Tour of Sweden training camp schedule
Thanks to Slowtwitch, I'll be joining Jonas Colting and Bjorn Andersson from May 17 to June 1st cycling the entire length of Sweden. I received the daily schedule of the Tour of Sweden training camp today and I'm scared.
May 17 Trelleborg
We meet in the reception at 19.00 hrs. We´ll go through presentations, our route, daily schedule, training routines etc.
May 18 Karlshamn
We kick of the day with a leisurely run along the coast from Trelleborg to our official start in Smygehuk; the most southern point of Sweden. The distance is 14.3 k´s.
We strongly recommend a celebratory dip in the ocean to baptize the start. Of course this means you have to take a dip in Treriksröset at the end of the tour;)
Our destination of the day is Karlshamn and that´s a 160 k´ ride.
May 19 Växjö
Early bird people traverse a nice forest run in the morning before we commence on the shortest stage of the tour; a mere 90 k´s to Växjö. This is a beautiful stage through the lush green countryside of Småland. In Växjö we have the opportunity to swim in the afternoon.
May 20 Jönköping
Again, the best time to run will be in the morning before breakfast. We continue north (duh!) and aim for Jönköping in the heart of the Swedish bible belt.
To spice things up, and given the fact that we have no real mountains to cross, we offer the chance to climb Klevaliden just outside Jönköping which is a classic in the world of Swedish cycling…It´s short, sweet and steep!
The hotel is located just beside an indoor 50 metre pool so you´d have to be a fool to miss the chance of an afternoon swim. Either that or too tired!
May 21 Örebro
It´s a 210 k ride to Örebro and for much of the day we´ll ride along the route of Vätternrundan which is one of the largest cycling participatory events in the world.
We´re suggesting a true triathlon day with a swim before breakfast, the ride of the course and a run to top it off! There´s always dinner at the end of the day to look forward to..
May 22 Gävle
Another 200+ K ride as we officially enter Norrland with our 230 k ride into Gävle. We also move from the inner parts of the country to the coast of the Baltic Sea.
As Örebro also has a nice 50 metre pool we offer a swim in the morning.
May 23 Bollnäs
After two days of long rides we baby things a bit today with the 100 k ride to Bollnäs.
Swimming and running are of course options on this otherwise easy day.
May 24 Sundsvall
We´re closing in on half way up Sweden with the 170 k ride between Bollnäs and Sundsvall. We´re sure to have a nice view of the Baltic Sea as we ride along the coast for much of the day.
This may be a day we´ll consider no other activity except riding our bikes and eating massive amounts of food since tomorrows ride will be the bitch of the bunch.
May 25 Umeå
This will be the longest day of the Tour of Sweden, a sweet 280 k to the fabulous city of Umeå, ”city of birches”.
May 26 Umeå
Kick up your feet and stuff away your bikes; no riding at all today! We´re staying in Umeå for the day and although this may be a good day to recharge the batteries there´s always the option to get that long run in and a snappy swim to shake out the stiffness.
May 27 Skellefteå
A 140 k ride to Skellefteå and we´re now seriously entering the grim north of Sweden.
May 28 Luleå
Keep plugging away with the 130 km ride to Luleå and we suggest a run to start of the day.
Stay up late and watch the sun not go down!
May 29 Pajala
During todays 215 k´s to Pajala we cross the Polar Circle!
May 30 Karesuando
We´ll make sure to have full water bottles for this one! It´s a 190 k to ride from Pajala to Karesuando and it´s likely the most deserted stretch of road we´ll encounter on this tour.
It´s slightly uphill all days so let´s stay strong and keep livin´the dream!
Swimming in the morning for the sleep deprived.
May 31 Treriksröset
This is the final day and a special one at that. We kick off bright and early in order to make the extracurricular activities.
We ride the 110 kilometres to Kilpisjärvi which is actually on the Finnish side of the border and as close as you get until you have to resort to running. Which we will be doing! So we run the 11 k to Treriksröset where the countries of Sweden, Norway and Finland come together in “the joining of three countries”.
Of course we run back to Kilpisjärvi! After we take the celebratory swim…
We than have a transport that takes us to to Kiruna where we celebrate our accomplishments with a nice dinner and a beer. Or two beers.
