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Tonight I was supposed to do a walking tour of the old town but it’s been postponed to Wednesday night so might be some interesting stuff after that if I get time later in the week.

In the meantime: population c40,000. The central area seems vibrant. Very few vacant shops. I’d guess no malls further out to detract from the central shops. Lots of clothing options. A myriad of banks (though they close at 4pm so still haven’t changed my Swedish money). Lots of hairdressers.

Most of the central area is red/brown brick. Nothing high rise and several curved pedestrian streets. Lots of sculptures of street people. Haven’t seen any live ones yet. Lower down towards the lake are older houses. The Info centre closes at 3pm so haven’t been there yet. All of these photos taken on deserted Sunday streets. Was busier on Monday.

 

 

While I think of it, for those who are interested, I have some of you a website for the Danish results. But it seems they are just on the website http://www.wmtboc2019.dk and then a bit of a hunt for results. The WOC and JWOC results are at the top of the page. The Viborg 6-Days (my event) is linked from the bottom of that page.

For The WOC/JWOC Sprint on Sunday morning, they completely closed the central part of the town. Looked like a fantastic area with streets at odd angles and narrow linking alleyways. I wandered two blocks from my house (which was on a route choice) and found a 7-way intersection and bikes zooming everywhere. The finish was in a town square just up from there. A semicircular finish chute on cobbles. Just as well the forecast rain held off. Would have been very dangerous! No sensible commentary which was disappointing – except reminders of the placings.

The 6-Days Sprint was in the afternoon in the gardens/woods/recreation area on the other side of the lake. Over there.

Interesting course on a double sided 1:4000 map. I lost concentration on one leg and lost a bit of time working my way back around. And then forgot it was a ‘race’ (after last week when I had no rivals). Second by 7min. Happy with that.

Today was the first of two Middle Distance races. Looks fairly straightforward on the map and it was. I misjudged my Distance  coming up the hill from 2 towards 3 (2.5m contours) and took the western track at the big Y on the plateau. Planned to recoup at the next cross track but didn’t see it, so 2 sides of the triangle and the girl 4 min behind caught me there.

Only other problem was a horrible short dash track which had looked ok initially as I took the straightish left hand route 6-7.  The winding single track was great when it went the right way. (The smart money was on Back out to the main road and around to the south.)

So 17min off the pace today against 2 women who had ridden here in the Danish Champs last year. Again happy enough. A fun enough day.

 

Every place I’ve stayed so far has provided breakfast. (Though it is sometimes difficult to figure out which jug has real milk.) but for the next week, not so.

I’m in a “cosy” room right in the centre of Viborg. An old house subdivided into rental rooms. I’m up a narrow staircase – 3 rooms off a small landing. Very hot with open windows not making much impression. I actually have a thermometer in the room. Last time I looked it was29deg. But it has a refrigerator and plates/ cutlery and the sizeable supermarket is just around the corner.

So I’ve had a foray. Hope I’ve got the right milk. Plus yoghurt in a pourable carton. Pasta salad for dinner. See how I go.

my room is the one with the open windows. At least there is the possibility of flow-through: front and side. Enter the property via that narrow passageway to main door at the back.

I’ve left the bike at the event centre. No space for it in the room (let alone up the steep stairs) and will have to park the car a couple of blocks away. Already done s better job than Mrs SN navigating between here and the event centre. I’m sure I drove through the pedestrian area relying on Her.

Uneventful travel day today. Got here a bit after 5.  After a couple of hot days, tomorrow looks cooler with rain forecast all day.

Sunday – Sprint day. WOC/JWOC in the morning. The rest of us in the afternoon.

The foot O people had been to Yxbracken ski area the day before. They said there were lots of tracks and it was very steep down to the finish.

Well thankfully on Day 4 we had a remote finish on top of the mountain and made our way down the steep winding bike/ski trail (shades of Buxton but much higher and steeper) at our own pace. Great fun near the top but it got steeper and looser so I walked the bottom half.

But I’m skipping the bit in the middle. Not very enjoyable. narrow tracks  hard for me to get out of the way of faster riders. Very rocky and/or rooty. Mostly beyond my capabilities. Only 6 controls in (supposedly) 5.4km. Not so many tracks and virtually no route choice  I did a LOT of walking. Glad I wasn’t staying for the last day which is also in this general area.

So I’m not bringing my mtb to Sweden again. Decision made. The forests are often lovely with unexpected lakes. The recreational trails are very pleasant. The real mtb tracks are generally too difficult for me. If there is another visit to Sweden I could hire a mtb for a recreational ride.

I was a bit sorry to leave Norrköping. Felt I didn’t give it my full attention. Never did get a handle on the navigation. Sent Mrs Sat Nav into a spin when I thought I knew what I was doing going home from O-Ringen centre one night. By now I should know the way …

I don’t think I gave you this photo – genteel apartments on the inner ring road  ( “Promenade”) – with large internal courtyards

On the other hand, driving into Gothenburg today (where I spent a WMOC week four years ago) it was instant recognition. And when a serious traffic jam threatened access to the ferry, I happily over-rode Mrs SN until she caught up with me!

Thursday was our rest day. I drove south approx 10km to the Gôta Canal which has a path alongside. The canal was made in the early 19th century to link a string of lakes and form a navigable route from the west coast at Gothenburg to the east coast near Söderköping. Total distance 615 km with 190 km of that actual canal. A total of 58 locks and I saw 8 of them in the 11 km that I rode! And 3 opening bridges – a substantial swing bridge on the main road I drove down. And 2 local-traffic slide-back bridges controlled via video link from the swing bridge control centre.

Six of the locks in My section are very close together with a total drop of 19.4m. Doesn’t rival the Frontenac Steps on the Canal du Midi but still impressive. The locks are staffed over summer by local students, some happy for a chat though they were pretty busy early on. Motor boats and a lot of tall yachts to and from the archipelago just off the coast in the Baltic Sea.

At the swing bridge:

I didn’t have a particular destination in mind, just going for a flat ride, but at lunch time, there was Söderköping.

“Köping” means market . (Pronounced “sherping”) So we have the North market – Norrköping, and the South market – Söderköping.

Along the canal at S there are pavement restaurants with a backdrop of forested cliffs on the other side of the canal and moored yachts. And a cargo bike with an umbrella saying “Ask me”. An outpost of the information centre. She gave me a map and persuaded me to walk around the old town

Although the bell tower looks modern, it apparently dates  from the 16th century.

 

 

 

 

 

 

So for those who are interested, here is a bit more detail on the MTBO in the first 3 days.

On Day 1 and 2, the arena/assembly area was the same: MTBO to the west and runners to the east, then swap on Day 2 so no mixing of bikes and runners.

DAY 1:  Some steeper sections thanDay 2. I started well on my 5.4 km middle distance course but after a long fast road section and a steep climb to the plateau from #7 to 8, I lost concentration and thought I was further along the track than I really was. Much confusion – to and fro: where is this side track? I lost close to 20 min on that leg.

DAY 2: A ‘long distance ‘ event – the essence is route choice. Advertised as 8.5km (shortest feasible route). The tracks (black lines) are graded according to how fast the mapper reckons a top rider  (ie not me!) can ride. Solid line = fast; long dashes = pretty good; short dashes = slower; dots= very slow, might have to carry your bike.

i found I often had to walk on short dash tracks. Took Nearly  30 min to #2 (this could take me all day). Things got better after that – I started to take wide route choices to pick faster tracks.

i reckon #2-3 is the leg of the day. How would you do that?

DAY 3: Middle Distance, Sprint style. Lovely forest and recreation area right in the edge of town. Most tracks rideable for me. Just MTBO today. The foot people had a rest day. We get our rest tomorrow. The map scale was 1:6000 and the track junctions were sometimes closer on the ground than they seemed on the map. That tripped me up #4-5 and then going to #9 and then 11.

But the big error of the day was 18-19. I did a mental 180 coming out of 18 and took a fair while to sort myself out. (I unusually I have marked my mistake routes on the map in red.) Took 70min  should have been closer to 48!

 

 

 

 

 

O-Ringen has been an annual 5-day Orienteering event in Sweden since 1965. From small Beginnings it grew to over 15000 participants by 1978. It’s been as high as 25000, but rarely less than 13000. A lot of Swedes bring their tent or caravan. Huge camping areas with water piped across the fields to washing and toilet areas etc. and people encouraged not to drive to the events (so huge parking areas not needed there). They bring bicycles to get around the vast areas of the site

This year there are over 15,000 (with about 350 in the MTBO races). There have been 85 buses to get people to the arena on the first 2 days. Guess there will be more in the next two days when there isn’t space for parking.

On Tuesday I got to the arena at 9am and already there were runners finishing. At 12:30 there were still people heading to their starts. So many people!

Each night there is a prize giving ceremony for the winners of 118 foot and MTBO classes for that day, in three groups    . Prior to your group being called up (one by one), you are served drinks and nibbles in the hospitality tent!

Because I am the only rider in my class, I am a ‘winner’ provided I successfully finish the course. On Day 1, the prize (given to each winner), was a glass bowl. I skipped that one – reckon I didn’t deserve to be a winner  but glad not to get a glass bowl! I did go on Day 2  a nice couple of embroided tea towels.

i first came to O-Ringen in 1992  at that stage there was a serious effort to embrace ‘incomers’: information book in English as well as Swedish. Much of the commentary in English. My perception is that they’ve gone back to their roots. Virtually nothing In English. If you don’t understand Swedish, too bad. And fewer non-scandinavians than in earlier years. Some essential event signage has English (but not all). But of course most of the organisers now Speak reasonable English so help can be obtained if you know what question to ask.

10 different starts, each start has a different finish chute

 

 

 

Didn’t go out till after lunch. Back to O-Ringen Centre to buy a simple wrist compass. Don’t want to rely on my S Hemisphere one though it might have done. And of course once my wallet was out, ended up with a few more little things from “OGear”.

Then took a drive to Linköping c40 km SW  (at least I think that’s right!)  home of SAAB. Seems like they have a number of other thriving industries too – chimney stacks at work on Sunday.

St Lars Church in the centre of town  (couldn’t also get the pretty park behind – sun in the wrong place)

And the pretty canal/stream. There was a zip line thing set up that pulled waterskiers (actually on snowboard things)  about 200 m long.

Country road to get there, freeway coming back. wheat fields, some hay cut for silage.  I guess they’ll get another crop in.

did I tell you the other day the Lofoten story about the house colours – you know, the traditional red barns and farm houses, but some are yellow and others white …

the story goes that the fishermen had to ‘seal’ their timber houses so used fish oil  and then coloured the oil with fish blood – red.  The bosses could afford better: they bought expensive zinc to get a white colour. later the middle classes bought less expensive oche – yellow.

of course sources of paint and sealant have moved on but the traditional colours prevail. Today there were lots of red barns and houses, and just a few yellow too. not much white in the rural areas.

 

 

 

 

 

These photos are supposed to go at the bottom but I can’t persuade them to do that  sorry

 

So eventually I needed a bit of an explore. But I’ve completely lost my sense of direction. In this city, even with a map I go the wrong way.

My hotel is at the top of the central map. As soon as you orient the map, south is up the page. Even when I have a plan I go the wrong way.

But after a bad start I found my way to the old industrial area which has and is undergoing remarkable renewal. There were textile factories on the Motala River since the 16th century and later paper mills As well. The river must drop close to 10m in several weirs/drops through here. I guess they used water power initially.

By the late 19th century N was a large prosperous industrial city and has many fine buildings dating from that time. After fires in the 1820s, wooden houses weee banned. Now the university, science park, various other 21st century uses and restaurants etc occupy the old refurbished buildings.

The Grand Hotel across the river from mine:

So last night I discovered that the ‘electrics’ on my bike weren’t working. I have electronic gears with a small battery in the seatpost. Magic when it works. Disaster when it doesn’t – no gears.

I thought it looked a fairly simple fix – reinsert the plug into the battery (which a few weeks ago got pushed further up the into the tube so I can’t reach it). Checked out the bike shops. The nearest one has good reviews so I was there at 10am opening. Hmm. He’s never seen electric gears, has negligible English, and i suspect his reviewers all own old clunkers. His verdict: my transformer thing is kaput. But it’s got shimano on it so why  don’t I try this other shop (which was next on my list).

A much more professional looking outfit. Nice young man got it working almost immediately and confirmed nothing wrong with my charger. then we thought it might make things simpler in the future if  the battery could be moved down a bit. Big mistake. Not only couldn’t they move the battery but now the current only comes through  when everything is not done up. Sorry but there is nothing more he can do. Beyond his pay scale. But his whizz colleague will be in at 8 on Monday.

Ok. Off to Oringen to see if I can change my start time for Monday.

Mrs Sat nav is pretty good if you can give her a street. All we had for O-Ringen was the Sports Park. I tried one street. Before we got there, there are O-Ringen campers. Getting warm. Parked but this turned out to be the town swimming pool. Need to go further. Walked a while. Asked someone. Got the impression that it was a way to go. Ok, maybe I’ll move the car to where I thought it might be initially. Does that symbol mean a one way street? (Apparently no, but I didn’t risk it.) reckon I walked 2 km. And it was hot! It shouldn’t be this hard! Maybe I could just go home now!

their equivalent of the Final Bulletin is the size and shape of the local paper. 100 pages (incl adverts) and all in Swedish. Last time I was here there was an English version. Now all the English  is online but not in this detail.

The nice man in the office wasn’t busy. He went though the travel and parking arrangements with me. And they said they’d ring back if they could do a later start time. Which they did (and all times have changed. ) So I came home to study the Swedish. Feeling happier about all that. Now I just need a bike to ride. And the only warm up I’ll get will be on the way to the start!