Isstjerneløbet

First race of the season: Isstjerneløbet 

Result: Fourth place
Bike: Trek Superfly 9.9 SL, RocketRon/RacingRalph LiteSkin 2.25 - 1.5bar

Results: Isstjerneløbet

Race story:
Massive amounts of snow made the race really technical. This was the first race on the Trek Superfly 9.9 I was in 12-15th place after the messy start. I started chasing down the guys in front of me as soon as the terrain got a little easier. Overtook some guys and managed to race down the leading group of 6 riders after the first lap (of two). Soon after lapping there were just three of us in the lead group. Unfortunately I lost the other two guys in a technical section... 1km from the finish, while lapping a backmarker, I manage to fall. I get back on the bike quickly and race on but I get passed about 50m from the finish line when one of the guys that I hadn't noticed comes from behind at full speed. So I missed third place by a few seconds

Conclusion:
I'm happy with the performance under difficult technical circumstances (all the snow)
I was able to contain my enthusiasm and paced myself when chasing down the lead group. This is good.

The two racing bikes for the 2015 season

• Trek Superfly 9.9 SL "Project One"
• Trek Superfly FS 9.9 SL "Project One"

The specifications are identical appart from one of the bikes being full suspension

Spec:

Groupset: SRAM XX1 (34T), Gripshift

Brakes: Shimano XTR M9000 Race

Fork: RockShox Sid World Cup XX with remote

Wheelset: Bontrager Race XXX Lite CL
Tyres: Schwalbe Rocket Ron/Racing Ralph Liteskin 2.25
or: Specialized Renegade / FastTrak S-Works 2.0/1.95

After having swapped the rather heavy original tyres and tubes for Schwalbe Rocket Ron / Racing Ralph and a tubeless setup, putting on Shimano XTR pedals and shortening the handlebars to 660mm the weight came to around 8.5kg for the hard tail. The FS came in around 9.5kg. More optimizations may follow

Thank you MC Center for supplying me with these bikes

Best results of 2014

Lidingöloppet MTB

Result: 11th place overall, 2nd in M40.
Description: This is a quick paced race with a big part of the best Swedish racers taking part. The race follows some quick jogging paths for the most part. But it also has some really steep climbs. A good challenge over some rock faces as well.
Link to results: Lidingöloppet MTB 2014

Alpe-Adria MTB Giro

Result: 11th place overall, 2nd place in M40
Description: This is a hard race covering three counties: Austria, Italy and Slovenia. The race starts of with one hour of climbing across a pass on the border between Austria and Italy. A hard way to start a race. After some riding in Italy it crosses into Slovenia and then back to Austria for the finish.

Link to results: MTB Giro 2014

Slushcup 2013/2014

Result: Third place overall
Description: This popular Danish winter MTB Cup consists of 7 races. Each race is either of a technical nature or a quick gravel road race. The first race is an eliminator race (XCE), then there are 5 races between 1 and 1.5 hours, and then the last race is a marathon race.
Link to results: Slushcup 2013/2014

Swedish Championships, XCO

Result: 19th

Description: This nature of 2014 year's XCO champtionship was very technical. Far beyond my level of expertise unfortunately. There were two places that had both an A-line and a B-line and I ended up taking the B-line in both places. I found it hard to get a good rhythm going on the messy course. Not my favorite. I will improve my technical level for next year's XCO championship.
Link to results: XCO SM 2014

Swedish Championships, XCM

Result: 7th

Description: This was more my kind of race than the XCO race that I describe above. Two laps of a quick course with some nice climbs. I held it together nicely for the first lap. I was in the top-3 until just before going out on the second lap when I lost my group. I ended up struggling a bit during the second lap. I'm still happy with the results however.
Link to results: XCM SM 2014

Swedish Långloppscupen

Result: 8th

Description: The Swedish Marathon MTB Cup. This cup still eludes me. This year ended with a fourth and a fifth place as best results. I'm not pleased with this.
Link to results: Långloppscupen 2014