CTT initiation 2014

Mats "Pilen" Pihlström and Erik Vrang invited everyone from the Continental Test Team for a sociable, get to know eachother 90 km ride today as an initiation for our goal of Vätternrundan 2015, 300 km in under 7 hours. I really want to give this a good chance next year so thought it would be good to already be part of it today! It was pretty exciting already in the morning putting on old Conti clothes and for the first time in ages thinking about what sponsors may want.

Nice shirt mate!

 

Of course this was pretty pointless because it was far too cold, so I covered everything in long pants and a KBCK jacket :-) Those that were there today really should remember this ride: I'm sure it will be the most chatty, easiest ride of our whole campaign! Actually, if anything I would have maybe preferred a slightly faster pace, seeing I took away half a day from the family. But it really was fun (even though I missed Pilen's lunch at the end...).

Apart from complaining about our peleton technique (;-)) Erik Vrang also managed to get some pictures during the ride (I couldn't get my gloves to communicate with the phone to take any myself): CTT blog

The only time I could take a picture was during a necessary fluid relief stop :-)

We have an almost scarily strong group and talked alot about our goals and previous rides. Many were part of the 6.59 team this year that I missed out on. Alot fewer had been part of the team (originally Finax) from 2008 when 4 of us managed to straggle across the line in 8.05. Then there was the 2009 ride where we surprised the only traditionally fast, Mas-group by only mising their time by 1(!) minute. But coming 17th out of 14726 riders was probably OK :-)

Results 2009

Today, of course, that time would have no chance for a top placing, as professionals are trying to break records. But as a group of middle aged men with full time jobs and full time families, I think it's pretty cool being able to put together a fun team challenging the magic 7 hours barrier.

This will be tough, challenging but very fun! I will keep you updated.

Toni

The Road

Got out early for a Sunday ride. If Cormac McCarthy had needed a Swedish setting for The Road he should have filmed this morning. Well OK - it was somebody else who directed the film, but you know what I mean!

Apocalypse?

 

Södertörn?

I rode for a couple of hours at a pathetic speed which I hope I can attribute to both intervals and a run yesterday. Or maybe the early morning. Or maybe that it was cold. Surely I can't just be that slow? :-)

If I had had only one bullet left as in the book I wouldn't have known which of my legs to put out of its mysery!
 

Left or right? Left or right? Left or right...

At least I got out though; got lots of fresh air, got my pulse up a bit and got about 60 km in the legs. I'll pretend I'm worth a nice breakfast now :-)
 

 Happy Fathers Day!

/Toni

Today's bike mech quiz:

After a few rides I started wondering why the rear brakes on the Torch weren't working. Any tips?

You ride faster if you don't brake!

Then Markus at Alviks Cykel started complaining about the condition of the Klein when I left it with him for service. Apparently he found the reason why the gears weren't working properly though.

Spot the problem.

Come to think of it I'm surprised he found some gears :-) Apparently the bike is ready for some winter adventures now. Thanks Markus!

Just back from some 0 degrees intervals; perfect for blowing out the cobwebs at the start of a weekend!

/Toni

4734

I haven't quite got my mind around sitting indoors on the Monark yet, but feel like I need some intervalwork so have resorted to my 4-7-3-4 minute intervals on a circuit around Länna/Lissma, with intervals defined by the roads and topography. It just seems too nice in the fresh air to be stuck inside!

I came back from a brilliant night's camping with my son yesterday and still squeezed in 4734 in the evening and this morning woke to rain pattering outside, so jumped on my bike and did the same again :-) A great coughing, spluttering start to a weekend!

A scary halloween monster?

Toni?

(Actually my son by the campfire :-))

Happy Halloween!

Toni

Overkill Kick-Ass Commuting

My Pearl is finally getting a thorough look-over prior to travelling to Australia with me in a few weeks. So today I mixed it with all the other morning commuters on the fastest bike south of Stockholm :-) I will take it to Jan at Norvelo after work so that it's ready for scorching, long training rides in New South Wales soon!

In the ghetto.

Another dawn. Look out Stockholm, here we come!

Work.

 

Sorry mate; feels like caging a tiger :-( Grrrrr....

 

A riproaring fast commuting ride. Overkill Kick-Ass style :-)

 

/Toni

A New Dawn

A new start to proper training.

Believe it or not I am still alive! A motivational dip during summer after Sverigetempot meant that I didn't ride much and wrote here even less. The rugged autumn weather has got me going again though and am loving being on my bike. Work and children's sports have however, meant that it's been hard to fit in longer rides. But today I decided to pull my thumb out and get out early for my standard 90 km Södertörn ride. This I will count as the start of my training for Vätternrundan (which I have apparently registered for in a sub 7 hour group, help!) and PBP 2015 :-) A new dawn in my cycling life.

The ride was great! Very windy, which was against me at te start but from about halfway it was behind me and I enjoyed long stretches of flying along at 40-50 km/h, alone on the roads on a beautiful morning. I wasn't sure how the legs would be after weeks of only riding to and from work. These rides have been quite structured with intervals etc though, and obviously quite effective as my time today was one of the fastest for this ride. Phew...

 

Inviting, empty roads. Leading me where, I wonder?

I will just finish off with praising my Airborne Torch, titanium bike which I probably write far too littel about. But while the Klein is being spoilt by Markus at Alviks Cykel prior to winter escapades, and the Pearl is sulking in the living room waiting for a trip to Australia, the Torch has taken me backwards and forwards to work for weeks, day after day regardless of weather. And also looked after me today. An awesome bike!

Heavy Metal.

I am looking forward to lots of autumn riding now and getting going on the Monark at home as well. Combined with a run every now and then and better discipline with gym visits this will constitute my training the next few weeks.

And I promise to keep you more updated!

/Toni

The joys of pointless cycling.

Hi, remember me?! It's been a month now since I last scribbled something here. I had no real further ambitions for the cycling year after Sverigetempot. In fact I was sort of looking forward to an autumn of not even feeling like riding after that. But failing with my major goal of the year had the opposite effect; I've been itching to ride!

After a longer conference trip in the USA straight after Sverigetempot, our family drove around Sweden a bit on holidays. I had the bike with me and just went for spontaneous rounds when it was sunny and when I felt like it. In this way I ended up with some great rides between 70 and 100 km in Bergslagen and on Öland.

This is what bike care should always look like. A balmy evening on Öland. I might have gone for a ride the next day. Or not.

All previous years we have still been on holiday when Fredrikshofs Mälarenrunt, a 325 km ride around a lake has been on. But now I had to be back at work, the family was still on hoildays and I had no reason not to enter. I did so spontaneously and was even invited to be one of the captains of the "berserk" group :-) We did the name proud and rode like idiots on a really hot day and I had a ball! There are some photos on Mälarenrunt's homepage (me on page 2 - not sure I deserved the extra mention for pulling hard: everyone in the group was strong!). More on this ride also on bigmollo's blogg - so I don't need to say any more.

Now, even riding to and from work all week has been great. Today I could leave a bit early and instead of planning a long structured training ride, I just rode off in the sun to give the legs a bit of a workout and actually enjoy the lovely Södertörn scenery.

With a sparkle in his eyes.

I don't often stop here for 40 minutes on my rides! A big fat sandwich at Rosenhill Café.

Everytime I ride here I feel like stopping to take a picture of the sexy curves in this road. But normally it's in the middle of record attempts on Happy Rosenhill Challenge. Today I stopped.

 

 

Fast wheels, fast road,  intermittently fast legs.

The funny thing was that I road some parts faster than ever before anyway. And collapsed in between. Once again riding like an idiot and loving it :-) I got home happy and walked around for hours with frizzled legs.

How can  sitting on a piece of carbon with a bowl on my head and spinning my legs around in circles make me so happy?

No, don't tell me, that might spoil it.

/Toni