Czech rollercoaster.

I am writing this blog from Poland, from our accomodation in a village called Swieradow Zdroj (Yeah, I can't pronounce it) about my racing experiences in Czech after the U6 in Sweden. If you are confused, I reached my target. I like to begin with something at least mildly confusing. The reason for being in Poland, in addition to the fact that I like Poland, is simple - it is actually black and white, and it is called washing machine. That's why. Though, during my training rides I'm most likely to visit the Czech. Either way, I sleep in Poland, but have raced in the Czech Republic.

Now having clarified that, take another cup of coffee and read on.

Before going to the actual content, the racing here. I'd like to thank the organising parties of the races. Their heartful helpfulness and kindness. has made my racing actually possible since I don't really speak Czech. Ok, admittedly I know a word here and another there. For example, snidania is breakfast, indyka is turkey, and Pepsi Max is well, it is what it is. Having said that, that was basically all the polish I can speak and my Czech language is worse. So, I might have to even apologise to organisers a bit. There I've been, a Finnish fella stupidly standing with the license and some cash wanting to race. The rest has been up to the organisers to sort.

So, after U6 in Tidaholm I drove down to Wisla, Poland with my family. Wisla may ring a bell to some sports fanatics and it should. There is a Finnish coaching connection in there. There is a winter sport in, which you load speed, time your jump and have a majestic flight to make the perfect landing – ski jumping. There was a guy from Wisla, who was pretty darn good at the sport. His name was Adam Malysz – a legend of the sport. His legacy is apparent in Wisla, countless hills and juniors training.

And now the racing bit. First up were the Czech open national champs for amateurs in time trial in Dobratice. The course was an undulating and twisty one – a really enjoyable and challenging one. Despite the ever increasing temperature, +37 at the time of the rice, I had a real solid ride. Not a blast, but very good. As we all love explanations, here comes mine: my Argon is in Finland – hence, I was second. Honestly, I don't think it was all the difference on such course. One guy was just better on the day. Then we drove back to Wisla.

Second up was the open nats on road in Moravka. I ran out of adjectives whilst I tried to describe the route. It was simply amazing. Three lengthy laps with a small climb of couple kilometres and a certain bump to climb to finish. Well, not exactly a bump, more a mountain. The mountain goes by the name of Lysa Hora, the highest in Moravia actually. I rode a strongly, until I came to a complete stop. The climb to finish line was a total of 23km and the last 8km averaged around 9%. I believe, since I can't remember, that my stoppage was something like four or three before the line. I had the most epic of bonks for a while, I just slowed to a walking pace and crawled the remainings. It was an experience as such, but an educated guess (aka. My very own) suggested that it was due to dehydration and hungerflat. It is also highly within possibilities that heat exhaustion played its part very well. The temperature rose to above +40 on the hill. It was a case of snap, crackle and pop from my body. It just stopped and suddenly I was ridiculously slow. I'd laughed at myself, but wasn't able to. I don't really know what I could have done differently though and it took the best of three days to recover.

Next weekend, a week ago, I raced in a hilly (or maybe even mountainous) local race in Jablonec nad Nisou. A total of 92km included more than 2km of climbing over 12 climbs. The parcours was an absolute beauty. And after all, it was one hell of a race at the end. Rapid start, some high quick downhills, tough climbing, broken 53 chain ring, struggling on high cadence, a winning break, and lost it all in the sprint to the line and finished second and had the second podium of the season. I rode a strong race all aspects considered, but in the end it wasn't quite enough. Though, I have to say – it could have been.

Either way, that's it for this part. There is a part two coming up in a day or two, to duplicate the entertainment value. Also I'd guess that quite a lot of people may already have a hunch of what the next part is about. I dunno yet, though this promise is easy to keep since I have already done the typing. And having seen the amount of photos, I can already promise photo update (or perhaps updates) as well. Stay tuned.