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There you go! Revenge is a dish best served cold! Last year we were out due to my illness which basically took all speed out of the entire 2008 season - but this year we’re back! Stjernholm and I just signed up for the 2009 edition of the Beskidy MTB Trophy - A four stage race in the south west corner of Poland with around 265kms and 9000 meters of ascend.

It’s going to be great :)

The penultimate race of the night ride cup series was held on one of my favorite pieces of track in the area. And there’s no lack of epic tracks around here… I had been standing up all day at work as we were having a day in the production working as operators, so my legs were tired. This also meant that I hadn’t been hydrating enough nor been eating at the right times. As I got back from work I went for a wee nap on the sofa, until Aaboe called me and announced he needed assitance on putting up the markers on the circuit. Well, a quick change of clothes and a banana out the door and I was off. Not the best start but what the heck - I’m just riding for the fun of it.. erghh…
Well, as we kicked off I quickly found myself with Simon and Langballe pushing hard. However, Langballe is ageing and getting old so on the second of the eight laps I passed him and tagged along with Simon for the remainer of the race. I finished just a second after him on second place, having pushed myself completely past the limit - but it was a blast!
Great racing, a great circuit - lousy preperations with a pretty sweet result. Is the base-training starting to show it’s effects… Hmm, one could be hoping - it’s sure a motivation to keep on. I secured the overall third place on the snowy track and should be able to maintain it through the finals.

Custom home-made white paint job of Mettes old XT crankset - Ready for ‘Snowwhite’ when she arrives..

At least for me that is. I just got my new suspension fork from Fusion Århus - A Fox Float 36 RC2 with 160mm travel - thats quite a bit for a XC-guy :)

Tonight was the ninth nightride cup and thus it leaves only two races left. The goal was basically the same as last time: Keep the heartrate around 80-85% and maintain third place. Well, Simon wasn’t comming so I was sort of hoping to be able to keep the second place - but a new and sharp-looking guy showed up. Anyway, I decieded to see if all that base training the past three weeks had given me any speed. So my goal was to unleash hell and just stay on Langballes tail for the first lap and then reduce the power and just hang on to that second place. The start went, and I emidiatly realized that there was no hope what-so-ever to hang on to him, that new guy Henrik or even Vindum. Okay, the circuit was far from optimal for me, but still.
I rode the first three laps alongside Anders W who’s a 15 year old kid only getting stronger every day and on the fourth lap, I had to let him go in order to keep my heartrate just a little bit down. On my fifth lap Bo and Aaboe caught up with me and I decided to tag along. Halfway round, what I thaught was my final lap, I decided to screw it all and give it the hammer to get in over the line before them. I managed to loose them and catch up with Anders again just as I drove over the finish line. However, there was one more lap to go! Crap! Having used all my energy on the Aaboe / Bo thrashing I decieded to give in and have a cup of hot chockolate.
The nightride cup has seriously changed for me. It started out as a racing series with a goal to get the second overall place, and has changed more into a work-out session with the goal of just keeping within top five. Currently I’m at fourth place, but theres four of us who can all end up with that third place. Time will tell who will be over- and who will be the underdog!

Well, I initially made up my mind on which long-travel bike I wanted. I was sort of hovering around especially the Lapierre Zesty (as it’s but-cheap and good value) and the Pronghorn PR6-LT frame. Deep inside my heart, I still have a huge crush on a Cannondale Rize but it only has 130mms front and rear and I wanted something with a bit more travel and a bit more play. I have my Scalpel for those long days riding and it handles brilliantly on steep and technical bits as well. But the goal for the LT bike is to get something which will be more in terms of free-ride and down-hill, rather than an XC racer - Though - Still with the abilities to ride uphill (as hard as it though may be).
So, as Kenneth offered me a good sponsorship deal on a Pronghorn LT frame I went for it. It will arive here around march first as it had to get a custom paintjob in white for me to fool around with some colours on it. The frame is a bit shorter than my XC bike, but that should only improve the downhill handling abilities, alongside with the 150mm rear travel. I’m getting a Fox Float 36 with 160mm suspension on the front out of Fusion Århus , Shimano XT wheelset with 20mm through-axle, and then basically the bits and pieces off my hardtail for starters. As the theme will be white, I just had to get a new set of triggers for it, which I just got yesterday. It’s so great browsing around for bits and pieces to make it look great :)

I’ll keep you posted as the pieces fall into place…

Today I had the pleasure of looking after the kids and youth practice in the local SIF Cykling club where I ride as well. It’s always good fun having those 10-14 year old kids out in the woods. They’re pretty cool and you can definately see that the sooner you start riding - the easier it’s going to get for you later on. On the same time it’s pretty amazing to see how much they’ve developed in the past year. Awesome youngsters :)
On the same day, it was time to give the Scalpel a go again. It has gotten a good service, new drivetrain, wires, new pedals, every moving bit has been greased up and it’s basically ready for the spring. However, I’ve also had my Lefty fork serviced at a 88+ in Germany. And you won’t believe what they’ve done to an already amazing suspension fork. They’ve reduced it from around 1220 grams to 1170 and made it ride so much more smooth than I would ever have imagined. Like a hot knife through nougat - I love it :)

Ever since I’ve moved to Silkeborg, which is sort of a lake-highlands area with heaps of hills, lakes and laods of singletrack, I’ve been having a plan to create “the beast”. The goal is +2000hm trip going over 80% singletrack. The first 1100hm I’ve got sorted out. Obviously, you can always improve on your tracks, but it’s gotten to be a pretty sweet ride so far. (more…)

I must admit: Any atempt on structured training, consistency or just seriousness have been lacking completely for the past two-and-a-half months. I’ve been on-off with what-ever-it-is that is going around, the weather has been changing alot around from sad but rideable to plain lousy. Anyway, the excuses are plentyfull, and a new plan has been formed, By order of the doctor / coach / dad: Base-training. So I’m starting off with a lot less time on the mountain bike, and a lot more time on the roads.
Sunday I went on the “hvide spor” for an hour with Henrik Helmer just out of Roskilde on the way back from the annual assembly in the Danish cycling federation (DCU). Didn’t really impress myself, but hey, it was just a joy ride.
Yesterday, I started out gently with the new plan: I drove a bit of the way back from work, and rode the remaining 50kms on my bike. It took me an hour and a half, so that wasn’t too bad. The goal is so far to do it just once a week. As I get stronger and the weather improves I will aim at two time a week, until the mountain bike season kicks off again - then it’ll be back to once a week probably.
Tonight, I went out for an hour before our Night Ride Cup here in Silkeborg. It was a pretty cool circuit only going up or down. Technical and fast sections downhill, and long steep ascends - Just my style. I went for it as relaxed as I could, riding around 75-85%, rather than the traditional 90-95% I do during these races. I came in third, just as planned and I was overall pretty satisfied with myself after two-and-a-half hours riding in the darkness. Tomorrow I got the day off, and I hope to get out for a paddle - it has been ages.. :)

It’s the place in the new Batman movies where Archam Asylum is located, and thus, makes the perfect reference to the skinny wheels on the road bike. Aaboe dragged me out for a ride around Juelsø today. By the best of Steve Peat “It was cold and miserable danish weather - but I guess thats what makes us tougher than those guys in the warm places”. - well, actually the weather turned out really nice even though it was a fair bit windy. 40k’s - an hour and a half - far from impressive but the ride was excellent.