Halfway through!

In the spirit of New Year and the fact that I now am more or less midway in my cyclo cross season, therefore I thought it was time for some overall year view. Not the complete year, otherwise I’ll ever be able to complete this post... 

On the racing perspective, all my training and racing was built up for living and racing the real cyclo cross down here in Belgium. In august all my Belgium dreams collapsed because my former team closed down, and left me without any bikes, wheels or other equipment 1½ month before the season start. So all of a sudden it looked like, that there were not going to be any Belgium cross trip for me. Luckily I got everything sorted out, and as you know, I’m down here and doing it. Living my childhood dream out as a prof bike racer in Belgium.

I can go on forever talking about Belgium, cyclo cross and racing, just because I really like it. I still get amazed that you actually can see cyclo cross in TV you don’t have to watch some live-streaming on your computer. I’m more or less halfway through my 6 months stay! In 3 days I’m for the first time since September heading north, towards Denmark! I’m looking forward to meeting friends and seeing family, especially my younger brother, it’s gonna be nice. But when this is said, I’m also really looking forward to come back home again, and finish this cross season in a proper way.  

During the off-season, I had some of my best time racing on my MTB  and I have done some good thinking down here, and next year I’ll be racing way more on my mountain bike, simply because that I love it! It kind of reminds me of cyclo cross J

If you have been a follower of my blog, you will know that I have been doing a lot of thinking! A lot of wandering about what I’m doing, what I want to do or simply about how I would like to live my life. None of these questions has been answered yet, and I haven’t found the perfect solution or the golden mean yet!

But what I have found out, and what I consider as way more important; is how I DO NOT what to live my life. I have discovered that the last couple of years I have been living in a small bubble and wasting (in some aspects) my life, and forgetting all about my dreams and desires I had! So far this Belgium trip has been quite an eye-opener! Let’s see what I can get out of it, when I’m back in DK the 20^th February. 

Happy New Year Everybody

Drink a beer or two for me! I’ll be celebrating New Year with hopefully a good ride in Baal the first of January.

/Nikoline

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Keep on rocking girl!

After saying goodbye this morning before leaving to Azencross, this blog post came to me in the car. Listing to our song in the radio, with (I got to be honest) tears running down my cheeks. I started remembering all the fun stuff we did, all the great times we shared down here, and now you are on your way home! I just wanted to let you know, that you girl -> you rock, and thank you for the great time, we had together.

I’m not good at saying goodbye, not good at emotions and words! That’s why I’m writing it all down, because there was so much, that I wanted to tell you, so much I wanted to thank you for. Most of all for just for being such a super friend, who could know, when we first met in Treviso, that 3 years later we would be housemates, and rocking the place in Blauberg J

The house already feels empty without you, who am I now supposed to watch cyclo cross with, and miss out the crucial point, just because we were talking. Still can’t figure out what happen, but like you said, it’s just one of those things, you never get to know.

Sad to say goodbye, but I know, we will have great times coming up.

Wishing you all the best! I know that all your dreams will come true, no matter what happens! 

/Nikoline

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Christmas = racing!

Christmas here in Belgium and especially for us cyclo cross riders equals racing. Ever since the last worldcup in Namur the 18th. of December, racing has been the major event during Christmas. The worldcup in Namur gave me my spirit and good mood back, and I once again started to look forward to this big pile of race. After Namur I did the surhuisterveen and my first ever SP in Diegem, which was such a fun race in the middle of the center of Diegem. After Namur the legs feels better again, and I started looking forward to the next worldcup in Zolder, which I have done 3 times before. 

But before all the action with another WC takes place, we had an amazing christmas dinner with Vicki and Marc. I have been living with Vicki for about 1½ month now, and I'm really sad that she has to go home, not because that I'm once again alone down here. It's more the fact that I really like living with her. We kind of have the same crazy sense in humor and we like doing things, seeing new places and experience basically everything new and interesting. 

The 24th.of December the 4 of us went to Bergen op Zoom, which is a nice city in Holland, just at the border. We walked around for hours, and spend some good quality time in the Hopmanns bike store, and brought home some chicken for our Christmas dinner. 

It has been a tradition, during the last 3 years I have spent Christmas in Belgium, that we make for the Danish people the "Risalamande", which is a kind of rice pudding mixed together with whipped cream and almonds. Normally you would make the whipped cream with a hand mixer, but the house I stay in doesn't have one... So for the third year in a row, we did it by hand.... yes... it only takes something like one hour, but it's possible and durable!!! 

We had good dinner, with crackers, cheese, pate, chicken, salades you name it! It was great, and I really enjoyed it, but for the first time in years I actually missed my "normal" Christmas together with my family. We have our fun tradition with Santa and lighting the Christmas three... which is just our thing, that we do in my family... 

After dinner (at 21:00) we went to the church in Blauberg. The service was very nice, they had like a brass band and a choir, so only thing you had to do was to listing to all the Flemish songs! After having hot chocolate and glüwein we went home to the dessert! 

This wonderful day ended with us unpacking presents in the bed, looking at the amount of gifts that I got, I have been a "good" girl the year! or maybe I'm just spoiled...!!! 

NB: the gifts in the pictures was not all for me, half was for Jacob. 

Hope you all had a good Christmas either with family or good friends. 

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Namur worldcup

The mood here in Belgium and on this blog hasn't been the best the last couple of weeks. I haven't felt good on the bike, and together with the loss of power in the legs, my mojo and good spirit faded out. After never finding my rhythm last weekend in Scheldecross and Overijse I decided not to race the GVA in Essen, instead I drove to Namur in order to pre-ride the worldcup course. And what I course! Mud, steep up and downhills and fast flat out power sections. It was one of the hardest courses I have ever riding! Before I went to bed, I told my self, that no matter what happen the next day at the worldcup I just wanted to have fun again. Because I don't know what will happen next season, and therefore it's just waist of good energy being frustrated on how racing is going or not going. I came down here with the purpose of having fun while racing, not thinking on results, Danish championship or qualification for the Worldchampionship, and I ended up being frustrated, sad and enclosed. 

So with this in mind, I stood ready at the start line, ready for some serious fun, and fun it was. I literally blew up my start, which meant a lot of hard work trying to capture the time I lost in the start. I ended up as nr. 28, not the best result, but I had fun all the way.  

Kris Claeye took this amazing picture of me, after I crossed the finish line. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jp0eeVcjxDw This is a video from the Worldcup Namur!

Now a big block of racing has begun, which is the best Christmas present I could ever wish for, and I think my mojo is back :-)

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Not everything turns out the way you want...

Well don’t know what to say about this weekend of racing! Last night I was not feeling super at all! I was very disappointed about my self and my racing, this was not what I had in mind!

I spend the most of the night searching the internet for funny clips to keep my mind from thinking on this bad weekend of racing! I had a good talk with a good friend, which help a lot to get the right angle on how, why and what happened this weekend. I try not to sleep at the thought, now I think or hope that I just landed on the shit this weekend, not much to do about it, You know shit happens - they even got a slogan saying it, so it's true :-) there is nothing you can do about it, sometimes that is just simply what happens. As a person I’m very competitive, and I hate losing or being weak, that’s why I always get rather frustrated, angry or confined when I’m not happy about how I performed. I can spend hours thinking on what I should have or could have done!!! Normally it takes some hours staring at my computer, mostly facebook or the TV to realise that it's okay! Life is good, and Belgium is still an amazing place to be... Don't want to be anywhere else than here!

Krist Vanmelle took this awesome picture from Scheldecross! He just nailed it! Do I need to say more!!!

Today is a new day, and already looking forward to tomorrow where I going to take my beloved Brothers cross bike for a spin. If you want to know more about my cross bikes you can check them out here: http://www.brothers-bikes.de/

Yesterday when I was searching my mind and the internet for answers I found this song. I heard it by coincidence and now I just love it… I don’t understand what they are singing, but it sounds good. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyTazPPWIKk&ob=av2e

Now I will act all Danish and take the city bike in order to do my grocery shopping! The sun is shining, and the sky is blue, what more can I ask for… Life is good and I’m happy!

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Just some thoughts, which had to get out!

Before I came to Belgium I was in a frustrated state of mind. Not knowing what is gonna happen with me and what would my further be like… I really really wanted to be a paramedic, but when I was at my training camp in Italia I was told that I didn’t get in. More than 1100 applicators had applied, and only 70 were elicited to go to the first round of interviews. I was sad, angry and frustrated; I just felt that I was put back! Once again I was asked the same question over and over, what do you wanna do? What now? What about your studies, school or work?? I just got so tired of having people asking me that, because the truth is I DON’T KNOW. I have a weak idea of what I would like to do, but I don’t have the master plan all written down in paper. I haven’t yet giving up on the whole paramedic universe not yet, but my mind is still spinning around, and hasn’t landed on anything yet!

I had thought about being a paramedic for so many years and then my dream was gone. Like that! Then I decided to go 100% for my Belgium trip, no matter of the cost. Sitting here in the little town of Blauberg, I am glad that I went. It has so far been a very good trip, and I’m living my life as a professional bike racer, whatever that mean... I’m kind of living in a small cyclo cross bobble down here, I don’t really follow up on what is happing outside of my front door. A nuclear bomb could drop and I wouldn’t notice it, it’s all about the training, the races and the rest! Period end of story! I try to make it a more “normal” life, by going out and experience places, cities or just cafes, but sometimes it’s just hard to kill time.

Yeah that’s truth of living as a bike racer, everything everyday is about cycling! Most of my days down here go with training, eating and relaxing in front of the TV, my computer or with my knitting. Some days I stop calculating how many times I have log in and out of FACEBOOK or TWITTER. It’s just not healthy!

This knitting project of mine helps me to kill time. For the moment the house is almost full, with people coming for shorter periods of racing, which is so nice with people to talk to. One thing I have learned social interactions with others is vital and crucial for my wellbeing. My season is still long! It will end the 19 of February with race in Oostmalle, then I would have done more than 30 cyclo cross races here in Belgium, Nederland, Czech Republic, Schwitzerland and Denmark.

I will be heading home the 20, after spending half a year in Belgium! And what is going to happen then, I don’t know! And I really couldn’t care less.

I will figure it out, as always. I hope so!!

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Wearing the hat of a tourist!

After more than 2 months in Belgium was it this weekend time to take away the cyclo-cross hat, and instead I found the tourist side up! It was time to bring out the camera, wander sneakers and the rain jacket. Yes rainjacket!! After weeks with good weather and nice temperatures the rain has, some would say finally, found Belgium!

After not having time for camera shoots during the last period of training and racing. I haven't really looked on the battery status, which turned out to be a big failure, because after the first picture of the city Leuven, the camera died! Luckily Vicki had brought hers!

I have a very big weakness, which is magazines or catalogs. I can spend hours just looking, flipping and reading them. In Leuven there is a international magazine store.... can you see where this is going??? Yeah in a short period of time I was in heaven, all this magazines from all over the world. I really pulled my self together and only bought 3 travel magazines. So now I'm trying to figure out where my next adventure is going.

We spend hours just wandering around the city, looking at everything from Belgium chocolate to old buildings and fancy shops. At the Punto Cafe I had a big hot chokolate and a good brownie. You can't be in Belgium without trying all their great chocolate. At almost every corner there is chocolate, and it's "unfortunately" really really good. It's addictive!

I'm definitely going back, still lots of small cobblestone side roads to experience and cafes to visit. Next time I will remember to have fully charged batteries on my camera. I had a good time being a tourist in the country I for this winter call home.

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Sorry guys for not posting any race reports or just a little note on how things went. The true is that the WC in Koksijde didn't go as I had hopped. I don't know what really happen, and I might not never know. The week up til Koksijde I was sick, not laying in bed sick, just got hit by a really nasty cold with a sore throat, even though I felt better and better during the week, my body was just drained of strength! So ended 31, not the best but nothing I can do about it.

My roommate and good friend Vicki, (you can follow her here http://ottawa.cx/) had a very bad crash on the pre-ride friday at the course, where she fractured a vertebra, which kind of put things into perspective. I just hope for a good and quick recovery for her.

By the way, went to Gieten (nord of the Netherland) sunday aswell, where I rode a comfortable 15th. place home. The weather was bad - rain and stormy conditions just made this race so hard, and I was so tired, sometimes I barely could hang on the group, but I kept on fighting, and it was first on the last lap, that our group got split up.

I just want to say thanks to Ignace & Vicki for the great company and the help this weekend.

Monday afternoon Vicki & I decided to go to Aarschot for a walk-around the city and a cafe stop. It was a great afternoon and times just flew by. You know sometimes pictures says more then a 1000 words!

This weekend I don't have any racing - which is nice! Want to be complete fresh again before the big block of racing starts again.

See you out there.

NB: started a small knitting project.... Never done that before! I will let you know, how things are progressing.

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wandering mind...

Today was the day, which I have look forward to since I woke up Tuesday with a cold. Snot has just flowed in the rushing tide since that day. You know sometimes history just repeats itself - maybe it's just my fate to be sick up til Koksijde... I don't know!

This no-training days are always a bite weird, you look so much forward to them, and when you finally don't have to do anything, except for getting your gear ready, you end up with far too much time, which in my case always cause my mind to wander...

It's not healthy with too much time! As a bike racer I'm used to having to kill time in front of the computer or TV in order to rest properly before a race... but today the off-day causes my mind to wander. Thinking on everything from how my body will perform on Saturday to the worldcup in Koksijde, to what will happen when I get back to Denmark! Do you still have a job, will I pass my bachelor degree? How long should I, would I, could I keep on doing this biker bum life??? I have been racing since I was 8 years old, started when I was 6 with begging my dad to sign me up for a bicycle so that I could start racing. The winter of 1995 I started training, and 1996 I got my license and started racing - 16 years on the bike so far!!! That is a lot time not just spend on the bike, but as a bike racer you are never off the bike! Everything that you do off or on the bike, concerns your performs on the bike both physical and mentally - so a no training day as today sometimes is just as hard as a 5 hours hard training ride.

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Recovery day

After last weekend race in Hamme-Zogge, where I finished 11^th which was my best Belgium cross race results ever, I felt confident on my current shape/form. Because of next weekend world cup in Koksijde, I had some hard training last week towards the race in Asper-Gavere, but with a day off Friday, and a good ride Saturday, I felt ready for the next section of the Superprestige race series.

The race in Asper-Gavere was for a couple of years ago, my first meeting with the Belgium cyclocross scene, so already before the start I had a special relation with the course.

Last time I rode this race, I was forced to leave after only a few laps, because of a broken derailleur hanger, and some bad crashing on a very muddy course. So it was with feelings that I stood at the start line. The course is because of its placement always wet, and despite the very dry conditions we have had in

After a super start where I in the first couple of laps where at the 7^th position, I felt a bit back in the peloton because I didn’t has the same power on the steep climb, as the other girls on the climb, so I’ll need to work on getting more power in the legs for further races. I felt really good on the descents, where I felt that I was able to keep good speed. So after a good solid ride I could cross the finish line as nr. 10 – which is my best cross results ever at a C1 race.Belgium the last 2 months, al lot of the corners where wet and slippery.

Today my longest ride was to the grocery shop. I took out the city-bike and drove the 3km to the Lidl and Delhaize, where I filled my backpack with food and other products. Today has been a rest day, where most of my time has been in front of the computer or TV, but tomorrow is it back to proper training again.

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A busy week!

Let’s see, last time I left you guys, I had just almost finished my bachelor assignment, I can now proudly say that it’s handed over and out of my control. Now all I can do is to wait for my grades to arrive, I think I should know how it went within a month. This a really long blog post, so I highly recommend that you will take 1-2 coffee breaks!

Jacob came down here last weekend, on a surprise weekend trip, which was awesome. So for the super prestige race in Hamme-Zogge I had not only my boyfriend to help me out, but also an amazing mechanic Carsten, who drove all the way from Denmark, so help me in the pits. I really appreciate it, and maybe all this lovely help paid off, because I had a really good ride where I felt really strong. The start can always go better, and I know that I have to work on being more aggressive, but when this is said, I’m very satisfied with that race. I just enjoyed every aspect, loved the course. It was so classic Belgium cyclo cross, which just took you up and down on stair and steep slopes, and round and round J

So thank you Carsten and Jacob for all your help that weekend!

After the race Vicki and I drove home, and made it just in time to see the elite men start. And this time we were determined not to miss one single second of the race, like we did Friday at the race Niel. I still don’t know how Sven Nys made it to the front and swapped position with Sven VANTHOURENHOUT. I am pretty sure, that I looked at the screen all the time, and didn’t talk that much. It must have happen in a split of a second, maybe when I glanced! The night after the race in Hamme-Zogge I had trouble sleeping because my body couldn’t find any rest. Normally a good sign of hard racing, but if I had just knew that Monday would be so busy, then I would have tried even harder to fall asleep.

Because Monday turned out to be a busy Monday. After sleeping in until the sun kisses my bu**, Vicki and I decided to take the cross bikes and go for a spin off in the woods. This was one of our best descions so fare! The forest was so quite, and the trails just twisted ahead of us, which made so much fun riding. After a quick shower and lunch, it was time to turn on the car, and pick up Emil (a U-23 rider from DK) who lives in Heist-Op-Den-Berg, and then off to VanEyck – THE bike store here in Belgium. If Vaneyck doesn’t have it, then you are gonna have a hard time finding it. Because of all the road-work around Geel it took us, 1½ hour, normal procedure 30min. We ended up parking the car, and then took the rest of the adventure on foot. But in the end we found it, and everybody got what the needed. Then back to Heist op den Berg, where we were invited at thee and pancakes. The time was starting to run out for me, because I had to be back at the house around 17:30 because I had a concert with Björn, that I wouldn’t miss. But before we could go home, Victor took us to the masseur, so that we in the further know, where to go!

And then it defiantly was time to go home – I had my first “night” out in Antwerp, and didn’t want to be late for that. Back home in the House I only managed to make some oatmeal with apple, before it was time to leave and drive to Antwerp – essentially the Lotto arena! The concert was great, I had so much fun, and I ended home in Blauberg around midnight! VOLBEAT – the band we heard played a 2 hour concert and next morning I still felt like flying and I could do again and again.

After this very busy Monday, the days again began looking “normal” with training, eating and relaxing. This afternoon my parents are coming to visit me. The Super prestige in Asper-Gavere, will be my mum’s first Belgium cyclo cross race, just as it was for me, so many years ago.

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Finish, finito y terminado

The last couple of days have mentally been a rollercoaster. After a good ride at the Koppenberg-cross, where I finished 13, just 30 sec from a top 10 result.

I kind of suffered from a reality check, where everything just in someway just collapsed, and I was very closed to just driving back to Denmark, but I didn't. Now when I look back I'm really happy that I stayed here in Belgium. I think my mood change came after many weeks with lot of racing, travelling, getting new friends and just exploring everything new. For the first time since late august I did have to do anything, no races, not so much training because of my pressed ribs caused by a crash in a race Nacht Van Woerden. So all of a sudden I was forced to be complete alone, that was how I felt it. I just felt like the last man on earth. This feeling had I for 1 day, and I decided to go for a long ride on the bike, in order to "cry out" and clear my mind. This always helps me, nothing like riding our bike, and getting the thought right again.

The last week because of the no race schedule I have put all my focus on the bachelor assignment, and I can now say that I'm almost finish. Only need the little adjustments but I have decided no more writing, no more editing otherwise you can just continue for ever. Tonight I will be doing the last work on it, and then send it so that it can be handed over in time. Looking forward to getting this burden of my shoulders.

So with this after ride picture, I'm gonna end this blog post, and getting back to my assignment.

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Back to Teletubbies Flemish

After a week in the Czech Republic , was it last Sunday (23.10.11 red) time for the second Worldcup, in Tabor. The course was super hard, with some long pure power uphill passages, runups and not specific technical, es was this time more about the power in the legs.

After a really nice week with sun and blue sky – very good training weather. On the race day, the sky was covered with clouds and the temperature was only around 3-4 but because of the absence of the sun it felt much colder. After some hot cross races, the weather for the first time was set up as a proper cyclo cross weather.

After a good result in the Worldcup in Plzen, I knew that I would have the power to perform well again. I knew that I have the power to finish within the timelimit, which was something that I really struggled with last year. This is really nice to know, and it gives me more confident when I’m riding. Unfortunately I did have my best start in Tabor, the girl in front of me never drive when the rest of the peloton took off. So there I was all the way back in the peloton just like last year, but I stayed calm and found the hulls and powered my way further ahead. This cost a lot of my strength and I could see a larger group of girls just 10 sec in front of my but I wasn’t able to close the gap. Even thought I really wanted to and tried. Despite that I’m very satisfied my 25 and the start of the season. I felt that I had the power to do better, but the season is still young.

Just two days after the WC in Tabor, it was time for racing again. Nacht van Woerden – my first ever night cyclo cross race. The start was set at 20:45 – normally a time where I’m relaxing with my computer talking to Jacob on skype. So it was really strange and for me difficult to get my body and mind in racing mode.

After a good start where I was around the top 10, I had a crash, which shook me a bite, and I need a couple of laps to shake it off me. But it I never ended feeling good on the course, and after 3 more small crashes I ended as number 18, after I for a while I had riding for the top 15. But now I think about the result now, it was ok, I had an off day and still ended up as 18.

The last two days has gone with resting and taking care of my body, watching a lot of Flemish Cartoons in order to pick up some more Flemish. I really need that to get focused and relaxed again. Next races on the menu are the Superprestige in Zonhoven and the famous Koppenberg cross.

Thanks to Luc Van Der Meiren for the great pictures.

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Czech Republic

How do you "measure/describe" the size of a city? I tried yesterday to explain to my boyfriend, what the city where we are staying was like. Everything here in Czech is just a little bite different then back home. This city we live in, feels more like a small village because everything is so squeezed together. I took a walk today, and discovered 3-4 bigger supermarkets, restaurants, a gymnasium, an emergency, -I think it was clinic of some kind but, I don't read Chech, which I also tried to tell the policemen who locked my car in Plzen... But that's a hole different story.

So back to the original story, we live in an apparently medium size city, just about 20km from Tabor where next worldcup will

couple of days.be held this Sunday. The area for training here is great, you got like rolling hills, small roads without all the cars, forests and to top it all we had great sunshine and blue sky the first

If I turn the time back a bite. Then I arrived after 8 hours of driving in Plzen late Thursday evening, and quickly put the bike together and headed out for an easy spin, thinking that time was only 18:30, so I easily could get an 1 hour of spin, but after only 30min of riding, the dark came sneaking around the corner and I had to go back to the hotel. But hey 45 min is better then nothing right??

I knew the worldcup course from last year, where I didn't perform the best, we all know how last year was. With this in mind, I did my warm- up the trainer sunday. That this year I wanted it to be different! And after an okay start from 4row I found myself in the

top 25, after the experience in Ruddervoorde wo I just push the pedals way to hard to first 2 laps and then got too tired the final laps. Instead of I tried to take it as easy as you can when you are riding a worldcup the first 2 laps. Just staying in the windshelter from the other girls, as some

of them got more and more tired I could keep my speed

and overtook a few, so that I could sprint up hill to the finishline with my first top25!

It was such a great feeling seeing that I was the last one coming over the finishline, for the first time i 2 year, I didn't have to fight to make it to the final lap and I wasn't last when I finally crossed it. All this really motivated for me for the next worldcup in Tabor on Sunday, hopefully I can make another good result, but most importantly I had great FUN while riding and I keep on reminding me, that is all that matters this season.

I'm gonna end this blog post with some good pictures vibes from the area.

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Hot summer in the city!

I know, there's been a while since I did my last blog post, but so many things have happened during the last 1½ month. First and most important the cyclo cross season has begone :-) and it was with some butterflies flying around in my stomach that I started the my season in Baden. Now all that training had come to the first test. I could feel already when I did the warmup that it would be a hard race because I still had 3 weeks trainingcamp in my legs, and besides that the course was super hard and great. Despite that I ended in the top 10 with a solid 9th. so it was a good start at the season.

This season I have told my self that I what to ride to my max everytime, just keep on pushing my self. I just want to ride free and enjoy it. Last year still stands as a very clear example of how I do NOT want this season to be like. So this year it's all about the fun of cycling! With this in mind I pack our car for 5 months of living and cycling in Belgium and rode after only 4 days home to Belgium. 2 days later I stood once again on Belgium ground waiting for the whistle to blow.

It was 30 degrees, full sun, no wind - perfect for a training day on the road - NOT for racing cycle cross. I have done these kind of super summer hot cyclo cross races before, and it's tough, really hard work. There is good reason why cross riders in december is riding in skinsuit, and shorts... The weather for next race on sunday looks more like a decent cross weather.

After the race in Kalmthout my boyfriend went back home to DK, so now I'm all alone a big house. Luckily some funny Danish guys have invented something call skype! We like, indeed we like, it saves me for a huge phone bill. :-) When the budget is low, you can do the math. It's nice.

As the intelligent reader you are, you have properly noticed that I don't have the fancy pink clothing any more. 2 month before the season took off I was told that the team couldn't provide me with new and smaller bikes, because that didn't know whether they were gonna close or what would happen. So all of a suddenly I had to start from zero and rebuilt my entire cyclo cross season. I got new cyclo cross frames from a german manufactore http://www.brothers-bikes.de/. The bikes works great, really good handling and I like the aggressive geometry.

This year I'll be riding for my Danish club http://www.bovcc.dk/index.asp?DocumentID=738 - therefor the new blue and white color combination. So new season, new bikes, new clothing - it's gonna be fun ride - looking forward to it.

But stay tuned, now the action start -cyclo cross is here!!

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A great ride

Today I had a great ride on the bike, just enjoying the spin of the legs and the sun from above. I didn't want to focus to much on the watt number, just tried to enjoy myself while training in the lovely Danish summer, which finally has arrived.

The last couple of days has been really hectic and frustrated, and for just a moment I thought that my cross season would end before it really began, but everything now seems a bit brighter and I can start looking forward again.

Yesterday I had a closure on what to do according with the upcoming cross season. Even though the weather here as been really great the last couple of days, I have had some trouble with enjoying it, so it was nice just to let the thoughts wander and once again find the joy.

I will let you know more as soon as I get all the new gear, and when everything is in place

Just found a great picture from a training ride at the WorldCup Course in Plzen, which also is the season opener this season!

/Nikoline

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DM XCO MTB

DM XCO MTB done! It was a very muddy and fun course which envolved a lot of running both uphill and downhill. The race went allright, and despite last year we were a lot of girls on the starting linie, so everything and everybody was set up for some good/serious racing. The weather wasn't the best, with rain and oppressive heat, which made it a really hard race. I ended as number 6 which was what I had expected. On the last lap I had cramps in both of my legs, but I kept on trying to keep the "running" speed uphill despite of my legs shouting no more! I like the fact that DM also ends up as one of the toughest races in the calender.

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Danish Championships done

With the Danish Road Championship done I'm now waiting for the next ones. Sunday the DM XC MTB will be held in Silkeborg. I was out training on the course last friday, it was very muddy and wet, because of all the heavy rain which had been covering Denmark for the last couple of days. I'll have to be honest, I don't think it's my kind of course, it's just to much power and no really technical single tracks. It's up and down all the time, with a minimum of pause. Not my favourite, but I'll go and have a nice time. I have to work the day before the race, so hopefully that will not affect the legs too much, I'll will let you know how it went. For the moment we are 16 girls on the start listen.

Back to the road again. The Championship went ok, not much to right about. For the TT I took 10th. place, which was not satisfying but with all the wind, I didn't have a chance. The RR I came home with the peloton, I tried to get away, but never had any luck with that, so ended as number 19.

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Heavy racing weekends and DM in sight!

After some really fun and good Apfoss MTB liga racing in the sun, it was time to hit the road again with the almost legendary Pentecost-cup. A 3 days stagerace and with almost 60 girls on the startlist, I had hoped for some really good racing. As always I fresh on trying to hit the breakaway, but the first stage my legs felt leg MTB legs - there could only go up-down, there were absolutely no spin in them, and it all ended up in a sprint!

Sunday racing is easily described, my legs felt better, and I tried to get away a couple of times, but everything was build back by a very passive peloton, and once again everything ended in a bunch sprint! Monday my legs felt good, and I had a lot of power in them, unfortunately I had to face "Pøt Mølle" a legendary Danish "mountain", and that ended 1-0 to the mountain. I got drop on the final lap, and ended 21 in the GC - I think!

Now my main focus is the Danish Championship - the TT is set to be thursday 15:37 - so fingers X, 25 km is on the agenda, and as with TT I never know how is gonna be. Timetrial is not my favorite cup of thee, but I think the course is alright. I just hope that they will be able to control the traffic, because othe

rwise chaos will reign, but I hope for the best and I'm prepared for the worst.

I got some new toy - a super upper cool ergomenter! So now training is set after how hard I can pedal, and not so much on how much the heart can beat!

Enjoy the summer, you'll never know when is gone.

/Nikoline

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Wunderschöne Harzen

I just spend some really nice days in Harzen Germany with my danisch club. We had 3 good days, with sunshine and lots of heightmeters. We arrived late thursday afternoon, and we barely got the bikes off the car before the sky opened, after some dinner we took a short but steep walk down the to atm to get some cash. Now that I don't live near the border anymore, I never have Euro on me.

The next to days, I did some good traning with + 100km everyday, just enjoying the courses, the climbs and the weather. I was just nice feeling the legs spin around, looking at the beautiful surroundings.

I'm really looking forward to come back again, maybe even for a longer period then just 3 days. I have some problems with my bluetooth, so I can't opload any pictures, but I'll see if I can get it done later.

/Nikoline

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Spring season

The 16th. of April my season started with the first part of the danish ladycup. The race went okay when thinking of my amount of training, I still miss some long training hours, but I' getting there.

Next race was the season opening of the danish Apfoss liga, for the first time we were ca. 20 girls at the start linie. In the race I never really found my rhythm, it felt like I just had one speed that day, just one big square thread. Still a long way to go there, until I can reach some proper MTB shape.

My next race was the second part of the ladycup. The race was hold on the west side of DK, with lots of wind and open roads. So we had a lot of "egde driving", I mist the outbreak of the day with 10 meters, I knew that I had to go with them, but I didn't had the power to close down the silly 10 meters, so I ended back in the peloton, trying some km so close the gap, with no success. I ended as number 7.

On Thursday I'm driving to Harzen on a small training camp, I'm planing on taking some good long hours on the bike hopefully the weather will be better then this weekend.

Now I think I need to go back to my bachelor writting...

all the best

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The essence of racing-mode and spring-time

Yep spring time has finally arrived in Denmark, and total the training said sessions in the gym, what a wast of good weather. But tomorrow is it raceday for the first time in months. I don't really feel ready fo it, but races are always the best training you can get. One hour of hard racing, it's gonna be nice and hard. I'll try to let go and just enjoy the race.

As many of you probaly know I was nominated for a Danish Bike Award - and here it is: Yes I won - I still can not believed it :-) So thank all of you who voted for me. It really warmed that there were so many of you out there who voted for me, despite my bad season - THANK YOU. I really appreciate it, it means a lot to me, and I eager after transforming my 2010 season to a great CX season.

The first of March I started my training for real, I'm planing on riding my first DCU roadrace the 16 of April in Ringsted. It's the first section of the womens roadcup.

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Working 9 to 5...

Today I had a nice 3 hours ride, my first since the cx ended. Most of my time has been splitted between work and training, but more specific work. Today was my first day of in 10days, which was really welcome.

Monday (07.02.11) we where 5 peolpe from DesignCykler who went to the BallerupSuperArena to see the sixdays race. It was a super night, unfortunately we were caught in the middle of a big storm, so we had to wait 2½ hour on a parking place next to the bridge, it was after 4am before we were home, and after 4 hours of sleep I went to work again.

Sometimes if I'm really tired I skip cleaning my bike or just give it a quick wash, but after seeing some of the bikes who goes throught the DesignCykler. I no longer have bad conscience if I don't feel like cleaning my bike ride away, and then people wonder when they can't shift gear!!!

On todays ride I ran into some upstacles, a small road under water and some loose dogs! Next after big horses with tiny little young girls on top who clearly can't control their horse, is loose dogs on the road! Call my a chicken but I turned around and found another way.

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Christmas and newYear racing

After a hectic christmas/new year period with lots of racing, I'm now back in cold snowy Denmark, in order to prepare for the Danish Championsship this weekend in Haderslev. After a lot of good racing during my stay in Belgium and Germany I finally start to feel a bit stronger and more comfortable on the bike. It has been a really frustrated year for me, and not many races did go the way I wanted to. Before the season started I hadn't planned that, I one more time should be struggling to avoid getting pulled from the WC races, but the season so fare has been really bumpy with a few good racing and some really bad ones, which I desperatly have been trying to forget.

Now I'm focusing on getting a good danish championsship race this sunday, I'll stay at my parents house which is closer to the race course. The DM race in Haderslev will be my first for my new/old danish club - Bov Cykel Klub http://www.bovcc.dk/, where I had my childhood cycling upbringing. I had made this desicion to race for Bov because after this very bumpy cyclocross season I want to be able to focus 110 % on my next cyclocross season. Which means that this season I'll do a minimum of roadracing and MTB. At this moment I only have a overall idea of what my training season will consist of, but I'll let you know when the whole puzzle is ready.

All the best Nikoline

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