Gravel and dirt road commuting

Thanks to Easter we only worked half this day, so I took a detour on my way home. Instead of a one hour ride home it took two hours to get home today. I did some gravel and dirt roads with varying surface. Mud, snow and some dry and fast roads as well. A great mix in Swedish forests. Found some big tracks from what could be a big dog or maybe a wolf!? I would love to see a wolf in the wild sometime, that would be a dream come true! 

I had the worst legs of 2012, but it's always nice to be on my bike so it didn't bother me too much. I hope that the weather gets warmer soon so the roads get dry, hard and fast again. 

Rapha Festive 500: The Vote

The Vote started today, I'm one of the 28 who is in the final! You can vote for me by pressing "like" here.

This is me before going to work this morning:

This is me arriving to work:

-16 degrees C today, man that was cold!

Rapha - The Festive 500 day 1

One year ago I entered the Rapha 500-challenge and you can read about my adventure here. This year I am doing it all over again. My preparations have not been so good this year and I am entering this after eleven rest days due to a stubborn cold. I could make it, or I will get really sick. Only time will tell. Last year I commuted by bike to work, giving me lots of kilometers without using valuable family time. My family is the most important thing and I will try to ride my bike when my family is not so affected, and this time I'm only working two of the nine days. I'll do my best to reach 500, but it ain't the end of the world if I fail.
On the other hand, I am now more experienced and knows what is waiting for me.
It's 500 kilometers in 9 days, that is 55.6 km each day! And I can tell you that I ain't riding every day which means that I have to do more kilometers every day I'm out riding my bike. Tomorrow we are celebrating christmas and after that we are going away for a couple of days. I might bring my bike because otherwise I know I won't make it, but tomorrow I will add 0 kms to my account.
Today I was working so I took my bike with a detour to work this morning. +1 degree Celcius, dark, headwind and slush on the roads made it so much harder and slower than I had predicted.

5 am, and I am full of energy!

Waiting for the Garmin to find some satellites

The front light went out after only fifteen minutes...

Fortunately I have a smart phone with a flashlight app, so I held the phone in my hand for two hours and 14 minutes...

Snow on the roads now, but we are expecting a week with temperatures above freezing and some rain so on new years eve it might be all gone

2 hours 29 minutes, 53.95 kms, an unimpressive 21.7 kms/h and a average heart rate of 149 (76% of maximum)

Recovery @ work

The ride home:

My Festive 500 bike, an Bianchi Zurigo with studded tires, fenders and a huge saddle bag

Studded tire and some slush. When I was going home it had started raining and the temperature was up to +3 C.

On my way home I had a lot more solid surface, giving me some extra speed

I don't mind riding on snow...

But all this slush is really slowing me down

Aside from the rain it was great to be back in the saddle again, towards the end my energy levels was low and when I got home my legs where shaking when I walked up the stairs.

1 hour 15 minutes, 29.83 kms, 23.7 kms/h and a average heart rate of 152 (77,6 % of maximum)

Total kilometers after day 1: 83.76
You can find my complete Garmin data from today here and here.

Bike morning = good morning

Having a family of five it's not always that easy to find some time for training. Commuting by bike helps me getting those important training hours without sacrificing to much family time. This morning I got just under one hour of good training, on my way home I'll take it easy. Three days with bike commuting this week gives me about six hour in the saddle and on sunday it time for another "long" ride. Giving me a week total of close to ten hours!

Back to bike commuting

After ten long rest days due to illness I'm back in the saddle. Even my shoulder feels good again. The day before yesterday and yesterday i took the bike to work and back home. That gave me about 55 km of cycling each day. 55k a day keeps the bad shape away!
Tomorrow I might just go to Ludvika to have a look at a new Marathon-course that I will race in a couple of weeks. I like to be prepared when I go to a race and it's always an advantage to know the race-course before you race on it.

The Rapha Festive 500 - day 7 & 8

Last day of the Rapha 500 today and I ended up on a total of 501,29 kilometers. But to do that I got up just after 4 AM this morning. Started my Garmin at 4:32 and was out for over five hours. Then I was at work for 8½ hours and after work I only had to ride home. More or less. So I am pretty tired right now. Tired but happy with all this good training that I have gotten during this week. A couple of days ago I did not think I was going to make it. But with a strong finnish I did. Now my bike will rest for a few days. Or weeks...

Temperatures between -10 C and -14 C this morning.

Picture from yesterday morning

Picture from yesterday evening.

The long way to work this morning:

The Rapha Festive 500 - day 5

The only photo of the day. Started working at 0600 today, so I went up at 03:40 and started my Garmin at 04:14. Only for you Rapha, only for you... Had the best average speed of this week with an amazing 23.9 km/h. The 38.56 kilometers I got before work had been okay. If only I had done som training after work as well. But my wife wanted to pick me up after work so I would get more family time. And who can argue against that?
Now I have 251.51 kilometers left to do. In three days. You do the math. It is not impossible, but almost. Even if I fail, I have gotten some really good hours on my bike so I won't regret this at all. But I hate losing so it does not feel to good right now. I should have started of a lot harder. Maybe I should pay a visit to our velodrome...

The Rapha Festive 500 - day 4

Short blog post today. Have been on my bike for four hours and ten minutes and at work for nine hours. Need some sleep because I start working at 06:00 tomorrow and I am going to work by bike...

It was snowing the first two hours this morning. After that the wind came and made things difficult. Only -6 C was nice for a change. Was riding in winther bib shorts and leg warmers.

On my way home in the dark I was racing against myself. Virtual friend in my Garmin. Won with about 180 meters after a good and hard fight.

My not so straight way to work:


The way home:


87.47 km today and 290.07 kilometers to go. In four days...

The Rapha Festive 500 - day 3

In sweden we celebrate christmas on christmas eve. So yesterday I had a great day with my family. That great family day ment zero kilometers on my bike. I did not care then, but today I was ready for my punishment. From the start of the Rapha Festive 500 the average amount of kilometers you had to ride each day was 62.5. After the first day I knew I had to do 64 kms the other days. And after yesterdays rest day I now have to do 75 km/day. Tough task when I only have a limited amount of hours to ride my bike due to work and family. On a good ride I average 21 km/h, so I do not get that many kilometers on my few training hours either.

My kids in front of the christmas tree.


To get some extra kilometers in my book I got up at 5.30 AM this morning. That gave me an extra hour in the saddle before work. Dark in the morning, and dark when I went home. This morning the moon kept me company and actually helped a lot. I think it's much nicer to see something when I ride my bike. I have a bike lamp, but that is mostly for the cars to see me. I do not see much with it. Rode some smaller roads and dirt roads today before work. That ment no street lights for much of the ride. 

Had -14.5 C ( 5.9 F ) in the morning. On my way home the temperature was up to -11.5 C ( 11.3 F ) and it actually felt warm. Interesting how the human body adopts fast. -11.5 aint warm! Tomorrow we will have about - 6 C ( 21.2 F ) here in Falun. Big question is what to wear at that hot temperature!?

Some of you may think that I am suffering a lot doing these rides in the dark, cold and snowy conditions. But it actually does not bother me. I love riding my bike and enjoy every minute of it.

Going to work:

Going home from work:

Day one: 26.11 km + 25.66 km = 51.77 km
Day two: 0 km
Day three: 41.81 km + 28.8 km = 70.69 km
Only 377.54 km to go!

Bike commuting to work a cold winter day

This week has been a week full of work and familystuff. So very little time for training this week. I realised that if I was going to get any training I had to ride my bike to work. That is better than no training and if done right, it can actually be really good training as well. Going to work I was in a bit of a hurry. The snow on the bike lanes, the studded tires and the lack of good shape made me a bit slow. I have about 25 k to work and it took me 75 minutes at an average heart rate of 170 ( 86.7% of my maximum heart rate ). On my way to work it was -15º C in Falun and -12º C in Borlänge where I work. On my way home after the 10 hour long work day it was -13º C in Borlänge and -16º C in Falun. A bit chilly... Not working this weekend, so I hope to get some more training done.

Over the hill and in to the sun

Snow on the bike lane was slowing me down

I am acutally enjoying the ride, although it does not look like it

Snow striped roads going to Borlänge

Frozen breath on my backpack

Only took one picture on the way home. Notice the frozen tears beside my eyes.