One of a kind Rapha TREK Madone 6.9 for sale

My custom painted TREK that I got from Rapha after winning their Rapha 500 is now for sale. It's a TREK Madone 6.9 with RXL-wheels and Ultegra components and a custom paint job from Rapha.

More pictures here. The bike has never been used but the wheels have been rolling for 160 kilometers.
Contact me if you are interested: henrikoijer@gmail.com 

The Rapha-bike has arrived!

Got the Paris - Roubaix edition TREK bike from Rapha yesterday. This bike is the price I won in the Rapha Festive 500 this winter. My local bike shop called me when I was still at work and told me that they had a TREK-bike in a box and that box had my name on it... When I got to the shop they had built the bike for me!
It's a TREK Madone 6.9 frame with Shimano Ultegra, Bontrager Race X Lite wheels, Bontrager XXX-stem etc. but the thing that really stands out is the custom paint job. It's really amazing!

I won the Rapha Festive 500!

Yesterday Rapha announced the winners of their Rapha Festive 500. I thought that I was going to be third, or at least top five due to the amounts of votes I had received. An incredible result! But as I kept on reading I couldn't find my name anywhere.. Until I got to the bottom of the page, I HAD WON THE CONTEST!
I really can't describe the feeling, I am so greatful for this.
I did the Rapha Festive 500 last year as well and the best thing with this challenge is that it motivates people to get out and ride their bikes. It was such a great feeling of making those 500 k. Next great feeling was when I saw that I was one of the 1000 people riding their 500k or more that made their top 10 shortlist. Then during the final when  I saw the support I received from my friends in the vote, I was truly touched. Such a great challenge and I'll be doing it again next year, I hope you do it to!

Rapha Festive 500 - day 9

I did it!

All 500 of them. Thanks to the 6 hours in the saddle this friday I only had to do 70.63 kilometers on New Year's Eve to complete the Rapha Festive 500. I decided on a route with mostly gravel roads to have a really nice ending to this challenge. No traffic, beautiful scenery and just enjoy the accomplishment. That what was my plan anyway..

When I planned this I was thinking frozen gravel roads with a surface like sandpaper but I ended up with pure ice. In the beginning the ice was smooth and everything was going great. It was -5 C outside giving the surroundings a frozen look.

After a while the ice got all rough on me and my fender mount. This part was good balance training but not really the enjoyable ride I had planned on. Having promised my wife that I was going to complete the ride in less then three hours this was destroying that plan. 

During the first 45 minutes of the ride I had spent 35 of them on pure ice and it was therefore nice to get back out on more attackable roads where I could pick up some speed again. The ice on the lakes looked great for ice skating and a lot of people was enjoying this winter day out on the ice.

After a few kilometers I suddely found a winter landscape, this is how it should look this time of the year. It was very beautiful and it gave me some extra energy.

Here I am climbing one of the two longer climbs of the day, gaining about 150 meters of altitude. Up on the top I saw a moose! I tried to take a picture of it but with my smart phone in a plastic bag in my back pocket and with a vest over my jersey it took to long and the moose was in the forest before I could press the shutter button. In 2010 I was a bit faster with the camera and took this picture of a moose.

More icy roads, but smooth ice this time

One week ago the storm Dagmar passed Sweden and there is still about 1000 people that had to celebrate New Years Eve without electricity. 

Todays numbers. Complete Garmin data for day 9 is here and below is my data for this Rapha Festive 500:

Thank you Rapha for this challenge! I started after eleven days of resting due to a cold and didn't know how my body would respond but it has gone great and I am now much stronger. This has been good for me and given me a good foundation for a great 2012. I had a goal of making this without using valuable family time and it was actually only this last ride that effected the family. But on the other hand I had a planned ride today wich I am not attending. So I think it breaks even.. 

I hope you all have a Happy New Year! 

Rapha Festve 500 - day 8

You know that feeling when your kids wake you up at 3 am and you just want to go out for a ride? Today I did just that. At 3:42 am I started my Garmin and headed out in the darkness, again. My goal was to do about 120 km with an average speed of 25 km/h so I wouldn't be late for work. I did the same route as I did on the last day of the Festive 500 last year. In 2010 we had -12∘C and a lot more snow so I knew I was going to be faster this year.

-2∘C today so I had my warm gloves on. 

After riding about an hour and a half in mostly dark forests it was nice to ride through some villages with street lights and houses with lamps turned on.

Still happy!

When I was riding through Leksand I was about half way. Here I ate a Snickers and drank a little Coke, which I had brought with me. My average speed here was 25.0 km/h. I felt that I had been in the saddle for 2 hours and 20 minutes but I wasn't exhausted or anything. In addition to the candy and Coke the wind was now going to be in my back so my confidence was high. From here on I could take it a bit easier yet still go faster, the perfect combination!

When I left Leksand I set up a goal to rase the average speed from 25.0 to 26.0 and when I arrived at work my Garmin told me that I had an average speed of 26.1! It was a balance act trying to reach that goal but at the same time trying to preserve as much energy as possible. I had to ride home from work as well!

115.4 kilometers in 4 hours and 25 minutes with an average heart rate of 144, look at the complete Garmin data here. I never got to see the sunrise because at this time of year the sun rises at about 9 am.

Today I was only working half-day and I ate a classic Swedish shrimp sandwich, or Räkmacka as we call it.

After work it was time to sit in the saddle again, but this time in daylight!

Gravel/ice roads

Not quite as fast as my shadow

Studded tire, icy road and forest. No surprise here!

I decided for a detour when i got to Falun and caught up with some friends. Really nice with some company when my legs had started to hurt, even if it only lasted about 15 minutes or so.

Adding 43.03 kilometers to the morning ride gives me 158.4 kilometers today and 429.37 kilometers in total during this Rapha Festive 500. You'll find Garmin data for my ride home here.

158.4 kilometers in 6 hours and 3 minutes and a half-day at work and still I made it home before 2 pm!

Rapha 500 - day 6

Being a bit behind schedule I knew I had to go out for a ride yesterday if there would be any hope left to make the magic 500. Because of the promise I made to myself that I would not use valuable family time I went out when the kids were put to bed. So this ride started at 8.49 pm in total darkness, a ligth rain, some wind and +1 degree C. Perfect conditions!

The storm Dagmar did not only take some trees down with her, it also ment that almost all the snow disapered. Not much winter feeling left, even if some christmas lights do their best

I opted for a small and "cozy" road on my way back home. That road was partly completely covered with ice, which made it very interesting in the darkness...

After 1½ hour the rain stopped and a bit later the asphalt sparkled.

Not much action in central Falun when I got back

Got back at 11.30 pm, adding 64.53 km to my Rapha 500. Average speed: 25.2 km/h and average heart rate: 141.

Total kilometers after day 6: 270.97
Yesterdays Garmin data

Day 4 of the Rapha Festive 500 - Ride to Redemption

One day late, but I blew into pieces yesterday and today my family and I have gone back to Falun where we live. That's why I haven't updated this blog. This weekend I used the power of Internet to find some company for a monday ride. It is always much nicer with company on the rides, plus I really don't know where to go in Stockholm... Three strong men came to my rescue: Mats, Johan and Christian (who also is doing the Rapha 500). They were all riding road tires while I was riding with my studded tires...

That's me in the Bianchi outfit. Photo: Johan

After 1.45 of the ride I had an average heart rate of 165 (84.2% of my maximum) and was thinking of how long I could make it without blowing into pieces. Luckily (for me anyway...) one of the other guys lost some power so we had to slow down. Towards the end we did some sprints and power climbs to get rid of any energy left in our bodies. It was a great ride and it was fun to ride with some new company. They are actually thinking of going to Falun to do one of our Sunday rides.
Cycling + Internet = A better world

Here are some photos from my smart phone:

I came home with shattered legs and almost 94 more kilometers to the collection.

This gives me a total of 206.44 kilometers with 4 days to go. It's time to move up a gear! Garmin data here.

Rapha Festive 500 - day 3

So today it's the third day of the Rapha Festive 500 and also my second day of riding my bike. Didn't expect a ride today but when my wife asked me if I wasn't going out for a ride I really had to go. Yesterday we celebrated christmas (in Sweden we celebrate christmas on christmas eve) early and then we drove to Stockholm for a surprise visit to my mother in law and my wifes sister and her family.
So now I'm in Stockholm. The sun goes down at about 3 pm this time of the year so I knew I was going to ride in the dark. I looked at some maps and decided for a route on mostly gravel and dirt roads because I didn't want to be in the Stockholm traffic in the dark.

We are staying at my mother in law, she lives in a suburb (Husby, Kista) about 15 kilometers north of central Stockholm and it only takes a few minutes to get to this place where there is no traffic and quite a few small dirt roads.

A few minutes later I was out on the damp dirt roads

I really need to get my self a decent headlight so I can enjoy also the dark rides

Going back to the suburb

A short ride is better than no ride. Today I got another 28.82 kilometers to the bank.

My bike picked up some dirt from the roads today, so it will probably be less dirty next time...

 Total kilometers: 112.58, you'll find todays Garmin data here