Tour of Sweden – day 5
Morning dawned to reveal a steady rain. After breakfast, dry bags were packed for easy access in the van during a planned stop at 100K. The original itinerary called today’s stage 230K, but during dinner last night we were briefed 240K so the general consensus was that we were looking at 250K. In the rain.
We rolled out of Orebro, guided by a local friend of Jonas. He knew the good roads out, which avoided the highway, but of course this added distance. Why not? Bjorn wasn’t joining us today, but was helping out in the support van around his own workout schedule.
2 hours into the ride, a serious climb reared up out of the countryside. Joakim didn’t need any prompting and darted away, pursued by his girlfriend. Not wanting to get chicked, I gave chase. I was able to pass her and get to Joakim’s wheel. I figured, “what the hell, let’s see what he’s got.” Turns out, a lot. His stylin’ blue and yellow kit with “Swedish Armed Forces” emblazoned across his butt pulled away up the road. At the top, we sat up and waited on the group.
After 3 hours, the rain tails off. Finally, 75 miles in, we spot the van at a service station. Jonas’ orders are short breaks, to avoid seizing up in the cold and wet. We scramble for dry clothes, chocolate, Vitargo bars, and coffee and refill our empty water bottles. Our photographer hands Jonas a sugar free Red Bull, to which Jonas responds – Don’t hand a dying man a sugar free drink.” And we’re off.
It’s nice to have somewhat dry clothes on (shorts and shoes are still soaked) but after an hour it starts raining again. We pass through Avesta, home of a famous giant horse which we can see from the road. We turn right and the boys on the front start hammering. I bridge the gap and see they’ve ridden right past the exit for Gavle, our destination on the Baltic Sea. Jonas sends the van after them and Jonas and I double back and ride solo for about 10K before the group overtakes us, still hauling ass. In their pursuit of us, they’ve shed a couple of riders and we’re now down to 6, Clas, Jonas, Joakim, Jan from Norway, Tobias and me.
Tobias is taking monster pulls and each time Clas gets on the front the speed jumps up at least 2 mph. We’re making great time when we hit a construction zone featuring over a mile of gravel road. Halfway across, while I’m thinking of Paris-Roubaix and spitting out Belgian tooth paste, Clas flats. We proceed ahead, slowly, but Jan starts to distance us so we give chase. For no reason we can discern, he rides off the side of the road and flips! We slow again and finally the 6 are back together. We’re now hammering and we see an exit for Gavle. We turn into the off-ramp and see a “no bicycle” sign. It’s a 110 kph expressway. Foiled, again, by the GPS. We navigate local roads and it’s now 7 hours in the saddle. I notice our shadows ahead of us and realize the rain has stopped and the sun is struggling to break through.
We enter the outskirts of Gavle, but every sign to the town conspires to place us on the damned expressway. The countryside gives way to suburbs and, at long last, we round a corner and see a Scandic Hotel. Our cheers are short lived as Jonas says, no, we’re staying at the Scandic in the center of town. This ride just won’t end. 10 more minutes of riding and we arrive, 164.7 (263.5K) miles and 8:11:43 from our start, just in time for dinner!
