Not on top

Sitting here with an irritated and sore throath, so im not at my best today. Was out training as planned yesterday but coming home i felt there was something going on with my throath. So today i will spend consuming as little energy as possible and hopefully its going back. Better be a bit careful now, with my long travel on tuesday and the racing kicking off again the upcoming weekend. So here on the cough i will cross my fingers for not geting more sick, and also for Dennis racing Kuurne today. So with that on livestreaming i will get my daily dose of cycling..

Wonderful weather

It's been a great week here, with really good temperature and some really sunny days! Can't say i regret moving here this winter when im still busy reading about all the snow they're geting at home in Sweden and the chaos it brings.. Only complaint here was the massive headwind last hour on todays 4h ride...
Had a few easier days after some blocks of hard training and now it's just the weekend of riding here in Girona before i head to the US on tuesday, where i will spend almost the whole month of march.
I look forward to get there, I have been there the past two years, and it's a great way to start up the season and get some good training conditions aswell! More about that trip later...
Now its almost dinnertime here!

Tourist for a day

Me and the big cathedral
But first! What a ski race at the olympics! Gold and bronze to sweden, and after such a race. Having goosebumps right now, and was defently worth staying up late for!
Such real fighters really gives you motivation to watch and my smile goes almost as high as my heartrate at this moment!

Thursday i had a really good day, cruising around Girona with the mother and doing stuff you should while being here. Sun was shining and I even visited the cathedral, and it was pretty amazing.
Yesterday it was less good weather and a session at the gym and a short ride in the rain (offcourse with the new cleaned bike..)

Today a clearblue sky said godmorning to me, and i went for a super nice 6hour ride, watching the contrast of the snow covered Pyrenees and the glittering ocean.
Coming home to a clean apartment made the day nearly perfect and i took my mum out for a good dinner.
And as mentioned we just watched the olympics and it's now time to hit the bed! I will sleep well tonite.

Some fun days

Five days have really been running by here, had some really good days together with Annie! So nice to see her again and we always have much fun.
The weather has not really been on our side though, and i couldnt show Girona from it's best. Been really freezing cold the first days but we got some hours in on the bike, but yesterday we woke up to rain. A day spended at the gym and a 1,5h session at the trainer made it finally a good day aswell.
We've been exploring the city, had some good spanish tapas and cooked some delicious dinners, and best of all, laughing and speaking a lot of swedish!

Today it was like we had arrived to another country stepping out the door, 10 degrees warmer then last days, and we got some nice sunshine on top of it!
After an adventurous 3hrs, with my first puncture in a year (on training..) we made it back in time for her to make it to the flight.
After dropping her off at the bus, i took advantage of the great day and went for another 3hours finished off with cleaning my bike! So im more then happy with my day.

Now im here alone for just a few hours before I hit the airport again tonite, but this time to pick up my mum, and i'm looking forward to some more great days!
And tomorow a day off, so time enough to show her around!

Sunshine is back

After the day with rain the sun was back again in time for my longer rides!
Yesterday i did a nice 5h ride, trying out some new roads too! Still much to explore in this area for me.
Today it was really windy and pretty cold, lucky the sun was still shining.. Went out to the coast where it usually is a bit warmer and you get some windprotection. Came home 6 hours later with tired legs and cold from the chilly headwind last 1,5h.
A warm shower, late lunch and then i've been enjoying doing nothing at the sofa with a few coffees and its now about time to move my ass to the store so i can cook dinner tonite!
Late tomorow evening i pick up Annie at the airport and finally i have someone else then myself to speak too..!

The day before Dennis left we spent exploring Platja d'Aro a bit in great weather

Last days

Ladies Tour of Qatar is finished and i'm back in Girona again since a few days.
Last two stages of the race was windy, sometimes hard, and filled with good teamwork. Unfortunately, we didn't get a stage win as our goal was, but we did what we could and worked hard as a team.
On the last stage we finished of with 6laps on a 6km circuit, just up and down a big street along the seaside, turning in two roundabouts. It was a fast, and very windy course.
With a bit more then a lap to go, i attacked, and got a gap. I got up to 10sec from the chasing bunch, and it was a really hard effort on the windy course holding of a bunch going for the sprint. Turning on to the finish street with 1300m to go it was cross wind coming from the front, and in such conditions the bunch are much faster then a solo rider. So viewing the line from 500meters the bunch finally passed me. So, so close, but so far away...

Back home now i've had a couple days of recoveryrides, and right now im watching the rain pouring down outside the window. Good timing though, my schedule says restday with 1h easy, which i can do on the trainer watching the guys turn to suffer in windy Qatar..

Next few weeks will be some hard blocks of training, but I'm also looking forward to a couple of visits here! First of is one of my best friends, and it will be great to have a good company for some trainings here! And the next one of is my mum, and it's gonna be great see her for a bit again!

In the last lap at stage 3 in Qatar.
(Photo credit © CJ Farquharson)

New record!

Race première is now done! And for sure i can call it eventful aswell!
Started off with a really bad night, laying awake for 4hours, only 2h time diffrence but seems like my body notice..
Then time for first stage of Ladies tour of Qatar.
Started of nicely for me having this years first flat tyre after only 2km in the neutral, luckily!
But it didnt end there, halfway through we rode on a less good road, with bigger wholes, which caused some troubles. Couldnt avoid a big whole, so there i went, double puncture! back to the car, this time more windy and bit of a chase i was back on again. Just reaching the bunch i start to move up a little when a girl infront crashes down a whole and, repeat! Double puncture again, all within 5minutes. So not as happy, either me or the mechanic i got the fourth and fifth new wheels..
So made a new personal record there, and hopefully that will fill my quote for a long time..
So last flats happend just before first bonus sprint and with very windy section it was pretty shattered, so slowly I made it back, group by group we reached the front again.

So with a few efforts, but not of the kind i wanted, i felt a bit tired in the end.
But at 5km to go it came a great moment, and i made a counter attack from a teammate, and I managed to hold of a chasing Cervelo train for 2km, then my job and i was done and i rolled to the finish. And it finsihed of good for us, having Chloe in on 3rd place!
Now 2 more windy stages to go, and hopefully no more flat tires and some more succes for the team!