Vatterrundan, Sweden

pinchazogriz

If anyone is looking a good ride over distance checkout the Vatternrundan in Sweden 300kms and you ride through the night, it's a quality event plus how about this for the healthy Swedes 18,000 riders take part!! Could you imagine that ever happening over that sort of distance here? I don't think so.

Not forgetting the Saturday night visit to Harry's bar, if you can still walk - lets just say OMG!!

12th June 2009, Motala Sweden.

Griz

zoomcp

I'm in; just hope I can still manage a reasonably fast (12hr?) 300km after riding from Stockholm (over 2 days)

pinchazogriz

It is pretty fast and depending on your start time you can hitch a ride on the big buses that come along and when you're a bit tired drop on to a slower one. Good luck see you there.

Griz

RichardFcp

I'm in, having ridden in 08. Hoping for a much better time this year but that will be dependent upon shepherding several others round with me.

pneumatic

Any advice on getting to Sweden from the UK? I looked up ferries today and there are exactly none whatsover. The best I could find was Harwich to Ejsberg in Denmark. What is that all about? Are we at war with Sweden and nobody told us?

zoomcp

There probably aren't any ferries direct since Ryanair rolled into Goteborg and they built bridges and tunnels to get between Denmark and Sweden; I think Harwich - Esbjerg and then go via Malmo is a good way to get there; can't be doing with cars and boats though am flying BA for only £120 return from Heathrow

Kléber

It starts at 2am I think which is a maddening time.

nicklouse

there are still 2 trailer/truck ferries that run to Gothenberg daily

they leave from Tillbury and from Imingham.
DFDS Tor line.

I use it each year around Xmas.

Only 12 cabins.

pneumatic

nicklouse wrote:

there are still 2 trailer/truck ferries that run to Gothenberg daily

they leave from Tillbury and from Imingham.
DFDS Tor line.

I use it each year around Xmas.

Only 12 cabins.

Thanks, that is brilliant! I would never have found that by myself. The plan is to tour Sweden in the late Summer with a mate of mine who arrived in Europe from Uruguay 30 years ago on a banana boat. A journey like this would make him very nostalgic, I suspect.

RichardFcp

I went last year via Harwich-Esjberg and drove up through Denmark and Sweden. A nice road trip but the tolls in Denmark are a little pricey. The DFDS ship was also the most boring vessel I have ever been on with nothing to do after eating. The prices in the bar were also eye watering!

thiscocks

They have stopped the ferry which did go to Göteborg(gothenberg). Probably easier to go Ryanair and get there from Stockholm or Göteborg. Bit of a bugger as it is halfway between the two.

The Jack

I did Vättern last year and i warmly recommend it. It is a very well organized event and you generally feel very well taken care of. Swedes are good at these things, they also arrange that absolutely enormous cross country skiing event Vasa-loppet with tens of thousands skiing something like 90 km.
The route is OK, no big hills but enough so you feel like you´re cycling, not just rolling around.
If you go by car to Motala, remember there is a rule that requires you to rest for att least few hours after finsihing your race- and the police is enforcing the rule by checking motorists on their way from Motala.

pinchazogriz

You can also get there with the charity Cyclists Fighting Cancer, The race is full but they have 30 entries, transfers, accommodation, flights etc all in at £475 plus there's no minimum fundraising requirement. http://www.cyclistsfightingcancer.org.uk

RichardFcp

I'm flying out tomorrow morning, so good luck to anyone else who is going. Srating at 00.20!

The weather forecast is absolutely dismal though according to my local contacts

RichardFcp

So, who went? 2500 dropped out before the start because of the weather forecast and 1030 abandoned en route. Fastest rider went round in 7.30hrs so chapeau! We started at 00.28 and it started chucking it down at about 02.00. Punctured just outside Granna at 03.30 which serves me right for thinking "Great, I haven't had a puncture all year" just after I saw someone else fixing a puncture. Sorry puncture fairy! Went far too fast over the first 109kms to Jonkoping and also got soaked through, so then used much too much energy trying to get warmed up again after that stop. The remaining 191kms became something of a grovel as a result. Still I managed to improve on my actual riding time over last year by about 50 minutes, although the door to door time was longer as I spent more time at the stops trying to refuel and get some energy back.

weeve

Yeah I did..just posted here actually

http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtop ... &start=320

Given my apartment and Mrs are in Stockholm and I commute from NL and was there for the weekend ...and we'd paid ...we didnt duck out due to weather... tempting though it was. We only stopped for 35mins thoughso didnt really notice getting pxssed on too much although my glasses were useless. Next year Im starting at 3 or 4am. Some sleep and a bunch of swedish speedy groups going at 38km average rather than my measly 30km alone means I shall draft my way to a better time .... or is that cheating? haha. The Mrs came 94th of the women so she's pretty pleased as she only had me ahead of her for the full 300km - not once were we part of a group unless leading it. She took 2 hours off last years time and did the same time as her brother - so he's probably cheesed off ...hasnt said though!

zoomcp

just written a report for my club website

where are the finish times all listed? I can only get my own.

Vatternrundan, an obscure skin complaint, a brand of toilet cleaner?

No it's the biggest bike ride (in terms of total numbers of km cycled by all participants) in the world with over 18500 riders cycling 300km around Sweden's second largest lake the Vattern. This event has been running for over 40 years and is now so popular it is full up in January. I entered the ride last September as something to take my mind off London-Edinburgh-London which is also running this summer and I've decided never to do.

Being in Sweden it's certainly not cheap and to keep the costs of the trip down I rode from Stockholm to the start town of Motala over 2 days staying in a charming youth hostel in Vingaker. With a population of 9 million and an awful lot more land than the UK the roads were almost empty. I used a quiet section to Motala and was rewarded with charming little hamlets, log cabins all flying the national flag and a pleasant smell of pine forests most of the way.

Motala's population had doubled for the event but luckily basic accommodation was provided in the large sports hall. I met a couple of other UK riders on Thursday night for dinner and had an early night.

The ride started Friday evening with groups of riders setting off over the timing mats every 2 minutes into the night. I had selected a late start so when I set off at 02.32 am I had only an hour of riding in darkness in the Nordic summer. From the start the ride was totally unlike anything I have ever experienced, with massive groups all riding at breakneck speed; and slower riders including many veterans of the last 40 years pootling along on all sorts of machines. I had aimed for a 12 hr time and after a couple of hours this looked possible. There were feed stations every 40km or so but they became a bit monotonous with lingonberry juice buns and gherkins. And I also managed to ride past the only stop that offered a hot meal due to getting the distance wrong.

On the Western shores of the lake the adrenaline buzz was amazing with fast groups coming through every couple of minutes; I tried to jump onto a few but as many had started 2 hrs after me did not stay on them for long. I put my head down and TT'd a 50km section, after a while I realised I had about 50 other riders on my back wheel! By now the 12 hr time was looking to be smashed so I just topped up on isotonic drink for the last 70km and went full-on for a 11 hr finish. The last section was a bit main-roady with many cars overtaking us carrying packed riders and their bikes. But for the last 20km the ride went back into lovely pine forest as it scoured the shores of Vattern. And I finally crossed the line at 10.55 hrs; almost 2 hrs less than my previous best.

A highly recommended ride, part sportive, part PBP and part London-Brighton!

weeve

for all finish times go the vatternrunden site and follow links to forum - there's an xls file your after
Let me know if you have problems with the swedish lang - I can email a copy of you cant get it. File name your looking for is
HV2009Result.xls
its circa 3mb

weeve

save you the trouble - heres the link
http://velocipeter.se/documents/HV2009Result.xls

zoomcp

weeve wrote:

save you the trouble - heres the link
http://velocipeter.se/documents/HV2009Result.xls

thanks; way hey 3800th; not bad for a "bearded sandalled" Audaxer