Monday 2 June 2014


Barkarby 600 km.

Finally time for distances that I feel are out of the comfort zone. Or at least close to it; I have cycled quite a few 600 km rides that were fantastic - a bit of a favourite distance; not just a longer training ride like 300 km or an uncomfortable "in between distance" like 400 km. Something that smells more like adventure!

So the anticipation level was high, the carbo loading was extreme and the new Pearl was ready. And to top it all off it was KBCK's own, inaugural 600 km event. So anything could happen!

Ready for departure from Skogås. Looking good, but sorry bike that your maiden trip has to be in rain and dirt :-(

After a bit of the normal, slightly twittery, excited babble before start and quite alot of greatly appreciated interest in the custom painted, Swedish bike, a bunch of about 16 (according to our KBCK organisors there were between 1 and 20 starters) we finally rolled out of Barkarby at 8 am. It rained and was pretty shitty for the first hours and everyone stayed together in a quiet, determined peleton wondering why we weren't still in bed on a Saturday morning. But after about 50 km the roads, the skies and everyone's mood started smiling.

Sun! Finally some drier roads and small, windy roads through Swedish countryside between Skolsta and Heby.

The group rode great. All except for our own sour Finn, Ari, whom we had to ask a few times if it was even possible to ride so slowly. He just replied with sour looks. But I do have to thank him for the latest detail on the bike :-)


Belgian beer temptation. Thanks Ari!

We had a fair bit of headwind for the first 185 km to Hedemora, where surprisingly many were already quite exhausted and a pair of surprisingly tired Tonilegs with a bit of a worrying sore left knee got a welcome rest. I decided that the settings on the new bike were to blame and lowered the seat by approximately 7.43 mm.

Hedemora. No, I don't think I ate all of that...

After Hedemora the head of the route that looks like a sperm started. These 200 km were awesome through the sickeningly beautiful Dalarna countryside. It was still daylight, the lowered seat worked wonders so my knee problems evaporated and I felt great. We were still a group of about 12 and there was no stress. I'm pretty sure everyone just enjoyed this part and it's a fantastic feeling to be this far up in Sweden on a ride that only just started "a few hours" ago in Stockholm.
Bigmollo at the back of the peleton, spectacular clouds and some water.
As normal; Bigmollo at the back. Dalälven on the right. That sign always confuses me: am I supposed to hold >40 km/h or < 40 km/h? Tricky.
After maybe the best part of the ride we ended up in a place called Gagnef, which must be a highlight on anyone's trip!
I think everyone realised it was the last sun before a long night.
Icecream in Gagnef.
Continuing the scenic route, we rode towards the roughly halfway point in Rättvik and everyone joined in well, the mood was good and I was having fun. We came to the iconic Dalarna lake Siljan, and it didn't disappoint.
Niklas; I'm sure it was ok to share your idyllic pee above Siljan? There was no real reason for everyone to stop there, it was just so breathtaking in the brilliant evening sunshine.
In Rättvik, most of our group decided to have longer, proper meal, but mollo, Danne and I decided that was unnecessary and we said goodbye and continued. Big, fat, heavy me got a bit worried in the company of two mountain goats and they assured me they would finish me off now and leave me dead in a ditch. That felt comforting. But after I tested them on some long, fast downhills made for heavy me, they were more modest and we road together well to Hedemora for the second time (back into the tail of the sperm) where we had another high quality meal.
I guess not only mollo looked like that after 425 km... But I think he's best at it.
After Hedemora, we knew there were 170 km with nothing open for food, drink or even water. So off we three rode, happy enough. But then it got cold. I've always been a bit overconfident with not bothering with long pants unless it is under 2-3 degrees, so I didn't have any with me this time either because the weather report had said a minimum of 7 degrees during the night. But it got cold, for a long time. And my legs started hurting in a way they never had before. Some sort of muscle based hypothermia with painful, stiff, shaking thigh muscles. Before Hedby Bigmollo got some sort of stomache/breathing/heart problem and decided to lie in a sexy pose in the middle of the road for a while (he's good at them as well). I sat down too and my quadriceps were just shivering. I could hardly stand or walk, but pedalling luckily still worked, allbeit at ridiculously low Watts.
It was an unbelievable relief that everything felt better again a few hours after the sun came up. Mentally/psychologically I was fine the whole time. But my legs did have me worried. Luckily the other two were each in their own sorts of dire straights as well so we fitted together quite well... We sarted to smell the end when there were only 100 km left. We put our heads down and just counted down the distance. A final energy stop in Bålsta did magic and we rode with new strength and quite excitedly into Barkarby.
Due to a social atmosphere with no stress for the first half, a pretty tough, hilly route and some physical problems, we took quite long (my longest ever 600 km) and got our last stamp after nearly 25 hours.

Brilliant, fitting name: Welcome Hotel in Barkarby with Bigmollo's, Danne's and my cards all finished and done. Thanks for a great ride guys!
A major problem was of course that Lilla Barkarby doesn't open at 9 am on a Sunday so Bigmollo had offered to serve Duvel and some food at his home. That was too good to miss! We sat and comatosed and wondered how only a few hours ago we had been discussing never doing this again, let alone anything longer and of course thought it sounded great to ride Södertälje 600 km in two weeks. But faster :-)

Strange that he suddenly looks so happy again! Thanks Johan and family for having me for a few hours.
After three Duvel, 611 km and no sleep, my wife picked me up and was surprised that I looked tired :-) Thanks for picking me up! It's not so obvious that you want to drive into Stockholm on a Sunday morning just to get me.

Thanks KBCK for a great new 600 km event. Especial thanks to Johan/mollo and Danne for very competent, usually fun company through the whole ride. But also to all others that rode it - I think the social atmosphere on these rides is priceless. See you all in two weeks!
/Toni



4 comments:

  1. Tack själv Toni. Det där var riktigt kul. Vi ses väl om två veckor igen. :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Tack själv! Kvällen var magisk, natten lite mindre kul men vi kom ju fram till slut...

    /DT

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  3. Oh!! 60 mil! Grymt jobbat!

    /Wgaard http://www.wgaard.se

    ReplyDelete