HJÄLMAREN RUNT 2012
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/177344412
Early morning
Woke up at 04:20. We needed to be in Örebro at 07:30 (1h 45 min car drive). The weather forecast was a little bit of rain during the first hours and pretty windy. Anders decided to go for it earlier the day before but after some anguish during Friday evening he decided not to go for it. So it was Ida and I who headed to Örebro.
Örebro
Arrived 07:25. Bought the entrance fee tickets (late entry was 150 SEK more). Thas was fast done so at 07:30 we were basically all set. We took 30 min to make some last minute adjustment. At 08:00 we met my old colleague Mårten Åman. He, his brother and uncle (I think) were to ride the race this year as well (they did an excellent race last year together)
Start
We lined up and unfortunately we were a little bit late to the start. So at 09:00 we and 25 other riders took off. The start was pretty good. All five of us started pretty quick and I think we kept appr 33 km/h pace. No rain in the beginning. After 8km we did a bad decision and joined a fast group. After some time Ida was very tired and we had to let them go. After a short while we also had to leave Mårten and the guys. Ida and I had a hard time to catch a very good group that we unfortunately lost. After apps 4km of hard riding we caught up with them. In a hill I saw Mårten taking a leak at the side of the road - to bad for him. But Mårten was a strong guy and actually caught us after 10 min. Great! So now we are riding in a good group - appr 30km/h pace. Then the shit happens. My chain gets partly off the "cassette"? So I have to stop! Ida was far ahead in the group so I scream at Mårten to say to Ida that my chain is off and she should stop. So I stop. Fix the chain - took apps 2 minutes. Then I see that Mårten (the poor guy) is standing 30 m from me. Hey Mårten - why are you here? Well - you told me so! No I didn't! I told you to tell Ida that the chain is off. Problem was that Mårten had his earphones plugged and thought I said STOP! So Mårten - taking a leak - catching us had to stop again. Very bad!
The chase 28 - 33km
So there we are - Mårten and me - at appr 28 km. We jus needed to catch the group again! And off we went. Boom - fast pace. After a while we saw the group and after some 10 min of struggling we caught them. I was VERY tired at this stage. This was probably after 33km. So there we are - all together in the nice group. We ride with the group for appr 5km and then all of a sudden the first stop comes (you know where they serve food etc). I didn't want to take this stop so we went straight ahead. Problem was that only me, Ida and Mårten did this. So there we were - again - all alone.
37km - 77km (our first stop)
Pretty good part. I felt strong. It was obvious that Mårten had paid a high price (and the fact that he had just 50km of bike riding prior to the race). I felt strong so I took the major part of the work here. I actually wanted to really push myself during this race. Anyway - good part and we stopped.
77km - First and only stop
Mårten said - I am out. So he left the race. Ida and me had some super great things (Risi Frutti, sandwich, coffee, water and a pee). Stop took maybe some 14 min.
77km - 111km
First we rode by ourselves. Then a good group caught us and we rode with them for some while. After that another group came and we had some nice kms. Next stop was at 111km and we didn't stop - but the rest of the group did. So we were all alone again.
111km - The end (153km)
Oh I was strong! I was so strong. We had some company during parts of this stage but in general I was the one taking the lead in the work. I was the front rider and I was feeling so so so strong. Extremely nice feeling. So I was basically in the lead during these last 40km and it felt so good to come to Örebro. I was basically not tired at all after the race.
Post race
Ida was tired but definitely not dead. We had some nice hot dogs, a shower and headed back home. A real success we have to say. Mårten called me and guess what! The group that we left after 37km came to the 77km stop. They met with Mårten and said "Come on - join us". So after some anguish he decided to join! Amazing! I think he did it in appr 6 hours. Its so impressive considering the fact that he had only 50km prior to the race.
Mårtens uncle (?) did a very good race. Finishing at 4:50. Mårtens brother good race but after the uncle. Me and Ida finished at 5:32. Moving avg 28.2km/h and total avg 27.1. Total moving time 5:20! So only 12 min break = good by us!
We will do this race again and again. Now the weather was not that nice. I forgot to write that. But during the first part we had some rain, it was wet and very windy. At the end the sun came. But it was just small showers of rain. At some part I was wet but dried quickly.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/177344412
Early morning
Woke up at 04:20. We needed to be in Örebro at 07:30 (1h 45 min car drive). The weather forecast was a little bit of rain during the first hours and pretty windy. Anders decided to go for it earlier the day before but after some anguish during Friday evening he decided not to go for it. So it was Ida and I who headed to Örebro.
Örebro
Arrived 07:25. Bought the entrance fee tickets (late entry was 150 SEK more). Thas was fast done so at 07:30 we were basically all set. We took 30 min to make some last minute adjustment. At 08:00 we met my old colleague Mårten Åman. He, his brother and uncle (I think) were to ride the race this year as well (they did an excellent race last year together)
Start
We lined up and unfortunately we were a little bit late to the start. So at 09:00 we and 25 other riders took off. The start was pretty good. All five of us started pretty quick and I think we kept appr 33 km/h pace. No rain in the beginning. After 8km we did a bad decision and joined a fast group. After some time Ida was very tired and we had to let them go. After a short while we also had to leave Mårten and the guys. Ida and I had a hard time to catch a very good group that we unfortunately lost. After apps 4km of hard riding we caught up with them. In a hill I saw Mårten taking a leak at the side of the road - to bad for him. But Mårten was a strong guy and actually caught us after 10 min. Great! So now we are riding in a good group - appr 30km/h pace. Then the shit happens. My chain gets partly off the "cassette"? So I have to stop! Ida was far ahead in the group so I scream at Mårten to say to Ida that my chain is off and she should stop. So I stop. Fix the chain - took apps 2 minutes. Then I see that Mårten (the poor guy) is standing 30 m from me. Hey Mårten - why are you here? Well - you told me so! No I didn't! I told you to tell Ida that the chain is off. Problem was that Mårten had his earphones plugged and thought I said STOP! So Mårten - taking a leak - catching us had to stop again. Very bad!
The chase 28 - 33km
So there we are - Mårten and me - at appr 28 km. We jus needed to catch the group again! And off we went. Boom - fast pace. After a while we saw the group and after some 10 min of struggling we caught them. I was VERY tired at this stage. This was probably after 33km. So there we are - all together in the nice group. We ride with the group for appr 5km and then all of a sudden the first stop comes (you know where they serve food etc). I didn't want to take this stop so we went straight ahead. Problem was that only me, Ida and Mårten did this. So there we were - again - all alone.
37km - 77km (our first stop)
Pretty good part. I felt strong. It was obvious that Mårten had paid a high price (and the fact that he had just 50km of bike riding prior to the race). I felt strong so I took the major part of the work here. I actually wanted to really push myself during this race. Anyway - good part and we stopped.
77km - First and only stop
Mårten said - I am out. So he left the race. Ida and me had some super great things (Risi Frutti, sandwich, coffee, water and a pee). Stop took maybe some 14 min.
77km - 111km
First we rode by ourselves. Then a good group caught us and we rode with them for some while. After that another group came and we had some nice kms. Next stop was at 111km and we didn't stop - but the rest of the group did. So we were all alone again.
111km - The end (153km)
Oh I was strong! I was so strong. We had some company during parts of this stage but in general I was the one taking the lead in the work. I was the front rider and I was feeling so so so strong. Extremely nice feeling. So I was basically in the lead during these last 40km and it felt so good to come to Örebro. I was basically not tired at all after the race.
Post race
Ida was tired but definitely not dead. We had some nice hot dogs, a shower and headed back home. A real success we have to say. Mårten called me and guess what! The group that we left after 37km came to the 77km stop. They met with Mårten and said "Come on - join us". So after some anguish he decided to join! Amazing! I think he did it in appr 6 hours. Its so impressive considering the fact that he had only 50km prior to the race.
Mårtens uncle (?) did a very good race. Finishing at 4:50. Mårtens brother good race but after the uncle. Me and Ida finished at 5:32. Moving avg 28.2km/h and total avg 27.1. Total moving time 5:20! So only 12 min break = good by us!
We will do this race again and again. Now the weather was not that nice. I forgot to write that. But during the first part we had some rain, it was wet and very windy. At the end the sun came. But it was just small showers of rain. At some part I was wet but dried quickly.
Nice reading! If you are as strong as u seem, you should go for sub 10 with David. I´m not good for it I think. Some knee-pain today.
SvaraRadera/Mr Mizuno(the original)
No no no. No sub 10 for me at all. We will do it together of course! But sub 11 we need to do. I would say lets aim for 10:30. We will have fewer stops compared to last year!
SvaraRaderaHehe, congrats & thanks for this nice story. You both seemed to be so fresh on these pics.I am sure that if you wanted you could easily have made anthoer lap around Hjälmaren..... :-)
SvaraRaderaGreat to hear you had such a strong ride! Excellent recap! Congrats to you, Ida and Mårten!
SvaraRadera