CEEPO Bikes Sverige

Back again this year for my second Ironman Philippines 70.3. This race was a race that i already last year decided i wanted to do again for several reasons. You feel really welcome doing this race starting already at the airport where the organizers meet you and make sure you get into the right flight or bus, first in Manila and later at the destination in Legazpi or Naga.

I arrived a few days before the race at Villa Cacares Hotel. The same hotel i stayed in last year and was very welcomed and many of the hote staff was familiar from before. It a good hotel, abit away from the start but have free internet and nice rooms.

Race start was at 6.30 in the morning so no sleep in.

Swim 1800m. 1200m in man made pond, 100m in to the second pond for the last 600m.
The swim took place in the CWC wakeboard parks man made ponds. Freshwater is added everyday so you we did not get the bouancy that you get in a salt water lake.
For the swim i used my RSS swim skin for the last time, after september 1 its banned. At the start i lined up just behind the fastest swimmers to the right side to get the shortest way all the way to the clockwise turnaround. I had a good start and was in the top5 and with a good draft on the leaders. After a few 100m i could not hold the feet on the top 3 guys and had to fall back into my own pace. From that moment i was in lead of the chasing group and was feeling comfortable, tired but under control. Running the 100m over to the next pond went fine and i kept my position in the front of the group. The second pond was a left turn around and up into the transisiton area. This is where i did a mistake, instead of taking the left turn and the shortest way around i headed for a white boat straight ahead, it was mostly my fault and i guess i had some foggy goggles and sun into my eyes, but it was questionable to have a white boat at this place. Anyways i almost swam into the boat and they told me its the wrong way, then i looked to the left and i could see the other swimmers that was behind me a moment ago was now taking the shortest way and was ahead of me. I headed back and could just join the last person in the group and i guess i lost about 30 seconds on my mistake. Coming into the transition i could see at least one of the male pro’s just in front of me and was hoping it could help me on the bike.

Bike. 90k out and back course.
After a ok transition i went out on the bike and noticed i had Courtney Ogden just in front of me on the bike. I decided to try keep up with his pace on the bike but not kill myself if i could not hold it so at times i had abut 100m up to him but did not stress about it.

At around 30k into the race i noticed i got closer and closer and that he might started to be tired and a few kilometers later i decided to pass. After passing him we where together down to the turning point at 45k and headed up from sea level in the slight uphill section. I think it was at this part i lost him and from there on i was by myself. Rest of the bike i tryed to go as hard as i could. Bike is the part i usually loose the most time but the past months my focus been on biking so this time i wanted to see some improvements and i think i did!

The bike part is the one that is most amazing in this race. The roads are shut down for normal traffic and there is a lot of people along the whole course cheering you on.

Run 21.1k, 2laps.
Another ok transition with spending some extra seconds to put on socks i was running out from the transition area. My feeling was not very good at this point with heavy legs but i knew from before that one of my strenght is that i can do a ok run even if iam tired. At this point i was in 4th position with about 8min up to the leaders and 6-7min to 3rd place. The time difference not concern me much starting the run and i just wanted to get into a good pace. The run was hot, maybe not as hot as last year but still hard for running and not much shade so the sun is right on you most parts of the course.
Meeting the other athletes i noticed i was keeping about the same pace as second placed Bozzone but had no kick in the run. Going in for the final stretch before the finish line i heard i was in 3rd place and was suprised since i did not noticed i passed one of the other pro athletes. After the race i found out that i passed him when it was around 2.5km to go.

I was tired crossing the finish but not exhausted. I think i had a steady race but still feel it can be improved and looking forward to next 70.3 race in Japan next month.

Full results here and event website here!

The trip started with a flight to Munich and then a 2.5 hour drive to Immenstadt where the race was held. Immenstadt is located in southern alps of germany very close to the border of Austria and Italy and is in the beginning of the alps. i arrived on thursday afternon toegther with my swedish team mate Jonas and his girlfriend Ingrid which was travelling with us as support of the swedish national team.

The day of arrival was rainy and so was friday when we biked part of the course. it was 12 degrees and a drizzling rain, the weather and the steep hills was not very encouraging.

Luckily the weather reports was saying sunny and warm on sunday race day, and it turned out to be correct!

The swim, big clockwise 4000m course.
It was a early morning race start at 7am in the alp lake ”Alpsee”. No wind/waves and perfect wetsuite temprature of 18c. The course was very simple, 1800m straight out, 400m parallel and then 1800m back. I started on the left side ang got off to a ok start, not much fighting and i settle into the feet of someone ahead of me, about 500m into the swim i noticed a gap increased to the person in front of me but i did not have the swimming strength to close it and get a better position. The rest of the swim was trouble less except from some annoying small fights with people trying to draft the same feet as me. On the way back we had sun in the eyes so it made the navigation harder for us that was not in the front group(later heard they had a big boat that helped them with the navigation). Coming up from the water i needed a pee stop and lost some time there, also had some trouble closing my helmet strap and ended up loosing about 1-2min in the transition, coming up from the swim there was a bigger group but leaving the transition i was last out of the original group and by myself.

Bike, 2 laps. First one 85k, second one 44k. Total 129km.
On the bike i tryed to find a rythm, i did not want to rush anything efter seeing the course the days earlier i knew that if i get tired legs i would loose a lot of time in the hills. Troughout the bike course i was passing people all the time and was feeling ok. Going into the second lap and going up the hills my leg was hurting but this was what i was expecting at this stage of the race. In the last hill before the descent to the town i passed 3-4 other riders and could keep a good pace all the way into transition.

Run, 3 laps x 10k. 60% dirt road and 40% asphalt.
I did a good change into the running shoes even if i took on socks i could do a fast transition. starting running i was suprised how fresh my elgs felt and i was thinking that many of my training runs at home i felt more tired then this starting running. The first 10km i was passing people and i got reports from ingrid along the course that the first 6-7km i done around 30sek faster then my friend Jonas which i know is a good runner. Half way into the second lap i started slowly to get more and more tired, i was not standing still but i could see that i was not increasing my lead from the way behind me and not gaining too much on the ones in front. At this moment also the first competitior passed me. It was Gomes from Portugal that have been running around the same pace as me the first half of the race and now was keeping up the pace better then me. i did not even try to follow him, instead staying with my pace. Rest of the run was not very eventfull except that i was passed by an Brazilian. At the last turnaround with 2km to go i could see a Dutch athlete was just a few meters behind me and i had to try keeping a good speed all the way to the finish to not get passed. I could keep him behind and i finished in 15th place and the Swedish team with me, Jonas and Karl-Johan got the bronze medal in the team competition. My first world championship medal!!

Full results here: http://www.triathlon.org/results/results/2010_immenstadt_itu_long_distance_triathlon_world_championships/4393/

The 5th race in the Trek Shanghai cup took place in Fengxian a suburb 40km from Shanghai city center. It was a hot and humid day with tempratures around 30 degrees. It was a late start at 11.40 so i decided to ride there as a warmup together with a few friends. The race course was 16 laps on a 5.1km loop that totaled around 78km, see map below.

Since i won the yellow jersey the last race i had some pressure on to defend it but i knew it would though since there was many people just a few points away in the total standings. My team(Chains sprockets) had arranged yellow handelbar tape and yellow bibs in addition to the jersey and sunglasses i already had so at least people could notice where i was

Before the race i did not have any strategy planned how to defend my jersey since it think its very difficult since alot can change in a race and it depends on what other peoples move, all i knew was that i needed to do something unexpected now when more people is watching me and would not let me go away in a breakaway that easy. When the race gun went off i kept myself in front and when i was taking the first corner it came to my mind a strategy that a team made in a tour of Sailimu lake, attack at the start. I decided to give it a go and started to sprint out of the first corner and at the same time test to see if my legs where fresh or not. I was feeling pretty good and the field got dragged out with the hard pace at start and 2 corners later a group of around 10 people started to form, at that point i tryed to encourage the people to contribute and form a group but it seems like no one was interested, problaby because it was soo early into the race. When i realised this i slow down a bit and made another attack and started to create a gap by myself. I was happy to get away but also felt that i would need someone more to join to give it a greater chance of success. Anyways i decided to give it a go and started working hard to increase my lead. i worked well and the distance grew and i could easily win the sprint laps on the 2nd and 3rd lap.

At about 35k(7th lap) into the race i noticed another group of around 12 people where closing in on me. At that point i decided to slow down a bit, still keep a hard pace without killing myself but save some energy for the future. When they got my plan was to try keep a distance to them and wait for other people to join me for a new breakaway.

The strategy suceeded and i was eventaully joined by 4 other riders, unfortunately all of them was close to me in the total standings so i knew i needed to defeat them to keep the yellow.

It was a bit hard to get a team work going and it ended up to be myself and Wilhelmus in the Specialized team to do most of the work to keep the breakaway alive.

The laps went by and i was in general feeling very good despite the effort in the breakaway alone earlier. It was still hot but i had good team support with water aid every lap.

When it was 1.5 lap to go i did a serious attack knowing this was my only chance for a win with the weak sprint i have. I got a gap but was reeled in by the other just a couple of kilometers later. I did another attemt to get away a few kilometers from the finish but failed. Coming into the final sprint my legs was feeling ok but could only manage to take 5th and the last place in the group.

I lost the yellow jersey at the end but still happy with the race knowing i did not give it up without fight.
Race report at cyclingnewsasia: http://www.cyclingnewsasia.com/en/road/35-general/731-shanghai-shen-jiachen-takes-win-and-slips-into-yellow
Full results: http://race.bikehome.net/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=91:july-10-trek-fengxian-results&catid=35:2010-03-19-11-18-01&Itemid=53

Ceepo rider Fredrik Croneborg will represent Sweden in the ITU Long Distance world championships held in Immenstadt, Germany. Fredrik will be a part of the swedish national team together with Jonas Djurback and Karl-johan Danielsson. The event date is August 1st. Official announcement at the Swedish Triathlon federation: http://iof3.idrottonline.se/templates/NewsPage.aspx?id=19393

This weekends bike race turned out good at the end. I was not feeling good the first half of the race and maybe i had some heavy legs from Xinjiang. Even if i did not feel very good i stilled tryed to get in a breakaway as ususal . I noticed today many people watching me more and it was harder to get away, the time i got away i had Specialized rider William Neijissen that had the yellow jersey on my wheel and i think he watched me a bit, but then Daniel Carruthers from Championsystem did a smaller attack and i followed him on the right side of the road, then he decided to moved across all the way to the left side and William and most of the others decided to take his wheel so i got away a bit and took my chance and went hard, at that time a CCN team rider and strong sprinter type Specialized rider joined me and we worked hard to get a gap.

After half a lap a Trek TCR rider joined the group. We got a good teamwork going with mostly me and the Trek rider in front. After another lap or 2 the Spezialized rider got dropped and we where 3 people working together. After half way i was starting to feel better and the other two got a bit more tired and the CCN rider stopped taking his turns in the front or just for shorter bits, the Trek rider was still riding well but at the last laps i did most the work since my energy got a bit better.

At 1 lap to go i tryed a attack but without success, with 2k to go i tryed to increase the speed again but could not get away, i got a bad position and was 3rd into the last corner for the sprint and could just finish in 3rd place, but i know my sprint is really bad so did not expect much more, my chance was to get away earlier.

By this result i managed to take the Yellow jersey and iam in now in the lead in the overall standings!

Results: Trek Zhujiaojiao results

Race report: Cyclingnewsasia

Day4. 60k circuit race in Boele city. 11th place. 7th Overall for the tour.
10 laps in Boele city. Sunny and hot day, start was at 10am and with the tired body from the previous days i was fearing all the sprints a circuit race will have. As normal a CCN rider took off directly when the start went off and the first kilometers was a warmup shock for the body. The following laps was full of attacks and i tryed to get away a few times but without success, as the race went on a group got away and nobody wanted to to any work in the main pack, then me, Miguel, Mike and AJ started working in the front for a couple of laps before breakaway attempts started to catch the front group. with 3 laps to go i was able to get a gap with AJ and a couple of other riders, a few moments later other riders joined and we got a group of 6 people chasing the lead breakaway group of 6 people. We where working hard with Me, AJ and a super strong CCN riders taking most of tthe turns, coming into the final stretch before the sprint we where just about 50m from the leadgroup but was not able to close the gap and as normal my sprint finish was not very good and i finished in 11th place and with AJ just behind in 12th place.

Overall iam very happy with my results for all stages. This is the first time i do a several days stage race and the competition was strong. Xinjiang is a amazing place, with beatiful mountain landscapes and just the surronding around Sailiumu lake is worth the trip. I finished in 7th place in the overall standings with 5 CCN riders and 1 championsystem rider in front of me. Our team also Finished in 7th place.

Day3. Wenchuan to Boele, 75k team TT. 5th place(team).
Another sunny day starting just outside Wenchun. The team tactics was to take turns of about 1min in front and do our best to increase our overall team position that was in 8th place. The course elevation was downhill but with some rolling hills and headwind most of the way. Our team(Chain Sprockets – Wilier) with Miguel, AJ, Mike, Kaiyuan and me worked really good together and passed a lot of team that started ahead of us with 2min intervals. With 8k to go there was some hills and Miguel and Mike was dropped and with Kaiyuan feeling tired me and AJ decided to take turns the final kilometers. We had a good sprint at the end and finished in 5th place.

Day2. Wenquan to Sailimu lake, 95k with a climb. 8th place.
second day started in the same town as we finished yesterday. It was a small hill of about 1k at the start and the same as yesterday there was a breakaway attempt at the start but this time from John Tonks of Championsystem. The first hill was really hard but after the hill there was almost 10k of downhill before going into rolling hills and flat land before the mountain started at aboout 35k.

Going into the mountain the group was all together when all earlier breakaway attempts failed.
The climb started with easy pacing at the start and i tryed to stay in the front of the pack, at about 25% into the climb i decided to make a move and did some smaller attacks and speed increases in the front, i noticed most people closed the gaps so i decided to stay in the front pushing a steady hard pace and see if i could slowly tired the people out instead. It worked and even one of the CCN riders told me to take it more easy

When we got about 80% of the hills there was 2 riders attacking but after pushing hard in the front i was not up for any tempo increases and decided to keep my own pace to last the whole race. At the top of the climb we where a group of about 8 people with another 2 people in front. Now the downhill started going down the lake and the temprature dropped fast.

After the downhill there was about 50k to go and the group worked togehter for a few kilometers before people started attacking, mostly the CCN riders. This split everything up and i ended up with 3 other riders from the Beijing based Holybrothers team, we had 7 other riders in front and we worked together but i felt they where a bit tired and could not push that hard so with 15k to finish another group of about 7 riders caught us from behind, at that moment the pace slowed down and i increased the speed and no one followed, looking back i noticed i got a gap i decided to push all i can for the last 15k and try to keep away. I managed to hold it into the end and finished by myself in 8th place.

Day1. 180k from Jinhe to Wenquan. 9th place.
The trip started with a 5 hour flight to Urumqi and followed by a 5 hour bus ride to the city Jinhe where the Sailimu lake bike race started.
We started at 10am in the morning and it was nice to be able to take it easy in the morning. After a 3k loop in the town for show off the race started. Since it was a long stage of 180k i thought it was going to be a easy pace in the beginning, but i was wrong. As the start gun went off, the CCN riders sprinted off trying to break away already at the start, some of the Hongkong Championsystem riders followed and the rest of the pack tryed to close in. At about 8k into the race the breakaway group was caught in and apparently one of the CCN guys got a puncture so they slowed down to wait for him.

After that there was some attacks and 2-3 riders got away. Just before hitting 40k there was another serious attack by a few CCN riders, championsystem riders and some others and i managed to get in that breakaway. We where about 8 people in the group and got a good cooperation taking turns in the front. At about 70k we caught the other riders in the first breakaway and the pack got a bit bigger but we still had some good team work.

At 110k CCN rider started attacking, even if the attacks was not succesfull they for sure made people tired(including me). At 130k there was more attacks and people started dropping off, and up to 150k the group was split in pieces, i ended up with 2 other riders and we got a team work to make the last 30k together, not really trying to catch the other 6 riders in front, more surviving the whole race as fast as possible. With 10k to go we caught another rider and we where a group of 4 people coming into the final sprint. I tryed to make some move about 1k to go but my legs was not very ”sprinty” after 180k of hard riding. So i had to let them go at the sprint and ended up last in the group and a 9th place overall since there was 5 people ahead of the group i was in. I was happy with the results in the hard competition with CCN proffessionals riders/UCC/Holy Brothers and the Championsystem team to mention a few.

This weekend the 3rd race in the Trek Shanghai cup took place at Changning district in the western part of Shanghai. The course was 20 laps, each lap 3.3km that made a total of 66km. Unfortunately 30minutes before the race it started raining and each corner of the course was a death trap with slippery white crosswalking lines.

Lap nr 2 and lap nr3 was sprint point laps so i decided to go hard from the beginning to get a chance to take some points. After the first lap me and 2 other riders managed to get a gap back to the peleton and we started working together so we could take the sprint points. I managed to get in 3rd place for the first sprint and 1st place in the 2nd one. After the sprint laps was over there was another 17 laps to go so i was not sure if i should drop back to the main group or continue with the breakaway but finally decided to go for it with hopes that other people from the peleton would join with new energy to help. Once the laps passed by the 2 other riders in the brakaway got more and more tired and i had to do the most work in the front myself, this did not look very promising because i knew i would be in problem keeping the breakaway alive all by myself. Luckily another breakaway succeded behind us and 3 other riders joined us with 10 laps to go.

Now with 6 people in the breakaway i was hoping for some help but there was only the eventual winner of the race Daniel Carruthers that was willing to contribute to the breakaway and we decided to take turns in the front. With 4 laps to go, Daniel suggested we work together and one of us go and let the other riders close the gap. It was a good idea from Daniel and the other riders had to do some more work and one of the riders got dropped. For me it was also hard, because i had been in a breakaway the whole race and most part in the front so starting these sprints killed my legs a bit. Just after 2 laps to go one of the Specialized riders that had been sitting in the back the whole time attacked, at this time i did not have much energy left to respond and it was only Daniel that did a serious attempt to follow. This left me behind with 2 other riders to fight about the 3rd place but coming up to the final sprint i had to surrender for a 5th placing.

Even if i lost the last sprint finish iam overall happy with the race, for the second race in a row i was able to be in a successfull breakaway and now iam looking forward to next challenge at the Xinjiang countryside in ”Tour of Sailimu lake”.

Cyclingnewsasia report: http://cyclingnewsasia.com/en/road/35-general/639-shanghai-trek-road-race-series-round-3-photos-and-full-results

Full results: http://race.bikehome.net/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=82:may-16-trek-changning-results&catid=35:2010-03-19-11-18-01&Itemid=53