Archive for the 'Passion' Category Page 2 of 14

« Previous Entries
Next Entries »

It all began today part 7 - the second race tomorrow

Published by
Allmyloveisgone
at September 1, 2007 in Passion. 1 Comment

Tomorrow is the second race for me. The weather is getting a lot colder then before and it isn’t as fun as before to ride my bike. However the sun is shining today and i’m going to take a short ride today regardless of the lower temperatures outside.

This week i haven’t trained at all since i’ve been away with work in Malmoe for 2 days and had a lot of other things to attend to, but i feel pretty good anyway. I guess that my smoking is going to make me more exhausted this time around. I’ve been a naughty boy, but i’m seriously trying to quit smoking 20 cigarettes per day. It’s hard, but i’m going to make it.

I have calculated that if i stop smoking i can afford a new bike this winter or early spring 2008. Hopefully i can stop sooner then later with the smoking part of my life. I actually feel a lot better when i haven’t smoked for 24 hours or more, but the hardest thing is to not go to the store and buy new ones.

I wish it was more hard for me to buy new cigarettes then it is today, i guess i could ask the girls in the store not to sell me cigarettes, but i don’t think that they are willing to do that, since they make money doing it. I guess i just have to become more disciplined when it comes to buying and smoking cigarettes.

Anyway, i’m looking forward to tomorrow’s race and i hope that the weather is good and my legs are up for the 37km race. I’m looking to make the course in 1 hour 15 minutes, since i know the course very well and i have ridden it a lot of times before. I wonder what the competition is like on tomorrow’s course…

So, if anyone wants to see the great big walrus riding his bike around the Glan Runt tomorrow, then you should be in Norrkoping, Sweden and at the Himmelstalund Field and sporting centre. The start for me is 09.30 tomorrow morning.

See also :
It all began today - part 6
It all began today - part 5
It all began today - part 4
It all began today - part 3
It all began today - part 2
It all began today - part 1

Share This

It all began today part 6 - the first race

Published by
Allmyloveisgone
at August 27, 2007 in Passion. 2 Comments

What a day, yesterday ! Got up around 06.30 to get breakfast ready and start assembling my gear for the race as well as straightening out a few minor problem with the bike. My preparation for the race had been good and i felt on top of the world. Around 08.30 my Dad picked me up to drive me to the race in Linköping. We arrived with around 20min before the deadline, for picking up the starting number. No real time to warm up the body and especially the legs, but i managed a small bike run before the race was about the start.

At 10.00 i started with the rest of the field, which due to the conditions, was around 20-25 riders in various ages and sizes. Well, the conditions was very, very windy and i calculated that the first 25km out of the 43km would be very fast and easy and they were, i rode the first 25km in just under 45min, which is pretty good. Then we all turned straight into the wind for the last leg of the stage and here it all went pear shaped.

I knew that if i rode at a steady pace (around 25km/h) i would still be able to make a good time, somehow it wasn’t to be. Around the 35km mark, with just around 10km left i had a head-on wind and i started to get cold. I estimate that the wind was around 14-15m/s, if not even more at times and it was very hard to keep a steady pace and i lost very much time.

In the last kilometer i got a very nice tailwind and i was cruising along at a pace of 40-42km/h and i made up some time, even though i already was way behind my goal for the race. I finished the 43km course (it was actually 48,3km according to my newly bought cycling computer) with a time of 1hour 54min 12seconds and i had taken a 8th place finish amongst the riders in my group.

I am sort of disappointed by the overall time, but it also leaves a lot of room for improvement, but the windy conditions were the biggest factor to the bad finishing time. I spoke with a rider that past me on the first 25km of the race, but he stopped at the water-station with was halfway, so i eventually past him, and he said that he didn’t have any power at all on the last 25km. He added that when he he saw me pass the water-station i looked very strong and he ran to his bike to start chasing me, but he came in around 15min later then i did. A small victory for me then.

Now i’m looking forward to the race on the 2nd of September and the 37km short course of Glan Runt. My aim is 1 hour 05min, maybe faster, if my legs feel good and there ain’t a hurricane looming.

Share This

« Previous Entries
Next Entries »

Close
E-mail It