2010-06-18 - Vätternrundan

me too! even though I just ate a huuuuuge bowl of recovery porridge......
also neeeeeed a load of knakebrod and cheese, then a nice slab of Gravad Lax,

sounds like you need a trip to ikea

was there last week so got everything you listed part from the salmon

You tried kalle's kaviar? Fantastic with fried / boiled egg on knackebrod

damn right, S'ton is nearest to here, last time they had some ace jams that weighed me down all the way home.
love that salty paste aye,
hate the chav restaurants with the all the post consumers snuffling down the cheap (and rubbish) meatballs though.

10 hours 55 mins inluding stops, 10.12 rolling time. 18mph average. 183 miles is a long way

That is an awesome time, well done.

Bloody hell, Simon, that's fast! Nice work!

Hi
I was there too. Very well organised I must say.

Those of you there may have passed me, I was the guy on the pink Brompton. 11pm start time, finished in 17 hours 15 min. Felt pretty good at the end considering how little training I did. Although I did the training on my fixed so that might have given a little boost.

Here's a little review for those not there:

I started from Motala around 11pm, it was still kind of light out. Groups of 60 riders start every 2 minutes. It ends up being a pretty spread out group, never too bunched up. The first couple of hours were quite nice, about 10 degrees. It got darker to almost complete darkness, I think it may have clouded over, but my headlight worked great. There was a pretty strong headwind, so I latched on to the end of a draft train that wasn't going too quick for me. I knew I wasn't all that fit so I had wanted to take it REAL easy at the beginning but fighting that headwind alone would have killed me. So I rode that for a while. The first 80km were uneventful, just headwinds and darkness. At the second rest stop at Granna it started raining and got pretty cold. Quite miserable. But by the third stop at Jonkoping (3am ish for me) it had started to get light, and the skies were clearing, but still chilly. Had my meatballs and mashed potatoes there. Pretty good.

Side note: At all the rest stops you could get buns that were a little sweet and flavoured with cardamom. There was coffee and tea, warm blueberry soup, warm honey water, sometimes bananas. Also energy drink, fruit drink and plain water. Porta-potties were at all the rest stops too.

After Jonkoping it started raining again, and it was on and off until Hjo, the next big rest stop, where we got lasagna. Hjo is at 180km and I was feeling OK, but a little tired and the usual aches and pains. I had tried to save my energy for the first half and it seemed to be working. I forgot to mention that as soon as we left Jonkoping and started heading north, we had a pretty good tailwind which was a life saver for me I think. For the west side of the lake (heading northwards) I was by myself, I didn't need to over-exert myself trying to keep up with drafting the speed demons. But with the tailwind I was able to keep up a steady 25km/h pace, which for me is pretty good.

The clever thing they did (those Swedes!) was place the rest stops closer and closer together the further the ride went on. So as you get more and more tired your next mini-goal isn't quite as strenuous to get to.

As I got to the northern tip of the lake and turned southwards I was expeecting a horrible headwind for the last 45km or so, but by some strange device it felt like a tailwind for that bit too. It could just have been that energy boost you get when you know you're almost home. The third little rain storm hit about then too, but didn't last too long.

There were no major hills along the way to speak of really. I did my training in Essex and north of London (my old standby is Walthamstow to Cambridge and back) and there are bigger, steeper hills on that run than in Vatternrundan. I think it would be quite feasible to do it fixed, but for myself I would need a bit more training than I had this time.

I would certainly recommend the ride to anyone, and if you commute by bike in London regularly and throw in a few longer weekend rides then it's very achievable. If you do more, and proper training it might even be fun. But the feeling of accomplishment as you cross the finish line and get the medal around your neck is pretty special, no matter what your finish time.

Daniel

Great review Daniel, I have not had a chance to post in any detail yet, but will do soon.

I saw you on the Brompton, I tried to shout something funny/clever but words failed me. Fantastic effort on the little bike.

I was amazed how many people completed the distance on less than ideal machines, I saw a fw mtb's with big nobbly tyres being pushed a long at decent pace, that must be a hell of a workout compared to a roadbike on slick 23s.

18mph for 183 miles! Good work Simon.

Any other survivors? Joe? Des? Are your still with us?

A minute's silence, for Joe Smith, I think.

;-)

I got up at 03.45am on Friday morning, got dressed, jumped in a minicab. Just a small piece of hand luggage and the bike bag complete with bike, and enough energy gels and power bars for the job in hand.

I arrived in good time at Stanstead, for the 06.00 flight to Skavsta, where the lady on the car rental desk persuaded me to upgrade the ford fiesta I had booked to a massive Volvo estate for an extra 12 euros. It seemed like a good idea at the time, and It made it easy to just open the boot and shove the bike bag in without any acrobatics.

The 150 km drive to Motala was quick and easy on the smooth Swedish motorways and A roads and I arrived in Motala well before lunchtime, had a quick nose around but couldn’t be bothered to park up in town, so drove the 16K down the road to the hotel in Vadstena. Once there, I put the bike together, and rode back up to Motala in search of the registration tent, and some pasta. On the wat into Motala, I spotted Brun and his mate Ben in their car, they had driven up from Malmo that morning, so they parked up, we registered, had some food. I bumped into Des (Balmain) by the registration, but didn’t manage to spot him during the ride. I then rode back to the hotel to get my gear together and try and get some rest before the start at 01.56 in the morning.

At about 11.pm I picked Brun up from where he was staying about 40 km further down the lake. We dropped the car back at my hotel, and rode up to Motala about 40 minutes before the start.

The weather had been clear most of the day but just as we rolled up to the start gate there was some light drizzle, so I pulled on my rain jacket which kept the wind and rain off for the first leg of the journey.

I will post some more about the ride when I get a moment.

Great job guys , didnt know that vätternrundan was known in the uk.
Me and a couple of friends from fixedgear.se did our second trip around the lake and did it in 9hours and 52 minutes with 9hours and 22minutes of cycling time plus 30 minutes of piss and water breaks.

Good fcking work! Next year maybe we can ride together in a large and strong fixedgear bunch!!

Andye

I'm afraid I did it with gears not fixed. 9.52 fixed is insane, well done!!

I'd like to do it fixed in the future but maybe at a relaxed speed. Next time I'd like to go quicker than 10 hours, but it would need to be gears I think.

What gear ratio did you use?

Just read the whole thread , mayor reading error from my side. :D

I had the lightest gear ratio with 47x17 and the rest had 48x15 , 49x16.
It was spinny downhill but really nice on the flat and uphill.

I'm BACK!

My time was 15:07 including lots of stops. I was just happy to finish! The first section was pretty quick as was the last, but the bit in between was... Not.

7528 JOSEPH SMITH, LONDON
Vätternrundan 2010
Depot Result
Start 00:10
Gyllene Uttern 03:14
Fagerhult 06:27
Karlsborg 10:35
Medevi 14:30
Finish 15:17

Due to lack of training, it took a lot out of me. I literally cried when I crossed the finish line!

Am doing it next year, but will be better prepared this time.

Anyone up for it?

Might post some more about the ride when I have some time.

A minute's silence, for Joe Smith, I think.

;-)

fuck you mashton

chapeau, joe!

7528 JOSEPH SMITH, LONDON

So you're Joseph Smith now? Have you been promoted?

Nice one Joe. Very tempted to have a go next year.

So you're Joseph Smith now? Have you been promoted?

His real name is Hugo Bertram Foffingham-Smythe, no one's really called Joe Smith.

fuck you mashton

Fair comment, at least you finished your ride. :-(

Well done, Joe, sterling work.

Joe

I'm also thinking about next year already, I think it could become addictive.....

It was good to see you half way around, I was just stopped at the side of the road getting some more food out of my saddle pack, I looked up, and randomly just spotted you.

After that next stop, I just pushed on, only stopping once more to to refill the water bottles and use the delightful porterloos. I can see why so many people were just opting for the side of the road for their "comfort breaks". You wouldnt want to go fruit picking around lake vattern, thats for certain.

Haven't checked my official time yet. Crossed the line an hour after Sasmon, although only about 15 mins down on actual cycling time cos I needed to stop for more buns and coffee. Reasonably happy with a rolling average of 17.5mph.

Having got arse cramp only 30 miles in cos of too quick a start, I had to insist Sasmon left us behind thinking I was gonna have a really shit day. Turned out that after taking it easy for a while and getting more food in me I had a major recovery and really enjoyed the majority of it. The massive 50+ peloton after Hjo was awesome.

Contratulations to everyone else that finished, great efforts all round.

Late report, but got back a couple of days ago after a leisurely meander back to Skavsta - new to this touring game, but the carradice worked really well for a week's kit on a road bike. Had a lovely ride over to Motala - perfect weather and one of those unplanned trips where everything just fell into place. Checked into a gym near the start and used that for a couple of nights - great facilities including a big screen to watch the England match before the ride. Set out at 2am and had a torrid first 150km - just couldn't get any rhythm going or latch on to any good groups. Bumped into a rolla/fgss forumite (sorry - I'm terrible with names) just at the point that packing was under consideration. Decided to dump a load of kit and go for the 'get cold and wake up' approach instead - seemed to work as the second half flew by. Finished in 12h:25m, including about 2hrs at the stops - I'm happy with that. Given that I probably came in about 12,000th, am ashamed to admit that I crossed the finish line arms aloft. Best beer in the world at the end.

Followed the Gota canal all the way to end/beginning at Mem on the way back - beautiful scenery, loads of campsite/hostels options and great to come across so many locals out on cycling adventures for a few days. Not sure that the Brentford grand union canal measures up.

Then managed to mess up the final leg back to the airport, leaving me with no chance of catching my flight. Given that it was Sweden I though that hitching with a fully loaded bike might just work - and it did: car stopped after 10 mins - bike in the boot and lopped 40km off the journey. Then a 60km TT style ride to the airport and I made the flight with about 5 mins to spare.

Half way round I swore I'd never do it again...but had such a good week all in that I'm already thinking next year.

Great time sasmon - only 40 mins off the bike is way beyond be. Also, probably completely off track - but Joe Smith, that wasn't you that I bumped into at the Borensberg youth hostel on the Sunday? Good to meet you if so, I was on the Condor.