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Vatternrundan 2007
Chris rang and asked if I fancied hopping over to Sweden to do a bike race. "Why not?" I said, "Could be a nice event to get me back into cycling. How long is it?"
"About 186 miles, I think" was his hesitant response, but then hastened to add that "once you have completed the Swedish Big 4* (of which this race is one part) you can call yourself a man".
Hmmm... did I really need to prove myself as a man? After contemplating the usual excuses for a while (knee won't hold up, no training, no bike, already manly enough... blah blah blah), I resigned myself to the truth that, however much I tried to excuse myself, I would definitely be on the startline.
NB: This decision was not reached because I felt I had to prove myself as a man, but because the bragging rights that Chris would have acquired having completed this race would be unbearable, plus he already has a headstart over me having raced the Vasaloppet a few months previously, and I had to play catch-up.
Bit of race info:
The Vätternrundan is 300km cycle event around the second largest lake in Sweden, Lake Vättern. Each year over 17,000 cyclists take part making it the largest recreational ride in the world.
And so we went.
Three of us would be riding. Chris, his friend Anders (both of whom had raced the Vasaloppet) and myself. Anders, who has an aversion to portaloos and confessed on race day to being particularly nervous, was perhaps the best prepared, having snuck out to Sweden a few weeks previously to take part in a separate 100 mile race. Chris and I were perhaps a bit more blasé, although having never cycled so far in one go before, I couldn't help thinking that perhaps I should have done a couple more gym sessions.
A couple of weeks before we flew to Sweden I checked the website and discovered, to my "amusement", that our start time would be 23:34 on the Friday night. "How do you prepare for a start time like that?" I thought. Still, our hire car seemed to have ample room for us both to sleep in the back (once the bikes were put on the roof), and at least the weather forecast looked favourable.
We drove straight to the startline at Motala, on the banks of lake Vättern. Every car on the road seemed to be heading to the event, and for the first time it became clear just how huge this ride is.
We managed to snatch a few hours sleep in the back of the Volvo before stuffing oursleves with as much food as possible, although in hindsight, perhaps ice creams, sweets and beer didn't offer the best nutritional preparation.
We managed to change our start time to 2am, for a small admin fee, but naturally were late for this as well, and so, at somewhere close to 2.15am, we tagged onto another group and began the 300km mission.
Thankfully we were escorted out of Motala by motorbike. Finding the start was hard enough, so getting lost in the first mile could have been highly embarrassing. Plus it gave us (ok me) a chance to practice drafting. Once we hit the open road the motorbike pulled to one side and we were off, surprisingly frantically.
More to come....
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