Tour of Sweden – day 2
We planned on running at 8:00 am, so when I woke up from a dead sleep at 7:45 all I had time for was a quick cup of coffee. So far, the coffee in Sweden is consistently good.
It was sunny and warm as Bjorn, Clas, Joakim, Marco and myself jogged down to the port and back, half on trails and half on city streets. Like yesterday, we started out slowly and then Bjorn slowly but surely ramped it up, touching 6:30 / mile pace for the final mile prior to slowing for an easy finish. I find running behind Bjorn creates a great draft. When I commented on this to Joakim, he added – "Yes, and his hair keeps away the flies."
As we’re going to be at this for 2 weeks with no promise of laundry facilities, we’ve been washing clothes in the sink and then hanging them around the room on every available surface. As we’re in a different town every night, like a true stage race, we’re constantly packing and unpacking.
Once the bags are loaded in the van, they drive on ahead and we need to get to our destination by bike. As we departed this morning, 2 riders collided lightly in the parking lot and a bent derailleur necessitated a visit to a bike shop, so they had to follow later on their own, equipped with their own GPS.
Our ride today was mostly through woodlands, passing beautiful lakes and featuring numerous small climbs. The woodland roads are narrow but well paved and lightly travelled. When a car approaches, the riders call out “bil” as a warning. The weather clouded up but never got unpleasant.
The founder of Vitargo sports supplements, a sponsor of the Tour of Sweden, joined us for the ride. He was quite strong on his Cervelo P3C and rode off the back out of the draft zone to get in some solid training. Jonas was breaking in a new Ridley TT rig today and looked sharp. For the final hour, Joakim and Clas stayed on the front, pulling us along.
Once we checked in, we changed rapidly and headed over to a local pool where Jonas had booked 2 lanes for us. Jonas’ lane had him, Clas and Joakim doing a structured interval workout while the rest of us took it easier one lane over. They have these cool pull buoys here, made of hard plastic, which I neded for the whole swim as any kicking had my feet trying to cramp.
Dinner was boiled potatoes in a light mustard sauce and salmon. Last night was a meat lasagna, and the Scandic fair has lived up to its excellent reputation. Noticeably absent from the training table has been beer and wine, not to mention the much feared vodka. We’re free to imbibe, but no one has been.
Jonas arranged for a local massage therapist to visit the hotel. There’s a reason why Sweden is famous for its massage.
We might have to deal with rain tomorrow on the ride.
