XC Racing in Sweden

Our 1st international race report from Woz and Malin...sorry for the delay in posting...

The first race of the year is always hard. Normally wet, cold and muddy. The cold air on the freshly rested (all winter) lungs is usually a stark reminder that you need to train more. The burn of the windpipe and taste of metallic substances telling you that you haven’t pushed this hard since your last race a few months back.

This year was slightly different. As the honorary Swedish Muddy Funster , I have to fly the MF flag in a different country now. Moving to Sweden last November with my partner Malin meant learning a new language, a new way of living and a new way to train.... in snow.....

So the first race was also a bit later than usual. The 23^rd April (easter weekend) to be exact. Having done a good amount of training since the weather started to improve in Feb, I thought I stood a good chance of a strong finish. The event was an XC race with a twist. A short course race held on a  3.5km lap, run over 1 hour (or 50 mins plus a lap to be precise). Should be fun we thought as we lined up with the predominantly team-kitted competitors. We got some funny looks in our MF tops and Pedal On/WXC shorts combo. Strange outsiders! Malin seemed chipper for a race day, even though she currently has no XC bike and instead had to race her Trek Fuel EX9. Weighing in at nearly 13kg, it’s not exactly XC spec!

The start was an additional 1,5km loop of forest track leading into the singletrack and allowing riders to filter into a line before it gets narrow. There were two climbs on the start loop, so I knew I could get near the front before the ST. What I didn’t quite realise was the ‘near’ the front meant ‘at’ the front. This race seemed to have a somewhat leisurely pace at the start compared to what I am used to and I sprinted off on my own to lead into the ST. The gap that I pulled on the next guy soon disappeared as we hit the first of the climbs in the singletrack and then several other whippets passed me before I settled into a battle with two other guys who were riding at my pace. This turned into a great little battle for 6^th, 7^th and 8^thposition. My first two laps were hell. The pollen in the air paired with the first race feeling meant that my lungs were burning like hell and I struggled to warm up. On the third lap I started to open up and therefore decided to attack the other two. Myself and a CKX rider gapped the Uddevalle rider and I felt confident I could also beat Mr CKX given that I was faster in the technical singletrack and on the climbs. Just at the beginning of the 5^th (and last) lap I was poised to outsprint Mr CKX before the first singletrack only for him to pull off the course. I was so disappointed as I was looking forward to a good battle over the final 3.5km. So the last lap was ridden slightly easier than planned, and alone. I was happy with 6^th, and felt like the training had actually gone ok.

Malin came home just a few minutes ahead of me with one less lap. We had no idea just how well she had done at first as some of the other girls looked pretty serious, and were on some pretty expensive bikes. To our surprise, she had actually won, and was over the moon with her performance. Feeling much better than any race last year, she feels like she’s back on track for 2011 racing. Just need to sort her out an XC racing machine now! I told her it was entirely down to her MF race jersey, and the pride she felt from racing in it that took her to the win. So now we have the first MF race win of 2011! Hopefully there will be a few more to come too. J