Fitness MTB Classic

Result: Fifth place
Bike: Trek Superfly FS 9.9 SL, Fast Trak S-works/Rengade S-works 2.0 - 1.6bar

This is a popular Danish marathon race with most of the good riders taking part. The race is 4 laps of a track totaling 76km. Some quite technical sections with lots of roots and some steep inclines and descents. Ahead of the race the weather forecast predicted rain through the night leading up to race day. So muddy conditions were to be expected. I was trying to decide between running my usual RocketRon / RacingRalph combo with plenty of grip or to go with the quick rolling Fast Trak/Renegade combo. In the end (mostly out of laziness as the wheels were already on the bike) I decided to go with the Fast Trak/Renegades. This turned out to be a mistake. Oh, and this was the first race on the full suspension Superfly.

Results:
Fitness MTB Classic

Race story:
The start went well but I had to do some work to get up to a group that had Henrik Söberg, Henrik Ahlbäck and Palle Jensen. However, after catching that group I just went past them and up to the next one. This new group with riders I didn't know held a really high pace and so just before the end of the lap I let them go.
At the start of the second lap Henrik Söberg and Palle Jensen, together with some other riders caught up with me. We rode together but after a while Palle went off the back. The group got smaller all the time until it was just me, Henrik Söberg and another guy. I managed to stay with them until just before the end of lap 3.
The last lap was a real struggle. I was out alone and towards the end of the lap I started getting cramps in my legs. Nothing that completely stopped me as I was able to straighten my legs just before the cram really struck seriously. However it did slow me down. I dug down deep and managed to keep a good pace finishing fifth.

Conclusion:
I'm getting good at this technical stuff. BUT I must NOT be lazy in the future: change the wheels to use the correct tires for the circumstances.

Slushcup Race #7 - Final and deciding race: Marathon!

Result: Fourth place
Bike: Trek Superfly 9.9 SL, RocketRon/RacingRalph LiteSkin 2.25 - 1.4bar

The final race of the 2014/2015 Slushcup was, as tradition dictates, a marathon. 3 hours racing + the lap. Before the race started I had a three point lead in the cup ahead of Palle Jensen: I needed to finish today's race at most two places behind him to win the cup. I had the full suspension Superfly set up and was thinking about using it but I had only done one single ride on it the day before the race and on the morning of the race I noticed that the rear ('Stansed') tyre had deflated slightly. So I rode the race on the hardtail.

Results:
Slushcup #7
Final Cup standings

Race story:
The start went well and I found myself in a group with Henrik Söberg, Henrik Ahlbäck and two young elite guys pretty quickly. On my way up to this group I passed Palle Jensen so I knew I had him behind me. Söberg set an almost unbelievable pace so I just hung on for dear life.
After about an hour I started to realize that I was not performing 100% on this day and so I decided to let Henrik Söberg go. Henrik Ahlbäck took my wheel so we helped eachother. The pace dropped but I felt that we were going along at a nice rate anyway. 
Imagine my surprise when about halfway through the race, we're caught up by Palle and a small group of riders. My spirits dropped through the floor as I realized that I was not having a good day, my legs were already getting tired, and it seemed that Palle was going really well. I started thinking about the implications: If Palle went ahead I could not allow more than one other M40 cyclist to come between him and me if I wanted to win the cup. The pressure was immense.
However Palle did not immediately make a break for it and we the group remained. Palle, Henrik Ahlbäck, one other M40 guy, and me. This continued until we went out for the last lap.
Just as the last lap started in a crowd of cyclist to lap Palle took the chance (just ahead of a log which one had to jump over on foot). I got stuck behind backmarkers and Palle went away with one other M40 guy. Henrik Ahlbäck was behind me for a while but then I went away from him and lost sight of him. I was alone. At this point my body is screaming for me to stop and lie down and just sleep for a while. I try to keep up the pace as I first hoped to catch Palle's group. When I realize that that isn't happening I just go as fast as I can in order to not get caught from behind. With about half the lap remaining I look behind me and notice that Henrik Ahlbäck is approacing from behind. I started to seriously worry as I did not have any energy left. Somehow I manage to keep Ahlbäck behind and crosss the line in fourth place, Palle finishes second. I win the cup!

Oh, and I drank about 2dl in total during this race. That's bad.

Conclusion:
I need to get better at planning my marathon races. Also drink more!!

It seems I'm the first person to win the Slushcup who is not a Dane:

Slushcup Race #6 - Fourth place

Result: Fourth place
Bike: Trek Superfly 9.9 SL, RocketRon/RacingRalph LiteSkin 2.25 - 1.4bar

Video(s): https://www.youtube.com/user/AlexanderLapajne/videos

This race, the sixth one in the cup, was advertised as "short, technical". This means 60 minutes + the lap and well, the technical part, can mean anything. In this case it meant huge amounts of roots and mud. This was one of the most technical mountain bike races I've done. So the track did not play to my strengths at all - I was worried. The situation before the race was that I had a 2 point lead on Jørgen Petersen-Bach and 6 points ahead of Palle Jensen in the standings. 

Results:
Slushcup #6
Cup standings

Race story:
Knowing that it was going to be technical race I decided for low air pressure. Below 1.4 bar in front and 1.45 in the rear. I also rode almost all of the race with my fork in the open position, something which is very unusual for me (I often ride a race with the fork locked the entire time). I got to the track early and tried a lap and yes; huge amounts of roots and generally difficult terrain. The decision to run low air pressure was correct.
The start went well and I decided to advance early on, while still on gravel road, because I knew there was a climb starting as soon as we got into single track. So I passed into single track perhaps in fifth or sixth place. Probably my best start of this winter cup. 
I had to let Palle go because he loves this kind of terrain and he was lightning fast on it. I ended up fighting for positions with 4-5 other M40 guys for most of the race and I was in second place most of the time (with only Palle ahead).
At the end of the third and last lap I did however have to let two M40 guys go in the most muddy part of the track. I did catch one of the guys just before the finish line but as it was tight single track before the finish I had no means of passing him.
So I ended up in forth place, 1 second behind 3rd and 13 seconds behind second place. My first time in the cup not on the podium (so no podium photo this time, I'm afraid). However, my main opponent, Jørgen, finished in eigth so gained valuable points on him. Palle, of course, caught up with me and is now only three points behind in the standings.
The next, and last, race is the marathon next Sunday. Should be interesting


Conclusion:
It's good to start hard

The total Cup standings with one race to go:

How much do saddles weigh?

The classic: Selle Italia SLR Carbonio

The expensive carbon: Tune Komm-Vor

The cheap carbon: Cycle King

The original Trek Superfly saddle: Bontrager Evoke RXL

Lauf Fork

The kind folks over at Lauf Forks sent me their amazingly light fork to test last year. I used it in a few races and it performed beautifully. All 965 grams of it, as you can see by the photo. Now which one of my Treks should I mount it to?

Slushcup Race #5 - Second place!

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

The fifth race of the cup. The race was supposed to be a "tonser", which in Danish means easy gravel road race. There was plenty of gravel, however also two hills to get over. The trails over those two hills turned into a mud bath. This made for some very interesting biking. I managed a second place which increases my lead in the total cup standings.

Results:
Slushcup #5
Cup standings

Race story:
The prelude to this race was me being out with a cold at the beginning of this week. I had a very easy session on the trainer on Thursday. Then I did a 1.5 hour ride in the forest the day before the race. Things didn't feel too great during this ride with high pulse levels from quite low effort. So I did not have high hopes for the race. Things however turned out better than expected.
I should say something about the track and terrain. There were two hills to get over. One was taken from two different directions. Two of the climbs were on single track while the third on gravel road. Both of the single track climbs were impossible to bike up during the race due to the muddy conditions. The mud also made the descents really slippery and hazardous. There were many falls and some injuries as well. I managed to stay on my bike (probably because I descended carefully).
The start went well but just a few hundreds of meters into the race two guys came together just a couple of meters from me, took out both of each other, and almost me as well. Not a good way to start the race. Some of the younger elite guys formed a leading group and behind them there were four of us in a group. Two younger guys in the 'mens' category, and then  Jorgen Petersen-Bach who is in my category and one of my main contenders in the standings where he's in third place, just three points behind me. So Jorgen and me were on top in our category. I knew I had to keep him in my sights. I managed to do so until the last lap where he was just too strong. Jorgen won the race and I came in second.

Conclusion:
Muddy conditions make for exciting racing. There's more grip in the grass than in the mud.

Slushcup Race #4 - First place!

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

This was the fourth race in this winter's Slushcup. And I managed to win it! I'm very pleased by the fact that I managed to place second overall. This result puts me in first place in the total cup standings.

Results:
Slushcup #4
Cup standings

Race story:
Well, I had sort of a poor start again. I went out around 15th-20th place. Then I worked my way up to four guys who were up on top. This group shrunk by one after a while. So the four of us did most of the race together. Of the group, two were in my class (Henrik and Jörgen), and one guy was from the younger category (Anders). The pace in this group was quick and I had to work hard just to keep up with them. I didn't do much leading as Henrik was out front almost all of the time. I lost the group a few times and managed to work my way back. On the last single track part, just before the finish, Anders went away and after a while also Henrik. Jörgen dropped back behind me and was out of the running. I slowly worked my way back to Henrik on the last part which was a slight uphil on gravel road, the last few hundrets meters towards the finish. So it ended up with a spurt between me and Henrik Söeberg and I just managed to edge him out by a second

Conclusion:
It's good to go out hard

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