2016 - New Team and new Bikes: Scuderia BikeItaly BMC

Scuderia BikeItaly BMC

I'm joining a new team for the race season of 2016: Scuderia BikeItaly BMC (blogg). Our two main sponsors is the Swiss bike manufacturer BMC and our local bike shop BikeItaly. The team has some great riders whom I will be mentioning in my reports. My partner, Sandra Backman, is also joining the team.

The season's two race bikes will be BMC TeamElite 01 XX1, which is BMCs new "softtail" and a full suspension BMC Fourstroke XX1

Weather conditions in Sweden have not been the best so even though I got the full susp in December and then the softtail in January I've had just a couple of rides on each and the snow and mud have made it hard to get a good impression. This weekend, however, under relatively dry conditions, I was able to take the Fourstroke out for two marathon sessions, four and five hours respectively.

The BMC Fourstroke XX1

I wasn't sure what to expect from this bike... This is my third full-suspension race bike. I have gone from racing an Specialized Epic S-works in 2014, to a Trek FS Superfly SL in 2015, and now to the BMC Fourstroke XX1. So I do have some reference points.

On Saturday's marathon ride it took all but 30 minutes before I had totally fallen for the bike. I was IN LOVE. Perhaps you're thinking: "Well, of course you're in love with your brand new shiny top-of-the-line bike.". But it has not always been like this. When I switched from the Epic to the Superfly my first reaction wasn't positive. The Trek turned out to be great, but at first it felt a bit slow to turn in and somewhat dull to ride. So all I'm saying is that change doesn't always feel positive for me... not at once at least.

The Fourstroke is a superb bike. My immediate reaction is how supple it is on the downhills and through turns. It inspires confidence. You want to lean the bike into the corners and let it just do its thing. There's a special section that I have on my local course where there's a trail going downhill over some serious pumps and then turns through a couple of tight turns. In order to get through the turns with speed the bike has to be ballanced over the bumps. If the bike starts bouncing around it gets light and you lose traction. The Fourstroke absorbs the bumps perfectly and allows me to lean the bike into the corners with maximum grip. No other bike that I've ridden there has felt as surely planted.

Thank you BikeItaly for supplying me with this lovely bike.

The BMC Teamelite XX1

The BMC Teamelite 01 is BMC's new "softtail". This means that the rear flexes a little bit. So you get a slightly heavier frame (just 100 grams or something) in exchange for a more compliant ride.

My Teamelite is the 01 Shimano XT version because the XX1 version (which is painted red) sold out. In a way I'm happy I got the XT version because I'm told that the paint is lighter! What I did with my bike was to replace the Shimano XT groupset with a SRAM XX1 groupset. I like XX1.

With the Teamelite you get three different kinds of bushing to use in the back. They all have different stiffness. I first tried the medium one but quickly switched to the soft one. The flex in the back is not noticeable when climbing or accelerating but you notice it absorbing the impact of bumps. It's not like a full suspension bike where you can sit down through everything but it smoothes out some of the roughness of the terrain.

The other thing that's special with BMC is the short stem (and therefore longer top tube). It makes the bike very quick to steer and it feels very nimble and also fun to ride. You through it into turns and it reacts immediately. 

So far I'm really happy with the Teamelite. I still haven't raced it so I am still looking forward to that experience and what insight into the bike that it will give me.

Poster boy for Alpe Adria 2016

It seems that I'm the poster boy for Alpe Adria 2016

Here's my blog entry about the race 2015

The trophy from last season's Slushcup

Last season's Slushcup (2014/2015) went really well and I managed winning my category over all. I was the first non-Dane ever to do so. They let me borrow the trophy for some photos. My name is engraved in the list of winners since the beginning of the cup

Vintercuppen #5 - Best track of the winter season but on tired legs

Result: 3rd place (12th overall)

Bike: Trek Superfly 9.9 SL, Vittoria Barzo / Peyote 1.4 bar

This cup is nearing its ending, just two races left, including today's race. Before this race I was in second place overall. Far behind Palle in first place but just one point in front of Frank in third.

I had guided my new pal, Viktor Ludgvisson (viktorludvigsson.blogg.se) for a five hour ride in the forests outside of Genarp on Saturday, the day before the race. Perhaps not the smartest thing but we had a lot of fun. I was going to have to pay for that in this race...

Trying a lap of the track before the race I found that it was going to be super fun. There was tons and tons of newly built singletrack with ups, downs, turns, (rough) wooden bridges and even a section across a clear-cut area which was super muddy, not with loose mud, but with heavy thick mud.

Result: Vintercuppen #5

As the race started things were going quite well for the first lap and a half. The technical stuff felt super nice and my body was relaxed and I flowed with the terrain. Finally, after so much racing in snow and slippery mud, I was able ot rely on the grip between my tires and the terrain again. I had really missed that!

For the first lap I was somewhere in 6th-7th place overall (probably in 2nd place in my cat). However after the first 20-30 minutes of the race I noticed that I was not able to sustain the pace that I had set out. My body was just too tired after the ride the day before. I started dropping back. Each time a rider went past I hung on to his wheel for as long as I could (drafting did no good as pretty much the entire lap was singletrack). Then I would solo for a while until the next guy caught up.

It wasn't a total collapse however and I worked hard on keeping the pace up. Also, in spite of my tired body I was having so much fun on the super track. I laughed aloud a few times. I ended up crossing the line in third place in my category. So an ok result considering the circumstances.

Now, ahead of the season finale I'm tied with Frank for second place overall. I will need to beat him in the last race. I'll make sure to get to the race a bit more rested than today.

It's interesting looking at my average heart rate in the Strava summary below: 169bpm. That's almost 10 beats lower than my normal. That's what tired legs do for you.

Isstjerneløbet - More snow!

Result: 5th place

Bike: Trek Superfly 9.9 SL, Vittoria Barzo / Peyote 1.5 bar

This race is a fun race that every year that I've ridden it has taken place in snowy conditions. It's mostly a quick race (meaning it would be quick without the snow) on gravel roads and walking paths. However a section of the race goes over the ridge of a series of small hills which are quite steep and hard to traverse due to the trail being very narrow. And, of course, in the snow this is even harder. The race is 44km, two laps of the track.

I was doing some experimenting leading up to this race by having a really hard training week. The experiment was to see how hard training would affect my race form. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday ware spent doing intervals. Friday I did a lighter boxing session. Saturday low intensity long distance in the forest: 3.5 hours.

Conditions before this year's race were lots of snow, although no snowfall in the days before, and temperatures which had just turned into a couple of plus degrees so the snow had started melting and getting heavy.

Result: Isstjernelöbet

At the start of the race there's immediately a short section going down a small slope which turns into a sharp right and double track. The downhill part is slippery and you need to be careful to get into the double track while still on the bike. This went quite well, I lost some distance to the leaders, but as soon as there was grip I sped up and after about 1km there were about 10 of us in a group out in front.

Things progressed this way until things got slippery and messy and then two guys went away in front with one of the guys riding a cyclocross bike(!). I stayed behind in about 5-6th place. But as we got back on the snow covered gravel roads I was able to speed up and join the guy who was in third place. The other riders were some distance behind the two of us.

At about halfway through the lap we got to the hills that I've mentioned above. I had some hopes that conditions were going to be easier than last year (when there was A LOT of snow). They were not. The snow was heavy and slippery and my front tire found no grip. As soon as I got out of the ideal line I lost all grip and had to put a foot down. Over the hills I lost some 3-4 places.

After the hills the terrain for the rest of the lap is fairly simple with mostly snow covered gravel roads. As the snow was melting it wasn't all smooth sailing and my tires found grooves in the snow and wanted to go off in different directions. I managed to make up some places and was back in fourth at the end of the first lap.

Going out on the second lap I saw that there was a guy not too far behind me. I concentrated on putting as much distance between him and me as I could because I suspected that when we got to the hills again I was going to need all the buffer that I could have. However, just before getting to the hills my bike started shifting worse and worse and suddently my cranks were just spinning freely! I looked down at my real wheel and noticed that the lever of the thru-axle was sticking straight out and the rear wheel was completetly lose! Also the chain had become stuck between the smallest cog and the frame. I got off the bike and started wrestling with it; I got the chain lose after a while and reattached the rear wheel. However during this time two guys passed me.

The hill section went fairly well now that a few riders had passed in and flattened the snow. I managed to keep my placing. But then, after the hills, again the rear wheel came lose! I got off the bike again, tightened the thru-axle, and continued. By this time I was down in seventh place!

I set a quick pace and started gaining on the guys in front of me. As soon as I caught up with someone, instead of taking their wheel, I sprinted past them so that they could not get on my wheel. I managed to get up into fifth place again. With about 3-4km left of the race I was getting tired and dropped the pace a bit. However, as soon as I did this I noticed a guy approaching from the back. I sped up again and had to fight hard all the way over the finish line in order to stay ahead of him! Exhausting work!

So I ended up in fifth place, one placing worse than last year's fourth place. I checked my Strava afterwards and the section which goes over the hills took twice as long this year compared to last year! All in all it was a good training session.

What about the experiement then? Well, checking my heart rate data it turns out my heart rate was way lower than it would usually be in a race like this. This is probably due to being over-trained after the hard week of training. But probably also due to the difficult snowy and slippery conditions where it was hard to use massive power all of the time. However, the legs felt great! The feeling of getting out on the gravel roads and putting the power down and and having the legs resond was super! So the conclusion is that you can do a lot of training leading up to a race and still perform well. I did stay away from high intensity training the two days before the race, and I think you really have to. But low-intensity, long-distance, seems to be fine.

I made it into the local paper!

Slushcup #4, snow snow snow

Result: 7th place

Bike: Trek Superfly 9.9 SL, Vittoria Barzo / Peyote 1.1 bar

This race was going to be cold and slippery. The temperature was 10 degrees celsius below freezing and the woods were covered in snow. One lap was 7km and the total time was 55 minutes + lap. So three laps were predicted.

Result: Slushcup #4

I test rode the 7km track before the start of the race and noticed some technical difficulties: part of the lap was on a downhill type section with berms and bumps. This was going to be interesting in the slippery conditions. To handle the slippery conditions I was running the lowest tire pressure that I had ever run in a race: 1.1 bar.

The start loop was on a quite short section of snow covered gravel road; Three left turns and then up a steep single track climb with traction problems. I wanted to be a bit careful during the start as the conditions could lead to some nasty crashes so I stayed back a bit more than I would normally. I entered the steep climb at perhaps 15th-20th place overall.

During the first lap I was overtaking some riders until I got into a three rider group. Traction on the slippery surfaces was okay but I didn't push my luck my really leaning into the turns.

On the second lap I noticed that some sections were getting more and more slippery due to the riders 'polishing' the surface with their tires. I saw one fall.

As the third lap started I noticed that I was getting more and more tired. I let a few guys past and finished the race in 7th place in my category.

Vintercuppen #4 - Slippery slopes

Result: 3rd place (8th overall)

Bike: Trek Superfly 9.9 SL, Vittoria Barzo / Peyote 1.4 bar

The fourth race of this cup took place in cold conditions. The temperature was around freezing. The terrain was a mix of mostly single track and some gravel roads. The ground was mostly covered with snow, ice and slush but some parts were also bare. The trails were quite technical and the slippery conditions made them difficult.

Result: Vintercuppen #4

I got off to a good start. Stayed around 5-6th place (overall). Another rider came up from behind whose wheel I was able to take early on in the race. We stayed together and also caught up with and passed one of the guys dropping back from the front. I lapped after 3 laps in second place in M40 (fifth overall) and with only 30 seconds left on the clock I went out on a fourth lap. Here, however, I started getting seriously tired and had to let some riders pass.

Trail conditions were difficult with some really slippery parts and some which had quite good traction. It was hard to determine which was which though. I had one minor fall.

Tire pressure, even though I checked it before the race, somehow felt way too high. I was being bounced around a lot and the bike did not feel compliant. It may have something to do with the fact that going from Thailand a few days ago to Denmark, with a temperature difference of about 40 degrees, has made me a bit stiff.

Judging by the first three laps my form feels really good. The weight loss from Thailand was evident in the climbs where I had really good speed. Heart rate during the race was really high (good!). The lack of energy on the last lap may be from the fact that my body is probably over-trained since all the biking in Thailand.

Winter training 2015/2016: Mountain biking in Chiang Mai, Thailand

This year, for the third straight year, I spent Christmas and New Year's in Chiang Mai, mountain biking.

Doi Suthep National Park in the background

Why mountain bike in Chiang Mai?

1. It's in the north of Thailand so the climate is nice
2. There's a big mountain just west of the city, Dui Suthep, with its national park
3. Several lovely mountain bike tracks outside of town

The totals:

- 16 days of riding

- 1198.7 kilometers

- 15206 meters total climbed
- 65 hours total rolling time, so on averge 4 hours each day

Where to ride

Doi Suthep

The mountain that's west of Chiang Mai is called Doi Suthep. It's 1676 meters tall. There are plenty of gravel roads to take up the mountain, most of them really steep. And then, going back down the mountain, there are many downhill tracks of varying degree of difficulty. Lots of fun!

Doi Suthep National Park west of Chiang Mai

Doi Suthep as seen from Chiang Mai

Top of Doi Suthep

Huang Tung Tao Lake

Huang Tung Tao is a lake just north-west of Chiang Mai. You get there by going past the 700-year stadium. Almost at once, after passing the stadium, you get to some great single track. The tracks go through the jungle all around the lake. Lovely quick single track, mostly quite flat, but with some short uphills and downhills.The tracks are marked with plastic bands and signs. You can also visit the lovely Sala Caffé if you go on this ride. On the map it's the furthest north on this ride.

https://www.strava.com/activities/458471021

Mae Jo Ranch Race Track

There's a race track north of Chiang Mai called Mae Jo Race Track. It's marked with signs and arrows. There are two tracks: Red and blue. It's quick cross-country racing with lots of technical difficulties. Super fun!

https://www.strava.com/activities/462682549

Hang Dong Race Track

If you go almost straight south from Chiang Mai you can test the jungle tracks in the Hang Dong area. Also, there's a race track there that's marked out.

https://www.strava.com/activities/470001495

Muang Kaen Race - My first Thai race!

Result: Second place (in the open category)

Bike: Trek Superfly 9.9 SL, Vittoria Barzo / Peyote (I have no idea what the tyre pressure was)

Strava stats for 2015

2015 - Summary, 2016 - Plans

This seems like a good time to summarize the racing year of 2015. Were expectations met? What went well and what was not so good?

I guess I'm not the kind of person to set hard goals, I'm probably too scared not to fulfill them. Much better to have them in my head. As long as no one else knows about them...

The Races

One of the really positive things about 2015 was the two stage races: Beskidy Trophy and Trans Schwarzwald. Placing in the top-10 in both races, being my two first stage races ever, was fantastic. Especially considering that I would've placed higher in both races were it not for some uncontrollable circumstances. I will definitelly be back in 2016!

The other big goal for 2015 was the Swedish Marathon Cup (Långloppscupen). I finished fifth at the end with one top-3 trace finish. This was 'okay', I guess, but I had hoped for more. Again, I will give it another shot n 2016.

The national XCO championship finished with a puncture. Well, I'm not much of an XCO cyclist so that wasn't a huge disappointment. I was happy to have practiced the championship track and mustered most of the a-lines. As for the national XCM championships I went in feeling physically poorly and ended up with an eigth place, which, under the circumstances, was all I could wish for.

In 2016 I will continue to focus on Långloppscupen and also on the different marathon and stage races. That will be the main focus. I do however want to become a better XCO rider so part of the plan is to do some XCO races as well.

The Bikes

As for bicycles and equipment: I switched from Specialized to Trek in 2015. As in 2014 going with one top-of-the-line hardtail and also a full-suspension bike with identical spec. I still remember that first ride that I had on the Superfly hardtail and how my initial reaction was that it felt so slow to turn in, compared to the old Stumpjumper, and seemed so more boring to ride. Well, after the first few races I really changed my view on that. The Treks were slower to turn, but so much more stable and therefore made me a much more confident mountain biker. They aspired me with confidence to go downhill so much faster than I had before, which really helped with both Beskidy and Trans Schwarzwald. The Treks were great for me and helped me achieve great results in 2015.

For 2016 I'm switching bike brand from Trek to BMC. I'm very very excited about this and so curious on how the BMCs will feel. I will write a complete post on the new bikes. I'll just mention right now that as 2015 and 2014 I will be riding on one top-of-the-line hardtail and a full-suspension bike as well.

Most of marathon races were done on the Specialized Fast Trak / Renegade combo. An early puncture made me switch from the S-works version of the tires to the Control version. 50 grams heavier but then I had zero punctures after that. The XCO-type races were done mostly on a new tire for me: Vittoria Barzo / Peyote. Apart for two punctures I like the way these tires feel. Tire pressures were around 1.7 bars for the smaller Specialized tires and 1.4 for the bigger Vittorias. This seems to work. For Beskidy I used Racing Ralph Snakeskin and they worked great! No punctures in that race where I saw tons of people having punctures. I will continue to use these tires during 2016.

I loved the NoTubes Valor wheels! Imagine a wheelset that's actually LIGHTER in real life than the manufacturer specifies. And the weight does make a difference: You accellerate away much quicker!

The Training

I've raced most of the season weighing in at between 73 and 76kg. Mostly around 75kg. I did go down to 73kg just before Trans Schwarzwald and I think that accounts for part of the success there. I will try to be more focused on achieving a low weight in 2016. Even though my passion for dark chocolate is hard to give up....

I have continued to train using a mix of MANY races and A LOT of training. My training is not very structures. I did get a training program from Activitus before 2015 which I then didn't follow. I'm not sure if I'm the kind of person who sticks with a training program. I may have to become more structures in the future however to take another step upwards in performance. We'll see...

Slushcup #3 - Puncture! (aborted)

Result: Aborted

Bike: Trek Superfly 9.9 SL, Vittoria Barzo / Peyote 1.4 bar

It was going pretty well up until the puncture. I had a good fight with Henrik Söeberg and another M40 guy for third place.

Checked the puncture at home. It was in the middle of the track. Also, Stans fluid had dried out. So my bad for not checking and refilling it