Tour of Sweden – day 7
For the first time during this tour, our itinerary was accurate as to distance. We departed Bollnas at 9 am in bright sunshine (speaking of sunshine, it woke me up at 4 am, and kept me up past 10 last night – the farther north we go, the longer the day gets) bound for Sundsvall. 102.3 miles and 5:00:04 later, we pulled up to the Scandic hotel. By the way, the bandy party never got too loud.
Today featured a cross head wind the entire way, and plenty of hills and sun. We passed numerous ski resorts, so you can picture the terrain. Nothing terribly steep, but long ascents followed by long, fast descents. The first real climb came 29 miles in. The first descent was a hoot, with plenty of curves accentuated by frost heaves which had the bikes bouncing around the corners. Bjorn led us down and then just stayed on the front for 10 miles straight. I was second wheel, and it felt like a motorpacing workout behind a motorcycle. When he finally pulled over, the headwind blasted me. We continued to climb and descend and closed out our week with 747 miles in the saddle.
As we unloaded our bags, Jonas said we had 45 minutes to get ready for the 10K run or bus ride to his friends house for a BBQ. Our hosts would even wash our dirtiest cycling duds, so we were to pack them as well.
I decided that running was not a good idea for me with a scheduled 175 mile ride tomorrow. We arrived at our hosts, and were treated to a feast. Our hostess, Sarah, confided to me that every dish was prepared using Jonas’ cookbook. The food was awesome, and her husband, Claus, turned out to be a beer buff with a fridge full of top quality Belgians. So, there we were, sunning ourselves, eating great food and drinking great beer. It was most excellent.
We were offered a sauna, but declined. The last thing any of us needed was to sweat any more.
One thing I’ve noticed here is the almost complete absence of roadkill. I also learned a new word today, when our Norwegian threw his chain on a climb – “Fan!”
