May 16, Saturday

So far, so good. Because I used mileage points at the last minute, my travel options were limited. In order to get to Trelleborg in time for our 7 PM, Sunday orientation, I need to be in Copenhagen by noon. The best trip I could swing was 1 pm Saturday, Newark to Atlanta, connecting to a 6:15 pm Atlanta to Copenhagen red eye.

Driving to Newark, we passed by Harriman State Park, which was belted in with low lying grey clouds and drizzle. I chuckled at the thought of Murphy’s Law suffering through another miserable Harryman Half.

We took off at 2:30 pm from Newark due to thunderstorms in the Atlanta area. I’m confident to make my connection, but worry about my bicycle, which cost me $300 for one way transport.

I left packing until this morning, and likely took too much stuff. Jonas is unsure how often laundry will be available, so a mere one or two kits won’t do, but I have most of my good stuff with me so I hope they don’t lose my bag.

I just adjusted my position on my  P3C with Shane at Catskill Mountain Multisport. We only had time for an abbreviated session, but the position felt more compact, aero, comfortable and powerful on the short ride I got in this morning before packing. The new position will undergo trial by fire on June 6^th at the Pawling sprint triathlon.

For Sweden, I packed my Soloist. I think the road position makes better sense given the big volume of kilometers and that we’ll be riding in a group. I want to try and enjoy the trip with a minimum of lower back pain. Being more upright will allow me to take in the views other than the arse in front of me.

On the flight from Newark I was served Leinenkugels Sunset Wheat in 12 oz. cans and Dancing Deer brownies. I’m still trying to fatten myself up for the Swedish slaughter. I've intentionally gained weight prior to leaving for Sweden so I've got something to burn and so that the weight loss from the camp will be that much more dramatic. I'm like DeNiro prepping for "Raging Bull". Official departure morning weigh in is 179, up from 176 the morning before thanks to beer and pizza.

At Atlanta I was able to exchange $500 for kroners. I was pleased to see army service men and women in the business class lounge, able to relax after what I can only assume has been arduous duty for their country. And, we’re off…..

May 17, Sunday

The flight to Copenhagen was quite comfortable. Business class was only half full. Once dinner was complete, it was lights out and I was able to grab about 6 hours sleep. Perhaps the pinot grigio and chardonnay helped with that. As we approached the airport, there was a nice view of wind powered generators along the coast spinning lazily in the breeze.

My bike made it to Copenhagen with me and the train trip to Malmo, and transfer by bus to Trelleborg , were easy enough, although I did lose 10 kroners when the lock box on a public WC refused open after payment. Luckily, there was another WC around the corner, with an attendant, but that cost another 10 kroners.

 The hotel was a short walk from the bus stop. I got checked in then took a 7 mile jog along the coast, which is dotted with what appear to be coastal defense pillboxes left over from WWII. On my way down to McDonalds for some “food” and internet, I ran into Clas Bjorling who’ll be joining us, sporting a blonde Mohawk.

We had our introduction meeting then went around the corner for dinner. The food was good, and alcohol consumption was suspiciously light, with only myself and Bjorn having a single beer each.

Our plan is for breakfast at 7am, run about 15K to the southern most point in Sweden, jump in the ocean, then turn north and ride 160-175K to our next hotel.

May 18, Monday

We had a buffet breakfast at 7 am, packed up the van and trailer then ran 9.3 miles from the hotel to the southernmost point in Sweden, Smygehuk. We ran in 2 groups, with the front group consisting of Bjorn Andersson, Jonas Colting, Clas Bjorling, Joakim Berggren, Marco and myself. We averaged 7:40 / mile over the sandy path along the coast. Upon arrival, we made our way down to the water and inched our way in over the slippery rocks, thus baptizing our nation long adventure.

We then changed into cycling gear and were off. Jonas had a GPS mounted to his bike which worked well enough, except it repeatedly tried to send us down dirt roads, so our planned 100 mile ride grew to 114.3 miles by the time we reached the Scandic hotel. That was the longest I’ve ever ridden, my previous best being my 2 ironman bike legs, but it had to be the easiest 114 miles ever. The group was strong and rotating the paceline smoothly. The sun was out and the wind was mostly at our backs for the point to point ride.

Bjorn spent a good portion of the day solo, off the front, doing his interval workout. It was amazing to watch him disappear over the horizon while we were holding 25 mph.

There are numerous warning signs for wild boar, which give way to moose signs when we reach the forests. No sighting of either yet, but apparently the bulk of the boars has trashed many a Volvo and Saab.

About half of us are riding Cervelos, and about half are on road bikes versus tri bikes. The roads are smooth and so far the railway crossing have the tracks level with the pavement and perpendicular to our path.

My roommate on this trip is Joakim Berggren, a pro triathlete who is also an officer in the Swedish navy. While I’m writing this in our room, we realized we like the same bands, e.g. Dropkick Murphys, Bad Religion, NOFX, Flogging Molly, etc… Small world!

There’s one woman in the group, Clas’s girlfriend, Kristine. I gather she’s primarily a mountain biker, but she made the 114 miles look easy.

In our group is Pasi Salonen, a legend in Swedish triathlon with several national titles going back 20 years. He came back to the sport last year at 43, placing 5^th at the Swedish Championships, completing the iron distance race in 8:53. I flatter myself to think I might give him a race in 2010 at Kona but I don’t think he’s too worried.

May 19 – Tuesday

We planned on running at 8:00 am, so when I woke up from a dead sleep at 7:45 all I had time for was a quick cup of coffee. So far, the coffee in Sweden is consistently good.

It was sunny and warm as Bjorn, Clas, Joakim, Marco and myself jogged down to the port and back, half on trails and half on city streets. Like yesterday, we started out slowly and then Bjorn slowly but surely ramped it up, touching 6:30 / mile pace for the final mile prior to slowing for an easy finish. I find running behind Bjorn creates a great draft. When I commented on this to Joakim, he added – “Yes, and his hair keeps away the flies.”  

As we’re going to be at this for 2 weeks with no promise of laundry facilities, we’ve been washing clothes in the sink and then hanging them around the room on every available surface. As we’re in a different town every night, like a true stage race, we’re constantly packing and unpacking. Once the bags are loaded in the van, they drive on ahead and we need to get to our destination by bike.

As we departed this morning, 2 riders collided lightly in the parking lot and a bent derailleur necessitated a visit to a bike shop, so they had to follow later on their own, equipped with their own GPS.

Our ride today was mostly through woodlands, passing beautiful lakes and featuring numerous small climbs. The woodland roads are narrow but well paved and lightly travelled. When a car approaches, the riders call out “bil” as a warning. The weather clouded up but never got unpleasant.

The founder of Vitargo sports supplements, a sponsor of the Tour of Sweden, joined us for the ride. He was quite strong on his Cervelo P3C and rode off the back out of the draft zone to get in some solid training. Jonas was breaking in a new Ridley TT rig today and looked sharp. For the final hour, Joakim and Clas stayed on the front, pulling us along.

Once we checked in, we changed rapidly and headed over to a local pool where Jonas had booked 2 lanes for us. Jonas’ lane had him, Clas and Joakim doing a structured interval workout while the rest of us took it easier one lane over. They have these cool pull buoys here, made of hard plastic, which I neded for the whole swim as any kicking had my feet trying to cramp.

Dinner was boiled potatoes in a light mustard sauce and salmon. Last night was a meat lasagna, and the Scandic fair has lived up to its excellent reputation. Noticeably absent from the training table has been beer and wine, not to mention the much feared vodka. We’re free to imbibe, but no one has been.

Jonas arranged for a local massage therapist to visit the hotel. There’s a reason why Sweden is famous for its massage.

We might have to deal with rain tomorrow on the ride.

May 20 – Wednesday

A moose, a storm, and an uphill race

Plans to run to and from a pool upon arrival in our next city, Jonkoping, reduced the morning run group to just  Clas, Marco and myself. We ran 7.6 miles down from the hotel to a lake in the center of town, around the lake and back up the hill to breakfast. This was the first run where I was able to hold a conversation, as Marco is very stoic so Clas and I had a chat in english as we cruised along. It was a rare treat for this age grouper to talk triathlon with a world class professional on a training run.

We had a long ride ahead of us, so we planned to be on the road by 10:30, once Jonas finished giving an interview to a Swedish outdoors sports magazine. Bjorn didn’t join us today, as his training plan called for specific run intervals then swimming.

We got into a good rhythm and for the first two hours enjoyed sunshine and a tail wind. We climbed through many miles of forest roads dotted with elk towers used by hunters. We passed huge stacks of lumber stockpiled from a devastating wind storm of three years ago and at one point I saw a large boulder stacked on top of a 15 foot tall stump by someone with a sense of humor. At 50 miles the wind kicked up, lightning lit up the blackened sky and a cold driving rain pelted us for 10 minutes. The sky cleared again in time to see a moose running away from us across a farmer’s field, but we we’re going to be cold and wet for another 50 miles.

We stopped for a quick coffee at 60 miles and from there time flew by as we reached Jonkoping at 91 miles. We proceeded past our hotel and out to the climb of Klevaliden, a classic of Swedish cycling. My roommate, Joakim, attacked immediately with Clas in pursuit. I dangled in 3^rd, wondering how long it would go on and how steep it could get. It had several steep kicks but finally the top came and we had a downhill ride back to the hotel and dinner of rice and beef stew.

We have time in the morning for a swim so I skipped swimming tonight and opted to wash my bicycle. The roads are quite sandy and we accumulated a lot of grime today as even after the rain stopped falling the storm tracked ahead of us leaving wet roads in its wake. A pleasant surprise is that wet roads in Sweden don’t get slick and their engineers laid things out safely with no decreasing radius turns and good sight lines.

May 21 – Thursday

It's late and I'm tired so I'll do my best for today.

We met in the lobby at 7:15am for a trip to a 50 meter pool. It was a nice relaxing workout, followed by breakfast. The favorite was pancakes "stolen" from the kiddie corner, with cinamon and sugar. Then again, maybe grown men blowing off work to cycle for 2 weeks really are kids.

We started our ride at 10 am. Within a couple of hundred meters, I noticed my handlebars were crooked. Sabotage? Who can say. Dev has a lot of friends on Slowtwitch.

We traveled along the eastern shore of a lake, the circumnavigation of which is a 300K classic Swedish cyclosportif. The event, the name of which I can't remember and am too tired to look up, is one of 4 events which make up a year long series consisting of a 30K trail run, long distance swim, big nordic ski event, and the cyclosportif.

Midway up the shore was a touristy village with cobbled streets. Once past the village, we had a touch of wheels but the riders stayed upright, although there was enough contact to put the smell of burning rubber in the air.

We were joined for a while by a female swedish retired pro who was a top 10 at Kona. Sorry, her name escapes me. She's now a Cervelo rep. Go Cervelo!

Our planned coffee break at 150K was preceded by the Bjorn show - 8 or so miles at 33 mph. I was spinning out in my 53 x 12, and that's a 53 Q ring. He truly is a monster. He rode solo all morning only to join us for the shear pleasure of ripping our legs off.

We ended up with 138 miles by the time we reached out hotel. Our bags were in the lobby and within 2 minutes Jonas and Clas had their running shoes on. I joined them for a transition run down to an incredible castle. We ran around it and back to the hotel - a 1.8 mile journey traversed at 6:46 / mile. These Swedish dudes don't mess around. Well, Jonas And Bjorn trying to race a man on his way to the liquor store could be considered messing around.

Clas is my roommate tonight as Joakim's girlfriend has joined us. She's training for the 300k cyclosportif, having already completed the other three tasks.

Clas is a true pro - he's already asleep so I'm down in the bar typing this, kept company by my truest and oldest friend, Guinness stout.

Jonas arranged for a massage therapist again this evening. He is a trigger point sadist! I'll take another 5:45:00 on the bike (BTW, that was our time today, or 22.9 mph) over an hour with him, any day. He promised that Jonas and I would be the strongest tomorrow, thanks to his treatment. Only 240K of rainy Swedish roads will tell.

May 22 – Friday

When you’re going through hell, keep going, or, Don’t give a dying man a sugar free drink!

Morning dawned to reveal a steady rain. After breakfast, dry bags were packed for easy access in the van during a planned stop at 100K. The original itinerary called today’s stage 230K, but during dinner last night we were briefed 240K so the general consensus was that we were looking at 250K. In the rain.

We rolled out of Orebro, guided by a local friend of Jonas. He knew the good roads out, which avoided the highway, but of course this added distance. Why not? Bjorn wasn’t joining us today, but was helping out in the support van around his own workout schedule.

2 hours into the ride, a serious climb reared up out of the countryside. Joakim didn’t need any prompting and darted away, pursued by his girlfriend. Not wanting to get chicked, I gave chase. I was able to pass her and get to Joakim’s wheel. I figured, “what the hell, let’s see what he’s got.” Turns out, a lot. His stylin’ blue and yellow kit with “Swedish Armed Forces” emblazoned across his butt pulled away up the road. At the top, we sat up and waited on the group.

After 3 hours, the rain tails off. Finally, 75 miles in, we spot the van at a service station. Jonas’ orders are short breaks, to avoid seizing  up in the cold and wet. We scramble for dry clothes, chocolate, Vitargo bars, and coffee and refill our empty water bottles. Our photographer hands Jonas a sugar free Red Bull, to which Jonas responds – Don’t hand a dying man a sugar free drink.”

And we’re off. It’s nice to have somewhat dry clothes on (shorts and shoes are still soaked) but after an hour it starts raining again. We pass through Avesta, home of a famous giant horse which we can see from the road. We turn right and the boys on the front start hammering. I bridge the gap and see they’ve ridden right past the exit for Gavle, our destination on the Baltic Sea. Jonas sends the van after them and Jonas and I double back and ride solo for about 10K before the group overtakes us, still hauling ass. In their pursuit of us, they’ve shed a couple of riders and we’re now down to 6, Clas, Jonas, Joakim, Jan from Norway, Tobias and me. Tobias is taking monster pulls and each time Clas gets on the front the speed jumps up at least 2 mph. We’re making great time when we hit a construction zone featuring over a mile of gravel road. Halfway across, while I’m thinking of Paris-Roubaix and spitting out Belgian tooth paste, Clas flats. We proceed ahead, slowly, but Jan starts to distance us so we give chase. For no reason we can discern, he rides off the side of the road and flips! We slow again and finally the 6 are back together. We’re now hammering and we see an exit for Gavle. We turn into the off-ramp and see a “no bicycle” sign. It’s a 110 kph expressway. Foiled, again, by the GPS. We navigate local roads and it’s now 7 hours in the saddle. I notice our shadows ahead of us and realize the rain has stopped and the sun is struggling to break through.

We enter the outskirts of Gavle, but every sign to the town conspires to place us on the damned expressway. The countryside gives way to suburbs and, at long last, we round a corner and see a Scandic Hotel. Our cheers are short lived as Jonas says, no, we’re staying at the Scandic in the center of town. This ride just won’t end. 10 more minutes of riding and we arrive, 164.7 miles (263.5K) and 8:11:43 from our start, just in time for dinner!   

May 23 – Saturday

Meatballs for breakfast, and an easy recovery ride to Bollnas for the bandy party

After yesterday’s epic ride, it was lights out at 10 pm. Clas and I slept straight through to 7:30 a.m. then found some nice trails to run 7+ miles out to the marshland beyond the old port and back. The Scandic hotel breakfast buffets have been consistently excellent. There’s always scrambled eggs and the other day I switched from bacon to little Swedish meatballs. My body is craving protein to repair all the damage being done to it.

We departed for our “100K” ride to Bollnas at 10:30 am, hoping to get there in time for a swim before the pool closed early. It turns out today is the end of the bandy season and Bollnas is bandy mad. Bandy is a sport similar to hocky but played on a much bigger ice surface with sticks like field hockey sticks, a small, almost invisible hard rubber ball and goals the size of soccer nets.  Apparently the goalies break their fingers a lot trying to stop the balls as they travel at 200kph.

Today we’re faced with a headwind and a diminished klunga (pack) with some riders in the van and some sitting in on the back not taking pulls after yesterday’s monster ride. This proceeds nicely for the first 2 hours when my bottles go dry.

Most rides start out a little tired and sore, but get better after the first “piss stop”, which apparently is a Swedish phrase. The nice thing about Sweden is that you’re pretty much free to take a whizz anywhere. I can tell from the stop that I’m severely dehydrated. The rest of the ride, I’m struggling, despite feeling so strong yesterday and even on this morning’s run and the first 2 hours of the ride.

At 59 miles we stop again, and I strip off my knee and arm warmers as the sun is shining brightly. Exactly 1 mile later, we get hit with a cold rain. It only lasts a few minutes, but it just seemed so unnecessary. Luckily, the van is riding with us, taking photos, and I snag a Red Bull and fresh water bottle. With 30K to go, the pace ramps up and before we know it, we’re at the hotel. In keeping with our Tour’s new tradition, we overshot our mileage again, clocking 71.25 miles in 3:24:00.

Jonas is rushing the fellows to get to the pool, but I’m feeling cautious after so nearly bonking, and take a nap instead. There will be plenty of time to swim on my first week back home when I plan on cutting back on the cycling to absorb all this work.

In the hotel restaurant, just below our rooms, is a local rock band rehearsing their local hit, the Bollnas bandy fight song. We’re informed there is to be a raucous party tonight, to celebrate the local bandy season coming to an end.

After my nap, I find Jonas and the others sunning themselves in front of the lobby. As we sit outside we enjoy a parade of cat owners and their pets. Seems there was a cat show in town, and the competitors are planning on spending the night at Scandic with the bandy revelers and the Tour of Sweden klunga.

I’m up in the room writing this with the Simpsons on TV in English. There’s plenty of English language TV on offer, including Family Guy. Just below my window is a lake that I’m planning on soaking my legs in now. The cold water helps with the inflammation.

May 24 – Sunday

For the first time during this tour, our itinerary was accurate as to distance. We departed Bollnas at 9 am in bright sunshine (speaking of sunshine, it woke me up at 4 am, and kept me up past 10 last night – the farther north we go, the longer the day gets) bound for Sundsvall.  102.3 miles and 5:00:04 later, we pulled up to the Scandic hotel. By the way, the bandy party never got too loud.

Today featured a cross head wind the entire way, and plenty of hills and sun. We passed numerous ski resorts, so you can picture the terrain. Nothing terribly steep, but long ascents followed by long, fast descents. The first real climb came 29 miles in. The first descent was a hoot, with plent y of curves accentuated by frost heaves which had the bikes bouncing around the corners. Bjorn led us down and then just stayed on the front for 10 miles straight. I was second wheel, and it felt like a motorpacing workout behind a motorcycle. When he finally pulled over, the headwind blasted me.

We continued to climb and descend and closed out our week with 747 miles in the saddle. As we unloaded our bags, Jonas said we had 45 minutes to get ready for the 10K run or bus ride to his friends house for a BBQ. Our hosts would even wash our dirtiest cycling duds, so we were to pack them as well.

I decided that running was not a good idea for me with a scheduled 175 mile ride tomorrow. We arrived at our hosts, and were treated to a feast. Our hostess, Sarah, confided to me that every dish was prepared using Jonas’ cookbook. The food was awesome, and her husband, Claus, turned out to be a beer buff with a fridge full of top quality Belgians. So, there we were, sunning ourselves, eating great food and drinking great beer. It was most excellent.

We were offered a sauna, but declined. The last thing any of us needed was to sweat any more.

One thing I’ve noticed here is the almost complete absence of roadkill. I also learned a new word today, when our Norwegian threw his chain on a climb – “Fan!”

May 25 – Monday

A pair of foxes, and breaking the law

Our longest planned stage, 280K, commenced at 8:30 am. We set out slowly as we worked our way out of town and into the countryside. The first hour covered only 18 miles. We we’re climbing up into a forest when we pulled over for a nature break and noticed snow still lying in the rain ditch. This caused some excitement as several riders are looking forward to the chance of riding in snow later in the week.

On the descent from the forest I spotted a fox trotting along the side of the road. A few miles later, we were stopped by a paving crew which closed the road to a single alternating traffic lane. The flag person was a stunning buxom blonde. I’m told that it’s the custom in Sweden to have really attractive flag persons for the summer paving crews, usually vacationing students. They apparently slow the traffic down through the work zones. Tobias tried to chat her up, but she waved us on.

After a while, there was another paving zone, this time manned by a temporary traffic light. Today, red meant go, but this zone was long, and after a mile we had to bunny hop up onto fresh, still warm pavement to avoid the traffic bearing down on us from the other direction.

Soon thereafter, we merged onto an expressway. The sign clearly stated “no bicycles” but to navigate lesser roads would have put us closer to 300K for the day. The wind was favorable, and we made great time, eventually crossing an impressive suspension bridge. Once on the other side, we pull into a nice restaurant with great views of the span and the river valley it commanded. We bought coffee, colas and pastries, and prepared to wolf them down, when Jonas invited us out to the balcony to take a seat and eat like civilized men for a change.

After 75 miles, we took another break. I got out my Blackberry from the van and called my wife, as it’s our 18^th wedding anniversary. It was still 7:25 am back home and I woke her up. Happy Anniversary!

Back on the highway, Jonas got on the front and hammered at 30 mph for over 10 miles. There was a slight upgrade that went on forever and guys started popping off the back. I was 3^rd wheel, behind Jan. Apparently, Jan didn’t like waiting for his turn, because he gave out a great shout then rocketed ahead. He got about 30 meters on us. Jonas slowly reeled him in and now Jan was also out the back.

At 100 miles we stopped again. While we were with the van, Jan rode past without us seeing him. He decided he would be the first to Umea. This was going to require that he go solo for the final 120K, but he was game. While he hammered, we chatted with the van crew. Joakim had climbed off at the 75 mile break and was now sporting a Burger King crown. He can really rub it in.

Back on the highway and the pace quickened, especially when Clas would get on the front. Our 5 man group of Jonas, Clas, Marco, Tobias and myself worked well together and we were covering the final 70 miles at 25 mph. With 30 miles together, we spotted the van at a rest stop. Tobias and Jonas swung off but Clas said – “keep going” so Marco and I hung with him. He kept pressing the pace and Marco was a machine. I had to keep wondering if I’d actually make it to Umea with them or if I’d get popped. My hands could barely grab the bars at this point. Then I recalled that today was Memorial Day back home and my pathetic suffering was put in the light of the ultimate sacrifices made by others so people like me can be free to play “pro triathlete” for 2 weeks in Sweden. So, with that thought in mind I dug deep and all of a sudden we were whizzing around the Umea exit roundabout and wheeling into the parking lot of the Scandic. What a relief, but short lived as Clas said – “come on, 15 minute transition run.” I couldn’t say no, and he was right – it made my legs feel better.

Jan was awarded Joakim’s paper crown at dinner as king of the Coltas camp as he held us off by about a minute. Well done!

May 26 – Tuesday

It is rest day for the Tour of Sweden. Last night as I left the dinner table, too tired for even 1 beer even though the others were having some, I was told we’d be running at 7:30 am and swimming at noon.

I’m down in the lobby at 7:30 am and find only Clas, Nikolas and Conny. We split into 2 groups and Clas and I head over a bridge into the center of Umae and out to a Nordic ski park arranged around a tall hill.

The trail rings around the hill, climbing and descending and is quite a challenge. 20:00 into the run I feel like I’m bonking, but after 30:00 by body starts burning fat for fuel and keeps humming along for the entire 92:00 run. Midway through the run we approach the top of the hill which has a downhill ski run perched at its peak. Clas thinks it would be fun to run up it so we do.

Back at the hotel and we’ve got 15:00 before breakfast service closes. We both have a quick shower and join the tour team down at the buffet. We’re told that the swim has been moved up to 10:30 am, so it’s a quick refueling and back into the bus for the ride to the pool.

We’ve reserved 3 lanes and the group breaks into those doing Jonas’ interval workout and the rest of us who just want to swim easy. I get in 1650 meters and wait for the others sipping on a strawberry recovery shake they have for sale in the lobby of the gym. We take the bus back to the hotel and are told we’ve got 30:00 to be back on it if we want to go into town for lunch. I decide to go, and have a pizza and a half liter of Hobgoblin ale with Pasi and Conny, then have to walk 30:00 back to the hotel to be on time for my massage. Walking felt worse that running given my current condition.  

For dinner we piled back into the van and drove to a Mongolian barbeque restaurant. The food was delicious and abundant but that didn’t stop the doodes from making an ice cream run on the way back to the hotel. They eat ice cream every night.

I’ve received some comments from readers about the lack of attractive women featuring in my reports. I’ve discussed this with the others and despite their best efforts I’ve got no tales to tell. The outlook for this situation improving is grim, as I’m informed that the farther north you go in Sweden, the scarcer potential bikini team members become. The pretty ones move to Stockholm and those who remain behind fight, chew tobacco and hunt reindeer. 

May 27 – Wednesday

It was a special treat to spend a second night in the same room. Packing and unpacking, along with sink laundry, is just one of the daily chores of stage riding which adds to the overall sense of fatigue. I popped down to the breakfast room for coffee and cereal at 6:30 am then met with Clas for a run at 8:00. I was concerned as I felt pretty icky after the greasy Mongolian buffet last evening, but once we got underway I felt pretty good. We ended up running 58:30, showered then had second breakfast to fuel up for the ride.

Our 87.5 mile ride started at 10:30 am. We were greeted with a fine mist, wet roads, 50 degree temps made colder by a strong, but thankfully favorable wind. We rolled out of town easy then opened it up once we hit the highway. I was concerned how my legs would handle a day off of the bike, having read how professional cyclist always ride on their rest days, but today the legs were good. Unfortunately, not for everyone. As the road climbed up through the northern forest, we lost a few off of the back, then a few more had to sit on so as not to get dropped. Bjorn motored away not to be seen again until the hotel. At a piss stop, Clas also left us to ride on solo so as to keep warm. During the stop, Joakim told me if we listened carefully we’d hear banjo music coming from deep in the woods where surely there was a still cooking up some 180 proof nightmare for a reindeer poacher and his kinfolk.

That left only a few of us left to work the front but it went fine and we averaged 22.5 mph for our “short” day, despite quite a bit of climbing. We checked in, got out of our wet gear, showered then walked over to a nearby pool. Jonas has been able to reserve lanes for us almost daily, and the facilities are always gracious in giving us our own lanes. Again, the doodes did their real workout while the other half of us swam easy. This pool had an aluminum body which was cool to look at and made for snappy flip turns. They also had a Jacuzzi. The jets were on some sort of random timer. Nicolas was quite surprised to find he was sitting on the main jet when it came on suddenly.

We walked back to the hotel just in time for dinner. I talked the receptionists into posing for Slowtwitch, and their lovely photo can be found in the Tour of Sweden thread on the triathlon forum. After dinner, we got our matching kits to wear on the next good weather day, hopefully tomorrow. The custom Tour of Sweden design kits won’t arrive until after we’re done, but Craft sent us matching kits out of inventory so we can have a team photo. And yes, the team photo will likely lack red bull podium girls but you can always click over to your favorite porn site if your office administrator isn’t looking.

May 28 – Thursday

Today was a hard day. It wasn’t supposed to be, but this late into the Tour, any day can be. The day started with a nice run with Jonas and Clas. About a mile and a half from the hotel was a nice network of trails up on a hill. We did a 2.3 mile loop, then Jonas said “let’s do another.” While we ran, he told me he wanted to race Survival of the Shawangunks a/k/a S.O.S. this year. He’d read about it in Triathlete magazine back in the early 90s and has always wanted to do it. He told me about the Stockholm Island to Island triathlon, which he’s written about on Slowtwitch in the past. "It’s an easy enough concept to understand; get yourself and a team mate from one end of the Stockholm Archipelago to the other end under your own steam. And since we’re talking 20 different islands of various sizes and a lot of water between them, getting from one end to the other of this course requires you to run and swim. A lot!

This full day of exercise offers 10km of swimming and roughly 50km of running. And to make this challenge even more special one needs to appreciate the fact that this race is an impromptu aquathlon without transition areas so you swim in your running shoes and run in your wetsuit.” (OK, I stole the quote from his article). I also learn he’ll be racing the Rev 3 half iron in Connecticut the week after next.

So, we complete the 2^nd loop and Jonas says – “one more.” I’m actually feeling good and in the end we complete a hilly 9.91 miles in 1:11:12. I’m not too worried because today is “only” scheduled to be 140K and we’re actually taking a break at 90K for coffee at Jonas’ cousin’s house.

We’re on the bikes at 10 am. It’s overcast and very windy and chilly. I pull out my rain cape to keep warm and we’re off. Once out of town we hit the highway. Clas is on the front as we climb for a long time and then Bjorn takes over. I’m third wheel and am digging deep to hold Bjorn’s wheel but its not long before I have to swing off. Clas comes through and the two of them are gone. With me are only Joakim and Tobias. We start working together in an echelon, trying to minimize the impact of the vicious cross wind coming from our left. Joakim is setting a fast pace and Tobias decides its smarter to go back to the bunch. He was right. I stick with Joakim and it’s a ferocious struggle with the wind. Finally, after 40K, I can’t come through. As Joakim is on his last day of the Tour, he just takes over and I ride his wheel for the next 50K. I know this sounds easy but you should know his iron distance PB is 8:40:45 with a 4:30:00 bike split. And he’s feeling frisky and fresh, having skipped some of the riding and the morning runs and knows it’s his last day. So, he’s turning me inside out just to stay on his wheel.

We roll into town and at a stop light he manages to fall over before unclipping. It’s just one of those things. The rest of the group comes along and we follow Jonas to his cousins’ where hot coffee and sweet cinnamon rolls await. His cousin has two daughters aged 16 and 14 which remind me of my own two girls at home. As great as this trip continues to be, I’m really looking forward to going home soon.

After all the hard riding in a rain cape, my clothes are completely saturated. As it’s still cold and windy for the final planned 50K, back goes on the cape, which isn’t helping my aerodynamics in the wind. In an attempt to avoid the highway, we actually ride 10K out of our way, the first 8 or so right smack into the wind. I’m desperate to keep in the group and barely hang on. We finally turn and thankfully have a bit of a cross tail wind to work with. We arrive at our city but of course the Scandic hotel is on the far side of town. When we arrive, the combined rides equal 94.55 miles in 4:39:11. It’s 4:30 pm, and Joakim and I watch the finale of today’s Giro before dinner at 5 pm. Jonas is off to swim with Clas and some others but I’m going to play it conservatively for tomorrow’s planned 134 mile ride. No swim tonight, no morning run.

The dinner was excellent again and both last night and this evening our rooms feature heated bathroom floors! If you’re travelling in Sweden, stay at Scandic.

Today, when we detoured to avoid the highway, Jan and Marco kept to the highway and saved the headwind stretch and extra 10K. I wish I had joined them. Yesterday, when Jan got dropped, he made a video of himself alone in the forest. Here’s a link:  http://supersvendsen.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2009-01-01T00%3A00%3A00%2B01%3A00&updated-max=2010-01-01T00%3A00%3A00%2B01%3A00&max-results=33

A rough translation: “I hate Jonas Colting, I hate Tour of Sweden.” He turns the camera up the road and says: “It’s a effin’ long way to go.” He closes with “death to Jonas Colting.” I can only hope I won’t be feeling the same sentiments tomorrow.

May 29 – Friday

The day started mild and sunny. Everyone got kitted up in new red and white Craft uniforms provided by the sponsor while the custom Tour of Sweden kits are delayed in production. We got back onto the highway, but the gale force cross wind was now a kinder, gentler cross tail wind without the dangerous gusts that played havoc with us yesterday. We we’re soon up to speed with Jonas leading the way. Before too long we left the highway for a secondary road which was a constant series of rollers. At one point there was an adult fox struck dead in the road but I’ve got no other exotic animal sightings to report on today, just endless forests and lakes. We’re apparently in bear country from the commune signs. We’re very far north now and human habitation is few and far between. When we pass people now they all wave and shout “hey hey”. A pack of uniformed cyclists doesn’t ride up this road every day.

About 2 hours in, the skies clouded over and it got chillier. At 69 miles we met with the van to refuel. I checked my meter and saw we we’re 2:57:00 into the ride, averaging over 23 mph. It was getting chilly, but luckily I’d placed a long sleeve jersey and fingered gloves in the van. Supplies replenished we headed out again, following Clas and Jan who rode past without stopping. Once underway, Bjorn took off for his intervals and Jonas took over the front which he held until the 100 mile mark. I discovered it’s not a good idea to half fill a bottle with coca cola and stuff it in your jersey pocket, as the pressure blew off the top and soaked my arse with the sticky beverage. At 78.5 miles, we crossed the Polar Circle, but there was no stopping at the marker for a photo op. Jonas apparently was on a mission today and it was all I could do to keep my seat on the train. At 100 miles, it started to drizzle. For the final 31+ miles, Marco, Tobias and I shared the work as we got wetter and wetter, colder and colder. No one had so much as knee warmers on their legs and by the time we arrived in Pajala it was 42 degrees. Teeth we’re chattering as we unloaded the van, but a hot shower and big dinner of reindeer meat and mashed potatoes set things right.

 

May 30 – Saturday

Today dawned sunny and mild. At 7:30 am Jonas, Clas and Marco set out on a run. I joined them but soon realized I was still fatigued so turned back early, running a bit over 5 miles. We grabbed breakfast, packed, topped off our water bottles and food supply for the desolate road and headed out eastward at 10 am into a strong headwind which became a cross wind when we turned north after several miles. Jan, Nicolas and Conny had set out an hour early to avoid being left behind and Bjorn had the day off of the bike. Sadly, Passi has been struggling with an injured hip flexor. Just prior to camp, he ran a 1:15:00 half marathon and the camp came too soon for him to recover from that effort. Our destination was Karesuando, 250km north of the Arctic Circle and 180km from the nearest town, Kiruna. Karesuando’s population is 350 people and is one of the main Saami ethnic regions. Most Saami live on reindeer keeping, hunting, fishing and handicrafts. From May 25th to July 17th, you can see the midnight sun. Thank goodness I packed eyeshades for sleeping. Speaking of reindeer, today we saw very many of them. They’re as stupid as New York deer and are more likely to run up the middle of the road in front of you than to just bolt into the safety of the woods. The first one we encountered, a young buck, ran ahead of us for 200 meters, then veered into a logging road where he stopped and turned as if to challenge us. I was relieved when he didn’t charge. A few miles later we had to slow to avoid a pair of huge rabbits frolicking in the road. The road climbed steadily all day. Nothing steep, just constant climbing. Still, even with the cross wind we made good time to our support van at 70 miles, clocking just under 3:30:00 to reach it. Of course, Jonas did the lion’s share of the work. From that point, the road conditions deteriorated with various cracks, potholes and numerous sand and gravel sections which I could power across on a carbon road bike but Jonas had to take more gingerly on his TT rig. The view was pine trees and lakes and nothing much else. It’s very desolate this far north. Other than the occasional pack of reindeer, there wasn’t much to distract us. We were riding in an echelon due to the wind, so there wasn’t even conversation. For the final 15 miles the wind strengthened and became a cross headwind. It was incredibly hard and reminded me of Kona in 2004. Our speed dropped to a crawl and we had to hammer just to maintain forward momentum. Finally, the hotel came into view after 115.1 miles and 5:55:00. Within a half hour we we’re showered and seated for a fine dinner of reindeer and mashed potatoes, followed by a desert of vanilla ice cream topped with hot cloudberry sauce, which made the doodes giddy. It’s quiet now, with everyone either reading or blogging. Not a beer or glass of vodka in sight. Patrick, our driver, is taking a sauna but the riders know better than to do that. We’re supposed to have a party tomorrow night after an early start, 69 mile ride to Kilpisjarvi, Finland, a 7 mile run to Treriksroset where the three countries of Sweden, Norway and Finland meet, a return 7 mile run, pack the bikes, and a 175 mile ride in a packed van to Kiruna . I’ve got a 6:25 am flight the next morning so I don’t think I’ll have much to report from the party, assuming one occurs. May 31 – Sunday Clas and I turned in at 9:30 last night with the room brilliantly lit by the sun hardly blocked at all by the thin shades. Luckily we both have eye shades because when I awoke after midnight the sun was still going strong. At breakfast I was told about a trip to the local bar by Marco, Nicolas and Jan. They likened it to something out of Twin Peaks, where they we’re in turns entertained and terrorized by a completely drunken mother, half in the bag son-in-law, inebriated daughter/wife and a Sami woman in native dress. They sat with their backs to the wall, fearing knives. We departed at 7:30 am today as we had a long day planned. The cross winds continued their wicked ways and the road became thicker and thicker with reindeer which also grew thicker and thicker in the head. I cannot imagine the evolutionary advantage of trotting along an open road in front of a perceived predator rather than darting into the woods. We had to apply the brakes more than once to avoid the buggers. After the first mile we crossed a bridge into Finland and turned north. The roads were surprisingly good for such a desolate region except for the three long stretches of sand and gravel which were quite loose in the cross wind. After 10K of riding we were greeted with a sign declaring “Kilpisjarvi 100K”. Every 10K, another sign counted us down. At 20K to go we hit a long climb and I got the distinct impression we’d be climbing the final 12.4 miles. So be it. We were working well as a unit, each taking his turn at the front, but at 10K to go there was a fast descent. Bjorn and I rolled off the front and once things leveled out there was quite a gap so we proceeded ahead. After what we thought was the final 10K was covered, the road kept going so we kept going. We figured we’d spot the van and that would be the end of our odyssey. It took another 5 miles but it finally came. It was quite a treat to be able to ride alongside the fastest man in triathlon cycling for so long. Pasi and Patrick had inflated a giant Red Bull finish line arch and we posed for a photo then packed up our bicycles in their travel cases for easier transport down to Kiruna. Clas, Bjorn, Marco and I changed into running gear and set out for Treriksroset, the meeting of the three countries. The trailhead wasn’t clearly marked and we bushwacked for a while then found the trail. It was rocky, rooty, steep, wet, covered with snow at regular intervals and required numerous stream crossings. The other three pulled away as I vainly tried to keep my feet dry. More than once I sank thigh deep in snow only to find my feet submerged in a fast running stream below. After 5.8K I arrived at a thundering waterfall feeding a fast moving stream flowing down violently to the valley below. On the far side, I saw fresh footprints in the snow and ventured a foot into the rapids, nearly losing it in the process. It was madness! They crossed that? I worked my way up and down stream, seeking something safe but there was no safe way to cross. Certainly not solo. So, thinking what a shame it would be to get injured after all we had done, I sat my sad ass down, enjoyed the views, watched for bear, took out my blackberry, took and posted photos and read Slowtwitch. I figured at least I could videotape their return crossing. However, after 45 minutes, I grew very cold and realized not to get moving could get dangerous. So, I headed back down. As I approached the base of the climb I heard their voices behind me and we ran the final 2K together. While crossing the swamp within 100 yards of the highway, Bjorn executed a fantastic face plant into the stream he was crossing but no one laughed. We were handed food and drink and quickly changed into dry clothes then piled into the van for the 280 kilometer drive down to Kiruna, home of the northernmost airport in Sweden. 11 men in a van built for 8.  It was cramped and progress was slow thanks to the reindeer, but we learned a lot about close quarters over the last 2 weeks and each of us found small adjustments of position to make the next fellow just a little bit more comfortable. We’re at dinner now. Our table has already been accosted by this sad drunk but the doodes take his intrusion in good humor. I’ve just been told there’s a required flaming sambuca shot so now I’m nervous. There’s evil afoot …