kitzblitz' long and hard ride

Täby 300 km
Yesterday it was finally time for the start of the spring brevet series for my part. I managed to find time on a Saturday to ride the 300 km brevet from Täby in northern Stockholm. Always a bit nervous on the first long ride whether or not the training during winter has been sufficient to keep up with the others, so I had as a plan to enjoy the ride, not push too hard and be sociable. There had been alot happening at home during the week so I stressed a bit getting the Pearl ready and twice on Friday night the rear tyre exploded. It didn't exactly feel comforting having to ride on new tyres that had already popped without any test of whether they would hold. Oh well, the things one does for a bit of excitement :-) In the end I thought I was organised though. Up at 4.58 without an alarm and out into the -4 degree morning.

Grrr said the bike. Brrr said the weather. 

The forecast was for a sunny warm spring day so I gambled a bit and only had shorts on my legs. This ended up being a great move as we had sunshine and over 15 degrees nearly all day, apart from a freezing first hour. I drove to Täby where there was the usual excited small talk in anticipation of the ride. There were a few newcomers to this sort of ride which was great to see!  Then at 7, off we rode, about 35 excited happy randonneurs.

The first 100 km were as I had intended - not much intensity, alot of happy chatter, and lots of people taking turns at the front. I started to get anxious that this wasn't even training, so I took a turn at the front and tested a bit. When I turned around there were only 5 of us left, which was quite nice so that we could have more action in the cycling. I later realised that there was a red light involved in this selection and apologise for that!

We rode hard to the half way control in Grisslehamn where we took a long healthy lunch with pizzas and hamburgers. The others caught up and we decided to stay together again after lunch. The ride in the afternoon was magic on small, windy, rollercoaster roads through beautiful Swedish scenery.

Somewhere in Roslagen.

 

An icecream in Gimo, a sour Finn and Danne in a traditional randonneur pose. What more can you want?

 

Cycling at its best.

 

A few more "unintentional" increases in intensity by Danne and me meant that we in the end suddenly only had company of a couple of others. But once we had tumbled into the final control in Täby, the others came in as well and a satisfied group talked childish rubbish about the ride until everybody started drifting off home. Thanks everyone for a great day!

A fantastic photo of a tired, satisfied bunch of handsome randonneurs in the picturesque final control in the Täby Shell petrol station.

Guess how good the beer at home tasted!

Hopefully I can follow this up with the Södertälje 300 km next weekend and then our own KBCK 400 km two weeks later. If I continue feeling as good as yesterday I feel well on track for the bigger goals this summer.

/Toni