Massive Drama!!! It’s all gone wrong, everything, end of my life I swear to god!

Nah just messing… Great couple of weeks with Natalie. Spring slowly moving towards summer and the area is just stunningly beautiful. There was never a struggle to get up and put in some miles, the weather is great and it’s easy to just loose myself on the bike. Okay my form is dropping off slowly but I know what I’m doing.

I’ve noted a sharp rise in interest in Higher Roads since my Double. I mean I was known by those who seriously follow the sport, as was Wilco. Then Magnus was a big name in Swede and Kurt wasn’t exactly a nobody. But now I’m a seriously recognizable name and it’s doing only good things for the project.

The three events I’ve done since Roubaix have been complete sell-outs and our membership has nearly doubled. We now boast a membership of over 18,000 people, and are supporters of nearly 100 Junior riders across Sweden and The Netherlands. It’s all really great stuff, perhaps the only annoying thing is the now almost constant presence of the media around me.

Roughly a month or more now since I last saw Erik. It’s not easy trying to be an involved father from another country. I knew it wasn’t going to be simple but I had thought it would be possible to see him at least once a month, so far I am not even close to that. My life is too busy and just doesn’t match up with Lucys.

The next time I might see him is mid-May during the Tour of California. O2 will be riding there as well as us, and Phil mentioned he was planned to ride it. Whether Lucy and Erik would be there would be an unknown until just before the racing. I asked about seeing them around the 4 Jours but I couldn’t make it fit.

As much as things were great with Natalie the whole kid-ex-fiancé thing was a struggle. I mean Natalie is amazing, funny, sexy and we genuinely are great friends, but it is a bit of a strain. I havn’t out right asked but I think she thinks I still have a thing for Lucy, and Erik and my passion for him fuels this a bit.

4 Jours de Dunkerque is great event. Normally it would be great for me with a shortish time trial and a tough and hilly cobbled stage as the finale. Instead I’m a bit distracted and off good form. The form thing is planned as I start my build up towards peaking for July and a possible Tour place.

I’ll still lead the team, well sharing with Johan really. He is on good form because initially he was supposed to be at the Giro. He was swapped out for Jonas last minute as the later was on a real string of wins. So Johan for the sprint stages and myself to see what happens on the final day ITT-Cobbles double.

The weather is supposed to be ok for the long weekend so at the least I’ll get some solid miles done. To be honest my confidence isn’t great and I just want to move on from this race and get out west to the states.

The first two stages rolled by without serious incident. A few people fell and occasional narrow roads created a few worries at times but the team pretty much came through it unscathed and in contention for stage finishes. Johan found himself boxed out on stage 1 only finishing 5th, but stage 2 he found space and a podium place.

For stage 3 the weather shifted to high winds which battered everyone hard for the length of the day. There wasn’t a fear of echelons as no-one wanted to risk being blown clean off their bikes, so the pace crawled along for the entire day. A couple of opportunists, led by Livhits and Velduizen broke away late to win.

The time trial was only short, 17km around town, but had some really technical sections and long open drags. Normally I would say a great route for myself but out on the road I struggled to find a rhythm. I overshot a few turns and brushed a couple of barriers which really knocked my time backwards and down outside the Top30.

This final stage was the big one. Some sharp hills and some short stretches of cobbles. Instantly I could tell it wasn’t going to be a good afternoon. My legs wouldn’t move and my muscles were tight all over, clearly I had really overdone things in the time trial. Over a normal race distance it would free up but this was too short.

I gave Johan the all clear to do whatever he and the team wanted. With 40km to go the race began to split up. I was in the second big group, Johan in the first big group and then there were about 5 riders ahead of them. With 20km I heard that Johan was in a selection of 15riders out front. With 10km he himself had cut that down to 7 riders.

Apparently he could tackle some tough terrain when needed. It was formality for Johan to win from the selection, taking him to 4th overall by the end. It was a dogged and powerful ride by him, something I would normally produce. I finished over 4’00 behind him full of congratulations and worries about my own race.

On the way through to California I managed to stop off in Malmo for a couple of days to spend with Natalie. It was kind of nice to unwind for a moment with her, clear myself up before racing again. I was actually flying west a day or two ahead of the rest of the squad as I wanted to do a few things myself whilst around L.A.

After I arrived I did some reconnaissance of the first days racing, then turned it into a longer loop around the city area. Phil and his O2 team were arriving the next day and that evening we agreed to go to a sports bar to catch up and watch some NHL. I didn’t even have to ask to question as practically the first thing he said was that Lucy and Erik were in town as well.

We spent the evening hanging out. We did loose contact for a period but he’s a great guy and were great friends before. By the end of the night I was feeling a whole lot better and was starting to look forward to racing. The next few days I spent a lot of time with them especially Erik so by the time racing was here I felt very strong indeed.

“Karl… Karl… Karl! Look at me Karl, follow the light with your eyes. Ok Karl well done, now I need you to bend your fingers and toes for me.�

Damnit… The Tour of California is not a good race for me evidently. Second time of competing and again I hit the deck early on in the race. Weirdly I ended up back at Sa Joaquin Community Hospital in Bakersfield. Except this time, luckily, I hadn’t broken anything or done any serious damage. Although I gave my knee one hell of a bang.

Nothing showed up on scans, but it was tender and would probably keep me off the bike for a couple of weeks. I took this as a good sign. My last racing had been below par and I wasn’t in the right mind frame. Having spent some more time with Erik I had felt better, so perhaps the enforced rest would also do me good.

Anyway it would be back home to Sweden for two weeks to rest up. Instead of going back to Linkoping I decided to go an stay with Natalie, not that I told here. It was to be a nice surprise!