A Swedish Cyclist

More mountainbike

2013-08-02T13:03:00.001+02:00

Managed to squeeze in three hours and 40 minutes before work a couple of days ago, I really love being out on my Methanol 29 SL and explore the forests. Legs are feeling good and I think I can do some good races this month.

Commuting and hill efforts

2013-07-29T14:46:00.000+02:00

On August 17:th I'm participating in one of the worlds biggest mountainbike marathons: Cykelvasan. When they opened their registration they sold out in ELEVEN minutes. That is 12000 registered participants in eleven minutes!

I finished in 35:th position last year and I have the intention to try and be a bit higher up in the results this year. It's a superfast and easy course so there will be large groups staying together. First of all I need to get in a fast group (aiming for the first group...) and then I need good legs for the sprint to the finishline.

Because I'm having my focus on road cycling, these last weeks is where I try to become comfortable and fast on my mountainbike again. I had my focus on mountainbiking until 2011 so it's nothing I'm new to, but the guys who allways ride their mountainbikes have an advantage. Because the course is so easy, road experience is good to have. In fact, you can ride the whole course with a cyclocross bike. If it weren't for the rules that forbid cyclocross bikes in mountainbike races...

To get some miles on my mountainbike I did a three hour ride to work last Friday. Started at 5.20 am and had a fantastic morning on some of my favorite trails.

Yesterday I was out doing some hill efforts. Actually felt quite good! I did four climbs that lasted about 4-5 minutes each. Today I will do an other hard session on my mountainbike and then I will go back to my road bike for the rest of this week. Got a SWE-Cup race in Kalmar this saturday so I really need to keep my road legs.

A weekend with two races

2013-07-23T13:17:00.003+02:00

On Saturday we did a race called Ringenloppet. A roadrace with crosswinds on a 11 kilometer long lap. A total of 154 kilometers, but I was only racing 111 of them. It was a hard race and only 28 of the 81 who started the race finished it. My legs were empty when I decided to call it a day, but for the first time on a race this year I felt that I had the power to really participate and be a part of the actual racing in the front. All the other races this year I have started and finished races, but always with the feeling that I only could fight to stay with the peloton. This saturday was different and after taking an easy first lap finding myself in the third group after the first long crosswind section I told myself to be in the front during the second lap because the bunch would probably split up again. There were gaps also on lap 2 but in the beginning of lap three I was in the front with some other strong guys and we were going so fast that our front group came down to 10-12 riders. I spent two laps in that front group and when the bunch caught us I knew that an other group would probably get away in the next crosswind section. I tried really hard to get back to the front but I was the last guy who didn't make it to the front group. That group stayed away for the rest of the race...
After 10 of the 14 laps my legs didn't wanna race anymore. When I was dropped by the bunch it was about 25 riders big. So a lot of guys had to quit before me. Although I Did Not Finish, it was my best race so far this year.

One of the reasons to DNF was that we had a race on Sunday as well. I could have done the 154 kilometers on Saturday, but then I would have had nothing left for Elisedals GP on Sunday. Sunday's race was a fast criterium. 35 laps and 58 kilometers with an average speed of 45.9 km/h. Legs didn't like what I was doing in the beginning but with seven laps to go I attacked. No big move, but at least I was in the race again. The last three laps I only tried to stay near the front. Comming in to the last corner I had to brake and lost some speed there and finished in 19:th spot in the 59 man strong field.

Next race for me is SWE-Cup Kalmar GP in two weeks. A crit race in the city of Kalmar, I'm hoping to have the same legs as I had this saturday, otherwise it will be a very hard day.

Race tomorrow

2013-07-20T00:25:00.001+02:00

SWE-cup road race tomorrow and I arrived to Lund in the south of Sweden less then an hour ago. 14 laps on a 11 kilometer course with crosswinds is what's waiting for us. The best Swedish riders and some of the Danish teams will take part so I'm expecting a very hard day in the saddle.

One of the pictures are from my ride this morning, the others from our EIGHT hour roadtrip...

One year later...

2013-07-17T23:03:00.001+02:00

Time flies.

I'm still riding my bikes. Mostly my Bianchi Sempre road bike. Started a new road team in the club which I'm still the chairman: Falu CK. This is seven out of the nine guys in Falu CK Elit, I'm the second one from the right:

We're no top team, but we got one victory in a national race and a couple of us have taken some points in the SWE-Cup.

I also started a series of local road races for this season. It's ten small races that I organize to let road cyclists from our area practice racing. It's not easy when you are fresh to cycling to get out and do the big races, so this is a opportunity for them to learn what to do in a race, and when to do it.

I got a new personal sponsor! Bianchi Sweden and Sony Mobile are still my partners and this year Mitsubishi Sweden is helping me. Big thanks to all of you! This Mitsubishi Outlander is what I'm drivning 2013:

Hopefully it won't be another year until I post something here. I've been pretty active at Instagram and that has inspired me to open up this blog again. So until next time: ride safe!

One of a kind Rapha TREK Madone 6.9 for sale

2012-06-13T21:21:00.001+02:00

My custom painted TREK that I got from Rapha after winning their Rapha 500 is now for sale. It's a TREK Madone 6.9 with RXL-wheels and Ultegra components and a custom paint job from Rapha.

More pictures here. The bike has never been used but the wheels have been rolling for 160 kilometers.
Contact me if you are interested: henrikoijer@gmail.com

5 hours MTB yesterday

2012-06-10T10:39:00.000+02:00

I had a great ride yesterday with good legs. Last weekend I finished 27:th in the second race in the Swedish national road race series. Next couple of weeks I am going to do Vätternrundan (swedens biggest cycling sportive with 20.000 starting the main event) and the Swedish road championships the following week.

Lovely commuting today

2012-05-28T22:10:00.004+02:00

Cyclocross ride

2012-05-14T09:04:00.000+02:00

I spent four and a half hour on the Zurigo crossbike this saturday, it's always fun to go fast on dirtroads whit that bike, love it! I've been thinking about organizing a race on theese roads, but I might just keep them to myself...

Some pics

2012-05-12T11:19:00.000+02:00

I'm also on Instagram now: Oijer

Did some speed training with the fast men (and boys) from Borlänge earlier this week. Ended up 3:rd. Have done one real road race also (SWE-Cup), on Swedens hardest road race course. Ended up with a DNF, but on the positive side half of the field had allready abandonded when I gave up.

Our cycling club have started with the kids and youth training, four years ago it was 10 kids, now we are 55-60 kids!

A couple of weeks ago Bianchi equipped me with a 29:er and I had the opportunity to do a test ride on what is going to be a MTB-Marathon on an easy track in Stockholm. See www.lidingoloppet.se for more information.

I have done some great MTB commuting to work the last couple of weeks, it's about 25-30 kilometers to work

Time trial test course

2012-04-07T22:10:00.000+02:00

It's always fun to ride against yourself. This aint no typical time trial course, but it's fun and not so much traffic. I did it in 32.56 two weeks ago and 31.20 yesterday, that is a big improvement during a two week period. I'm however not even close to my best time of 29:14, but that time came from when I was elite and it was warm outside. Having a course where you race against the clock and save your times is always good for keeping track of your shape.
If I can improve one more minute I will be very happy and have fitness enough to be in the swedish elite-category. In fact, anybody between 19 and 29 of age can race in elite-category in Sweden, but it's always more fun to race when you are fast enough to actually participate in the race...

Gravel and dirt road commuting

2012-04-05T22:32:00.002+02:00

Thanks to Easter we only worked half this day, so I took a detour on my way home. Instead of a one hour ride home it took two hours to get home today. I did some gravel and dirt roads with varying surface. Mud, snow and some dry and fast roads as well. A great mix in Swedish forests. Found some big tracks from what could be a big dog or maybe a wolf!? I would love to see a wolf in the wild sometime, that would be a dream come true!

I had the worst legs of 2012, but it's always nice to be on my bike so it didn't bother me too much. I hope that the weather gets warmer soon so the roads get dry, hard and fast again.

The Rapha-bike has arrived!

2012-04-04T21:30:00.000+02:00

Got the Paris - Roubaix edition TREK bike from Rapha yesterday. This bike is the price I won in the Rapha Festive 500 this winter. My local bike shop called me when I was still at work and told me that they had a TREK-bike in a box and that box had my name on it... When I got to the shop they had built the bike for me!
It's a TREK Madone 6.9 frame with Shimano Ultegra, Bontrager Race X Lite wheels, Bontrager XXX-stem etc. but the thing that really stands out is the custom paint job. It's really amazing!

XC-skiing and Bianchi 2012

2012-02-10T08:31:00.001+01:00

During the last couple of days I have been out twice on my 29-30 year old skiis. Great training and also super fun. As a child I loved skiing and skied a lot, but from age 15 and until I was almost 28 I didn't go skiing even once. But when I ended my elite career in cycling I targeted Vasaloppet wich is Swedens biggest crosscountry skiing event with 15800 people starting at the same time and doing a 90 kilometer long race between Sälen and Mora. My goal was to finish the race in less than six hours (the winner crosses the finish line in about four hours) and I did make it in the time 5:45:57. Really happy with that! The following year my aim was to make it in less than five hours but work and other stuff made it hard to prepare so I didn't race at all. Now I have done two sessions this winter and my second one was my third fastest ever, so now I'm thinking of doing the Vasa ski race again this year, but it's only 23 days away! If I do the race then six hours will be my target again but I also have to do a qualifying race so I don't have to start dead last.

When I did Vasaloppet in 2010 I had qualifyed to the 4:th starting group (out of ten) and my result in Vasaloppet qualifyed me for the 3:rd start group if I was going to race in 2011. Because I didn't race at all last year I need at least one race before the race this year for seeding purposes.

Me and my skiis. I also have a pair of new (in 2010 anyway, and only used about 10 times) Fischer skiis wich are top of the line, world cup quality. But I only use my racing skiis when racing or preparing for race.

I will continue riding Bianchi bikes in 2012, focusing more on road and cyclocross and a bit less on MTB than I did in 2011. This year will however be my first on 29" and after trying a 29:er in the forest in late 2011 I am really stoked about that.

Back on my bike again

2012-01-29T21:57:00.001+01:00

After eight consecutive rest days I was finally back in the saddle today! I expected to be out of shape but it actually was a nice ride. When I got home I had been out for three hours and fifteen minutes with an average speed of 25 km/h and a average heart rate of 149. It was -10C at the start of the ride and -4C when I got home, but 30 kilometers north of Falun, where I live, it was as cold as -14.5C ( that is 5.9F ). We had to increase the intensity so that we wouldn't become ice scupltures and after a while we got to some climbes that lowered the speed and got our heart rates up a bit. When we got to the top it was only -10C and from then on it got warmer. Because of all the rest days I had planned to be wheel sucking all day long but after about an hour, when it got that cold, my legs where going numb so I had to go to the front to get that heart rate up.
If we ignore that it was so cold today, it actually was a beautiful day! I took some pictures for you:

I really love this proper Swedish winter, it's so beautiful. I feel really blessed to live in a place where we have these seasons that differ so greatly.

I won the Rapha Festive 500!

2012-01-28T10:27:00.001+01:00

Yesterday Rapha announced the winners of their Rapha Festive 500. I thought that I was going to be third, or at least top five due to the amounts of votes I had received. An incredible result! But as I kept on reading I couldn't find my name anywhere.. Until I got to the bottom of the page, I HAD WON THE CONTEST!
I really can't describe the feeling, I am so greatful for this.
I did the Rapha Festive 500 last year as well and the best thing with this challenge is that it motivates people to get out and ride their bikes. It was such a great feeling of making those 500 k. Next great feeling was when I saw that I was one of the 1000 people riding their 500k or more that made their top 10 shortlist. Then during the final when I saw the support I received from my friends in the vote, I was truly touched. Such a great challenge and I'll be doing it again next year, I hope you do it to!

Rapha Festive 500: The Vote

2012-01-20T21:35:00.002+01:00

The Vote started today, I'm one of the 28 who is in the final! You can vote for me by pressing "like" here.

This is me before going to work this morning:

This is me arriving to work:

-16 degrees C today, man that was cold!

Rapha Festive 500 - I made it into their shortlist!

2012-01-06T15:46:00.000+01:00

With this photo Rapha is ranking me as #5 in their shortlist! Read more about it here. Next week you will be able to vote for your favorite, and the winner gets a Trek Madone 6.9!

Rapha 500 - black and white

2012-01-04T09:05:00.000+01:00

Ever since the Rapha Festive 500 I have been feeling a bit under the weather. I cough, I have a sore throat and a headache. It's now the fourth day of 2012 and I've got 0 minutes of training so far. To break the blog-silence I have picked out a few photos from the Rapha 500 and turned them into black and white.

Rapha Festive 500 - day 9

2012-01-01T11:03:00.000+01:00

I did it!

All 500 of them. Thanks to the 6 hours in the saddle this friday I only had to do 70.63 kilometers on New Year's Eve to complete the Rapha Festive 500. I decided on a route with mostly gravel roads to have a really nice ending to this challenge. No traffic, beautiful scenery and just enjoy the accomplishment. That what was my plan anyway..

When I planned this I was thinking frozen gravel roads with a surface like sandpaper but I ended up with pure ice. In the beginning the ice was smooth and everything was going great. It was -5 C outside giving the surroundings a frozen look.

After a while the ice got all rough on me and my fender mount. This part was good balance training but not really the enjoyable ride I had planned on. Having promised my wife that I was going to complete the ride in less then three hours this was destroying that plan.

During the first 45 minutes of the ride I had spent 35 of them on pure ice and it was therefore nice to get back out on more attackable roads where I could pick up some speed again. The ice on the lakes looked great for ice skating and a lot of people was enjoying this winter day out on the ice.

After a few kilometers I suddely found a winter landscape, this is how it should look this time of the year. It was very beautiful and it gave me some extra energy.

Here I am climbing one of the two longer climbs of the day, gaining about 150 meters of altitude. Up on the top I saw a moose! I tried to take a picture of it but with my smart phone in a plastic bag in my back pocket and with a vest over my jersey it took to long and the moose was in the forest before I could press the shutter button. In 2010 I was a bit faster with the camera and took this picture of a moose.

More icy roads, but smooth ice this time

One week ago the storm Dagmar passed Sweden and there is still about 1000 people that had to celebrate New Years Eve without electricity.

Todays numbers. Complete Garmin data for day 9 is here and below is my data for this Rapha Festive 500:

Thank you Rapha for this challenge! I started after eleven days of resting due to a cold and didn't know how my body would respond but it has gone great and I am now much stronger. This has been good for me and given me a good foundation for a great 2012. I had a goal of making this without using valuable family time and it was actually only this last ride that effected the family. But on the other hand I had a planned ride today wich I am not attending. So I think it breaks even..

I hope you all have a Happy New Year!

Rapha Festve 500 - day 8

2011-12-30T21:33:00.002+01:00

You know that feeling when your kids wake you up at 3 am and you just want to go out for a ride? Today I did just that. At 3:42 am I started my Garmin and headed out in the darkness, again. My goal was to do about 120 km with an average speed of 25 km/h so I wouldn't be late for work. I did the same route as I did on the last day of the Festive 500 last year. In 2010 we had -12∘C and a lot more snow so I knew I was going to be faster this year.

-2∘C today so I had my warm gloves on.

After riding about an hour and a half in mostly dark forests it was nice to ride through some villages with street lights and houses with lamps turned on.

Still happy!

When I was riding through Leksand I was about half way. Here I ate a Snickers and drank a little Coke, which I had brought with me. My average speed here was 25.0 km/h. I felt that I had been in the saddle for 2 hours and 20 minutes but I wasn't exhausted or anything. In addition to the candy and Coke the wind was now going to be in my back so my confidence was high. From here on I could take it a bit easier yet still go faster, the perfect combination!

When I left Leksand I set up a goal to rase the average speed from 25.0 to 26.0 and when I arrived at work my Garmin told me that I had an average speed of 26.1! It was a balance act trying to reach that goal but at the same time trying to preserve as much energy as possible. I had to ride home from work as well!

115.4 kilometers in 4 hours and 25 minutes with an average heart rate of 144, look at the complete Garmin data here. I never got to see the sunrise because at this time of year the sun rises at about 9 am.

Today I was only working half-day and I ate a classic Swedish shrimp sandwich, or Räkmacka as we call it.

After work it was time to sit in the saddle again, but this time in daylight!

Gravel/ice roads

Not quite as fast as my shadow

Studded tire, icy road and forest. No surprise here!

I decided for a detour when i got to Falun and caught up with some friends. Really nice with some company when my legs had started to hurt, even if it only lasted about 15 minutes or so.

Adding 43.03 kilometers to the morning ride gives me 158.4 kilometers today and 429.37 kilometers in total during this Rapha Festive 500. You'll find Garmin data for my ride home here.

158.4 kilometers in 6 hours and 3 minutes and a half-day at work and still I made it home before 2 pm!

Rapha 500 - day 6

2011-12-29T14:14:00.000+01:00

Being a bit behind schedule I knew I had to go out for a ride yesterday if there would be any hope left to make the magic 500. Because of the promise I made to myself that I would not use valuable family time I went out when the kids were put to bed. So this ride started at 8.49 pm in total darkness, a ligth rain, some wind and +1 degree C. Perfect conditions!

The storm Dagmar did not only take some trees down with her, it also ment that almost all the snow disapered. Not much winter feeling left, even if some christmas lights do their best

I opted for a small and "cozy" road on my way back home. That road was partly completely covered with ice, which made it very interesting in the darkness...

After 1½ hour the rain stopped and a bit later the asphalt sparkled.

Not much action in central Falun when I got back

Got back at 11.30 pm, adding 64.53 km to my Rapha 500. Average speed: 25.2 km/h and average heart rate: 141.

Total kilometers after day 6: 270.97
Yesterdays Garmin data

Day 4 of the Rapha Festive 500 - Ride to Redemption

2011-12-27T21:22:00.000+01:00

One day late, but I blew into pieces yesterday and today my family and I have gone back to Falun where we live. That's why I haven't updated this blog. This weekend I used the power of Internet to find some company for a monday ride. It is always much nicer with company on the rides, plus I really don't know where to go in Stockholm... Three strong men came to my rescue: Mats, Johan and Christian (who also is doing the Rapha 500). They were all riding road tires while I was riding with my studded tires...

That's me in the Bianchi outfit. Photo: Johan

After 1.45 of the ride I had an average heart rate of 165 (84.2% of my maximum) and was thinking of how long I could make it without blowing into pieces. Luckily (for me anyway...) one of the other guys lost some power so we had to slow down. Towards the end we did some sprints and power climbs to get rid of any energy left in our bodies. It was a great ride and it was fun to ride with some new company. They are actually thinking of going to Falun to do one of our Sunday rides.
Cycling + Internet = A better world

Here are some photos from my smart phone:

I came home with shattered legs and almost 94 more kilometers to the collection.

This gives me a total of 206.44 kilometers with 4 days to go. It's time to move up a gear! Garmin data here.

Rapha Festive 500 - day 3

2011-12-25T20:48:00.001+01:00

So today it's the third day of the Rapha Festive 500 and also my second day of riding my bike. Didn't expect a ride today but when my wife asked me if I wasn't going out for a ride I really had to go. Yesterday we celebrated christmas (in Sweden we celebrate christmas on christmas eve) early and then we drove to Stockholm for a surprise visit to my mother in law and my wifes sister and her family.
So now I'm in Stockholm. The sun goes down at about 3 pm this time of the year so I knew I was going to ride in the dark. I looked at some maps and decided for a route on mostly gravel and dirt roads because I didn't want to be in the Stockholm traffic in the dark.

We are staying at my mother in law, she lives in a suburb (Husby, Kista) about 15 kilometers north of central Stockholm and it only takes a few minutes to get to this place where there is no traffic and quite a few small dirt roads.

A few minutes later I was out on the damp dirt roads

I really need to get my self a decent headlight so I can enjoy also the dark rides

Going back to the suburb

A short ride is better than no ride. Today I got another 28.82 kilometers to the bank.

My bike picked up some dirt from the roads today, so it will probably be less dirty next time...

Total kilometers: 112.58, you'll find todays Garmin data here

Rapha - The Festive 500 day 1

2011-12-23T22:11:00.000+01:00

One year ago I entered the Rapha 500-challenge and you can read about my adventure here. This year I am doing it all over again. My preparations have not been so good this year and I am entering this after eleven rest days due to a stubborn cold. I could make it, or I will get really sick. Only time will tell. Last year I commuted by bike to work, giving me lots of kilometers without using valuable family time. My family is the most important thing and I will try to ride my bike when my family is not so affected, and this time I'm only working two of the nine days. I'll do my best to reach 500, but it ain't the end of the world if I fail.
On the other hand, I am now more experienced and knows what is waiting for me.
It's 500 kilometers in 9 days, that is 55.6 km each day! And I can tell you that I ain't riding every day which means that I have to do more kilometers every day I'm out riding my bike. Tomorrow we are celebrating christmas and after that we are going away for a couple of days. I might bring my bike because otherwise I know I won't make it, but tomorrow I will add 0 kms to my account.
Today I was working so I took my bike with a detour to work this morning. +1 degree Celcius, dark, headwind and slush on the roads made it so much harder and slower than I had predicted.

5 am, and I am full of energy!

Waiting for the Garmin to find some satellites

The front light went out after only fifteen minutes...

Fortunately I have a smart phone with a flashlight app, so I held the phone in my hand for two hours and 14 minutes...

Snow on the roads now, but we are expecting a week with temperatures above freezing and some rain so on new years eve it might be all gone

2 hours 29 minutes, 53.95 kms, an unimpressive 21.7 kms/h and a average heart rate of 149 (76% of maximum)

Recovery @ work

The ride home:

My Festive 500 bike, an Bianchi Zurigo with studded tires, fenders and a huge saddle bag

Studded tire and some slush. When I was going home it had started raining and the temperature was up to +3 C.

On my way home I had a lot more solid surface, giving me some extra speed

I don't mind riding on snow...

But all this slush is really slowing me down

Aside from the rain it was great to be back in the saddle again, towards the end my energy levels was low and when I got home my legs where shaking when I walked up the stairs.

1 hour 15 minutes, 29.83 kms, 23.7 kms/h and a average heart rate of 152 (77,6 % of maximum)

Total kilometers after day 1: 83.76
You can find my complete Garmin data from today here and here.