Fredag / Lordag - I want to ride my bicycle

Today was quite different to the past couple of days in that quite a lot of things happened.  Actually just one thing happened but it was the point of the trip.

In order not to miss our allocated start time we set off from the campsite to downtown Motala at around 18:30, perfectly reasonable for a 20:12 depart. The beauty of this was we had plenty of time to stand around whereas before we had only been able to take part in the far inferior and energy sapping sitting.  Motala had a real carnival atmosphere including a happy shopper Guns n Roses cover band who despite our calls would not shut up.  The good news was we were able to make last minute adjustments to each other's kit to maximise ride comfort.

last minute adjustment to Dan's shorts

Our allocated start time was 20:12 meaning we had to get into our start pen at 20:10.  With a bit of rather un-English pushing and shoving we were able to secure a position right on the start rope, giving Padrig a chance to be interviewed by Swedish television (not much happens in Sweden so the race was primetime viewing.)  Being at the front we were in prime position to ride directly behind the supplied motorbike outriders who would shepherd us from the town to the open road.  I have benefited from outriders on several occasions in life but for the rest of the team it was pretty special.

At the start line

The early part of the race was great fun, as it was the only thing being shown on Sweden's only TV channel the locals decided they might as well watch the real thing.  The streets through each village were lined with literally tens of supporters and well wishers.  This gave a welcome boost and it was a good way to track alchol consumption across Sweden, early in the evening everyone was focussed on the riders, later on it looked like a bunch of randoms who had chosen to set up garden furniture on the street who were oblivious to anything going on around them.

A view of the lake

During the early stages of the ride our team discipline was a bit scrappy and instead of working as a team ended up being more of a lose coalition, this still seemed to be an invitation to our fellow riders to stick to our back wheels without actually bothering to do any of the hard miles themselves, at

one point it seemed we had half of all competitors behind us.

At this point I should mention the road surfaces.  Those that know me will know I am not terribly fond of socialism, but if it can delivery road surfaces such as those we enjoyed in rural Sweden then bring it on.

The ride was punctuated by a series of rest stops which were very well organised and served a variety of food.  By variety I mainly mean pickled gherkins and bread rolls, also some lingenberry soup.  By midnight it was fairly dark and a bit cold but we remained in good spirits.

At midnight and still smiling (mostly)

bonus loo stop

Chris shows the effects of two many gherkins

The first of the two scheduled hot food stops was at the Southern point of the route in the town of Jonkoping where we served meatballs (with gherkins).  Being Sweden they served Swedish Meatballs, which the locals just refer to as Meatballs.  For a nation of such clever people it is amazing that they are so obsessed with the 1979 Ivan Reitman film that they named their national dish after it.  Despite a strong cast including Bill Murray it is largely sh*t.

meat ball and gherkin value meal

Following the hot food stop the ride got a bit hillier but this was countered by some flowing downhill sections allowing me to achieve a top speed of 41mph. The views at this point either at the train of rear lights in front or white lights behind was truly impressive.  Almost as impressive was seeing the sun come up over the lake in time for the second food stop (Lasagne with gherkins.)

For the second part of the ride something seemed to click with the team and we rode in a pretty efficient formation allowing us to cover ground at a decent but not exhausting pace.  Using the energy saved we decided to treat 200 - 250km as a race stage, which was among the stupidest thing we could have done, consequently we were all exhausted with a mere 50km to go.  That said going fast is fun.

The final two stages were fuelled by Haribo (with gherkins) and coffee.  Lots of coffee.  We arrived back into town and the finish line at around 9:30AM, some 13 hours after we set off.  Our moving time was about 10:30 which was way faster than any of us expected.  Pleased with ourselves we decided to have a celebration beer and some breakfast.

The problem with the above plan is there is a law in Sweden meaning no where can sell beer until 11:00AM, whilst disappointing at the time it was a good way to bring me back to my senses ref socialism.  Limitation of freedom of the individual to enjoy a beer should be a stark warning as to the hell citizens have to endure living under the jackboot of this flawed system.  In another bit of bad planning, for once not by us, the bar had mainly run out of beer leaving us with the Swedish version of Special Brew, the cornerstone of any healthy breakfast.

delicious beer.

I will now conclude today's blog by thanking the rest of the team, despite the ride being 'somewhat' difficult everyone remained in good spirits and was great fun.  Not fun enough that I would do it again or even suggest anyone else did it but fun.  I would also like to thank the gentleman at the bike park who was kind enough to give me a palindromic check ticket, a perfect end to a perfect night.

1881 YES!

The team at the finish in time for tea and medals.  Time in saddle 10h40ish

Another day, another medal

Tomorrow will be dull again but I will probably write something.