A little posing for the camera (Photo: Bob Foy)

Then I’m about to pack my suitcase and move out of the pleasant warm temperatures and back to cold Denmark. I’ve had a great time based at Club La Santa, but it will be great to get some home-feeling before taking off for Cyprus, where the first races of the season will be (the Sunshine Cup).

My training here has been a combination of miles on the road and some racemiles on the mountainbike. I took part of the 4 day Stage Race at Club La Santa, for adding some fun and intensity on the bike. I had a great race and the competition was really hard this year. With Sally Bigham and Adelheid Morath there was not much chance for slowing down the pace. We ended up racing really close and was it not for me escaping early on stage 2 and 4, there woulnd’t have been much of a chance for an overall win. The extreme wind and the fact that we raced along with the men certainly was decisive.

In Denmark, I will focus on recovering and being careful not catching a cold due to the low temperatures. Actually I haven’t seen any snow this winter yet, so I look forward to that yeee!

Photo: Bob Foy

2011 is past and a new season is on it’s way. Soon I’ll be training under warmer conditions, and the first milestone will be my training camp on Lanzarote. First I’ll do some roadmiles with the national U23 roadteam, then I’ll join a friend of mine on Fuerteventura ( the neighbor island ) and finally go back to Lanzarote to spend some time on the mountainbike with a 4 day stage race. Man, looking forward to this, is almost the only thing getting my through this cold and wet danish winterweather!

And to do some follow up on my last post, I didn’t win the award. The danish Tour de France star, Lars Bak, ran away with the hearts of many danish cyclingfans for his work pulling the field through France. And that’s what counts, when the award is deciced by the public. Not many people knows, what’s going on in the mountainbikeworld. Well, well, never mind ( I can still go shopping without being recognized, and that is a peaceful life).

A funny story is, that Lars and I actually origin from the same town, Silkeborg. Back in 2004 I was working at a café, where Lars came by now and then. I actually think, he dated one of my kolleagues oh, yeah, sweet memories

Togehter with 4 other Danish Riders I’ve been nominated for the National Cycling Federation title “Rider of the year”. Who will be the lucky winner? You’ll get the answer at the ceremony 20. december.

Guido Andolfato

The World Cup in Val di Sole rounded up the Series with a tough race!

The second part of my season ( since the World Cup in USA in the middle of July ) has been quite challenging. I haven’t felt as fresh or strong as in the first part of the season. If I step back a little, it all makes sense; from march to july is quite a long time being on top all the races.

Well, the World Cup in Val di Sole could have been a good race, but I’m not happy with the way it went. From the beginning I managed to get along near the front. Then in the second lap my seatclamp suddenly broke and the saddle started spinning around. Luckely I wasn’t far away from the techzone, so it wouldn’t cost me that much time. After the repair, it felt like the entire field of riders had overtaken me, and I really had to start from scratch working my way back. I think it was most mentally, but I was just completely empty and had no energy at all. I only got through, thinking that a finishresult was better than a DNF ( Did Not Finish).

A week before the race I crashed in training and landed on a hidden trunk in the grass. I didn’t avoid with my hands, so my ribs absorbed the entire crash, there was a nasty sound and a lot of pain. I kind of neglected the fact, that it affects my physical performance, due to difficulties to sleep and train. It was my own decision to race in Val di Sole, honestly, I didn’t even consider not racing, since I consulted people who told me, that there really wasn’t any cure for a broken rib, other than taking care of the pain.

So, for now, I’m staying here in Champéry, preparing for the World Championships. I just take one day at a time and see how it goes. Today we went for a spin and a lap on the course. The course is really fun, and I guess it’s mountainbiking in it’s pure sense with lots of roots and rocks. It will be interesting to race on it!

I enjoy the breathtaking landscape here in Wallis / Valais, which gives me flashbacks to 6 or 7 years ago, when I spend my time here with a friend being a ski bum working at a pub just a few valleys away in Leukerbad. I can really recomment going there to visit the Chinchilla Rest’o'Bar, they have more then 80 different whiskeys. Not even mentioning the level of partying during the Fastnacht! Furthermore Leukerbads offers lots of relaxing thermal baths and a ski resort.

Well, back then I didn’t know that I would be racing mountainbike World Cups right now. Life’s a funny thing

I was really keen on racing after recovereing from the marathon travelling first to Canada and then later on to Windham (USA). Even though we once again had troubles at the airport (Lukas’ and my luggage didn’t show up at arrival), we managed to put all that behind us and enjoyed our recidence and some post travelling sleep. The only thing that I absolutely was missing, was my toothbrush, but luckily, that wasn’t a difficult thing to buy

Training at the course was a wonderful rendezvous to me, since I also raced here last year. The course suited me very well with lots of climbing.

Since this would be my last race before a summer break, I just wanted to go out there and give it all! Actually I couldn’t wait to get started. The temperature at race place was high, the sun burning and the ground getting grilled. Standing and waiting for the call up, I got a bottle of ice cold water from the swedish national team, thanks! That definately helped keeping my head cool and my thoughts clear.

For once, I had a really good start, mostly because I was able to keep pace along with the front. The course immediately went into the loong climb and here Julie Bresset and Catharina Pendrel left the bunch and rode their own race. I stayed with the chasing group, feeling strong and found a good rythm to carry me through. It pretty much stayed like this until the penultimate lap, where Marie Helene Premont attacked. I didn’t hesitate, but went straight on her rear wheel.

Going into the last lap, it got clear, that the fight for third place would come down between the two of us. She let go of the gas and then suggested to work together. Well, I really couldn’t see, what benefits that would bring, so I just focused on hammering the last energy out on the climb. She clearly faded. On the top only a few km’s of downhill was left. I rode as relaxed as I could, not wanting to throw the results of my work away. Going into the last 500 meters I looked back and then I knew, it was home safe! If I was exhausted now, she would have to be at least as exhausted. To the finishline, I sprinted the last uphill, totally ignoring the pain, only seeing the goal. I was so tired, I hardly could raise my arms. Happy as ever, but now I absolutely had no more left in the tank. 

I’m extremely happy, satisfied and thrilled with my performance!

I will return to training and racing, but now I’ll take a summerbreak mentally and physically.

Thanks for all the greetings, it means the world to me Take care / Annika

My goal for this years Time Trial National Championship was to defend the title. Mission accomplished! Thanks to FUJI and Easton for putting together my rocket

I’m very happy to once again be on top of the podium wearing the red-white jersey. I decided to do the race, both to defend my title, but also as a kickstart for the next round of upcoming races (on mountainbike). These races include the marathon world championships this sunday and the world cups in Canada and USA the following weeks.

The week before my Time Trial I had difficulties sensing my physical level and was unsure if I would defend my title. On race day, I slowly started feeling the butterflies in my stomach, which make me flying. During warmup, I knew, I had the right legs for a great result. When the countdown started, I was determined to give it all..!

I suffered, but I enjoyed the feeling on being on the limit once again. I know, that this race has prepared my mind and body for the upcoming races.

The day ended perfectly, with my parents spoiling me with great dinner, barbecue buffet. Mmmmh

The Road Race on saturday will be without my participation, since I’m already in Italy now to race Marathon World Championships on sunday. I cross my fingers for my teammates on team Kvickly Odder

Photo: Deleuran

A historic moment! For the first time (in my time as a mountainbiker) there was a UCI class 1 race held in Denmark! The place was the most flat part of the country, but the trails were the sweetest ever seen on Danish ground

Curvy, manbuild trails demanded for absolute full concentration for 1,5 hours, which made the race pretty hard. I would even dare to say, that most World Cup courses are easier, because they have sections, where you are allowed to rest mentally for a while and just let the legs do their work.

In Varde, there were no such sections! That made the race pretty hard for me, since I’m the kind of rider, who loves some nasty climbing, where I can make a difference.

Photo: Deleuran

The race was indeed some nice practice in bikehandling skills. My greatest competitor turned out to be Swedish Alexandra Engen, who hung on my rear wheel for the entire race. I managed to make a gap to her on the penultimate lap, but then I heard the creepy sound of a flat tire, which was coming from my rearwheel!.. This season I’m riding Schwalbe tubeless ready tires with sealant (Doc Blue), and this was actually my first ever puncture on these tires!.. I felt the sealent spraying from the tire, which stopped after 10 seconds. Tech zone was 1 km ahead, and since I had absolutely no idea/experience if the sealant would fix the puncture automatically, I decided to change my wheel not taking any chances of throwing the victory away. That meant, that all the sudden Alexandra was back on my rearwheel, which made the finish quite exciting. Luckely I still had some power in my legs, which made me able to attach on every posible climb, reaching the finishline with almost a minute gap. Phew!.. This victory was awarded with some nice world ranking points, and this time I didn’t have to travel around the world to collect them Now, I have some weeks in Denmark, before heading off for Marathon World Championship in Italy and the next World Cups in USA and Canada! Uhh, I’m looking forward to that!

Now I’m preparing for an exam on monday, wish me luck!

Oh, btw, if you consider tubeless, I can surely recommend Schwalbe. The tire still holds air. In fact, I can’t even see, where the puncture was. Shame on me for doubting ..