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Here is the follow up from the last post.
The qualification did not turn out the way I wanted. Unfortunately, I crashed at a bridge and got thrown over the bars. It ended with a DNF (Did not finish), a twisted ankle and some big bruises on my back/hip.

On Sunday morning I was unsure if I could do the final run. I strapped up my foot and tried one run in the morning and made the decision that it was alright to ride with. It hurt to ride with, but I could handle it. For the final run it rained a lot once again and the track got slippery and hard to ride.
I got down and felt like it was an alright run, the crash before had made me a bit shook so I felt like I could have ridden faster at some sections but I got down in one piece.
I ended up in 38^th place with the time 4:31, about 20 seconds off the winner, not really where I want to be in time but I felt satisfied in the end that I got down with the injury.

The first race of the season is almost here!
I have done two days of practice here at the European Championships in Lousã, Portugal. It feels really good although I am not riding on my own bike, this year I am riding on a borrowed bike. The freight on my Santa Cruz V10 got delayed so i had to improvise a bit before we flew down to Portugal.
Järvsö Bergcykel Park solved that problem and borrowed me a bike for the race. For that I am really grateful! The track is so much fun to ride and today the sky opened up and it started to rain. My smile just brightens up when there´s time for a mud race, I did two runs in the rain today and I was grinning the whole way down.

Tomorrow it´s time for the qualifications and my run starts at 15:50 (GMT+2).
Hopefully I will have a decent run to see where I´m at in the results and then I can see what I have to change to improve my run for Sundays Finals.
I will do my race run on Sunday around 16:30 (GMT+2).

If you want to follow me on both my qualification run and Final run there will be Live timing on this site: https://www.classificacoes.net/modalidades/btt/campeonato-europeu-de-downhill-aldeias-do-xisto-2018/1035#live

Hopefully there will be live video on Sunday on this site: http://www.eurodhi.com/en/live-stream-on-sunday/

I am so stoked that the race season has begun, let the good times roll!!

With the season approaching just around the corner it´s time for me to reveal my preliminary 2018 scheme and some news regarding sponsors.
First I want to thank Specialized Nordics for the past two seasons for their support. With their bike I won the national championship in 2016 and performed my best placing at an European cup (23st) in 2017.

In 2018 I will proudly compete on Santa Cruz Bicycles. I will use the Hightower LT on the enduro races and the V10 for downhill.
So far, I have received the enduro bike, but I am eagerly waiting on the downhill bike.
Two other sponsors that is joining me for the upcoming season is Sitab and Midroc. Sitab is a local company that work with industrial solutions and they will support me financially. Midroc is an electrician company and they will also support me financially.
I also have three more sponsors in progress, hopefully I will update you soon.

 

Unfortunately, Macon and Gävle Alltransport is not going to support me for 2018. I am thankful for the long time support that Macon has given me all the way back to 2007, when I started my racing career. It has meant a big deal and they have helped me a lot through the years. I also want to thank Gävle Alltransport for their support the past two years.

The upcoming season my main focus will be on getting a total result in the European cup. I will be riding a few world cups and Scandinavian cups also and of course try to defend my National title.

Here´s the preliminary scheme.

Date	City	Country	Cup
8th April	Lousa	Portugal	European Championship
15th April	Maribor	Slovenia	iXS European Cup
21st April	Losinj	Croatia	World Cup
13th May	Vallåsen	Sweden	Enduro Sweden Series
9th June	Leogang	Austria	World Cup
24th June	Les Gets	France	Crankworx
1st July	Abetone	Italy	iXS European Cup
7th July	Val Di Sole	Italy	World Cup
22nd July	Spicak	Czech Republic	iXS European Cup
29th July	Gesunda	Sweden	Scandinavian Cup
5th August	Falun	Sweden	Enduro Sweden Series
12th August	Åre	Sweden	Scandinavian Cup
2nd September	Brandnertal	Austria	iXS European Cup
9th September	Lenzerheide	Switzerland	World Championships
16th September	Gesunda	Sweden	Enduro Sweden Series

Due to an illness I could not participate in the National Enduro race in Falun. I had prepared with spending some extra time on my enduro bike and making the bike a bit fresher with new stickers and some service.  I was really bummed to miss the race, but when I look back on the season this is my first time being sick so I´m still pleased considering that.

For now my focus will be on having fun on my bike and just play around while I visit the bike parks. Soon the bike parks will close and then I will focus on getting my strength up during the off season.

Right now I am working on getting more sponsors for the next year so I can compete even more.
I like to thank everyone that has supported me this year and helped me along the way. Here is my official sponsor picture from this year.

I started to travel up to Åre after work on Thursday and decided to take a quick stop by Järvsö to do some endurance training on my enduro bike. Later on I stopped by the road to get some sleep and arrived to Åre on Friday morning. It was typical Åre weather with lots of clouds and a thick smog. I had time to do one run before Robin got a hold of me and it was time do to a track preview for SweCycling. Here is the result:

I had not quite learned the track in just one run, so I was a bit lost at some sections. Either way after the track preview I did some more training runs in the competition track. I woke up on Saturday and decided to walk the track because I had some sections I needed to take an extra look on before it was time for the official training. The training went smooth all day even though the track was pretty slippery and muddy in overall. Just when the training ended it started to rain heavily, about 40mm over the night. I knew that Sunday was going to be a real mud race by then. On Sunday, I was one of the first to try out the track in the morning and damn it was another level of slipperiness. It was fun though, but it was really hard to go fast. When it was time for the seeding run I had one thing in mind and that was to get down as smooth and stable as possible due to the conditions. It was enough to come down in 3^rd and it was a time of 4:18. A stable run but I felt kind of slow in some sections so I knew I could make up some time for the final run.

For my final run I chose the wrong strategy at the start and let myself get too excited. I should have started the race run in a stable pace and then go for it if I had something left to give in the end. Instead I made the opposite of that. I made some small mistakes in the beginning and I tried to make up time by pedal more but I only made everything more stressful. When I got down I was not happy with my run at all, but I still kept my 3^rd place and improved my run by one second. But I was not even close to getting the win.

 

After the competition I stayed in Åre for a two day camp with Swecycling. I got some really useful tips to improve my riding and some motivation to step up my game for next year! Here is a short clip from the camp:

This was one of the events this season that I was really looking forward to race. The track is the best one in Scandinavia I would say. We raced on the same track that the world championships were held in 2014 and the world cup in 2012 and 2013. We arrived on Friday morning and started walking the track right away. It was the same track as always but with a minor change in one of the woods. After that it was time for open practice but unfortunately there was something wrong with my brakes on the bike, which delayed my practice. It took a couple hours to fix the brakes but I managed to do a few runs in the end of the day before the lift closed.

On Saturday it was time for the official training and I did four runs before the sky opened up and it started to pour down. I did one run with my dry tires when the rain stopped, but I could not ride that fast so my only focus was basically just to get down. The rain continued throughout the whole night so when I woke up on Sunday morning I switched to mud tires. I did two pretty good runs and then looked at the weather forecast which showed a sunny morning and that it would continue like that all day. With that forecast I switched back to dry tires and I was ready for the seeding run. I had a decent run with one big mistake in one of the woods which got me in at 6^th place with a time of 3:48:42, 6 seconds after the leader. I wasn’t pleased with a 6^th place but I was ready to chase a better result in the final run.

I had a really good final run with one small mistake in the beginning. The track had dried up a lot since the seeding run and I felt that in the first turn. I had some really good grip and felt like I could really depend on my tires. I improved my time with 8 seconds and climbed up to a 2th place. I was really pleased with that, there were a lot of fast Scandinavian folks that raced this weekend. In overall it was a really good weekend with fun riding and a great result.