After Sverigetempot my perspectives on what constitutes a long leg have changed somewhat and why not stretch the course a bit to change the usual dynamic? To cater for other desires the route passed through Ljungbyhed and Klippan allowing people to resupply if needed.</p> <p><div data-shortcode="caption" id="attachment_3223" style="width: 562px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-3223" data-attachment-id="3223" data-permalink="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2017/05/08/sunsoutgunsout-malmo-400km-brevet/img_48571/" data-orig-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_48571.jpg" data-orig-size="2448,3264" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"2.2","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 5s","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1494062851","copyright":"","focal_length":"4.15","iso":"32","shutter_speed":"0.00068212824010914","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="IMG_4857[1]" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_48571.jpg?w=225" data-large-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_48571.jpg?w=768" loading="lazy" class=" wp-image-3223 aligncenter" src="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_48571.jpg?w=552&h=737" alt="IMG_4857[1]" width="552" height="737" srcset="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_48571.jpg?w=552&h=737 552w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_48571.jpg?w=1104&h=1472 1104w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_48571.jpg?w=113&h=150 113w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_48571.jpg?w=225&h=300 225w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_48571.jpg?w=768&h=1024 768w" sizes="(max-width: 552px) 100vw, 552px" /><p id="caption-attachment-3223" class="wp-caption-text">Allé Allé Allé (what’s so bad about this?)</p></div>The bit between Osbyholm and Ljungbyhed was winding through forests and farmland on sometimes impossibly small country lanes. The road surface sometimes left a bit to be desired but when you’re allowed to be essentially alone in that kind of environment that really doesn’t matter. It is an outdoor sport after all. Unfortunately my phone decided to switch off here (and not come back alive until I “jump started” it later) so I don’t have any pictures of this section. Go ride it yourself.</p> <p>In Ljungbyhed Mattias took advantage of the opportunity to stop at the Conditori, so after a quick stop to adjust clothing and bring my phone back to life we were a quartet continuing north.</p> <p><div data-shortcode="caption" id="attachment_3152" style="width: 581px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-3152" data-attachment-id="3152" data-permalink="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2017/05/08/sunsoutgunsout-malmo-400km-brevet/img_48971/" data-orig-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_48971.jpg" data-orig-size="3264,2448" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"2.2","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 5s","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1494078913","copyright":"","focal_length":"4.15","iso":"32","shutter_speed":"0.00051203277009729","title":"","orientation":"1","latitude":"56.321411111111","longitude":"13.070625"}" data-image-title="IMG_4897[1]" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_48971.jpg?w=300" data-large-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_48971.jpg?w=960" loading="lazy" class=" wp-image-3152 aligncenter" src="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_48971.jpg?w=571&h=428" alt="IMG_4897[1]" width="571" height="428" srcset="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_48971.jpg?w=571&h=428 571w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_48971.jpg?w=1142&h=856 1142w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_48971.jpg?w=150&h=113 150w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_48971.jpg?w=300&h=225 300w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_48971.jpg?w=768&h=576 768w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_48971.jpg?w=1024&h=768 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 571px) 100vw, 571px" /><p id="caption-attachment-3152" class="wp-caption-text">one thousand words.</p></div>In Laholm after 210 km we stopped at Preem – the very same Preem were Patch came out to buy us coffee at Sverigetempot! Before that we’d ridden more pretty roads, taken pretty pictures and stretched our legs on the Rössjöholm passage of Hallandsåsen. I repeat – go ride it!</p> <p>In randonneuring, 15.00 counts as lunch time, so we had a bit of food and ice cream, but keeping it pretty simle as usual.</p> <p><div data-shortcode="caption" id="attachment_3238" style="width: 558px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-3238" data-attachment-id="3238" data-permalink="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2017/05/08/sunsoutgunsout-malmo-400km-brevet/img_48961/" data-orig-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_48961.jpg" data-orig-size="2448,3264" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"2.2","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 5s","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1494082976","copyright":"","focal_length":"4.15","iso":"64","shutter_speed":"0.03030303030303","title":"","orientation":"1","latitude":"56.502852777778","longitude":"13.033066666667"}" data-image-title="IMG_4896[1]" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_48961.jpg?w=225" data-large-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_48961.jpg?w=768" loading="lazy" class=" wp-image-3238 aligncenter" src="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_48961.jpg?w=548&h=731" alt="IMG_4896[1]" width="548" height="731" srcset="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_48961.jpg?w=548&h=731 548w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_48961.jpg?w=1096&h=1462 1096w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_48961.jpg?w=113&h=150 113w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_48961.jpg?w=225&h=300 225w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_48961.jpg?w=768&h=1024 768w" sizes="(max-width: 548px) 100vw, 548px" /><p id="caption-attachment-3238" class="wp-caption-text">Ride hard, finfika later.</p></div>Ebbe usually says goodbye to me and Nils at some point during a brevet but this time I really couldn’t see any reason why our group would need to split up. The riding had been controlled and with the wind being northwesterly most of the headwind was over and done with.</p> <p><div data-shortcode="caption" id="attachment_3170" style="width: 558px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-3170" data-attachment-id="3170" data-permalink="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2017/05/08/sunsoutgunsout-malmo-400km-brevet/img_49021/" data-orig-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_49021.jpg" data-orig-size="2448,3264" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"2.2","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 5s","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1494085422","copyright":"","focal_length":"4.15","iso":"32","shutter_speed":"0.00043802014892685","title":"","orientation":"1","latitude":"56.438541666667","longitude":"12.956355555556"}" data-image-title="IMG_4902[1]" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_49021.jpg?w=225" data-large-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_49021.jpg?w=768" loading="lazy" class=" wp-image-3170 aligncenter" src="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_49021.jpg?w=548&h=731" alt="IMG_4902[1]" width="548" height="731" srcset="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_49021.jpg?w=548&h=731 548w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_49021.jpg?w=1096&h=1462 1096w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_49021.jpg?w=113&h=150 113w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_49021.jpg?w=225&h=300 225w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_49021.jpg?w=768&h=1024 768w" sizes="(max-width: 548px) 100vw, 548px" /><p id="caption-attachment-3170" class="wp-caption-text">Patch packing coke</p></div>The next control in Torekov was only 32km away, a short leg but necessary to be able to take the route out on the Bjäre peninsula. Italienska vägen out of Båstad offered another little leg stretcher for those who wanted. I personally find putting a bit of hurt on can brighten even the sunniest afternoon a little bit further. Riding hard up a climb on a group ride isn’t a problem, regrouping at the top is easy. If you’re going hell for leather on the flat for hours on the other hand…</p> <p><div data-shortcode="caption" id="attachment_3166" style="width: 569px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-3166" data-attachment-id="3166" data-permalink="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2017/05/08/sunsoutgunsout-malmo-400km-brevet/img_49191/" data-orig-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_49191.jpg" data-orig-size="2448,3264" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"2.2","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 5s","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1494087647","copyright":"","focal_length":"4.15","iso":"32","shutter_speed":"0.00034094783498125","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="IMG_4919[1]" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_49191.jpg?w=225" data-large-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_49191.jpg?w=768" loading="lazy" class=" wp-image-3166 aligncenter" src="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_49191.jpg?w=559&h=746" alt="IMG_4919[1]" width="559" height="746" srcset="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_49191.jpg?w=559&h=746 559w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_49191.jpg?w=1118&h=1492 1118w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_49191.jpg?w=113&h=150 113w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_49191.jpg?w=225&h=300 225w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_49191.jpg?w=768&h=1024 768w" sizes="(max-width: 559px) 100vw, 559px" /><p id="caption-attachment-3166" class="wp-caption-text">To the sea!</p></div>Following a photo control in Torekov (242km) and quick flash of bare legs for the ice cream eaters in the harbour we cruised out with the wind on our tails.</p> <p><div data-shortcode="caption" id="attachment_3176" style="width: 568px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-3176" data-attachment-id="3176" data-permalink="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2017/05/08/sunsoutgunsout-malmo-400km-brevet/img_49251/" data-orig-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_49251.jpg" data-orig-size="2448,3264" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"2.2","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 5s","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1494088740","copyright":"","focal_length":"4.15","iso":"32","shutter_speed":"0.0015360983102919","title":"","orientation":"1","latitude":"56.425663888889","longitude":"12.628338888889"}" data-image-title="IMG_4925[1]" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_49251.jpg?w=225" data-large-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_49251.jpg?w=768" loading="lazy" class=" wp-image-3176 aligncenter" src="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_49251.jpg?w=558&h=744" alt="IMG_4925[1]" width="558" height="744" srcset="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_49251.jpg?w=558&h=744 558w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_49251.jpg?w=1116&h=1488 1116w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_49251.jpg?w=113&h=150 113w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_49251.jpg?w=225&h=300 225w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_49251.jpg?w=768&h=1024 768w" sizes="(max-width: 558px) 100vw, 558px" /><p id="caption-attachment-3176" class="wp-caption-text">Torekov by afternoon.</p></div>We now had a little arc to ride around Skälderviken to get to Mölle. The first 30km to Ängelholm were very fast with the tailwind. Coming out the other side we now had 15-20km of headwind to handle. It was the last headwind of the day so no big deal. Unfortunately I got a bit carried away and managed to split the group in crosswind/road furniture combo meaning the much awaited Farhult sprint was effectively neutralised. 284km of groundwork for nothing, haha!</p> <p><div data-shortcode="caption" id="attachment_3200" style="width: 561px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-3200" data-attachment-id="3200" data-permalink="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2017/05/08/sunsoutgunsout-malmo-400km-brevet/img_49461/" data-orig-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_49461.jpg" data-orig-size="3264,2448" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"2.2","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 5s","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1494094035","copyright":"","focal_length":"4.15","iso":"32","shutter_speed":"0.00058513750731422","title":"","orientation":"1","latitude":"56.239330555556","longitude":"12.670627777778"}" data-image-title="IMG_4946[1]" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_49461.jpg?w=300" data-large-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_49461.jpg?w=960" loading="lazy" class=" wp-image-3200 aligncenter" src="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_49461.jpg?w=551&h=413" alt="IMG_4946[1]" width="551" height="413" srcset="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_49461.jpg?w=551&h=413 551w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_49461.jpg?w=1102&h=826 1102w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_49461.jpg?w=150&h=113 150w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_49461.jpg?w=300&h=225 300w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_49461.jpg?w=768&h=576 768w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_49461.jpg?w=1024&h=768 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 551px) 100vw, 551px" /><p id="caption-attachment-3200" class="wp-caption-text">Yup, they make roads like these.</p></div>In Jonstorp there didn’t appear to be any football match at Kullaparken, making for a relatively calm passage. Again some lovely small roads out past Skäret and Arild before crossing Kullaberg to get to Mölle. For next year we should consider making it a “400+” with a control at the lighthouse, but for now Mölle harbour wasn’t bad either. 303km in the bag and only one long tailwind leg to get home to Malmö.</p> <p>At this stage and schemes Patch and Ebbe might have had to finish at a gentler pace were surely gone after Nisse and I (almost) behaving for so many hours.</p> <p><div data-shortcode="caption" id="attachment_3213" style="width: 576px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-3213" data-attachment-id="3213" data-permalink="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2017/05/08/sunsoutgunsout-malmo-400km-brevet/img_49821/" data-orig-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_49821.jpg" data-orig-size="3264,2448" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"2.2","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 5s","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1494099954","copyright":"","focal_length":"4.15","iso":"32","shutter_speed":"0.00092592592592593","title":"","orientation":"1","latitude":"56.063725","longitude":"12.678572222222"}" data-image-title="IMG_4982[1]" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_49821.jpg?w=300" data-large-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_49821.jpg?w=960" loading="lazy" class=" wp-image-3213 aligncenter" src="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_49821.jpg?w=566&h=425" alt="IMG_4982[1]" width="566" height="425" srcset="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_49821.jpg?w=566&h=425 566w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_49821.jpg?w=1132&h=850 1132w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_49821.jpg?w=150&h=113 150w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_49821.jpg?w=300&h=225 300w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_49821.jpg?w=768&h=576 768w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_49821.jpg?w=1024&h=768 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 566px) 100vw, 566px" /><p id="caption-attachment-3213" class="wp-caption-text">I think Helsingborg should build an actual wooden boardwalk here.</p></div>Unfortunately, none of us had bells on our bikes (I usually do, honestly) so coming through Helsingborg on a Saturday night had us resorting to alternative means of attracting attention. DT Swiss freewheels work pretty well, as do Malmö FF chants.</p> <p><div data-shortcode="caption" id="attachment_3206" style="width: 574px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-3206" data-attachment-id="3206" data-permalink="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2017/05/08/sunsoutgunsout-malmo-400km-brevet/img_50181/" data-orig-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_50181.jpg" data-orig-size="2680,2448" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"2.2","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 5s","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1494102063","copyright":"","focal_length":"4.15","iso":"32","shutter_speed":"0.0010235414534289","title":"","orientation":"1","latitude":"55.936638888889","longitude":"12.816619444444"}" data-image-title="IMG_5018[1]" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_50181.jpg?w=300" data-large-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_50181.jpg?w=960" loading="lazy" class=" wp-image-3206 aligncenter" src="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_50181.jpg?w=564&h=515" alt="IMG_5018[1]" width="564" height="515" srcset="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_50181.jpg?w=564&h=515 564w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_50181.jpg?w=1128&h=1030 1128w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_50181.jpg?w=150&h=137 150w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_50181.jpg?w=300&h=274 300w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_50181.jpg?w=768&h=702 768w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/img_50181.jpg?w=1024&h=935 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 564px) 100vw, 564px" /><p id="caption-attachment-3206" class="wp-caption-text">Glumslöv sunsets – the best thing about Malmö 400k’s</p></div>370 kilometers at a brisk pace take their toll, so it was agreed to take it a bit easy the last bit to get everyone home safe and sound. Riding along Lommabukten with only a little bit of pink sky left it is entirely ok to have time to look around. Then past the hardbour and my dad’s house, past Blå Caféet and then tighten the shoes for the Malmö sprint. Nisse led through the two 90 degree turns, taking them quite aggressively before employing a most unexpected diversion tactic… It seemed unfair to attack while he had his chain in the small ring (Andy Schleck?) so I patiently waited making for a short but fast sprint. As the the faithful reader (<a href="http://cykelidiot.blogspot.se" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">of his blog</a>) knows those kinds of sprint do tend to favour my abilities…</p> <p>After regrouping we had the usual red light parade up Nobelvägen before checking out at Shell Holma after logging 402km in 14 hours 9 minutes. It was fantastic day on a bike; lovely weather, charming route and great company.</p> <p>Next up is the 600km brevet on May 20th. Patch and Ebbe (but not Nisse) are expected to turn up. I have promised to behave (though nobody really knows what that means) and I have <a href="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2016/05/25/wait-what-why-double-trouble-malmo-600km-brevet-copenhagen-marathon/">NOT signed up for the Copenhagen Marathon</a> on the 21st.</p> <p><a href="https://www.strava.com/activities/974083499" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Strava Activity</a></p> </div> <footer class="entry-meta"> This entry was posted in <a href="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/category/uncategorized/" rel="category tag">Uncategorized</a> on <a href="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2017/05/08/sunsoutgunsout-malmo-400km-brevet/" title="2:29 pm" rel="bookmark"><time class="entry-date" datetime="2017-05-08T14:29:27+00:00">May 8, 2017</time></a><span class="by-author"> by <span class="author vcard"><a class="url fn n" href="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/author/oscarahellstrom/" title="View all posts by oscarahellstrom" rel="author">oscarahellstrom</a></span></span>. </footer> </article> <article id="post-2964" class="post-2964 post type-post status-publish format-standard hentry category-uncategorized"> <header class="entry-header"> <h1 class="entry-title"> <a href="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2017/04/12/cargo-rando-malmo-200k-brevet/" rel="bookmark">Cargo Rando – Malmö 200k brevet</a> </h1> <div class="comments-link"> <a href="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2017/04/12/cargo-rando-malmo-200k-brevet/#comments">1 Reply</a> </div> </header> <div class="entry-content"> <p>Sometime back Nisse and I came up with the grand plan to ride our season premiere brevet on cargo bikes. Not because we really thought it would be difficult and not to prove anything that has already been proven, but just for fun really. That’s really the only reason we’re doing any of this.</p> <p>Jim’s not too proud for a bit of fun either and so it came about that two Bullitts and one Omnium lined up at Shell Holma on a slightly grey but acceptably mild April morning to ride 200km around Skåne. I wore shorts, because enough is enough.</p> <p><div data-shortcode="caption" id="attachment_3020" style="width: 557px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-3020" data-attachment-id="3020" data-permalink="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2017/04/12/cargo-rando-malmo-200k-brevet/img_44101/" data-orig-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/img_44101.jpg" data-orig-size="1136,852" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="IMG_4410[1]" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/img_44101.jpg?w=300" data-large-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/img_44101.jpg?w=960" loading="lazy" class="alignnone wp-image-3020" src="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/img_44101.jpg?w=547&h=410" alt="IMG_4410[1]" width="547" height="410" srcset="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/img_44101.jpg?w=547&h=410 547w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/img_44101.jpg?w=1094&h=820 1094w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/img_44101.jpg?w=150&h=113 150w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/img_44101.jpg?w=300&h=225 300w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/img_44101.jpg?w=768&h=576 768w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/img_44101.jpg?w=1024&h=768 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 547px) 100vw, 547px" /><p id="caption-attachment-3020" class="wp-caption-text">Rolling out of Malmö in Cargo Aero position. Photo by Patch.</p></div>This ride was preceded by a very significant amount of banter about what to bring and how to get around the 200km route in the best way. Part of the gimmick was that we should be self-supported. Since it’s actually dead simple to ride 200km on a normal road bike without re-supplying we clearly had to use some of the significant capacity on cargo bikes with unnecessary things in addition to bread and water…</p> <p>Maybe I’m getting ahead of myself here? In most parts of the world I’d guess the cargo bike is a bit of an oddity. In Copenhagen it’s an integral part of many people’s life as it can easily be used for many of the shorter errands that cars are often used for. They come in many shapes and forms but the two types represented on this ride, <a href="http://www.larryvsharry.com/" target="_blank">Bullitt </a>and <a href="http://omniumcargo.dk/" target="_blank">Omnium</a> are decidedly on the sportier end of the scale and ride pretty much like any other bike, except you can carry most of your family on them.</p> <p>Another factor is that the riding position on a bike that you normally use to haul the family around and which is often used by more than one family member doesn’t really have a race position. I solved this problem by digging out a set of aero clip-ons creating the “Cargo Aero”. During a week’s testing on my commute I found that it was a very potent bike. A fact that I made no attempt to hide from Nils and Jim in the days leding up to this brevet. I had effectively doomed myself to pulling for 200k before we’d even started, haha.</p> <p><div data-shortcode="caption" id="attachment_3023" style="width: 487px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-3023" data-attachment-id="3023" data-permalink="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2017/04/12/cargo-rando-malmo-200k-brevet/img_42061/" data-orig-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/img_42061.jpg" data-orig-size="2448,3264" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"2.2","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 5s","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1491641499","copyright":"","focal_length":"4.15","iso":"32","shutter_speed":"0.0032467532467532","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="IMG_4206[1]" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/img_42061.jpg?w=225" data-large-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/img_42061.jpg?w=768" loading="lazy" class="alignnone wp-image-3023" src="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/img_42061.jpg?w=477&h=636" alt="IMG_4206[1]" width="477" height="636" srcset="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/img_42061.jpg?w=477&h=636 477w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/img_42061.jpg?w=954&h=1272 954w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/img_42061.jpg?w=113&h=150 113w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/img_42061.jpg?w=225&h=300 225w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/img_42061.jpg?w=768&h=1024 768w" sizes="(max-width: 477px) 100vw, 477px" /><p id="caption-attachment-3023" class="wp-caption-text">Skåne</p></div>So, out on the road… what was different. Well, we were slower than on other brevets was all really. And maybe had more fun… After about 5km Jim dropped his chain meaning most of the others sailed away from us, but that was just as well as we could then mind our own business. Jeppe, though not on a cargobike, was out on a long weekend excursion with this brevet as a mere interlude and stuck with us making it a quartet. The first 50k was pretty easy going with fresh legs and a slight tailwind. We also passed some of the others again so we now had people both behind and in front of us on the road. We did complain a bit that it was really too early in the season to be riding through all those beech tree forests but that was really the level of suffering at that stage. At the control in Blentarp I stocked up on some coffee to bring home. I’ve lived in Denmark for nearly 10 years now but it’s long time ago a gave up on running around Copenhagen just top buy dark roast coffee. No pleasing some exiled Swedes eh…</p> <p><div data-shortcode="caption" id="attachment_3021" style="width: 580px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-3021" data-attachment-id="3021" data-permalink="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2017/04/12/cargo-rando-malmo-200k-brevet/img_42331/" data-orig-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/img_42331.jpg" data-orig-size="2448,3264" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"2.2","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 5s","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1491643488","copyright":"","focal_length":"4.15","iso":"32","shutter_speed":"0.0081967213114754","title":"","orientation":"1","latitude":"55.559208333333","longitude":"13.495863888889"}" data-image-title="IMG_4233[1]" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/img_42331.jpg?w=225" data-large-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/img_42331.jpg?w=768" loading="lazy" class=" wp-image-3021 aligncenter" src="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/img_42331.jpg?w=570&h=760" alt="IMG_4233[1]" width="570" height="760" srcset="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/img_42331.jpg?w=570&h=760 570w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/img_42331.jpg?w=1140&h=1520 1140w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/img_42331.jpg?w=113&h=150 113w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/img_42331.jpg?w=225&h=300 225w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/img_42331.jpg?w=768&h=1024 768w" sizes="(max-width: 570px) 100vw, 570px" /><p id="caption-attachment-3021" class="wp-caption-text">Train to Blentarp</p></div>After Blentarp we were a bit more exposed to the wind but took it nice and steady. I began thinking my bike wasn’t handling properly anymore and stopped to check my rear tyre a couple of times. I convinced myself it was just the length of the bike, the voluminous tyres and my comfortable saddle that made it squirm a bit at high speeds. It took another 10-15 kilometers for me to realize that I had a slow leak on the front tyre. It’s actually very unpleasant to come through a corner on a long cargo bike with a deflating front tyre. The leak was so slow that I could limp my way to the control in Höör wth a few short stops to top up the pressure.</p> <p><div data-shortcode="caption" id="attachment_3031" style="width: 485px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-3031" data-attachment-id="3031" data-permalink="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2017/04/12/cargo-rando-malmo-200k-brevet/img_42481/" data-orig-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/img_42481.jpg" data-orig-size="2448,3264" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"2.2","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 5s","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1491652985","copyright":"","focal_length":"4.15","iso":"32","shutter_speed":"0.0031446540880503","title":"","orientation":"1","latitude":"55.926147222222","longitude":"13.545494444444"}" data-image-title="IMG_4248[1]" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/img_42481.jpg?w=225" data-large-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/img_42481.jpg?w=768" loading="lazy" class="alignnone wp-image-3031" src="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/img_42481.jpg?w=475&h=634" alt="IMG_4248[1]" width="475" height="634" srcset="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/img_42481.jpg?w=475&h=634 475w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/img_42481.jpg?w=950&h=1268 950w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/img_42481.jpg?w=113&h=150 113w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/img_42481.jpg?w=225&h=300 225w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/img_42481.jpg?w=768&h=1024 768w" sizes="(max-width: 475px) 100vw, 475px" /><p id="caption-attachment-3031" class="wp-caption-text">Let’s go ananas.</p></div>The mood was very good as I changed the inner tube and we shared a can of tinned pineapple. The fact that I’d brought those pineapples was one of the jokes of the day and the result of the pre-race banter. About 3km after the control I punctured my rear tyre giving everyone another little break.</p> <p>I’m not superstitious but having passed the halfway mark there had still not been any obvious opportunity to break out the Gammeldansk (known lifesaver from Øresund Runt XL) or my very nice, new stainless shot glasses. Luckily we didn’t have to wait long for my front tyre to suffer yet another slow leak. Since I a) had to patch a tube and b) had to locate something very small and sharp in the tyre there was time for a little spring warmer by the roadside. Much better use of the roadside than crashing or sleeping. Going forward I will definitely prefer drinking to the other options.</p> <p><img data-attachment-id="3035" data-permalink="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2017/04/12/cargo-rando-malmo-200k-brevet/img_42521/" data-orig-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/img_42521.jpg" data-orig-size="2448,2448" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"2.2","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 5s","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1491657807","copyright":"","focal_length":"4.15","iso":"32","shutter_speed":"0.0010482180293501","title":"","orientation":"1","latitude":"56.051588888889","longitude":"13.362105555556"}" data-image-title="IMG_4252[1]" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/img_42521.jpg?w=300" data-large-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/img_42521.jpg?w=960" loading="lazy" class=" wp-image-3035 aligncenter" src="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/img_42521.jpg?w=478&h=478" alt="IMG_4252[1]" width="478" height="478" srcset="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/img_42521.jpg?w=478&h=478 478w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/img_42521.jpg?w=956&h=956 956w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/img_42521.jpg?w=150&h=150 150w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/img_42521.jpg?w=300&h=300 300w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/img_42521.jpg?w=768&h=768 768w" sizes="(max-width: 478px) 100vw, 478px" /></p> <p> </p> <p>Jeppe and Jim saw their chance to sort out a few practicalities in Ljungbyhed 10 km down the road and went ahead, but Nils and I had soon solved the pneumatic issues and raced after them. Here we had many years of built up guilt to make amends for. Ljungbyheds Conditori is a very nice place with proper home made cakes and pastries, but given mine and Nils’ spartan approach to coffee breaks while cycling we’ve only ever filled our water bottles and stamped out cards there. Many cyclists come here but I really think this must have been one of the first times a lycra clad man had stepped in asking them to get a cardboard box ready. With the goodies (small token for the rando widows at home) packed on the bikes our quartet set about the Lotta på Åsen hill. It’a quite hard when you go full gas on a loaded cargo bike… so once at the top we had to celebrate. A toast in Gammeldansk (Nils now cleared the cargo deck on his Bullitt for the glasses, very classy) to conquering the hill AND to celebrate that the ground wasn’t covered in 3cm of sleet this time!</p> <p><div data-shortcode="caption" id="attachment_3078" style="width: 574px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-3078" data-attachment-id="3078" data-permalink="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2017/04/12/cargo-rando-malmo-200k-brevet/img_42631/" data-orig-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/img_42631.jpg" data-orig-size="3264,2448" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"2.2","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 5s","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1491667031","copyright":"","focal_length":"4.15","iso":"32","shutter_speed":"0.0012919896640827","title":"","orientation":"1","latitude":"55.762313888889","longitude":"13.034077777778"}" data-image-title="IMG_4263[1]" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/img_42631.jpg?w=300" data-large-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/img_42631.jpg?w=960" loading="lazy" class="alignnone wp-image-3078" src="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/img_42631.jpg?w=564&h=423" alt="IMG_4263[1]" width="564" height="423" srcset="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/img_42631.jpg?w=564&h=423 564w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/img_42631.jpg?w=1128&h=846 1128w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/img_42631.jpg?w=150&h=113 150w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/img_42631.jpg?w=300&h=225 300w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/img_42631.jpg?w=768&h=576 768w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/img_42631.jpg?w=1024&h=768 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 564px) 100vw, 564px" /><p id="caption-attachment-3078" class="wp-caption-text">Crosswind “half-biking”. Beats half-assing…</p></div>From the top of Söderåsen we had about 65km to go on pretty easy roads. There was some crosswinds and we stopped a few times to rearrange our food and stretch a bit etc. Coming through Lomma Nils was riding on the front but shortly after Blå Caféet he didn’t want to anymore… Nobody ever does. I figured leading out the sprint maybe wasn’t such a bad thing on a cargo bike. There are two 90 degree turns before the Malmö sign and with a big bike it was quite easy to block the road, come through the last turn with more speed and accelerate early. A win in the inaugural cargo rando sign sprint!</p> <p><div data-shortcode="caption" id="attachment_3022" style="width: 508px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-3022" data-attachment-id="3022" data-permalink="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2017/04/12/cargo-rando-malmo-200k-brevet/img_42721/" data-orig-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/img_42721.jpg" data-orig-size="2025,2025" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"2.2","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 5s","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1491671501","copyright":"","focal_length":"4.15","iso":"32","shutter_speed":"0.0050505050505051","title":"","orientation":"1","latitude":"55.574847222222","longitude":"12.990169444444"}" data-image-title="IMG_4272[1]" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/img_42721.jpg?w=300" data-large-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/img_42721.jpg?w=960" loading="lazy" class="alignnone wp-image-3022" src="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/img_42721.jpg?w=498&h=498" alt="IMG_4272[1]" width="498" height="498" srcset="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/img_42721.jpg?w=498&h=498 498w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/img_42721.jpg?w=996&h=996 996w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/img_42721.jpg?w=150&h=150 150w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/img_42721.jpg?w=300&h=300 300w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/img_42721.jpg?w=768&h=768 768w" sizes="(max-width: 498px) 100vw, 498px" /><p id="caption-attachment-3022" class="wp-caption-text">Celebration time! They are happy, I promise… but my picture taking interrupted the beer drinking 😉</p></div>Following the normal red light procession up Nobelvägen we rolled in at Shell Holma just over 9 hours after we left. Not too bad really considering we didn’t kill our little group, had a few punctures and rode bikes significantly heavier and less aerodynamic than normal. It wasn’t even raining so we could sit down on the benches outside and haul out the selection of quality beers we’d carried with us and celebrate our success!</p> </div> <footer class="entry-meta"> This entry was posted in <a href="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/category/uncategorized/" rel="category tag">Uncategorized</a> on <a href="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2017/04/12/cargo-rando-malmo-200k-brevet/" title="7:46 am" rel="bookmark"><time class="entry-date" datetime="2017-04-12T07:46:38+00:00">April 12, 2017</time></a><span class="by-author"> by <span class="author vcard"><a class="url fn n" href="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/author/oscarahellstrom/" title="View all posts by oscarahellstrom" rel="author">oscarahellstrom</a></span></span>. </footer> </article> <article id="post-2795" class="post-2795 post type-post status-publish format-standard hentry category-uncategorized"> <header class="entry-header"> <h1 class="entry-title"> <a href="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2017/03/20/oresund-runt-xl-a-hardened-fck-up/" rel="bookmark">Öresund Runt XL – A Hardened F#ck Up</a> </h1> <div class="comments-link"> <a href="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2017/03/20/oresund-runt-xl-a-hardened-fck-up/#comments">2 Replies</a> </div> </header> <div class="entry-content"> <p>When writing these posts I actually try to be careful not to exaggerate. This applies to exaggerating how hard things are, how good (or bad for that matter) I or my friends are, etc. Let’s be honest, it’s a blog where privileged people do things in their spare time. Sometimes these things are mentally and/or physically hard but at the end of the day they’re just hobbies. Only <a href="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2016/05/25/wait-what-why-double-trouble-malmo-600km-brevet-copenhagen-marathon/" target="_blank">once</a> before have I given a firm recommendation NOT to try something at home. I think I’ll have to add one item to that list…</p> <p>This was the sequel to last September’s almost secret Swedish-Danish little joyride with Nils with the main difference being that it was a) longer and b) public. It might have been a marketing mistake to label it an “anti-social ride” (albeit somewhat tounge-in-cheek) or people are just far too sensible to want to ride 300km in mid March with a shaky weather forecast, either way only the two of us rode into the rain from Malmö Central Station at dawn.</p> <p><div data-shortcode="caption" id="attachment_2824" style="width: 496px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-2824" data-attachment-id="2824" data-permalink="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2017/03/20/oresund-runt-xl-a-hardened-fck-up/img_35901/" data-orig-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_35901.jpg" data-orig-size="2382,2382" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"2.2","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 5s","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1489817943","copyright":"","focal_length":"4.15","iso":"320","shutter_speed":"0.03030303030303","title":"","orientation":"1","latitude":"55.609602777778","longitude":"12.999930555556"}" data-image-title="IMG_3590[1]" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_35901.jpg?w=300" data-large-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_35901.jpg?w=960" loading="lazy" class="alignnone wp-image-2824" src="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_35901.jpg?w=486&h=486" alt="IMG_3590[1]" width="486" height="486" srcset="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_35901.jpg?w=486&h=486 486w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_35901.jpg?w=972&h=972 972w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_35901.jpg?w=150&h=150 150w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_35901.jpg?w=300&h=300 300w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_35901.jpg?w=768&h=768 768w" sizes="(max-width: 486px) 100vw, 486px" /><p id="caption-attachment-2824" class="wp-caption-text">Malmö, 6.30am. What dreams are made of.</p></div>Zero degrees and steady rain were the conditions for the first 2 hours up to Kågeröd and we were already very wet and very cold when we rolled in only to notice that the ground was covered by a thin layer of very wet snow. The real problem was hands and feet – no matter what you get wet eventually and when temperatures are this low it becomes deeply unpleasant very fast. I honestly don’t know what, short of solid rubber gloves taped tight to your forearms, would solve that problem.</p> <p>Instead of just riding on which we’d normally do we took a quick stop at the local supermarket where Nils bought a pair of washing up gloves and I did my best to wring the water from my own gloves. It was a feeble attempt and with another approximately 70km to go to the ferry we soon set out again and started riding up Söderåsen. While the 10-12 minutes of uphill riding allowed us to work up some warmth, the temperature was now a few degrees below freezing and the rain had been replaced by a very wet sleet.</p> <p><div data-shortcode="caption" id="attachment_2825" style="width: 492px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-2825" data-attachment-id="2825" data-permalink="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2017/03/20/oresund-runt-xl-a-hardened-fck-up/img_35971/" data-orig-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_35971.jpg" data-orig-size="2448,2448" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"2.2","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 5s","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1489826533","copyright":"","focal_length":"4.15","iso":"32","shutter_speed":"0.0030674846625767","title":"","orientation":"1","latitude":"56.047688888889","longitude":"13.103477777778"}" data-image-title="IMG_3597[1]" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_35971.jpg?w=300" data-large-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_35971.jpg?w=960" loading="lazy" class="alignnone wp-image-2825" src="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_35971.jpg?w=482&h=482" alt="IMG_3597[1]" width="482" height="482" srcset="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_35971.jpg?w=482&h=482 482w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_35971.jpg?w=964&h=964 964w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_35971.jpg?w=150&h=150 150w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_35971.jpg?w=300&h=300 300w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_35971.jpg?w=768&h=768 768w" sizes="(max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px" /><p id="caption-attachment-2825" class="wp-caption-text">Nisse meets his Gavia…</p></div>If I should say anything that could have been worse it is that the ground was actually not frozen, so it was actually possible to ride the descent with relative control despite the partial sleet cover. Or rather, it would have been had we not been hunched over our bikes like crippled crabs with Parkinson’s. After only 80km my shoulders felt like I’d ridden a thousand, simply because I was too stiff to sit properly and my hands too numb to hold the bars properly. Now we still didn’t even consider to take any shortcuts from our planned extra-climbing-loop so up the Lotta hill we went which gave us another 7-8 minutes to work up some heat. Not that it lasted long once the terrain flatted out along the top of Söderåsen, as we were still soaked on most body parts and there was now enough sleet on the ground to actually build up on our shoes. But, for obvious reasons, we have no pictures so maybe it didn’t happen…</p> <p>At the top we met Jeppe who had come to join in on the ride and so we continued as a trio. Before descending from Stenestad the second time I stopped to, as agreed, text Jim so that he could time our arrival in Denmark. Nisse and Jeppe rode ahead to pee and probably started wondering how hard it can be to send a text. The answer is “not very”, but it was damn near impossible to put my glove back on! Eventually we got going and made solid but painful progress towards Helsingborg. The stop at a railroad crossing in Mörarp was particularly unwelcome but we got there in the end. Jeppe then kindly paid for the ferry seeing as Nils and I were entirely unable to get any money out of our pockets after about 130km of Scandinavian spring.</p> <p>As I’ve written several times before on these pages you always get a few comments and questions when you enter a petrol station or ferry dressed in cycling clothes. When you’re leaving a trail of water after you you get more comments. When you’re shivering out of control standing in the food queue it turns out you get genuine sympathy. People are nice – one woman even offered us a lift home. However, we politely declined, without going into further detail regarding our mental health or plans for the remainder of the day. Instead we bought hotdogs, coffee and gammeldansk to try and warm up.</p> <p>Once off the ferry (we were pretty much last off and had to dodge the lorries trying to get on for the next ride) in Helsingør the break continued as we first had to find Jim (old school, as I still had no intention of trying to operate my phone) and then Jeppe had to fix a puncture. Unfortunately, Jeppe punctured again after only a few hundred metres and started to doubt whether the long route to Copenhagen was a wise choice so we parted ways. He eventually sorted his tyre and rode down to Copenhagen while Nils, Jim and I headed north-west towards Gilleleje, into the wind and rain. But it was warmer here than in Sweden, we started seeing blue sky on the horizon and within an hour we were exposed to direct sunlight and temperatures of 5-7 degrees. If we had started the ride there and then it would have been a rather lovely early spring day, but Jim had also had a cold ride up the coast so our trio needed a bit longer before we could really break the smiles out. In fact, my jaw still hurt from grimacing most of the morning so it took some face gymnastics to be able to smile and speak without a slur…</p> <p>At Tisvildeleje we turned south and cruised along in the tailwind – I really enjoy the roads up around the north coast. There were a few interruptions in the form of punctures. I luckily didn’t make a very big deal out of Nils’ Italian tyre choice when he punctured – it wasn’t long before I had to replace a tube in my German rear tyre. Denmark is just rough if you’re a bicycle tyre.</p> <p><div data-shortcode="caption" id="attachment_2827" style="width: 443px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-2827" data-attachment-id="2827" data-permalink="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2017/03/20/oresund-runt-xl-a-hardened-fck-up/img_36011/" data-orig-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_36011.jpg" data-orig-size="2448,3264" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"2.2","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 5s","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1489846217","copyright":"","focal_length":"4.15","iso":"32","shutter_speed":"0.00046296296296296","title":"","orientation":"1","latitude":"55.999655555556","longitude":"12.038119444444"}" data-image-title="IMG_3601[1]" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_36011.jpg?w=225" data-large-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_36011.jpg?w=768" loading="lazy" class="alignnone wp-image-2827" src="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_36011.jpg?w=433&h=578" alt="IMG_3601[1]" width="433" height="578" srcset="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_36011.jpg?w=433&h=578 433w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_36011.jpg?w=866&h=1156 866w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_36011.jpg?w=113&h=150 113w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_36011.jpg?w=225&h=300 225w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_36011.jpg?w=768&h=1024 768w" sizes="(max-width: 433px) 100vw, 433px" /><p id="caption-attachment-2827" class="wp-caption-text">Meet the Flintstones.</p></div>In Frederikssund, after about 200km in total, we had a little coffee break and said goodbye to Jim who had to take a more direct route to Copenhagen. Nils and I headed west and as he began to realise we would be passing trough Skibby (and its road sign) it was decided that this opportunity would be taken advantage off before completing the route</p> <p><div data-shortcode="caption" id="attachment_2826" style="width: 513px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-2826" data-attachment-id="2826" data-permalink="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2017/03/20/oresund-runt-xl-a-hardened-fck-up/img_36121/" data-orig-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_36121.jpg" data-orig-size="2344,2362" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"2.2","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 5s","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1489853488","copyright":"","focal_length":"4.15","iso":"32","shutter_speed":"0.0011454753722795","title":"","orientation":"1","latitude":"55.754741666667","longitude":"11.971116666667"}" data-image-title="IMG_3612[1]" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_36121.jpg?w=298" data-large-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_36121.jpg?w=960" loading="lazy" class=" wp-image-2826 aligncenter" src="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_36121.jpg?w=503&h=507" alt="IMG_3612[1]" width="503" height="507" srcset="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_36121.jpg?w=503&h=507 503w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_36121.jpg?w=1006&h=1014 1006w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_36121.jpg?w=150&h=150 150w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_36121.jpg?w=298&h=300 298w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_36121.jpg?w=768&h=774 768w" sizes="(max-width: 503px) 100vw, 503px" /><p id="caption-attachment-2826" class="wp-caption-text">Spring Classic.</p></div>The plan had been to be back at Copenhagen Airport at sunset, but too many unforeseen circumstances had come our way, so it was actually an hour beyond sunset when we, wet cold and dirty, eventually rolled in to the CircleK station with a little bit over 300km under our belts.</p> <p>It would be easy to claim that were absolutely exhausted when we finished but an interesting aspect is that the riding intensity had been moderate all day: we were too cold, had the ferry, the punctures, the small stops etc. This meant that the traditional tiredness in the form of sore legs etc. wasn’t very pronounced.</p> <p><div data-shortcode="caption" id="attachment_2828" style="width: 554px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-2828" data-attachment-id="2828" data-permalink="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2017/03/20/oresund-runt-xl-a-hardened-fck-up/img_36161/" data-orig-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_36161.jpg" data-orig-size="3264,2448" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"2.2","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 5s","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1489856141","copyright":"","focal_length":"4.15","iso":"32","shutter_speed":"0.001219512195122","title":"","orientation":"1","latitude":"55.639702777778","longitude":"11.982061111111"}" data-image-title="IMG_3616[1]" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_36161.jpg?w=300" data-large-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_36161.jpg?w=960" loading="lazy" class="alignnone wp-image-2828" src="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_36161.jpg?w=544&h=408" alt="IMG_3616[1]" width="544" height="408" srcset="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_36161.jpg?w=544&h=408 544w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_36161.jpg?w=1088&h=816 1088w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_36161.jpg?w=150&h=113 150w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_36161.jpg?w=300&h=225 300w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_36161.jpg?w=768&h=576 768w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_36161.jpg?w=1024&h=768 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 544px) 100vw, 544px" /><p id="caption-attachment-2828" class="wp-caption-text">The Usual Suspects.</p></div>No, the real challenge here was getting soaked, then frozen and then stay damp and chilled the rest of the day. This is what I recommend you avoid. Tough one though – while it’s easy to avoid running a marathon after you’ve ridden 600km the only way to be sure you’ll never be caught in awful weather is to only ever do short rides and only do them when the weather is mild and stable. In that case Scandinavia is probably not the right place to live if you’re interested in endurance sports.</p> <p>This ride, while unassuming on the surface, represents a re-calibration of the discomfort scale. The good thing about it is that it may make all other rides this season appear nice and comfortable. The bad thing is that it may make all other rides this season appear nice and comfortable.</p> <p>While we sat down with a post ride beer the stories already started getting a life of their own as we begun retelling them via social media. I can’t help but wonder how the tales of this ride will develop over time.. . <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xe1a1wHxTyo" target="_blank">this</a> springs to mind.</p> <p>You might also want to read <a href="http://cykelidiot.blogspot.dk/2017/03/resund-rundt-xl.html" target="_blank">Nisse</a>‘s (Swedish) account of the day. If nothing else the pictures are different.</p> </div> <footer class="entry-meta"> This entry was posted in <a href="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/category/uncategorized/" rel="category tag">Uncategorized</a> on <a href="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2017/03/20/oresund-runt-xl-a-hardened-fck-up/" title="9:24 pm" rel="bookmark"><time class="entry-date" datetime="2017-03-20T21:24:28+00:00">March 20, 2017</time></a><span class="by-author"> by <span class="author vcard"><a class="url fn n" href="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/author/oscarahellstrom/" title="View all posts by oscarahellstrom" rel="author">oscarahellstrom</a></span></span>. </footer> </article> <article id="post-2649" class="post-2649 post type-post status-publish format-standard hentry category-uncategorized"> <header class="entry-header"> <h1 class="entry-title"> <a href="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2017/03/06/the-famous-grus-swedish-dirt/" rel="bookmark">The Famous Grus – Swedish Dirt</a> </h1> <div class="comments-link"> <a href="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2017/03/06/the-famous-grus-swedish-dirt/#respond"><span class="leave-reply">Leave a reply</span></a> </div> </header> <div class="entry-content"> <p>One of my ambitions for this year was to do more homegrown, loosely organised cycling and the (at infrequent intervals) recurring south Swedish gravel bonanza “The Famous Grus” is one such event. The organisation consists largely of Patch setting up a facebook event – then you just rock up and ride. Sweden has lots of gravel roads, dirt roads, horse tracks etc. etc. and the route (a fair bit of scouting has obviously gone into it) zig-zags across the countryside to take in as many as possible.</p> <p>With a 9.00 start from Malmö I figured it would be possible to squeeze in a “warm-up”. Not that the 110 kilometers of almost famous grus is “short” but as I’ve written before I do like some bang for my buck whenever I take a day out to go and play. What’s a bit of sleep when you both get to ride 117km extra AND avoid the still existing, still infuriating “Checkpoint Stefan” at the Copenhagen Airport station… plus I figured I’d turn up a little bit tired so as not to be an antisocial bastard riding too hard for people’s liking.</p> <p>After the last cyclocross race I set up my cross bike with 28mm slicks, bottle cages and normal road chainrings and voila – pretty much a perfect dirt whip. In the framebag (stop stigmatising these won’t you – they’re great) I put the headlight battery, an extra pair of gloves, spares and tools and a sandwich.</p> <div data-shortcode="caption" id="attachment_2690" style="width: 585px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-2690" data-attachment-id="2690" data-permalink="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2017/03/06/the-famous-grus-swedish-dirt/img_32451/" data-orig-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_32451.jpg" data-orig-size="2317,2317" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"2.2","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 5s","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1488356720","copyright":"","focal_length":"4.15","iso":"40","shutter_speed":"0.03030303030303","title":"","orientation":"1","latitude":"55.764313888889","longitude":"12.512613888889"}" data-image-title="img_32451" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_32451.jpg?w=300" data-large-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_32451.jpg?w=960" loading="lazy" class="alignnone wp-image-2690" src="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_32451.jpg?w=575&h=575" alt="img_32451" width="575" height="575" srcset="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_32451.jpg?w=575&h=575 575w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_32451.jpg?w=1150&h=1150 1150w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_32451.jpg?w=150&h=150 150w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_32451.jpg?w=300&h=300 300w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_32451.jpg?w=768&h=768 768w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_32451.jpg?w=1024&h=1024 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 575px) 100vw, 575px" /><p id="caption-attachment-2690" class="wp-caption-text">Dirt Whip</p></div> <p>Following a solid meal and only modest alcohol consumption on Friday night I went to bed at a reasonable hour (yes, really). I was in fact so excited I woke up before my 03.40 alarm and even had time to eat some leftovers and have a cup of coffee before I rolled out at 03.58 exactly.</p> <p>(Here comes the bit where I romanticize being alone in the dark) Firstly, Copenhagen evidently isn’t New York – apart from some taxis the city essentially sleeps at 4 in the morning, at least in the beginning of March. The fancy residential areas along the coast north of town definitely sleep. So for almost two hours I was alone in the dark. Temperature was around 0, only marginally colder than a Scandinavian summer night, but it didn’t rain so apart from my feet (I will just have to accept that I, by nature, have cold feet) it was entirely comfortable (wearing pretty much the outfit described in <a href="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2017/02/20/ive-got-nothing-to-wear/">“I’ve got nothing to wear”</a> minus the rain gilet as the forecast was pretty much dry and I like to take chances).</p> <p>When I rolled into Helsingør I was very much awake, which is more than you could say for the few motorists who had also opted for the 06.00 ferry. The nice thing about the ferry, for an inherently impatient cyclist like myself, is that you have to take a break. So I bought a cup of coffee and enjoyed my large home made sandwich without a care in the world while my feet gradually regained some feeling and mobility. A few people came up and asked where I’d come from and where I was going but I’ve certainly had people respond with much more disbelief on other occasions. I take that to me this was a pretty sensible thing to do!</p> <div data-shortcode="caption" id="attachment_2689" style="width: 437px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-2689" data-attachment-id="2689" data-permalink="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2017/03/06/the-famous-grus-swedish-dirt/img_32651/" data-orig-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_32651.jpg" data-orig-size="2448,3264" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"2.2","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 5s","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1488606757","copyright":"","focal_length":"4.15","iso":"320","shutter_speed":"0.058823529411765","title":"","orientation":"1","latitude":"56.032630555556","longitude":"12.617447222222"}" data-image-title="img_32651" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_32651.jpg?w=225" data-large-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_32651.jpg?w=768" loading="lazy" class="alignnone wp-image-2689" src="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_32651.jpg?w=427&h=570" alt="img_32651" width="427" height="570" srcset="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_32651.jpg?w=427&h=570 427w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_32651.jpg?w=854&h=1140 854w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_32651.jpg?w=113&h=150 113w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_32651.jpg?w=225&h=300 225w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_32651.jpg?w=768&h=1024 768w" sizes="(max-width: 427px) 100vw, 427px" /><p id="caption-attachment-2689" class="wp-caption-text">Lanes not Laps – early bird blur onboard “Aurora af Helsingborg”</p></div> <p>Rolling off the ferry onto Swedish soil some 20 minutes later I was still pretty much in splendid isolation. Part of the charm about nights and early mornings is that not many people get it or can’t be bothered, but there’s still room for more out there so I’ll take the risk of promoting it heavily (to all my readers, haha) – get out there! After negotiating a few turn and roadworks I was out on Landskronavägen which is very much familiar ground as it forms the home stretch on most of the Malmö brevets. It was quite pleasant to ride here without 250/350/550km already in my legs and also without any real rush. I’ve lived in exile for many years now but I always appreciate riding around in my native Skåne. When I got to my favourite spot on Glumslövs Backar I even stopped to have a look around (which rather spoiled the strava segment but the wind wasn’t favourable anyway, haha).</p> <div data-shortcode="caption" id="attachment_2691" style="width: 589px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-2691" data-attachment-id="2691" data-permalink="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2017/03/06/the-famous-grus-swedish-dirt/img_32711/" data-orig-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_32711.jpg" data-orig-size="2341,2341" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"2.2","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 5s","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1488610593","copyright":"","focal_length":"4.15","iso":"320","shutter_speed":"0.03030303030303","title":"","orientation":"1","latitude":"55.933777777778","longitude":"12.817197222222"}" data-image-title="img_32711" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_32711.jpg?w=300" data-large-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_32711.jpg?w=960" loading="lazy" class="alignnone wp-image-2691" src="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_32711.jpg?w=579&h=579" alt="img_32711" width="579" height="579" srcset="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_32711.jpg?w=579&h=579 579w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_32711.jpg?w=1158&h=1158 1158w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_32711.jpg?w=150&h=150 150w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_32711.jpg?w=300&h=300 300w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_32711.jpg?w=768&h=768 768w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_32711.jpg?w=1024&h=1024 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 579px) 100vw, 579px" /><p id="caption-attachment-2691" class="wp-caption-text">Sunrise at Glumslövs Backar. Totally works even when it’s cold and grey.</p></div> <p>With about 15km to go, i.e. around Lomma, it started raining a bit. Not very much but enough so that my mudguardless bike would have time to soak me from the knees down before reaching Malmö. When I pulled up outside Musette at 8.45 I thought I was first but then Will (who had taken the train from Copenhagen) emerged from his hiding place and soon enough everyone else dropped in. Patch briefly instructed us not to drop people on the road sections (he might also have tried to refresh our memories about bunch riding etiquette like half-wheeling too, but I’m not quite sure) tried to ensure enough of us knew where we were going and then we rolled out not much after 9.00.</p> <div data-shortcode="caption" id="attachment_2692" style="width: 595px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-2692" data-attachment-id="2692" data-permalink="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2017/03/06/the-famous-grus-swedish-dirt/img_33191/" data-orig-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_33191.jpg" data-orig-size="1784,1784" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"2.2","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 5s","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1488624226","copyright":"","focal_length":"4.15","iso":"32","shutter_speed":"0.00055991041433371","title":"","orientation":"1","latitude":"55.547827777778","longitude":"13.391808333333"}" data-image-title="img_33191" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_33191.jpg?w=300" data-large-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_33191.jpg?w=960" loading="lazy" class=" wp-image-2692 aligncenter" src="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_33191.jpg?w=585&h=585" alt="img_33191" width="585" height="585" srcset="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_33191.jpg?w=585&h=585 585w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_33191.jpg?w=1170&h=1170 1170w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_33191.jpg?w=150&h=150 150w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_33191.jpg?w=300&h=300 300w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_33191.jpg?w=768&h=768 768w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_33191.jpg?w=1024&h=1024 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 585px) 100vw, 585px" /><p id="caption-attachment-2692" class="wp-caption-text">This is Skåne</p></div> <p>Once outside the city limits it wasn’t long until the rain stopped and we were let loose in the dirt like kids in a playground. Some of us couldn’t resist going bananas while others had a more relaxed approach. Some sections were maybe 1km long while others were 4-5km. Off course pretty big gaps open up when some go really hard for several kilometers but as far as I could tell the mood was good both up front and further back and when we reached tarmac the bunch regrouped. One good thing about this kind of riding is that when you get tired you can stop and snap a few pictures 😉</p> <div data-shortcode="caption" id="attachment_2694" style="width: 571px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-2694" data-attachment-id="2694" data-permalink="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2017/03/06/the-famous-grus-swedish-dirt/img_33271/" data-orig-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_33271.jpg" data-orig-size="2448,2456" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"2.2","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 5s","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1488624401","copyright":"","focal_length":"4.15","iso":"32","shutter_speed":"0.0026595744680851","title":"","orientation":"1","latitude":"55.540127777778","longitude":"13.394163888889"}" data-image-title="img_33271" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_33271.jpg?w=300" data-large-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_33271.jpg?w=960" loading="lazy" class="alignnone wp-image-2694" src="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_33271.jpg?w=561&h=563" alt="img_33271" width="561" height="563" srcset="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_33271.jpg?w=561&h=563 561w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_33271.jpg?w=1122&h=1126 1122w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_33271.jpg?w=150&h=150 150w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_33271.jpg?w=300&h=300 300w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_33271.jpg?w=768&h=771 768w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_33271.jpg?w=1021&h=1024 1021w" sizes="(max-width: 561px) 100vw, 561px" /><p id="caption-attachment-2694" class="wp-caption-text">Will in Häckeberga</p></div> <p>It was generally pretty hard work getting to Blentarp. Many of the dirt roads wound themselves up or around Romeleåsen and we were also riding into the wind. The mindset of going hell for leather at the slightest site of gravel meant many of us had pretty sore legs after a couple of hours, with our without “warm-up”. Some had places to be and people to see and thus peeled off along the way but about 15 of us made to SmakSak for a, I dare say much needed, little break. Off course when 15 people step into a café and there’s no real clock ticking it takes a while before everyone has ordered, gotten what they ordered, been to the toilet etc. etc, but in the end everyone got something to eat and drink and we moved on. I had 175km on the odometer at this point and a wildcard from Mrs H as long as I brought some beers home so I didn’t mind at all.</p> <p>It had become evident that it would be wise to split in two groups so six of us went ahead while the others took a slightly gentler pace for the remaining 50km back to Malmö.</p> <div data-shortcode="caption" id="attachment_2693" style="width: 616px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-2693" data-attachment-id="2693" data-permalink="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2017/03/06/the-famous-grus-swedish-dirt/img_33091/" data-orig-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_33091.jpg" data-orig-size="2448,3264" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"2.2","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 5s","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1488627107","copyright":"","focal_length":"4.15","iso":"32","shutter_speed":"0.0010718113612004","title":"","orientation":"1","latitude":"55.560977777778","longitude":"13.566252777778"}" data-image-title="img_33091" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_33091.jpg?w=225" data-large-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_33091.jpg?w=768" loading="lazy" class="alignnone wp-image-2693" src="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_33091.jpg?w=606&h=808" alt="img_33091" width="606" height="808" srcset="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_33091.jpg?w=606&h=808 606w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_33091.jpg?w=1212&h=1616 1212w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_33091.jpg?w=113&h=150 113w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_33091.jpg?w=225&h=300 225w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_33091.jpg?w=768&h=1024 768w" sizes="(max-width: 606px) 100vw, 606px" /><p id="caption-attachment-2693" class="wp-caption-text">Per going aero trying to reach the café in Blentarp first. (Yes, the potential dad joke “Paero” is hiding in plain sight….)</p></div> <p>If the dirt sections before the break had been undulating or even hilly, the return leg had a few really flat ones across open fields. As we now had a rather strong tailwind this resulted in some amazing sections were we were rattling along in +40km/h across washboard and potholes. I really couldn’t be happier with how my bike performed in those conditions – rock solid regardless of what I threw at it, yet oh so fast. Don’t get me wrong, people were riding all kinds of bikes and did just fine – cyclocross bikes old and new, road bikes of varying types and even Sylvester on a brakeless track fixie – I’m just really happy with mine.</p> <p>We kept roaring along in the tailwind as also Per, Alexander and Andreas peeled off to take direct routes to their respective homes, leaving me, Will and Sylvester to negotiate the last bit through Malmö and back to Musette where we slumped down and tucked in to some of their nice wraps. It didn’t take long before Patch led the second group home. The good thing about cycling cafés is that it isn’t frowned upon to be covered in dirt when you walk in…</p> <div data-shortcode="caption" id="attachment_2695" style="width: 2458px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-2695" data-attachment-id="2695" data-permalink="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2017/03/06/the-famous-grus-swedish-dirt/img_33181/" data-orig-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_33181.jpg" data-orig-size="2448,3264" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"2.2","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 5s","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1488637559","copyright":"","focal_length":"4.15","iso":"250","shutter_speed":"0.03030303030303","title":"","orientation":"1","latitude":"55.597827777778","longitude":"12.996094444444"}" data-image-title="img_33181" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_33181.jpg?w=225" data-large-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_33181.jpg?w=768" loading="lazy" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-2695" src="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_33181.jpg?w=960" alt="img_33181" srcset="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_33181.jpg 2448w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_33181.jpg?w=113&h=150 113w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_33181.jpg?w=225&h=300 225w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/img_33181.jpg?w=768&h=1024 768w" sizes="(max-width: 2448px) 100vw, 2448px" /><p id="caption-attachment-2695" class="wp-caption-text">His and Hers</p></div> <p>My early morning outing added a bit of spice to the day and I might that again another time when I have an appointment in Malmö. It’s safe to say I got home with very tired legs. I hope Patch will run more editions of The Famous Grus as it’s a great initiative – there are some fantastic roads out there waiting to be ridden and on this particular day a great bunch of people rode them.</p> <p><a href="https://www.strava.com/activities/887270360#21604110867" target="_blank">Strava Activity</a></p> <p> </p> </div> <footer class="entry-meta"> This entry was posted in <a href="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/category/uncategorized/" rel="category tag">Uncategorized</a> on <a href="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2017/03/06/the-famous-grus-swedish-dirt/" title="3:25 pm" rel="bookmark"><time class="entry-date" datetime="2017-03-06T15:25:24+00:00">March 6, 2017</time></a><span class="by-author"> by <span class="author vcard"><a class="url fn n" href="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/author/oscarahellstrom/" title="View all posts by oscarahellstrom" rel="author">oscarahellstrom</a></span></span>. </footer> </article> <article id="post-2566" class="post-2566 post type-post status-publish format-standard hentry category-uncategorized"> <header class="entry-header"> <h1 class="entry-title"> <a href="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2017/02/20/ive-got-nothing-to-wear/" rel="bookmark">“I’ve got nothing to wear”</a> </h1> <div class="comments-link"> <a href="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2017/02/20/ive-got-nothing-to-wear/#comments">5 Replies</a> </div> </header> <div class="entry-content"> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p>According to Nils, randonneurs have 1000 words to describe rain. When the temperature is ranging from 1 to 5 degrees Celcius and the rain is persistent we are on the invective rich end of the scale. Those are the days when even self proclaimed misery enthusiasts like myself wonder what the ?%>§ we’re doing out there. But that’s the weather we have in large parts of Scandinavia and you can’t sit and feel sorry for yourself 6-7 months of the year. I’ve used some of the nastiest winter rides to test my long distance equipment.</p> <p>As the faithful reader might recall I elaborated on my relationship with rain jackets last <a href="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2016/05/25/wait-what-why-double-trouble-malmo-600km-brevet-copenhagen-marathon/" target="_blank">year</a> (I still think it’s worth a read). There were two obvious areas for improvement on that wet 600km brevet – exposed forearms and the spray on my chest when I was riding on Nils’ wheel. Based on my experiences from that night I did make some adjustments to my equipment before Sverigetempot but I never really got to try them in anger. Yes, I know many of you will have seen that movie where it rains all the time but that time (and that time only) it didn’t rain on me.</p> <p>So, I’ve had to wait for winter to set in to get a chance to really test the foul weather setup that I’ve created. I know from talking to other cyclists that my setup is considered rather idiosyncratic – that’s why I’m sharing it with you!</p> <p>So, here’s what I’ve been wearing for my wettest, coldest and filthiest winter rides:</p> <ul> <li>Hi-viz gilet (Rapha Brevet) – you’ll want this for visibility and as a normal wind breaker. The rain gilet is too warm to wear all the time so you’d want to bring two gilets even if they were both hi-viz.</li> <li>Rain gilet (Rapha Pro Team) – this is a heavy duty rain garment, doesn’t leak much from either side. For me it’s perfect as it means the water on the torso is replenished quite slowly, significantly reducing the cooling effect. At the same time it leaves me exposed from the shoulders down and that (possibly combined with unzipping) means it’s easy to shed extra heat. This also means you can leave it on longer between showers without drowning in your own sweat.</li> <li>Wool(ish) cycling jersey (Rapha Brevet) – I’ve worn this jersey on a 400km brevet in 30 degrees C (though there are better options if the forecast is THAT good), very flexible.</li> <li>Merino base layer (Devold) – When spring arrives I’ll take merino arm warmers and a short sleeve baselayer instead as this is more flexible. In February I know I won’t want to ride with bare arms so long sleeve base is fine. Unless it’s cyclocross, hehe</li> <li>Merino base layer (Rapha mesh) – This is excellent!</li> <li>Water repellent arm warmers (Rapha Shadow) – your extremities start at the elbow…</li> </ul> <p>That’s it. That’s all you need. The great thing about this setup is that it keeps you warm when it needs to and let’s you cool down easily when you need to. Note I’ve never promised it keeps you dry. As you know I don’t believe anything will. It consists of multiple components that can be mixed and matched in a very large number of combinations as the conditions change. Remember, we’re talking about long rides here where you need to be able to adapt to the unknown 12, 24 or 48 hours from now, whilst carrying everything with you whether you’re using it or not.</p> <p>There’s a lot of Rapha on that list but as they don’t actually pay me for this post (rather the opposite) I should point out that there are many other companies that offer comparable products.</p> <p>Below is a little illustration of the described setup. Pictures taken Sunday February 19th upon my return from a 147km solo ride in aforementioned Danish winter weather…</p> <style type="text/css"> #gallery-2566-1 { margin: auto; } #gallery-2566-1 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 50%; } #gallery-2566-1 img { border: 2px solid #cfcfcf; } #gallery-2566-1 .gallery-caption { margin-left: 0; } /* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes/media.php */ </style> <div data-carousel-extra='{"blog_id":96420646,"permalink":"https:\/\/oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com\/2017\/02\/20\/ive-got-nothing-to-wear\/"}' id='gallery-2566-1' class='gallery galleryid-2566 gallery-columns-2 gallery-size-large'><dl class='gallery-item'> <dt class='gallery-icon portrait'> <a href='https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2017/02/20/ive-got-nothing-to-wear/img_6983/'><img width="768" height="1024" src="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/img_6983.jpg?w=768" class="attachment-large size-large" alt="" decoding="async" aria-describedby="gallery-2566-1-2618" srcset="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/img_6983.jpg?w=768 768w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/img_6983.jpg?w=1536 1536w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/img_6983.jpg?w=113 113w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/img_6983.jpg?w=225 225w" sizes="(max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px" data-attachment-id="2618" data-permalink="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2017/02/20/ive-got-nothing-to-wear/img_6983/" data-orig-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/img_6983.jpg" data-orig-size="2448,3264" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"2.2","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 6","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1487507259","copyright":"","focal_length":"4.15","iso":"32","shutter_speed":"0.01","title":"","orientation":"1","latitude":"55.632602777778","longitude":"12.572905555556"}" data-image-title="img_6983" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="<p>Look what the cat dragged in… (not sure why my left thigh is impersonating a track sprinter?)</p> " data-medium-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/img_6983.jpg?w=225" data-large-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/img_6983.jpg?w=768" /></a> </dt> <dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-2566-1-2618'> Look what the cat dragged in… (not sure why my left thigh is impersonating a track sprinter?) </dd></dl><dl class='gallery-item'> <dt class='gallery-icon portrait'> <a href='https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2017/02/20/ive-got-nothing-to-wear/img_6986/'><img width="768" height="1024" src="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/img_6986.jpg?w=768" class="attachment-large size-large" alt="" decoding="async" aria-describedby="gallery-2566-1-2617" srcset="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/img_6986.jpg?w=768 768w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/img_6986.jpg?w=1536 1536w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/img_6986.jpg?w=113 113w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/img_6986.jpg?w=225 225w" sizes="(max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px" data-attachment-id="2617" data-permalink="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2017/02/20/ive-got-nothing-to-wear/img_6986/" data-orig-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/img_6986.jpg" data-orig-size="2448,3264" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"2.2","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 6","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1487507360","copyright":"","focal_length":"4.15","iso":"40","shutter_speed":"0.01","title":"","orientation":"1","latitude":"55.632466666667","longitude":"12.57315"}" data-image-title="img_6986" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="<p>This rain gilet IS very tight. It works well, but looks a bit shit in a cafe so better just keep moving…</p> " data-medium-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/img_6986.jpg?w=225" data-large-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/img_6986.jpg?w=768" /></a> </dt> <dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-2566-1-2617'> This rain gilet IS very tight. It works well, but looks a bit shit in a cafe so better just keep moving… </dd></dl><br style="clear: both" /><dl class='gallery-item'> <dt class='gallery-icon portrait'> <a href='https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2017/02/20/ive-got-nothing-to-wear/img_6996/'><img width="768" height="1024" src="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/img_6996.jpg?w=768" class="attachment-large size-large" alt="" decoding="async" aria-describedby="gallery-2566-1-2612" srcset="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/img_6996.jpg?w=768 768w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/img_6996.jpg?w=1536 1536w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/img_6996.jpg?w=113 113w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/img_6996.jpg?w=225 225w" sizes="(max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px" data-attachment-id="2612" data-permalink="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2017/02/20/ive-got-nothing-to-wear/img_6996/" data-orig-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/img_6996.jpg" data-orig-size="2448,3264" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"2.2","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 6","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1487507409","copyright":"","focal_length":"4.15","iso":"32","shutter_speed":"0.0098039215686275","title":"","orientation":"1","latitude":"55.632466666667","longitude":"12.57315"}" data-image-title="img_6996" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="<p>Yes, I wear arm warmers on top of base layers (or double arm warmers). </p> " data-medium-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/img_6996.jpg?w=225" data-large-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/img_6996.jpg?w=768" /></a> </dt> <dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-2566-1-2612'> Yes, I wear arm warmers on top of base layers (or double arm warmers). </dd></dl><dl class='gallery-item'> <dt class='gallery-icon portrait'> <a href='https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2017/02/20/ive-got-nothing-to-wear/img_6998/'><img width="768" height="1024" src="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/img_6998.jpg?w=768" class="attachment-large size-large" alt="" decoding="async" aria-describedby="gallery-2566-1-2611" srcset="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/img_6998.jpg?w=768 768w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/img_6998.jpg?w=1536 1536w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/img_6998.jpg?w=113 113w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/img_6998.jpg?w=225 225w" sizes="(max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px" data-attachment-id="2611" data-permalink="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2017/02/20/ive-got-nothing-to-wear/img_6998/" data-orig-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/img_6998.jpg" data-orig-size="2448,3264" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"2.2","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 6","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1487507423","copyright":"","focal_length":"4.15","iso":"32","shutter_speed":"0.0080645161290323","title":"","orientation":"1","latitude":"55.632480555556","longitude":"12.573097222222"}" data-image-title="img_6998" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="<p>This mesh is great, dries out faster than heavier fabrics.</p> " data-medium-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/img_6998.jpg?w=225" data-large-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/img_6998.jpg?w=768" /></a> </dt> <dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-2566-1-2611'> This mesh is great, dries out faster than heavier fabrics. </dd></dl><br style="clear: both" /> </div> <p>Last but not least – if there’s anyone out there who still doesn’t own a pair of thermal bib shorts you need to go shopping NOW. Best piece of cycling clothing ever.</p> </div> <footer class="entry-meta"> This entry was posted in <a href="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/category/uncategorized/" rel="category tag">Uncategorized</a> on <a href="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2017/02/20/ive-got-nothing-to-wear/" title="8:30 pm" rel="bookmark"><time class="entry-date" datetime="2017-02-20T20:30:33+00:00">February 20, 2017</time></a><span class="by-author"> by <span class="author vcard"><a class="url fn n" href="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/author/oscarahellstrom/" title="View all posts by oscarahellstrom" rel="author">oscarahellstrom</a></span></span>. </footer> </article> <article id="post-2471" class="post-2471 post type-post status-publish format-standard has-post-thumbnail hentry category-uncategorized"> <header class="entry-header"> <img width="624" height="624" src="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/img_9377.jpg?w=624" class="attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/img_9377.jpg?w=624 624w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/img_9377.jpg?w=1248 1248w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/img_9377.jpg?w=150 150w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/img_9377.jpg?w=300 300w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/img_9377.jpg?w=768 768w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/img_9377.jpg?w=1024 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 624px) 100vw, 624px" data-attachment-id="2556" data-permalink="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2017/01/09/the-band-played-on/img_9377/" data-orig-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/img_9377.jpg" data-orig-size="2448,2448" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"2.4","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 5","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1466109157","copyright":"","focal_length":"4.12","iso":"50","shutter_speed":"0.001788908765653","title":"","orientation":"1","latitude":"55.632447222222","longitude":"12.573130555556"}" data-image-title="img_9377" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/img_9377.jpg?w=300" data-large-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/img_9377.jpg?w=960" /> <h1 class="entry-title"> <a href="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2017/01/09/the-band-played-on/" rel="bookmark">The Band Played On</a> </h1> <div class="comments-link"> <a href="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2017/01/09/the-band-played-on/#respond"><span class="leave-reply">Leave a reply</span></a> </div> </header> <div class="entry-content"> <p>Almost half a year has passed since my latest blog post, as even the not-so-observant reader might have noticed. One reason is that takes a while to digest an adventure like Sverigetempot. Another reason is that some of my blog posts during the summer almost created a circus freak persona and I suppose it’s been hard to convince myself that anyone will want to read about more down to earth things. I’m still not sure…</p> <div data-shortcode="caption" id="attachment_2556" style="width: 501px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-2556" data-attachment-id="2556" data-permalink="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2017/01/09/the-band-played-on/img_9377/" data-orig-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/img_9377.jpg" data-orig-size="2448,2448" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"2.4","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 5","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1466109157","copyright":"","focal_length":"4.12","iso":"50","shutter_speed":"0.001788908765653","title":"","orientation":"1","latitude":"55.632447222222","longitude":"12.573130555556"}" data-image-title="img_9377" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/img_9377.jpg?w=300" data-large-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/img_9377.jpg?w=960" loading="lazy" class="alignnone wp-image-2556" src="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/img_9377.jpg?w=491&h=491" alt="img_9377" width="491" height="491" srcset="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/img_9377.jpg?w=491&h=491 491w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/img_9377.jpg?w=982&h=982 982w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/img_9377.jpg?w=150&h=150 150w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/img_9377.jpg?w=300&h=300 300w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/img_9377.jpg?w=768&h=768 768w" sizes="(max-width: 491px) 100vw, 491px" /><p id="caption-attachment-2556" class="wp-caption-text">Catch the Rainbow – After School Special with Greg</p></div> <p> </p> <p>I’ve become rather fond of singing little songs from the road about things I do although most of them are very short and don’t really justify more than an instagram post. In some ways the awareness that I will attempt to retell my little “adventure” (let’s not get carried away… most the shit we do does NOT qualify as adventures) makes me reflect more about what I’m doing while I’m doing it. It sounds obvious but remembering to remember an experience makes it a better experience. I’m still receiving positive feedback for some of the stories on this blog, which is greatly appreciated and encouraging. In contrast it’s been months since anyone actively disliked me enough to give negative feedback…</p> <p>It’s a new year now and in the last few weeks many have summarized 2016 and set goals for 2017. 2016 in many ways was great. That stupid “Double Trouble” weekend was fantastic. I think I can now safely say that that marathon was the most horrendous mental and physical struggle I had all year. It really was entirely overwhelming to be in such severe discomfort whilst having my wife there for company the whole way. I think it’s actually the only time I’ve cried during a sporting event. It was just too much.</p> <p>Another memorable weekend was when I rode to Gothenburg for a near perfect combination of night riding, midsummer, Bruce Springsteen and good friends. If only it was possible to pack THAT much quality into everything you do. Time well spent.</p> <div data-shortcode="caption" id="attachment_2557" style="width: 359px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-2557" data-attachment-id="2557" data-permalink="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2017/01/09/the-band-played-on/img_9498/" data-orig-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/img_9498.jpg" data-orig-size="2448,3264" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"2.4","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 5","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1466739362","copyright":"","focal_length":"4.12","iso":"250","shutter_speed":"0.05","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="img_9498" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/img_9498.jpg?w=225" data-large-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/img_9498.jpg?w=768" loading="lazy" class="alignnone wp-image-2557" src="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/img_9498.jpg?w=349&h=465" alt="img_9498" width="349" height="465" srcset="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/img_9498.jpg?w=349&h=465 349w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/img_9498.jpg?w=698&h=930 698w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/img_9498.jpg?w=113&h=150 113w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/img_9498.jpg?w=225&h=300 225w" sizes="(max-width: 349px) 100vw, 349px" /><p id="caption-attachment-2557" class="wp-caption-text">Service Station Deluxe, somewhere in Halland</p></div> <p>There’s a serious side to how you spend your time and prioritize what to do. I know people who refrained from riding Sverigetempot for fear that it would make them hate something they love. Someone else I know got caught up chasing a goal of running a certain, very large number of kilometers in a year. That goal was ultimately reached, with many fantastic stories along the way, but the conclusion was that the furious hunt ended up taking some of the fun out of the sport.</p> <p>This is important. We’re junkies. It’s so easy to escalate. Don’t worry, I’m not about to announce my retirement, but I’m serious. I could crudely raise the bar and simply pick a larger number than 2165km next time, but that’s not what I’m going to do. I don’t feel I have anything to prove and I’m not willing to ask either myself or my family to pay the price that would come was I to chase “a larger number”. I don’t feel I have anything to prove.</p> <p>So instead I intend to spend 2017 doing fun stuff that comes in my way:</p> <ul> <li><a href="http://randonneurs.se/" target="_blank">The Swedish brevet calender</a> is out and shows a long season with some interesting starts. There’s the 400km night ride from Malmö on July 21st. There are also rumours that the 600km from Vänersborg on July 8th will be something out of the ordinary. To name a few. (Oh yeah, there is a 600k from Malmö the day before Copenhagen Marathon if anyone wants to have a go).</li> </ul> <ul> <li>My dear wife ran all three event of the <a href="http://www.ultracup.dk/" target="_blank">Ultracup</a> last year as is going back this season. As far as I know she has a free start number to give to “a friend” for the last race in August.</li> </ul> <ul> <li>I happen to have a concert ticket in Gothenburg this summer too…</li> </ul> <ul> <li>Before any of that there’s the <a href="https://app.lap.io/event/2016-soigneur-cx-cup" target="_blank">cyclocross</a> season to wrap up. There’s still mud out there.</li> </ul> <p>Then there are all the underground events that barely exist – rides and runs quickly scrambled on facebook. These often have the best roads, best company and best beer afterwards. It’s also no secret I like my own company.</p> <div data-shortcode="caption" id="attachment_2555" style="width: 495px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-2555" data-attachment-id="2555" data-permalink="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2017/01/09/the-band-played-on/img_0532/" data-orig-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/img_0532.jpg" data-orig-size="3264,2448" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"2.4","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 5","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1470086015","copyright":"","focal_length":"4.12","iso":"50","shutter_speed":"0.025","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="img_0532" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/img_0532.jpg?w=300" data-large-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/img_0532.jpg?w=960" loading="lazy" class=" wp-image-2555 aligncenter" src="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/img_0532.jpg?w=485&h=364" alt="img_0532" width="485" height="364" srcset="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/img_0532.jpg?w=485&h=364 485w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/img_0532.jpg?w=970&h=728 970w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/img_0532.jpg?w=150&h=113 150w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/img_0532.jpg?w=300&h=225 300w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/img_0532.jpg?w=768&h=576 768w" sizes="(max-width: 485px) 100vw, 485px" /><p id="caption-attachment-2555" class="wp-caption-text">(Some of) Norway’s Finest</p></div> <p>We’re now 9 days into the new year and I’ve already knocked out a few very good runs. I actually cheated and started the new year with some spectacular trail running in Norway at Christmas…. I think 2017 will be a good year… <a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/5VgXlY2RrjmZsZbOi7PFff" target="_blank">The Band Played On</a></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> </div> <footer class="entry-meta"> This entry was posted in <a href="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/category/uncategorized/" rel="category tag">Uncategorized</a> on <a href="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2017/01/09/the-band-played-on/" title="8:51 pm" rel="bookmark"><time class="entry-date" datetime="2017-01-09T20:51:05+00:00">January 9, 2017</time></a><span class="by-author"> by <span class="author vcard"><a class="url fn n" href="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/author/oscarahellstrom/" title="View all posts by oscarahellstrom" rel="author">oscarahellstrom</a></span></span>. </footer> </article> <article id="post-1428" class="post-1428 post type-post status-publish format-standard hentry category-cycling"> <header class="entry-header"> <h1 class="entry-title"> <a href="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2016/08/04/length-of-sweden-sverigetempot-race-report/" rel="bookmark">Length of Sweden – Sverigetempot Race Report</a> </h1> <div class="comments-link"> <a href="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2016/08/04/length-of-sweden-sverigetempot-race-report/#comments">11 Replies</a> </div> </header> <div class="entry-content"> <p><em>Warning – Long text. Short version: it was hard but fantastic and we f-ing did it.</em></p> <p>Sverigetempot. 2165km from Riksgränsen in the very north of Sweden to Smykehuk, the country’s southernmost point. For me this was a journey home to my native Skåne, a journey through the entire vastness of the country that I was born and raised in but still, at 33 years of age, have only seen selected parts of with my own eyes.</p> <p>In strictly physical terms the journey started on 09.00, Sunday July 17th 2016. Mentally the journey started months ago and subconsciously I think I’ve been on my way since I first heard about this event.</p> <p><strong><span style="line-height:1.7;">Before start – travel, preparation, anticipation</span></strong></p> <p><span style="line-height:1.7;">For a number of years now I’ve had a very strong dislike for events that involve more logistics than actual sports. So, it’s a good thing that the actual time and distance to ride is as extreme as it is because getting from Copenhagen to Riksgränsen isn’t entirely trivial.</span></p> <p>I took the morning flight from Copenhagen to Stockholm Friday July 15th and then the earliest possible connection to Kiruna, bringing me there at 14.25. That was the exact same minute THE bus for Narvik, stopping at Riksgränsen, departed. But, a taxi brought me to Kiruna train station in time for the day’s last train towards Narvik. The train essentially follows the same route as the first 130 km of Sverigetempot and through the train window I got my first glimpse of the route but more importantly – a part of the country I’d never seen before. To my urbanised eyes this was a two hour train ride through a vast wilderness.</p> <p><div data-shortcode="caption" id="attachment_2179" style="width: 383px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-2179" data-attachment-id="2179" data-permalink="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2016/08/04/length-of-sweden-sverigetempot-race-report/img_97571/" data-orig-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/img_97571.jpg" data-orig-size="2448,3264" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"2.4","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 5","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1468591738","copyright":"","focal_length":"4.12","iso":"160","shutter_speed":"0.05","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="IMG_9757[1]" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/img_97571.jpg?w=225" data-large-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/img_97571.jpg?w=768" loading="lazy" class=" wp-image-2179 aligncenter" src="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/img_97571.jpg?w=373&h=498" alt="IMG_9757[1]" width="373" height="498" srcset="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/img_97571.jpg?w=373&h=498 373w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/img_97571.jpg?w=746&h=996 746w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/img_97571.jpg?w=113&h=150 113w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/img_97571.jpg?w=225&h=300 225w" sizes="(max-width: 373px) 100vw, 373px" /><p id="caption-attachment-2179" class="wp-caption-text">Some days you should just avoid the in-flight magazine…</p></div>Outside the hotel/restaurant/supermarket/race HQ in Katterjokk there was a relative frenzy of activity this Friday evening. The majority of riders were starting the following morning and were busy with their final preparations. The general mood was still relaxed though with people chatting and looking at bikes. A few people I’d met before in various settings. Some I only knew from the online world and some were complete strangers. But the same call had brought us up north so we all had something in common. I’m very happy I decided to travel a day early as I would have missed out on this part otherwise.</p> <p>For me and the others in the second start the evening and following day was also spent discussing tactics and strategy – it’s good to know who intends to do what and how. While brevets strictly speaking are individual events, there are gains to be made if you manage to establish a well-functioning group. On the other hand it doesn’t make sense to keep a group together if ambitions and abilities within the group are too different. The 12 people in my start group contained several very strong and experienced cyclists who I could potentially ride with if I wanted to and they wanted to. But not everyone shows up to go full gas every time and eventually it seemed as if my objectives aligned best with those of Ian To and Toni Arndt.</p> <p>Ian from England is doing his first season with really long events but had just come off winning two ultra races in Italy (2200km) and Croatia (1400km) and was hungry for more. Ian and I have been in contact prior to the event so we have learned a little bit about each others strenghts.</p> <p>Toni is well known on the Swedish randonneuring scene for strong rides at PBP and other long events. Prior to Sverigetempot we knew each other only by reputation, but I think we’d both been looking forward to try a ride together with the other nutcase.</p> <p>Toni (and Jonas Nilsson) also holds the course record from Sverigetempot 2012 at 106 hours 20 minutes. This year we were facing an approximately 50km longer course but we were excited and optimistic about breaking the record and maybe even go under 100 hours.</p> <p>It was a lovely Friday evening in the land of the midnight sun. At around 23.00 Ian and I (who were sharing an apartment after an an online coincidence and some chatting in the weeks leading up to this) found ourselves restless and after a few minutes deliberation decided to go cycling. He’d never been to Norway so we rode a few kilometers past the border before turning around.</p> <div data-shortcode="caption" id="attachment_1519" style="width: 464px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1519" data-attachment-id="1519" data-permalink="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2016/08/04/length-of-sweden-sverigetempot-race-report/img_9846/" data-orig-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_9846.jpg" data-orig-size="2028,2028" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"2.4","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 5","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1468624322","copyright":"","focal_length":"4.12","iso":"64","shutter_speed":"0.0083333333333333","title":"","orientation":"1","latitude":"68.425152777778","longitude":"18.161033333333"}" data-image-title="IMG_9846" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_9846.jpg?w=300" data-large-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_9846.jpg?w=960" loading="lazy" class="alignnone wp-image-1519" src="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_9846.jpg?w=454&h=454" alt="IMG_9846" width="454" height="454" srcset="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_9846.jpg?w=454&h=454 454w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_9846.jpg?w=908&h=908 908w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_9846.jpg?w=150&h=150 150w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_9846.jpg?w=300&h=300 300w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_9846.jpg?w=768&h=768 768w" sizes="(max-width: 454px) 100vw, 454px" /><p id="caption-attachment-1519" class="wp-caption-text">Midnight Sun Shakedown</p></div> <p>Saturday July 16th 2016 saw the start for the first group. This was the group that had elected to ride under a 180 hour time limit (while my group had a maximum of 146 hours at our disposal). Some in that group because they needed all the time they could get and others because they are more sensible than I am and prefer to take on this adventure in a more relaxed manner. Yes, this is an event where doing 300km per day for a week in relative terms can be considered”relaxed”; anyway you look at it Sverigetempot is not for the faint hearted.</p> <p><div data-shortcode="caption" id="attachment_2180" style="width: 462px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-2180" data-attachment-id="2180" data-permalink="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2016/08/04/length-of-sweden-sverigetempot-race-report/img_98501/" data-orig-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/img_98501.jpg" data-orig-size="3264,2448" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"2.4","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 5","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1468658790","copyright":"","focal_length":"4.12","iso":"50","shutter_speed":"0.00060901339829476","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="IMG_9850[1]" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/img_98501.jpg?w=300" data-large-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/img_98501.jpg?w=960" loading="lazy" class=" wp-image-2180 aligncenter" src="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/img_98501.jpg?w=452&h=339" alt="IMG_9850[1]" width="452" height="339" srcset="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/img_98501.jpg?w=452&h=339 452w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/img_98501.jpg?w=904&h=678 904w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/img_98501.jpg?w=150&h=113 150w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/img_98501.jpg?w=300&h=225 300w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/img_98501.jpg?w=768&h=576 768w" sizes="(max-width: 452px) 100vw, 452px" /><p id="caption-attachment-2180" class="wp-caption-text">The first start group gathering across the border.</p></div>Some of us rode out to the start with the first group to give them a send off. At 09.00 sharp all 35 of them rolled from Norway past the sign marking the Swedish border and they were on their way. I rode alongside them for a bit before sprinting ahead to try to take some pictures. I didn’t get very far in the stiff headwind and as I returned to the hotel only to notice the rain coming in a little later I and the other guys considered ourselves quite lucky that we weren’t starting until the day after.</p> <p>The rest of the day was spent pacing around, checking bikes, chatting, eating, drinking coffee and the odd beer, all while we were watching the rain fall and fall and fall. In fact it rained all day and all night, 18 hours straight, until shortly before we rolled out to the start on Sunday morning.</p> <p><strong>Day 1 – The Mighty North – The Light Night</strong></p> <p>Some riders struggled with last minute mechanical problems causing them and some of their friends to hang back a bit. This meant that shortly after the start we were down to a group of eight. The wind had shifted in our favour so we were cruising along at around 35 km/h without putting too much effort in. It’s great to be underway, waiting around at the start was getting rather tedious as there weren’t anymore things to really do except get more nervous.</p> <p>The E10 towards Kiruna is indeed spectacular, winding its way along Torne Träsk and the mountains. Vegetation is scarce above the arctic circle making everything seem more dramatic. After about an hour on wet roads we were riding in the dry. In fact, this was as wet as we’d get on this ride – finally some luck with the weather on a long ride and what an occasion to cash in!</p> <div data-shortcode="caption" id="attachment_1531" style="width: 538px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1531" data-attachment-id="1531" data-permalink="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2016/08/04/length-of-sweden-sverigetempot-race-report/img_9909/" data-orig-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_9909.jpg" data-orig-size="3264,2448" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"2.4","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 5","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1468746705","copyright":"","focal_length":"4.12","iso":"50","shutter_speed":"0.0018083182640145","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="IMG_9909" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_9909.jpg?w=300" data-large-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_9909.jpg?w=960" loading="lazy" class=" wp-image-1531 aligncenter" src="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_9909.jpg?w=528&h=396" alt="IMG_9909" width="528" height="396" srcset="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_9909.jpg?w=528&h=396 528w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_9909.jpg?w=1056&h=792 1056w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_9909.jpg?w=150&h=113 150w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_9909.jpg?w=300&h=225 300w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_9909.jpg?w=768&h=576 768w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_9909.jpg?w=1024&h=768 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 528px) 100vw, 528px" /><p id="caption-attachment-1531" class="wp-caption-text">The group rolling along the spectacular E10</p></div> <p>The climate means the roads up north are frozen for much of the year. This means that a) they lead a very hard life and b) the necessary repairs must be completed in a rather short time window during summer. Consequently very long sections at the time are “under construction” and what’s left to ride on is a rough mix of gravel and coarse rocks. About 60km in I get the first puncture in the group and my first in a brevet since 2014. Guess I spent my luck on the weather, haha. Toni and Ian wait while I change the inner tube and we’re soon on our way again. It takes about an hour to catch the others again. I certainly don’t blame anyone else for not waiting, it was just a clear indication that the others didn’t expect to keep up with me in the long run anyway and actually it was pretty good to have the roles established early on.</p> <div data-shortcode="caption" id="attachment_1579" style="width: 462px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1579" data-attachment-id="1579" data-permalink="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2016/08/04/length-of-sweden-sverigetempot-race-report/img_9936/" data-orig-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_9936.jpg" data-orig-size="2448,3264" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"2.4","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 5","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1468751613","copyright":"","focal_length":"4.12","iso":"50","shutter_speed":"0.00092165898617512","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="IMG_9936" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_9936.jpg?w=225" data-large-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_9936.jpg?w=768" loading="lazy" class="alignnone wp-image-1579" src="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_9936.jpg?w=452&h=603" alt="IMG_9936" width="452" height="603" srcset="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_9936.jpg?w=452&h=603 452w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_9936.jpg?w=904&h=1206 904w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_9936.jpg?w=113&h=150 113w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_9936.jpg?w=225&h=300 225w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_9936.jpg?w=768&h=1024 768w" sizes="(max-width: 452px) 100vw, 452px" /><p id="caption-attachment-1579" class="wp-caption-text">Ian negotiating the roadworks.</p></div> <div data-shortcode="caption" id="attachment_1584" style="width: 459px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1584" data-attachment-id="1584" data-permalink="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2016/08/04/length-of-sweden-sverigetempot-race-report/img_9938/" data-orig-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_9938.jpg" data-orig-size="2448,3264" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"2.4","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 5","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1468751625","copyright":"","focal_length":"4.12","iso":"50","shutter_speed":"0.0023094688221709","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="IMG_9938" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_9938.jpg?w=225" data-large-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_9938.jpg?w=768" loading="lazy" class=" wp-image-1584 aligncenter" src="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_9938.jpg?w=449&h=599" alt="IMG_9938" width="449" height="599" srcset="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_9938.jpg?w=449&h=599 449w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_9938.jpg?w=898&h=1198 898w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_9938.jpg?w=113&h=150 113w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_9938.jpg?w=225&h=300 225w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_9938.jpg?w=768&h=1024 768w" sizes="(max-width: 449px) 100vw, 449px" /><p id="caption-attachment-1584" class="wp-caption-text">At least we did better than this guy….</p></div> <p>Once we caught the others the group continued at a rather high pace towards Kiruna. As the tailwind shifted to a cross wind we rode both in echelons and a Belgian chain. For some reason the intensity was pushed way up during the final 30km into Kiruna. When we eased off riding into the city we all looked around at each other; it appeared everyone felt that push was entirely unnecessary but no one wanted to take responsibility for initiating it… oh well.</p> <p>After a short stop at the Kiruna control (132km) we set out as a quartet with Manuel from Germany joining us for a couple of hours before dropping back. The road between Kiruna and Gällivare and onwards towards Porjus can only be described as monotonous. Endless straights lined with trees with only the odd river or scatter of houses to break it up for hours and hours. It’s ok to get bored but if you only see trees you’re kind of missing the point. The fact that you ride for hours along seemingly identical roads is a beautiful illustration of just how immense this part of Sweden is. Those who have read the book “Populärmusik från Vittula” might recall the discussion about the rivers in Norrland vs. those measly ones in Halland that Swedish school kids learn about. When you’re riding through Lappland it makes perfect sense; everything up here operates on a different scale and it’s that contrast to my (and most other people’s) everyday life that makes the initial part of the Sverigetempot journey so fascinating.</p> <div data-shortcode="caption" id="attachment_1523" style="width: 473px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1523" data-attachment-id="1523" data-permalink="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2016/08/04/length-of-sweden-sverigetempot-race-report/img_9975/" data-orig-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_9975.jpg" data-orig-size="2215,2215" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"2.4","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 5","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1468772144","copyright":"","focal_length":"4.12","iso":"50","shutter_speed":"0.00075585789871504","title":"","orientation":"1","latitude":"67.135322222222","longitude":"20.680280555556"}" data-image-title="IMG_9975" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_9975.jpg?w=300" data-large-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_9975.jpg?w=960" loading="lazy" class="alignnone wp-image-1523" src="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_9975.jpg?w=463&h=463" alt="IMG_9975" width="463" height="463" srcset="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_9975.jpg?w=463&h=463 463w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_9975.jpg?w=926&h=926 926w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_9975.jpg?w=150&h=150 150w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_9975.jpg?w=300&h=300 300w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_9975.jpg?w=768&h=768 768w" sizes="(max-width: 463px) 100vw, 463px" /><p id="caption-attachment-1523" class="wp-caption-text">Road. Trees. Road. Trees. Road. Trees.</p></div> <p>The entire section was ridden into a slight headwind, though not very strong by Copenhagen standards. The terrain is mostly flat and the road well suited to long steady pulls on the front and our trio rode well with 5-10km long pulls, meaning you got plenty of time to sit at the back looking around, eating and drinking. Readers of this blog have probably figured out that I can ride a bike, so it’s only fair that I state in no uncertain terms that so can Toni and Ian.</p> <p>We took a quick stop in Gällivare to fill up some water and could see on the tracker that we were rather far ahead of the of the others so we carried on feeling quite relaxed and generally good about ourselves.</p> <p>As you approach Porjus the landscape changes somewhat. There is more water with huge hydropower stations who have also brought slightly more houses with them. Porjus itself has lots of large, beautiful wooden villas overlooking the water. After Porjus we encountered the longest stretch of roadworks, at least 7km of uninterrupted rough gravel. Back home me and my friends seek out dirt roads on our road bikes for fun and so I rather enjoyed riding through these roadworks. So did Toni while Ian declared he “hates this shit” and nursed his bike through. Probably a wise move as mine and Toni’s enthusiasm resulted in “The Great Porjus Puncture Fest”. With 600km to the drop bag in Östersund we were rapidly running out of inner tubes… not good.</p> <div data-shortcode="caption" id="attachment_1521" style="width: 472px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1521" data-attachment-id="1521" data-permalink="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2016/08/04/length-of-sweden-sverigetempot-race-report/img_9987/" data-orig-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_9987.jpg" data-orig-size="2317,2317" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"2.4","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 5","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1468784007","copyright":"","focal_length":"4.12","iso":"50","shutter_speed":"0.002212389380531","title":"","orientation":"1","latitude":"66.903072222222","longitude":"19.826866666667"}" data-image-title="IMG_9987" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_9987.jpg?w=300" data-large-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_9987.jpg?w=960" loading="lazy" class="alignnone wp-image-1521" src="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_9987.jpg?w=462&h=462" alt="IMG_9987" width="462" height="462" srcset="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_9987.jpg?w=462&h=462 462w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_9987.jpg?w=924&h=924 924w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_9987.jpg?w=150&h=150 150w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_9987.jpg?w=300&h=300 300w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_9987.jpg?w=768&h=768 768w" sizes="(max-width: 462px) 100vw, 462px" /><p id="caption-attachment-1521" class="wp-caption-text">Toni’s turn to fix a flat. That ain’t no ordinary #sportgrus</p></div> <p>At around 21.00 we rolled in to the control in Jokkmokk (344km) for our first “proper” meal of the ride – sausages and mashed potatoes at Statoil (no, not a single sign of a CircleK logo in case you wondered). Our puncture extravaganza had taken some time so before we had finished eating Peter, Martin and Josef walked in to enjoy a similarly glorious rando meal. This would be the last time we bumped into Josef and Martin while Peter eventually arrived in Östersund before we left)</p> <p>We met lots of friendly and curious people along the route. Outside Statoil in Jokkmokk some local guys took a careful look at our bikes before they laughingly questioned why we’d brought lights – we weren’t headed for darkness just yet. I’m not sure if this is a reflection on people in Norrland in general or if they’re just better at hiding what they actually think of you but most seemed genuinely interested in our adventure.</p> <p>After a rather long stop in Jokkmokk we headed into the night. The next control was Vilhelmina an astonishing 370km away. We would need to stop a few times on the way but there really aren’t many options on this stretch of road. It was a cold night, 2-3 degrees and rather damp. Luckily we were feeling strong and didn’t suffer any mishaps so we could keep on riding pretty much all night. Riding one night non-stop is pretty standard fare in this sport so I don’t think anyone was particularly challenged sleep wise. The mood was good during this night and we kept making good speed.</p> <p>At around 04.00 we got the Arvidsjaur were the organisers Peter and Kalle had set up a little roadside depot with coffee, some snacks and water to fill up our bottles. We’d covered the first 500km in 19 hours and were doing very well. We didn’t hang around long as it was cold and we were being eaten alive by mosquitoes.</p> <p>It was mutually agreed before the start that we would try to reached the manned control in Östersund (955km) before the first real sleep. After Arvidsjaur you turn left in order to stay on the E45 and the road sign didn’t leave anyone in doubt about the day’s task: “Östersund 441”.</p> <p><strong>Day 2 – Joining Forces</strong></p> <p>We rode onwards through the early morning hours towards Sorsele (580km) where past Sverigetempot competitor Kalle Gunnar was also handing out coffee and sandwiches from the back of his car. Here it should be noted that while Sverigetempot is an unsupported event it is allowed for friends and strangers alike to cheer along the route and also bring some refreshments. There are events out there that pretty much prohibit any contact with people along but at Sverigetempot the key is that you don’t ride with organised following support. I had no issues eating a fair amount while Toni was struggling a bit more with his appetite at this point and Ian used the short break to sleep rather than eat. The plan was to ride to Storuman 70 km down the road and have an enormous hotel breakfast – a strategy successfully used by Toni in the past.</p> <p>The road between Arvidsjaur and Storuman isn’t terribly exiting either. At one point approaching Storuman I swung off the front in despair, convinced I was riding the same bloody hill for the fourth time – not very steep or long, just an annoying drag curving right so you can’t quite see the top. The most exiting thing we encountered was a confused reindeer trying to run away from us (successfully, granted) along the road rather than just get off it.</p> <p>After 25 hours of riding we rolled into Storuman (650km) only to discover we were an hour late for breakfast. Thanks to Kalle Gunnar’s little aid station I wasn’t exactly dying from starvation but it was still very disappointing to be denied the bacon and egg excess I’d been looking forward to. We have since learned that there might have been other options such as supermarkets had we been desperate, but we wanted cooked food now. After a 10 minute rest on the lawn outside the hotel we set off for Vilhemina 70 km away hoping to get there at a suitable time for lunch.</p> <p>Leaving Storuman the landscape again opened up with more houses, more lakes and more open views. It was a rather lovely day in fact and our trio powered along in a tight TTT formation. Our little group works well together with eveyone taking good, solid pulls at the front. We encourage each other, complementing good efforts and generally maintain a high spirit and focus. Approaching Vilhelmina we also started catching riders from the first start and it’s always nice to exchange a few words before carrying on. In Vilhelmina (715km) we had essentially done one third of the course in 28 hours. We hadn’t really slept at all and food wise we were more getting by than doing something truly sustainable so it was inevitable that the pace would drop. But for now we were happy tucking into fläskpannkaka and sausages at the buffet lunch. Some poor people came in after us…</p> <p>After Vilhelmina I finally worked up the courage to take the leg warmers off. I’d been scared that the leg pain I suffered on the 600k in May would come back and doing 1500km with that would not be pleasant. But now it was so warm I felt safe. We continued chugging along the occassionally passing people from the first start. Most of them held a significantly lower pace than us but when we stopped for a toilet and ice cream break in Dorotea Martin (who I know from some of the Malmö brevets) came storming in from the cafe across the road very pleased to have found someone to ride with for a bit. He had adopted the strategy of riding fast in between eating and sleeping well, which left him rather lonely on the road.</p> <div data-shortcode="caption" id="attachment_1593" style="width: 531px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1593" data-attachment-id="1593" data-permalink="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2016/08/04/length-of-sweden-sverigetempot-race-report/img_0029/" data-orig-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_0029.jpg" data-orig-size="3264,2448" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"2.4","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 5","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1468860954","copyright":"","focal_length":"4.12","iso":"50","shutter_speed":"0.0031152647975078","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="IMG_0029" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_0029.jpg?w=300" data-large-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_0029.jpg?w=960" loading="lazy" class=" wp-image-1593 aligncenter" src="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_0029.jpg?w=521&h=391" alt="IMG_0029" width="521" height="391" srcset="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_0029.jpg?w=521&h=391 521w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_0029.jpg?w=1042&h=782 1042w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_0029.jpg?w=150&h=113 150w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_0029.jpg?w=300&h=225 300w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_0029.jpg?w=768&h=576 768w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_0029.jpg?w=1024&h=768 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 521px) 100vw, 521px" /><p id="caption-attachment-1593" class="wp-caption-text">Martin from the first start kept us company between Dorotea and Östersund and also showed us Frasses in Strömsund. Haven’t been to Frasses? Guess you haven’t been to Norrland then 😉</p></div> <p>We continued as a quartet, all aiming to get to Östersund before midnight. At one point we lost Martin due to a mechanical but shortly after that our trio stopped for a 10 minute power nap and when we got back on the road we quickly found him again. It was nice with some new company for us and any company for Martin.</p> <p>Following a food stop in Strömsund, where I also managed to skype with wife and kids for a brief moment, we rolled into a glorious summer evening with sun drenched fields, blue skies and lakes. At some point at least I realised that the 110km between Strömsund and Östersund was a bit too much to be just a cruise at this stage of the ride. But despite our now rather serious lack of sleep we kept it together well and Martin’s presence also meant we could tell the jokes and stories of the previous two days without the need to think of new ones.</p> <div data-shortcode="caption" id="attachment_1520" style="width: 543px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1520" data-attachment-id="1520" data-permalink="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2016/08/04/length-of-sweden-sverigetempot-race-report/img_0039/" data-orig-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_0039.jpg" data-orig-size="3264,2448" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"2.4","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 5","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1468870227","copyright":"","focal_length":"4.12","iso":"50","shutter_speed":"0.0006269592476489","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="IMG_0039" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_0039.jpg?w=300" data-large-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_0039.jpg?w=960" loading="lazy" class="alignnone wp-image-1520" src="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_0039.jpg?w=533&h=400" alt="IMG_0039" width="533" height="400" srcset="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_0039.jpg?w=533&h=400 533w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_0039.jpg?w=1066&h=800 1066w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_0039.jpg?w=150&h=113 150w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_0039.jpg?w=300&h=225 300w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_0039.jpg?w=768&h=576 768w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_0039.jpg?w=1024&h=768 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 533px) 100vw, 533px" /><p id="caption-attachment-1520" class="wp-caption-text">Somewhere between Strömsund and Östersund. Seeing farmed land was rather heartwarming.</p></div> <p>The evening started turning to night and getting rather chilly so at some point we had to crank up the intensity a bit to stay warm rather than stop to change clothes. When we thought we were very nearly at the control it turned out that the route out the airport at Frösön consisted mostly of steep, annoying hills. Not quite what you need when you just want to go to bed.</p> <p>Upon arrival at the control (955km) at around 23.30 it turned out our trio wasn’t quite in agreement as to how long this sleep should be. In the end it was concluded that we’d order wake up at 03.30, giving us perhaps a longer rest than I had originally expected. On the other hand here we had access to actual beds indoors and so getting a better rest now would likely pay off next day when sleeping facilities might be ok, but certainly not as favourable as here. I showered and ate some food (pasta, yoghurt, nutella sandwiches… anything they had really haha) before going to bed stark naked. If you’ve made it this far in this text you’re interested enough to deserve to know that some fresh air around certain areas is most welcome after sitting on a bike for 39 hours.</p> <p>Quite a few of the early starters, many of which I knew at least a bit, were sitting casually at the control, not riding again until morning. Despite the lack of sleep it was time well spent to chat a bit with them, hear some of their stories and gossip from the three days of riding this group had had. It can be lonely out on the road even in a trio and any external injections are welcome to keep your mind occupied. At this point we weren’t even halfway through but already so many things had happened to so many people. Some had abandoned the race due to injury, some were behind schedule due to either physical or mechanical problems. Each rider had his or her head full of impression. There were still 1200km to go.</p> <p>I got out of bed at 3.15 for some more undulgence: at this control each rider got access to a drop bag (a shoe box) containing whatever you had the sense to put in it before the start. Feeling very happy I put on a complete change of cycling clothes. I also packed my bike with all the four spare tubes and the extra patch kit I had in the drop bag and picked up a fresh battery pack for my GPS.</p> <p><strong>Day 3 – In for the long haul – Headed for disaster</strong></p> <p>After this beauty sleep and calorie rich food we quite literally “rode out at dawn”. And what a morning it was. Storsjön is big and you spend the better part of the morning riding along it amongst, fields, trees and houses. Anyone notice a trend that I’m happier when water is within sight? The morning was so lovely it took us quite a while to realise it was bloody freezing. The downside of the very slow sunsets up north (ok ok, we were now smack in the middle of the country but I’m from the actual south so deal with it!) is equally slow sunrises, meaning you see the sun for hours before it provides any noticeable heat.</p> <div data-shortcode="caption" id="attachment_1524" style="width: 555px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1524" data-attachment-id="1524" data-permalink="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2016/08/04/length-of-sweden-sverigetempot-race-report/img_0062/" data-orig-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_0062.jpg" data-orig-size="3264,2448" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"2.4","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 5","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1468906149","copyright":"","focal_length":"4.12","iso":"50","shutter_speed":"0.00071890726096334","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="IMG_0062" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_0062.jpg?w=300" data-large-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_0062.jpg?w=960" loading="lazy" class=" wp-image-1524 aligncenter" src="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_0062.jpg?w=545&h=409" alt="IMG_0062" width="545" height="409" srcset="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_0062.jpg?w=545&h=409 545w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_0062.jpg?w=1090&h=818 1090w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_0062.jpg?w=150&h=113 150w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_0062.jpg?w=300&h=225 300w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_0062.jpg?w=768&h=576 768w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_0062.jpg?w=1024&h=768 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 545px) 100vw, 545px" /><p id="caption-attachment-1524" class="wp-caption-text">Early bird extraordinaire by Storsjön.</p></div> <p> </p> <p>After Åsarna we turned left of the beaten track and rode past the signs marking the end of the public road. Gently humming bob hund (if you know you know) in my head we climbed “The Peter Tonér Hill” before rejoining the main road towards the control in Vemdalen. The road past Klövsjö and Vemdalsskalet are some of the few extended actual climbs on the Sverigetempot route. Sweden does have mountains but the mountainous regions are very scarcely populated meaning there aren’t really any roads. With these climbs having such limited significance in the grand scheme of things we all took it quite easy. It was even suggested that we’d be better off awarding the mountain points on the descents as that was were we put the effort in.</p> <p><div data-shortcode="caption" id="attachment_2183" style="width: 559px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-2183" data-attachment-id="2183" data-permalink="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2016/08/04/length-of-sweden-sverigetempot-race-report/img_00711/" data-orig-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/img_00711.jpg" data-orig-size="3264,2448" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"2.4","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 5","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1468917181","copyright":"","focal_length":"4.12","iso":"50","shutter_speed":"0.00086730268863833","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="IMG_0071[1]" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/img_00711.jpg?w=300" data-large-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/img_00711.jpg?w=960" loading="lazy" class=" wp-image-2183 aligncenter" src="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/img_00711.jpg?w=549&h=412" alt="IMG_0071[1]" width="549" height="412" srcset="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/img_00711.jpg?w=549&h=412 549w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/img_00711.jpg?w=1098&h=824 1098w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/img_00711.jpg?w=150&h=113 150w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/img_00711.jpg?w=300&h=225 300w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/img_00711.jpg?w=768&h=576 768w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/img_00711.jpg?w=1024&h=768 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 549px) 100vw, 549px" /><p id="caption-attachment-2183" class="wp-caption-text">Descending to Klövsjö. Toni in alpine mode. Ski slopes lacking snow.</p></div>The Vemdalen control (as per usual when I say “control”, apart from Östersund which was manned by the organisers, its really just any establishment or individual that can validate your card such that you can prove you’ve been there) at 1085km marked the half waypoint of the ride. We were there in just under 49 hours and things were looking good. 100 hours was looking fairly tight already but the course record was certainly within reach.</p> <p>On the (boring) road between Vemdalen and Sveg we overtook the (at least according to the tracker) leading rider from the first start group, meaning we were now first on the road. The road to Sveg is rather uninspiring, but all three of us were feeling fresh (or at least no one let on) so we were powering along delivering what must have been our best 2 hour segment since day 1. In Sveg we opted for lunch (stekt fläsk, for those concerned about our diets) rather than posing with the world’s largest wooden bear and then set off on the 170km leg to Älvdalen via Särna.</p> <div data-shortcode="caption" id="attachment_1540" style="width: 520px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1540" data-attachment-id="1540" data-permalink="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2016/08/04/length-of-sweden-sverigetempot-race-report/img_0081/" data-orig-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_0081.jpg" data-orig-size="2448,3264" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"2.4","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 5","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1468933175","copyright":"","focal_length":"4.12","iso":"50","shutter_speed":"0.0005720823798627","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="IMG_0081" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_0081.jpg?w=225" data-large-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_0081.jpg?w=768" loading="lazy" class="alignnone wp-image-1540" src="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_0081.jpg?w=510&h=681" alt="IMG_0081" width="510" height="681" srcset="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_0081.jpg?w=510&h=681 510w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_0081.jpg?w=1020&h=1360 1020w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_0081.jpg?w=113&h=150 113w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_0081.jpg?w=225&h=300 225w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_0081.jpg?w=768&h=1024 768w" sizes="(max-width: 510px) 100vw, 510px" /><p id="caption-attachment-1540" class="wp-caption-text">Toni taking a selfie full of symbolism on the spot outside Sveg where he abandoned Sverigetempot, cold and disillusioned, in 2014. This time things were very different.</p></div> <p>In previous years the route has gone straight to Älvdalen from Lillhärdal. But this year due to very significant roadworks on that stretch we were re-routed past Särna. This brought in a new element – The Quest for the most mind-numbingly dull road in Sweden! I haven’t cycled all roads in Sweden but out of all the kilometers ridden so far Särnavägen in Härjedalen gets my nomination. The tarmac was crap. Not in a fun way, but just an annoying way. The trees lining it were entirely uninteresting. Just big enough to block the view completely. All cars drove past doing what seemed like 200km/h towing mobile homes. I can understand their eagerness to get out of there…</p> <p>At Särna the road turns left/south towards Älvdalen before entering the village so despite diminishing water supplies we started the 80km remaining before our dinner break. Now it needs to be said that Särna-Älvdalen is a rather nice stretch of road with many fast descents and, as you get closer to the end, fantastic views of Dalälven. So, ww weren’t suffering too badly although the eagerness to get some food meant we pushed the pace very hard the last hour.</p> <div data-shortcode="caption" id="attachment_1545" style="width: 507px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1545" data-attachment-id="1545" data-permalink="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2016/08/04/length-of-sweden-sverigetempot-race-report/img_0090/" data-orig-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_0090.jpg" data-orig-size="3264,2448" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"2.4","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 5","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1468944389","copyright":"","focal_length":"4.12","iso":"50","shutter_speed":"0.0008298755186722","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="IMG_0090" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_0090.jpg?w=300" data-large-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_0090.jpg?w=960" loading="lazy" class="alignnone wp-image-1545" src="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_0090.jpg?w=497&h=373" alt="IMG_0090" width="497" height="373" srcset="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_0090.jpg?w=497&h=373 497w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_0090.jpg?w=994&h=746 994w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_0090.jpg?w=150&h=113 150w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_0090.jpg?w=300&h=225 300w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_0090.jpg?w=768&h=576 768w" sizes="(max-width: 497px) 100vw, 497px" /><p id="caption-attachment-1545" class="wp-caption-text">Särnavägen in Härjedalen, possibly the most boring road in the world. Crappy tarmac and all those shit small trees lacking that are only good for blocking the view.</p></div> <p>It is exceedingly popular amongst Swedish randonneurs to eat pizza. Those of you who has followed Sverigetempot or any other brevet will know this. On the brevets from Malmö Nils and I have actively tried to get away from this, simply because it isn’t very efficient time wise (and lets face it, not nutrition wise either). But we were now approaching the end of the third day and at least Toni really wanted pizza. But this was not to be an ordinary pizza meal but instead The Almost Famous Älvdalen Feast. As we rolled through town I was the first one to express concern about the amount of energy in a single pizza, suggesting I might order two… When we stepped in to the restaurant Ian quickly bettered that by ordering a burger meny and a pizza, an order which I copied. Toni ordered a pizza and a portion of bacon and eggs which he duly dumped on top of his pizza. The mood was very good as we ate our food (of course we ate it, we’d covered more than 1300km by now) and we made plans for the coming night. We’d try to make it to Lesjöfors for some sleep at the (in)famous Esperantogården. This was almost 180km away so it would be early morning at best when we got there.</p> <p>During the third night its only fair to say we collectively failed on a number of accounts. It’s not always easy to tell when someone is struggling either physically, mentally or both, especially with people you’ve never ridden with before. Sometimes people will drift off the back, other times stay at the front for too long while letting the speed drop and drop. Indecision regarding clothing or food can be one sign as can a lack of focus on getting the critical things done at controls; stamp your card, fill your bottles, buy food. Remaining patient and supportive when you yourself is close to the limit, but someone else is slightly worse off, isn’t easy either.</p> <p><span style="line-height:1.7;">It remains somewhat unclear exactly what happened during the third night but we all did things we shouldn’t have. It’s hard to say exactly when things started going wrong. After Älvdalen the route follows nice, small roads past many places known from Vasaloppet. I even sprinted symbolically at the Evertsberg sign to have something to do. It was a lovely evening and actually rather warm. At the control in Venjan (1367km) there’s nothing open at 22.30 so we took pictures of ourselves in front of the village sign and things seem fine.</span></p> <p>Riding towards Vansbro it is getting dark (we’re now definitely far enough south for this) and both Ian and I are feeling sleepy while Toni is having a good period. We stop twice in short succession for a 10 minute nap. It’s easy to say afterwards that we should have slept more while it was still warm but the fact is that nobody voiced such an opinion as we all hoped to make it to Lesjöfors and be able to sleep inside. Maybe we overrated ourselves, the sleep we’d had in Östersund or something else but Lesjöfors was now only 60km away and you would think we should be able to make that.</p> <p>Somewhere after Vansbro I realise I am really struggling. I can’t for the life of me hold the wheels of the others. The pace isn’t spectacularly high as Toni is doing his best to keep Ian awake by telling anecdotes about wallabies, but I just can’t concentrate on staying close and constantly find myself dangling off the back. I claw my way back a few times but then drift 10, 20, 50, 100, 200 metres behind. After a while Ian has plugged his headphones in (I assume there are only so many things to say about wallabies) to help keep awake and begins to ride in a rather erratic way; inconsistent pace, sometimes dropping us, sometimes falling behind Toni. In retrospect he’s off course very tired but there and then I find it somewhat selfish to put the headphones in when I’m also in trouble and we need to help each other rather than isolate ourselves.</p> <p>I’m mostly hopelessly off the back, eventually swerving onto the wrong side of the road and the situation is getting desperate (this was in fact the only time during the entire ride that I felt what I was doing wasn’t safe. Luckily this didn’t last long). Somewhere here Toni has the clarity to decide that we’re not gonna make it to Lesjöfors like this; a break is necessary and somehow he manages to pull us all together on the road. It’s now around 04.00, damp, cold and there’s nowhere to hide.</p> <p>Toni and I find some sort of insect farm about 2 metres from the road where we curl up in aluminium foil blankets on top of a mix of wet grass and dirty tarmac. Ian doesn’t have a blanket so we agree that he’ll carry on to the nearest bus stop and sleep there, then we will come and collect him when we wake up. Following about half an hour on the ground with some of the worst sleep I’ve ever had we give up and get back on our bikes. Despite the awful resting place it now seems realistic to complete the remaining 35km to Lesjöfors. We ride for quite some time without any trace of Ian and when we finally see him he’s riding further up the road and we’re not too far from Lesjöfors. Toni and I aren’t riding very fast nor is Ian so it takes us a while to actually catch up with him. I’m not sure he realised we were chasing at this point, maybe he thought we’d gone ahead? When we finally make contact not much of an effort is made by any of us to assess the situation and I actually don’t think anyone said anything here. Toni and I take turns on the front and while we realised there was a gap back to Ian we thought it was small, expecting him to close it like we’d just closed the gap to him. When we get to Lesjöfors the gap to Ian has grown so big we can’t see him anymore even after waiting down at the crossroads for a while. During the last three days no one has stood out as a weaker cyclist than the others and with the exhaustion only just kept at bay it seems odd more than anything else that he’s out of sight. Why didn’t he say something when he was dropped? Does he not want to ride with us? Confusion is the word best describing the situation.</p> <p>As a temporary duo we make our way to Esperantogården and send Ian a message describing how to find us. When he walks in a few minutes later everybody’s pissed off for various reasons. Accusations fly through the air about who should have waited for who when, what should have been done, what shouldn’t have been done and who said and meant what. The discussion is equally heated and pointless. We’re all much too tired to see the big picture and we’ve all made mistakes. We sleep. When we wake up the argument continues. We have ridden close to 1500km now but still have almost 700km remaining. We’re all struggling with sore legs, hands and arses. The mood is crap after the night’s fiasco. This is the absolute low point of the trip.</p> <p><div data-shortcode="caption" id="attachment_2182" style="width: 386px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-2182" data-attachment-id="2182" data-permalink="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2016/08/04/length-of-sweden-sverigetempot-race-report/img_01231/" data-orig-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/img_01231.jpg" data-orig-size="960,1280" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"2.4","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 5","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1468998267","copyright":"","focal_length":"2.18","iso":"250","shutter_speed":"0.066666666666667","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="IMG_0123[1]" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/img_01231.jpg?w=225" data-large-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/img_01231.jpg?w=768" loading="lazy" class=" wp-image-2182 aligncenter" src="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/img_01231.jpg?w=376&h=502" alt="IMG_0123[1]" width="376" height="502" srcset="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/img_01231.jpg?w=376&h=502 376w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/img_01231.jpg?w=752&h=1004 752w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/img_01231.jpg?w=113&h=150 113w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/img_01231.jpg?w=225&h=300 225w" sizes="(max-width: 376px) 100vw, 376px" /><p id="caption-attachment-2182" class="wp-caption-text">Lesjöfors. Wednesday morning 7am. What if this is as good as it gets?</p></div><strong>Day 4 – Regroup, Recover, Ride</strong></p> <p>On leaving Lesjöfors the argument turns to stubborn silence for a while until we all seem to realise that having slept about 4 hours in three nights isn’t a good enough excuse to act like a man-sized baby. So we get the chat going, apologise for being idiots and decide to get on with things. We know that Toni’s mother-in-law is waiting with breakfast in Hällefors just over an hour away and this combined with some lovely roads through the old silver mining country helps lift the spirit.</p> <p><div data-shortcode="caption" id="attachment_2262" style="width: 513px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-2262" data-attachment-id="2262" data-permalink="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2016/08/04/length-of-sweden-sverigetempot-race-report/img_01321/" data-orig-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/img_01321.jpg" data-orig-size="3264,2448" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"2.4","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 5","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1469004014","copyright":"","focal_length":"4.12","iso":"50","shutter_speed":"0.0024330900243309","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="IMG_0132[1]" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/img_01321.jpg?w=300" data-large-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/img_01321.jpg?w=960" loading="lazy" class="alignnone wp-image-2262" src="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/img_01321.jpg?w=503&h=377" alt="IMG_0132[1]" width="503" height="377" srcset="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/img_01321.jpg?w=503&h=377 503w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/img_01321.jpg?w=1006&h=754 1006w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/img_01321.jpg?w=150&h=113 150w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/img_01321.jpg?w=300&h=225 300w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/img_01321.jpg?w=768&h=576 768w" sizes="(max-width: 503px) 100vw, 503px" /><p id="caption-attachment-2262" class="wp-caption-text">Back in Black headed for Hällefors.</p></div>When we reach Hällefors the sun has warmed everything up and we sit on a bench outside the petrol station and tuck into copious amounts of sandwiches, eggs and coffee. I particularly enjoy the apples, it’s lovely to eat something fresh after three days subsiding on stodgy fast-food.</p> <p>The road from Hällefors down to the control in Karlskoga is very nice. Approaching 1600km it is now very evident that we’re all struggling with some pains and aches. There are periods where you can only sit on the saddle for a few seconds before you feel a desperate need to change position, get out of the saddle, just doing something different. This is hard to do at the front as your expected to maintain a steady pace when you’re there. It’s pretty easy to tell when someone’s having a bad period as they tend to get off the front after only a short turn. But then suddenly the body accepts its fate and goes confortaby numb for, typically, at least a few hours before it resumes begging you to stop. We’re all going through the same cycles but mostly out of sync so generally at least one or two of us can carry on doing useful works</p> <p>In Karlskoga (1595km) we have another spectacular sausage and mash lunch (with räksallad, yes). For the first time since the start I hear the sirens of an emergency vehicle and it gives me a suprisingly homely feeling. The weather has turned into actual summer and I put on the superlight jersey and thin socks I’ve carried since Östersund and with that I’ve used every piece of clothing I brought on the ride. In the future I will still try to pack lighter, but with such a geographically vast course you need to prepare for at least some eventualities and I think I came quite close to meeting my own needs in a suitable way.</p> <div data-shortcode="caption" id="attachment_1555" style="width: 494px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1555" data-attachment-id="1555" data-permalink="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2016/08/04/length-of-sweden-sverigetempot-race-report/img_0138/" data-orig-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_0138.jpg" data-orig-size="2448,2448" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"2.4","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 5","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1469021136","copyright":"","focal_length":"4.12","iso":"50","shutter_speed":"0.0027472527472527","title":"","orientation":"1","latitude":"59.254575","longitude":"14.469711111111"}" data-image-title="IMG_0138" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_0138.jpg?w=300" data-large-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_0138.jpg?w=960" loading="lazy" class=" wp-image-1555 aligncenter" src="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_0138.jpg?w=484&h=484" alt="IMG_0138" width="484" height="484" srcset="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_0138.jpg?w=484&h=484 484w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_0138.jpg?w=968&h=968 968w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_0138.jpg?w=150&h=150 150w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_0138.jpg?w=300&h=300 300w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_0138.jpg?w=768&h=768 768w" sizes="(max-width: 484px) 100vw, 484px" /><p id="caption-attachment-1555" class="wp-caption-text">Beauty sleep outside Degerfors. Rando-life at its finest.</p></div> <p>The approximate hour’s sleep in an unmade bed in Lesjöfors had worn off after lunch and outside Degerfors we call a 30 minute break. Obviously, this is how and when you should sleep when you’re riding in this way. The grass is dry and the sun is warm – you don’t need blankets or extra clothes and you’re woken by the alarm on the phone and not from shivering or being eaten by bugs. If every long-distance brevet course had sun drenched soft lawns next to lakes at even intervals this would be a very pleasant sport!</p> <div data-shortcode="caption" id="attachment_1556" style="width: 489px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1556" data-attachment-id="1556" data-permalink="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2016/08/04/length-of-sweden-sverigetempot-race-report/img_0140/" data-orig-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_0140.jpg" data-orig-size="3264,2448" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"2.4","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 5","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1469022183","copyright":"","focal_length":"4.12","iso":"50","shutter_speed":"0.00023900573613767","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="IMG_0140" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_0140.jpg?w=300" data-large-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_0140.jpg?w=960" loading="lazy" class=" wp-image-1556 aligncenter" src="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_0140.jpg?w=479&h=359" alt="IMG_0140" width="479" height="359" srcset="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_0140.jpg?w=479&h=359 479w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_0140.jpg?w=958&h=718 958w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_0140.jpg?w=150&h=113 150w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_0140.jpg?w=300&h=225 300w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_0140.jpg?w=768&h=576 768w" sizes="(max-width: 479px) 100vw, 479px" /><p id="caption-attachment-1556" class="wp-caption-text">#bruksort</p></div> <p>Following the nap we’re feeling sharp. At least I reach the comfortably numb bliss quickly and for the coming hours we can all take long, fast turns (around 30km/h as far as I recall) and we ride towards Skövde in a way that actually doesn’t reveal just how many kilometers we have in our bodies. This is now a very warm summer day, at least by Scandinavian standards and we need to fill up our bottles. Onew would think that the service level would increase further south but this would only hold true if we stayed on the main roads. Up north we stayed on THE road and all services the area had to offer were on our path. Now we’re riding backroads through farmland and tiny villages. There are no shops there as people drive to the nearest town to shop. But there are some houses and when we see a man outside in his garden we come to a halt and politely ask to fill our bottles. We’re let into the kitchen and after some chit chat with him and his wife they ask if we’ve cycled far. “Yes, from Riksgränsen”. I realise here that while 400, 600 or 1000km are entirely abstract distances to most people everyone can relate to the entire length of the country they live in. They might not know the exact distance or how great an effort it would be to ride this, but they know it’s very far and they realise it’s a great achievement. It’s odd that the longest distance is the most self-explanatory.</p> <p>The landscape opens up more and more, with fewer trees and more farmland. Approaching Skövde the terrain also gets flatter as we wind our way south on small country lanes. Once at the control (1723km, another CirkleK, another sausage and mash) I’m hit by the feeling that this is almost over. We have about 445km to go, which will eventually take close to 24 hours, but everything we do from here will be the last time; last dinner, last evening, last night, last morning, last day. We’ve got a long way to go but after days of just going, going, going this is at least the beginning of the end.</p> <p>After negotiating some urban orienteering (the only time during the whole ride in fact – it’s amazing that you can avoid urban passages almost entirely while riding the full length of a country) we chose to ride the main road between Skövde and Ulricehamn (There were two official allowed routes between Skövde and Tranemo and we picked a mix of the two). On a spot of grass outside Falköping we take a 30 minute sleep break. At this point we feel rather wise, we’ve learned our lesson from the night before and sleep while it’s still nice and warm outside. We don’t have firm plan for how to get through the coming night but I think we more or less expect to be able to force ourselves through the last bit.</p> <p>In Ulricehamn close to midnight we have another fastfood meal (I have a picture but this is not a food blog); we likely won’t find anything open until Laholm about 200km away so best to stuff ourselves before heading into the night. The food establishment refuse to let us borrow their toilet so after a few kilometers we stop next to a camp site along the route. Toni heads for the bushes and I roll maybe 20 metres further to pee with Ian somewhere in between. When Toni returns I shout to get Ian’s attention and it’s not until now I realise he’s not by his bike. We get our battery lamps out and start searching, wondering if he’s asleep in the ditch or something, I even briefly speculate that he might have fallen in the lake. After a few moments of confusion a camper comes up and directs us to the camp site toilets where we can find Ian. 5 hours sleep in the last 90 hours is taking its toll on all of us…</p> <p>From Ulricehamn to Tranemo we ride the small road which is an old railroad track made into a very long and very straight bike lane. I’m sure the view is lovely in daylight but in our tired state we would likely have benefitted from being able to bomb on the open road. This night, our last night, I am the one struggling the least with sleep. The bike lane only allows two people riding abreast so I’m mostly relegated to riding alone while Ian and Toni keep each other awake with various discussion topics (“which professional cyclist do you like/dislike the most?” was one. Ian and Australia-born Toni had slight Imperial bias…)</p> <p>In Tranemo we take a 10 minute nap at the bus station while the local youth is occupied with a moped race on the adjacent street. Still, the concrete floors were dry and sheltered so we could have slept more here. But we carry on in the night but a few hours later have to stop for 30 minutes at another concrete floor behind a petrol station in…. (actually have to look at the map while writing this)… Sjötofta.</p> <div data-shortcode="caption" id="attachment_1522" style="width: 433px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1522" data-attachment-id="1522" data-permalink="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2016/08/04/length-of-sweden-sverigetempot-race-report/img_0188/" data-orig-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_0188.jpg" data-orig-size="2448,3264" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"2.4","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 5","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1469072972","copyright":"","focal_length":"4.12","iso":"1250","shutter_speed":"0.066666666666667","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="IMG_0188" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_0188.jpg?w=225" data-large-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_0188.jpg?w=768" loading="lazy" class=" wp-image-1522 aligncenter" src="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_0188.jpg?w=423&h=564" alt="IMG_0188" width="423" height="564" srcset="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_0188.jpg?w=423&h=564 423w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_0188.jpg?w=846&h=1128 846w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_0188.jpg?w=113&h=150 113w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_0188.jpg?w=225&h=300 225w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_0188.jpg?w=768&h=1024 768w" sizes="(max-width: 423px) 100vw, 423px" /><p id="caption-attachment-1522" class="wp-caption-text">The last night. Herding the flock in the full moon.</p></div> <p>The rest of the night and early morning we ride towards the control in Hyltebruk. Despite now being far south the night is very, very cold. Ian and particularly Toni are very sleepy. Toni explains that is getting rather tricky to determine which one of me to follow, but I refuse any more stops in that temperature, it just wouldn’t be a wise thing to do. The sun eventually dawns on our last day and the world springs to life around us. We see lots of deer and even a wild boar. This is actually the most wildlife we see during the whole ride. In Hyltebruk (1905km) we have to make do with another photo control in the early morning hours before taking another 30 minute rest on some benches down at the square. I’m ready to go home now so only sleep for some of it. With Toni and Ian snoring away I email our photo stamps to the organisers and try to arrange a coffee date with Patch in Laholm.</p> <p>Out of Hyltebruk it seems we all want to go home as we set of in a (under the circumstances) furious pace. About halfway to Laholm Patch and his friend Colin meet us by bike. We very politely (at least we think so, but I’ve later heard that we operated in a “no filter mode”) ask that they don’t take any pulls for us but it’s great to meet someone new to talk to. The stories come pouring out of all three of us despite us being very tired.</p> <p><strong><span style="line-height:1.7;">Day 5 – The End, The Bitter End and The Glorious End</span></strong></p> <p><span style="line-height:1.7;">At the Preem station in Laholm we have something I suppose must classify as brunch. They have a salad bar and it’s great to mix things up with some fruits and vegetables (and a huge serving of chicken, cheese and eggs – this wasn’t a vegan rando outfit). Here we again shift into our lightest clothes and Ian even gives away his overshoes. We’re now only 170km from the finish. We’ve been out for 97 hours so quite clearly we won’t make Sub100, but the course record of 106:20 is definitely within reach and we’re all looking forward to finishing this.</span></p> <p>A bit after Laholm, actually during the climb of Hallandsås, our trio comes to the Skåne sign. This is my homecoming, one of the things I really looked forward to even as i signed up for this. I’ve now ridden the entire length of the country to come home. For the rest of the ride, I’m on home turf.</p> <p>Negotiating Hallandsås (and later Söderåsen) wasn’t too bad really even with 2000km in the legs. Sure, no one was pushing the pace but the main body parts were doing what they were supposed to. The biggest problem when I got to the top of a climb was that by now my hands were in such a poor state that I couldn’t shift back up to the big ring without putting my left palm on the lever and push with the whole arm. I suffered form this at the Stavanger 1000km last year too, which despite the shorter distance included WAY more use of the small chainring hence many more shifts. Electric gears would have been nice, on the other hand this ride was so long Ian actually had to charge his Di2 batteries along the way. Guess you can’t have it all when you’re pushing limits, huh…</p> <p>Anyway, we’re now chugging along in the pace we happen to have. We stop for ice cream in Klippan, comfortable that we’ll make the record. After riding up and down Söderåsen we get to the final control in Kågeröd (2065km). The flower shop is closed due to vacation we we get a stamp and some water from the supermarket instead. None of us buy any food, we “only” have 100km to go. If the Söderåsen climb wasn’t an issue the drag out of Kågeröd on the 109 towards the 108 was a real downer. We just wanted to finish this and someone put an annoying rise in the road there. On top of this the wind was southeasterly which is not a favourable direction if you’re trying to get to Smygehuk. I’m not even sure it was a particularly strong wind (by Skåne/Copenhagen standards I’m actually almost certain it wasn’t) but right there and then it was strong enough.</p> <p>With between 50 and 60 km to go I get my fifth puncture of the ride. Sure, it was the first one in 1350km but five is still too much. At least I’ve had enough practice changing inner tubes so with Toni and Ian cheering (or was it mocking and taking pictures?) we’re soon on our way. Riding through Genarp with about 40km to go fans start lining the streets. Ok, they’re only two. But Anders has cycled all the way from Norway just to join Linn in cheering for us… or something along those lines… a bit further my dad is also standing by the side of the road. I knew they’d all meet us at the finish but it’s great seeing them out there. With about an hour to go Ian mobilises his last strength and start pulling at a furious pace whilst shouting that we have to make the time cut. Having ridden like a rather sorry bunch for the last few hours it’s a bit of a shock to the system for me and Toni. We go full gas for a few kilometers before we manage to get through and explain that we have a good hours margin to the record and more than 40 hours to the actual time limit. It’s an impressive physical display but it also shows what an event like this executed like we did can do to you. After 104 hours Ian riding +30km/h into the wind but can’t quite comprehend what we’re saying to him. When you push to the limit sometimes the body can’t do everything at once anymore.</p> <div data-shortcode="caption" id="attachment_1525" style="width: 428px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1525" data-attachment-id="1525" data-permalink="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2016/08/04/length-of-sweden-sverigetempot-race-report/img_0218/" data-orig-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_0218.jpg" data-orig-size="960,1280" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"2.4","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 5","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1469123155","copyright":"","focal_length":"2.18","iso":"32","shutter_speed":"0.0022935779816514","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="IMG_0218" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_0218.jpg?w=225" data-large-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_0218.jpg?w=768" loading="lazy" class=" wp-image-1525 aligncenter" src="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_0218.jpg?w=418&h=557" alt="IMG_0218" width="418" height="557" srcset="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_0218.jpg?w=418&h=557 418w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_0218.jpg?w=836&h=1114 836w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_0218.jpg?w=113&h=150 113w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_0218.jpg?w=225&h=300 225w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_0218.jpg?w=768&h=1024 768w" sizes="(max-width: 418px) 100vw, 418px" /><p id="caption-attachment-1525" class="wp-caption-text">Homeward bound.</p></div> <p>Eventually it all settles down, the wind seems to shift in our favour and it’s a late summer afternoon as beautiful as they come. Suddenly as we come over the 57th little undulation the ocean come in sight. This essentially is what we’ve been riding towards for the last 4.5 days. Or trio rolls in to Smygehuk, and turn left past the harbour kiosk and at 17:57 slam the brakes in front of the sign marking Sweden’s southernmost point. We made it. 104 hours and 57 minutes. It’s a new course record, the fastest known time through Sweden.</p> <p>We made it essentially from from start to finish as a trio. A trio composed of three dads who didn’t actually know each other beforehand, knew only a little bit about each other beforehand and had never cycled a single metre together beforehand. On a ride of this length and duration you will inevitably have good periods and bad periods; sometimes you can barely stay awake, other times you’re mysteriously sharp at 03.00 in the morning. Sometimes you almost can’t sit on the saddle and your legs are like logs of wood only to be super strong moments later. When you’re riding with others your own good and bad periods might not match the others and there will be times where you could easily get away from the others due to stronger legs, less sleep requirement or less need for breaks and stops be it to pee, to change clothes or something completely different. Likewise, there will be periods when you’re at the mercy of your companions not to be left alone. This is what you get when you choose to ride in a group. Although randonneur events are strictly speaking individual events at some point you’re committed to your companions and accept but the good sides and the bad. The main reason Toni, Ian and I could stick together for so long is that we are all capable of doing meaningful work even after 4 days on the bike.</p> <p>We were thrown in here by coincidence and we made it work. At the finish external support was very much allowed and we toasted in cold beers brought by my dad and celebrated our success.</p> <p> </p> <p><div data-shortcode="caption" id="attachment_2181" style="width: 2458px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-2181" data-attachment-id="2181" data-permalink="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2016/08/04/length-of-sweden-sverigetempot-race-report/img_02251/" data-orig-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/img_02251.jpg" data-orig-size="2448,2448" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"2.4","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 5","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1469123938","copyright":"","focal_length":"4.12","iso":"50","shutter_speed":"0.00051599587203302","title":"","orientation":"1","latitude":"55.337294444444","longitude":"13.360222222222"}" data-image-title="IMG_0225[1]" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/img_02251.jpg?w=300" data-large-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/img_02251.jpg?w=960" loading="lazy" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-2181" src="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/img_02251.jpg?w=960" alt="IMG_0225[1]" srcset="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/img_02251.jpg 2448w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/img_02251.jpg?w=150&h=150 150w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/img_02251.jpg?w=300&h=300 300w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/img_02251.jpg?w=768&h=768 768w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/img_02251.jpg?w=1024&h=1024 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 2448px) 100vw, 2448px" /><p id="caption-attachment-2181" class="wp-caption-text">Here we are – three randomly gathered dads who managed to keep it together for 20165km. The people in the background have no clue what we’ve just done.</p></div>I write most of this text almost two weeks after the finish of the event. Partly because I’ve had other things to do (and in fairness because it’s taken quite a while for my hands to be able to operate a keyboard), but also because the sheer volume and strength of impressions takes some time to digest. I’ve never ridden anything this long before and I thought and said several times during the ride that it might be the longest ride I ever do in my life. So, at this point in time I’ve got nothing to compare with but I don’t think what we experienced is unique when you put three men through what we went through. I’ve chosen to describe the dark patches we had, the times we did things we can’t be proud of or might be unable to explain afterwards, things that others might even hold against us. But it wouldn’t be an accurate account of extreme endurance sport if I simply omitted it. Make no mistake. This isn’t easy.</p> <p>Ian, Toni and I had so much fun and it was such a fantastic adventure. Reading all the comments and all the discussions that took place during the event and after the event enforces the good memories and make the bad ones fade away. They are both exceptionally strong endurance athletes and it was a pleasure to do this ride in their company.</p> <p><strong>Short Facts Section</strong></p> <p><a href="https://www.strava.com/activities/649256681" target="_blank">My ride</a></p> <p>105 hours total. 24 hours non-moving. Out of this about 6 hours is actual sleep, another couple of hours will have been spent on stopping for sleep and getting going again afterwards. The rest is eating, clothing adjustments, punctures etc. Apart from night 3 the lack of sleep wasn’t a major issue for me. I didn’t suffer from hallucinations or similar. Sure, I might have mistaken a few trees for mooses but I think that was just as much because I really wanted to see a moose.</p> <p><a href="https://ckdistans.files.wordpress.com/2016/07/startlist2016_to_webb_en.pdf" target="_blank">Results</a></p> <p>45 starters, 31 finishers, 15 DNF. 1/3 DNF is relatively low for an event of this character. As far as i know only one person abandoned after Östersund. In the second start group the weather was favourable ther whole time while the first group got lots of rain the first two days. The good weather from their day 3 onwards has ondoubtedly helped keep the DNF rate down.</p> <p>Equipment? I rode my 1990’s Colnago Master like I’ve done this entire brevet season; Shimano Dura-Ace 7800 groupset, 32 spokes per wheel, SON dynamo front hub, Supernova lights front and rear, Apidura bags, mostly Rapha clothes (lots of merino), my 2010 Specialized S-works shoes. Tried and tested stuff that I trust. Everything worked.</p> <p><strong>Closing</strong></p> <p>Sverigetempot – Length of Sweden is truly spectacular and something I will carry with me for a long time. It is next held in 2020. Will I be there? Will I try to ride sub100? Will I bring a tent and a sleeping bag? Time will tell.</p> <div data-shortcode="caption" id="attachment_1565" style="width: 518px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1565" data-attachment-id="1565" data-permalink="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2016/08/04/length-of-sweden-sverigetempot-race-report/img_0233-2/" data-orig-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_02331.jpg" data-orig-size="3264,2448" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"2.4","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 5","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1469128870","copyright":"","focal_length":"4.12","iso":"50","shutter_speed":"0.0006269592476489","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="IMG_0233" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_02331.jpg?w=300" data-large-file="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_02331.jpg?w=960" loading="lazy" class=" wp-image-1565 aligncenter" src="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_02331.jpg?w=508&h=381" alt="IMG_0233" width="508" height="381" srcset="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_02331.jpg?w=508&h=381 508w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_02331.jpg?w=1016&h=762 1016w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_02331.jpg?w=150&h=113 150w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_02331.jpg?w=300&h=225 300w, https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_02331.jpg?w=768&h=576 768w" sizes="(max-width: 508px) 100vw, 508px" /><p id="caption-attachment-1565" class="wp-caption-text">Complete.</p></div> <p> </p> </div> <footer class="entry-meta"> This entry was posted in <a href="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/category/cycling/" rel="category tag">Cycling</a> on <a href="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/2016/08/04/length-of-sweden-sverigetempot-race-report/" title="7:06 am" rel="bookmark"><time class="entry-date" datetime="2016-08-04T07:06:37+00:00">August 4, 2016</time></a><span class="by-author"> by <span class="author vcard"><a class="url fn n" href="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/author/oscarahellstrom/" title="View all posts by oscarahellstrom" rel="author">oscarahellstrom</a></span></span>. </footer> </article> <nav id="nav-below" class="navigation"> <h3 class="assistive-text">Post navigation</h3> <div class="nav-previous"><a href="https://oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com/page/2/" ><span class="meta-nav">←</span> Older posts</a></div> <div class="nav-next"></div> </nav> </div> </div> </div> <footer id="colophon" role="contentinfo"> <div class="site-info"> <a href="https://wordpress.com/?ref=footer_website" rel="nofollow">Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com.</a> </div> </footer> </div> <script type="text/javascript"> var infiniteScroll = {"settings":{"id":"content","ajaxurl":"https:\/\/oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com\/?infinity=scrolling","type":"scroll","wrapper":true,"wrapper_class":"infinite-wrap","footer":"page","click_handle":"1","text":"Older posts","totop":"Scroll back to top","currentday":"04.08.16","order":"DESC","scripts":[],"styles":[],"google_analytics":false,"offset":1,"history":{"host":"oscarahellstrom.wordpress.com","path":"\/page\/%d\/","use_trailing_slashes":true,"parameters":""},"query_args":{"error":"","m":"","p":0,"post_parent":"","subpost":"","subpost_id":"","attachment":"","attachment_id":0,"name":"","pagename":"","page_id":0,"second":"","minute":"","hour":"","day":0,"monthnum":0,"year":0,"w":0,"category_name":"","tag":"","cat":"","tag_id":"","author":"","author_name":"","feed":"","tb":"","paged":0,"meta_key":"","meta_value":"","preview":"","s":"","sentence":"","title":"","fields":"","menu_order":"","embed":"","category__in":[],"category__not_in":[],"category__and":[],"post__in":[],"post__not_in":[],"post_name__in":[],"tag__in":[],"tag__not_in":[],"tag__and":[],"tag_slug__in":[],"tag_slug__and":[],"post_parent__in":[],"post_parent__not_in":[],"author__in":[],"author__not_in":[],"search_columns":[],"lazy_load_term_meta":false,"posts_per_page":10,"ignore_sticky_posts":false,"suppress_filters":false,"cache_results":true,"update_post_term_cache":true,"update_menu_item_cache":false,"update_post_meta_cache":true,"post_type":"","nopaging":false,"comments_per_page":"50","no_found_rows":false,"order":"DESC"},"query_before":"2025-03-31 23:57:10","last_post_date":"2016-08-04 07:06:37","body_class":"infinite-scroll neverending","loading_text":"Loading new page","stats":"blog=96420646&v=wpcom&tz=0&user_id=0&subd=oscarahellstrom&x_pagetype=infinite"}}; 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