Our road racing season 2016, part 3 (Information about Kalmar Grand Prix)

We have investigated Kalmar Grand Prix Open now. We contacted the organiser of the race and asked them about the length, route, start and finish of the race, and there are some changes compared to last year:

1. The race will start from Elevatorkajen. No change here, that's the same as last year.

2. The race then takes a different route compared to last year. For those who will race 130 kilometres a change is that the race will pass outside the town of Nybro, instead of right through it, since the race is now a race for professionals as well as amateurs, so there will be a "rolling blocking", consisting of about 30 cars and 30 motorcycles. (This was probably quite difficult to organise through Nybro.) A change both for those racing 130 kilometres, as well as those racing 60 and 30 kilometres is that the route will not go through the suburban areas that it went through last year. This is a big improvement. We remember the route from last year, with all the stewards having trouble keeping the public out of the way and an abundance of 90 degree turns. That will thankfully now be gone.

3. The race is now, for those racing 60 kilometres, exactly 58.5 kilometres, according to the organiser.

4. A big change is that the finishing line will be on the Larmtorget square, "if nothing unforeseen happens". So this year we might expect finishing line sprints up the cobbled Larmgatan street! (How very Belgian!)

5. There are some changes regarding the days too. Last year the Kalmar Grand Prix Open 140 kilometre and 70 kilometre road races were during the day, and then the Kalmar Grand Prix Elit criterium race the same evening. This year there will be a race for children - Kalmar Grand Prix Kids - on Friday, during the day. They will ride the same route as the elite riders riding the criterium race, which will take place on Friday evening. Then on Saturday those riding the 60 and 30 kilometre races will start during the morning, and then the 130 kilometre race for the elite and amateur riders will take place in the afternoon.

Is this an improvement? Yes. And no. We would have preferred a 70 kilometre race - now it will be almost like an ITT race, but with an advantage for those who enter along with whole cycling clubs. But that's really the same as any other amateur road race, so... Better to start to think that it's actually a cool thing. And since we are riding the 60 kilometre version we would have thought that it would have been really cool to race with the elite riders. (At least we would have seen them at the start!) That won't happen now. But if things work out and this is done the same way again next year, we will definitely consider entering the 130 kilometre version. We also think that it is a pity that the race won't pass through the town of Nybro, but instead passing just outside the town, because it would have been really cool to ride through the centre of the town but... Well, that's just the way it is.

This is not how it will look in Kalmar in August! Kristin Amstrong racing in the Olympic games of 2012. (We borrowed this picture from Wikipedia. Hope that's OK!)

A link to Kalmar Grand Prix is here. (Sori, Swedish only.) Ride safe!

Our road racing season 2016, part 2

Just a quick addition to yesterday's blog post:

We were asked which races we are going to enter this season. We would like to answer "Milano-Sanremo" but...

No, seriously, we have paid the fee for:

Stadsgirot, 70 km, on the 7th of May

(We borrowed this picture from Göteborgsgirot. Hope that's OK!)

Kalmar Grand Prix Open, 60 km, on the 6th of August

(We borrowed this picture from Kalmar Grand Prix. Hope that's OK!)

and we are thinking about:

Nationaldagsloppet, 104 km, on the 6th of June. Provided that the Nationaldagsloppet race will be arranged, this year, of course.

(We borrowed this picture from Nationaldagsloppet. Hope that's OK!)

And just now we noted that Kalmar Grand Prix has changed the length of the race. A week ago we paid the fee to enter a 70 km long race, but now, on the homepage, it says that the race is 60 km long. Last year the official denonimation was "the 70 km race" while in reality it was 66.489 km. Hmm...

OK, this we have to investigate! We'll be back with more information. In the meantime, ride safe!

Our road racing season 2016

There are different types of slush. There is slush:

(We borrowed this picture from Cook Diary. Hope that's OK!)

and there is slush:

 (Frozen slush. Try riding this on a road bike!)

. Unfortunately it's the latter that we have an abundance of here in Gothenburg, Sweden, right now. Which makes it... well, kind of crap to go out and ride our road bikes. If you manage to ride your bike at all you get cold, wet and dirty and your bike gets even dirtier. And if the snow would all melt away and the roads get dry there's still the gravel - thousands and thousands of sharp little rocks - that the city of Gothenburg pour out over the bike lanes. (Despite http://ensligabergenscykelklubb.blogspot.se/2015/04/sweepsalting-sopsaltning.html - we don't know what happened to this concept, if they tried it and it didn't work or if it cost too much. We should probably ask the city of Gothenburg about it.) An abundance of snow gets exchanged for an abundance of flats.

Despite that, though, the road racing season 2016 has actually already started. In Ensliga Bergens cykelklubb we have taken our road bikes apart to clean them for the upcoming season. (Yeah, we are a bit meticulous about it.) Chains, cassettes, wheels, brakes... There are parts to be wiped and cleaned, and there are parts to be replaced. New brake pads, new jockey wheels, new tyres... And then there are the races to enter, before the entering fee is raised. Not to mention that you have to get yourself in shape too, if you want good results!

We are busy doing all this, and as if that wasn't enough this year one of us - yours truly - has decided to switch from quill pedals with toe clips and straps, to clipless pedals, for the first time ever. Actually I mounted the clipless pedals some months ago, in a fit of fiilis, also thinking that mounting these pedals would force me to buy a pair of cycling shoes, since I wouldn't be able to ride my bike without the shoes. Well, not without being very uncomfortable anyway. And I haven't done that, but I will.

Though they are (considered) mountainbiking pedals I opted for Crank Brothers Eggbeaters, because they are light (though I hate to admit it and though I ride a steel frame I am a bit of a weight weenie), they offer 6 degrees of float and up to a 20 degrees release angle, many parts are replaceable and I think that they are really good-looking.

(Though my pedals have an all metal finish. And we borrowed this picture from Crank Brothers. Hope that's OK!)

Using mountainbiking pedals on a road bike will make some purists turn their noses up (I hope!) and it will require special cleats, but I am up for it. Especially since I had some contacts directly with Crank Brothers (a guy named Jared) and they were super helpful.

So the road racing season 2016 is definitely already on. Are you up for it?

Postgirot Open 1982

We would like to start a new series here, and show you all the Postgirot Open memorabilia that we have. If you don't know, Postgirot Open was an annual professional staging bicycle race in Sweden. It was not in the same class as Giro d'Italia, Tour de France or Vuelta a España - bicycle sport simply isn't nor wasn't that big in Sweden - but it was, at the time, the biggest bicycle race in Northern Europe. It ran 1982-2002, but unfortunately the bank Nordea bought the Postgirot money transaction system in 2001, from the State-owned Postverket (which has subsequently been privatised), and obviously decided that they had no wish to continue sponsoring the race.

That's how capitalism works, but let's not go into a discussion about the evils of capitalism, but rather just show you a postcard from 1982.

Perhaps it isn't very elaborative, but it's still kind of cool since it shows the route of the race, from Gothenburg to Stockholm.

Well, we don't have very much more to tell you about it, since we really don't know that much about it ourselves. Tommy Prim, from Sweden, was the winner of the race.

Ride safe!

Ride more like a girl!

Still busy with the master's project, but only two more weeks to go now! We will be back in 2016, stronger, cooler and more awesome than ever! (Hopefully!)

However, we couldn't resist passing on this New year message from Lotta Lepistö:

(We borrowed this picture from Lotta Lepistö's instagram account. Hope that's OK!)

Happy new year! Lets try to ride more like a girl in 2016!

We couldn't have said it better! We wish Lotta Lepistö and everyone else, all of you, a wonderful 2016! See you soon again!

Ride safe!

Oh, hey...

What has happened? Is this blog defunct? No. So are we just lazy then? Well, yeah. But actually that's not the reason either. The reason that nothing much is going on here right now, and will not happen for a month or so, is that I am currently working on my master's project. I kind of need this degree, so all time awake is spent on it. Wish me luck! And I promise that we'll be back as soon as possible. Until then:

Ride safe!

... is going down (We're going political again)

Can bicycles save the world? By themselves, no. As a part of a bigger solution, maybe. We think that bicycles is an indispensable part of building a better future, in making the world a better place, in saving the environment. In order to stop environmental pollution cars need to be replaces by bicycles, people need to use bicycles to get to work, to school, to go shopping and so on.

But bicycles are not the solution to all problems facing the world right now. Anyone living here in the North right now can't have avoided reading or hearing about the huge number of refugees fleeing from Syria, Afghanistan, Somalia and other countries, trying to get to Germany or Sweden, where they think that they will be safe and able to build a new, better life for themselves. Some, like those from Syria or Afghanistan, mainly flee from war and terror. Others, like those from Bangladesh or some Sub-Saharan African countries, mainly flee from poverty. And they try to make it here, to the North, crossing the Mediterranean Sea on dangerous rafts and then walking, trying to get a ride on buses and trains through Europe, through Turkey, Greece, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Hungary, Austria to Germany or to Sweden, then often through Denmark. Of course, some people take other routes, just today we heard a story on the radio about a man who fled from Syria to Norway, via Russia. (Actually he used a bicycle to make it across the Russian-Norwegian border up in the far North of Europe, since for some reason it is forbidden to cross that border on foot, but allowed to do it on bicycle.) A small number of refugees also continue to Finland, trying to find a safe haven there.

What to they face on their journeys? They risk their lives crossing the Mediterranean Sea, they have to walk long distances through heat or cold, scorching sun or rain (soon snow too), they have to struggle to cross bordes, to find something to eat, some are treated brutally by European authorities and when they finally reach their destination they are met by people protesting, shooting fireworks at them, burning down the refugee camps. And just six hours ago the Swedish government initiated temporary border controls, stopping all people who can't show valid identification papers.

And then we have the beggars, mainly Romani people from Romania and Bulgaria, who are now found outside almost every grocer's and in every train station in every town here in Sweden, trying to sell magazines or begging, hopefully making some money to take home to their villages in Romania or Bulgaria and make their lives a little better. They are insulted, shouted at, spat upon and they are constantly being driven away from places where they try to camp.

(Perhaps it is important to be reminded of all the good people. All the people who volunteer, who spend their time and money to help the refugees and the beggars. Or simply those who say something kind and supportive to their fellow beings. Especially right now, when the xenophobic Sweden Democrats party are campaigning in Greece and are going to place ads in Arab newspapers, trying to deter refugees from seeking asylum in Sweden.)

Bicycles, on most occasions, can't help all these people. We in Ensliga Bergens cykelklubb think that owning a bicycle should almost be considered a human right but that doesn't really help here. And it's not a solution. So now what? Can we just let this go on? Well, no. While taking a step back and simply thinking that it's not our problem - it's someone else's problem - might work in a short perspective it won't work over time. Besides, it's not very nice. (And we shouldn't have to tell people not to shoot fireworks or spit at other people. That's purely common sense and nice manners.) Over time we have to work on long-term solutions, ending the war and terror and make it possible for everyone to live a decent life without having to flee.

Right now, though, we have to make sure that everyone that flees gets the right to get their case tried, to see if they have reasons to be granted asylum or not. Not just in Sweden, but all over Europe. We have to give everyone shelter, somewhere to rest and get a decent meal. And sometime inbetween right now and long term we have to give everyone the chance to make a decent living. It is not impossible. There is enough money and resources around to suffice, so that everyone could get a fair share - we just have to (re)distribute it.

Do you know what your long-term solution look like? We know how ours look, but it is clear that it will take time. In the meantime we will simply try to be nice to people, say nice things to them, put pressure on our politicians to make them take the right decisions and protest when they take the wrong ones. Everyone can make a small change.

And to make up for our political ranting, two pictures of a nice Columbus Pinta 1492.

It could use a wash and wax, but all in all it looks like a nice bike!

Ride safe!