March, 2016 | On The Road

BRM 300 Jönköping

I’m packing my things and will soon be leaving for Jönköping. The start is tomorrow morning at 7 am and I’ve booked a hotel close by.

A long stretch, about 80 km I think, is on a former railway bed that is now a bike route. That should be interesting. No traffic, no stress and probably a very good pavement.

The time schedule looks like this:

The map can be seen here: 300km Jönköping

They suggest the hashtag: #lls300k for Twitter and Instagram, so I’ll be using that, if I get a chance.

If everything works out, and I haven’t forgotten it last last week, I can be followed on this link to a tracker, but only after 07:00 CET on Friday:

SPOT tracker

The weather isn’t going to be the best, around 4 degrees above freezing and maybe some rain here and there. So I’ll be taking my trusty Surly Crosscheck.

The day started out with a scare. I usually cycle to a start, but this one was about 100 km away, so I took the van. Before I got in, I went through everything: helmet, gloves, shoes, shoe-covers, vest, wind-jacket … everything, I thought.

But I forgot that I planned to use a little backpack this time and in it were my money, food, telephone, spare tubes, pump, puncture repair kit …

I didn’t realize this until I was at the parking lot and was unloading the bike.

For a split second I hesitated … should I not start?

But that went over. Calle loaned me 100 kr, Daniel his pump and a tube. I knew Mogens would let me send over the starting fee later.

I started.

I was particularly worried about one stretch, the bike path between Ödeborg and Färgelanda. It would be covered with gravel, crushed stones, and they tend to cut through tires. Once I got past that, the only thing I was concerned about was making that 100 kr last when it came to energy.

I ended up with a good group, a very good group. I was seldom alone, mostly in the hilliest part, where I ended up last.

Otherwise, we pretty much stayed together and it was a good team the whole way around.

The route was just as hilly, even slightly hillier than the first one I did at Trollhättan. It was a tad longer, but it took about 2 hours and 10 minutes less time to get around. That was good for my self confidence.

BRM 200 Uddevalla

BRM200 Trollhättan

What a drag it is getting old …

Trollhättan 2016

Compare to last year, under much worse conditions:

Trollhättan 2015

Going downhill fast … But when I compare the two, the time I lost was on the very last stretch. I must have run out of energy this year. Up to the 150km mark, the last control before the finish, I had about the same times. But up at Svenshögen I had already lost 45 minutes. Maybe I stopped in Stenungsund longer this year than last? Maybe I’m just lazier this year.

This is going to be a tough year. My performance last year was below what I expected, but almost every brevet was done in terrible weather and very tangible wind compared to earlier years. So I was hoping there was an explanation.

Now I still believe there is an explanation: old age and over weight.

We’ll see. Mentally I wanted to do more, but physically there was no response. It could be due to all of the fasting that I have been doing (3 times a week). It’s still the beginning of March and very early in the season for someone who hasn’t done any training all winter. We’ll see …