Tomorrow Margaret and I will be amongst about 2000 others who will be cycling, running, riding inlines, rullskidor (wheeled skiis) and wheel chairs along a new bit of motorway.
The E18 is the main road between Stockholm and Oslo. For most of the way between Västerås and Stockholm it is motorway, except the stretch between Enköping and Västerås. The worst part of this will shortly be replaced by the new motorway bit, which is almost completed. It is along this bit that we will be riding tomorrow morning.
For those of you that understand Swedish the website at http://e18-loppet.se/ has the details, and promises to show the results!
I believe similar events happened prior to the opening of the Channel Tunnel, and the Öresunds bridge, but I don't suppose this will attract quite the same international interest that both of those occasions did! Although I expect the VLT (our local paper) to be there, and quite possibly the various local TV stations as well.
The cycle course is 30km long. It will be interesting to see what it's like to ride on a motorway. The slopes and curves are of course designed to be advantageous to motor traffic which means that the hills will be relatively shallow, but very long! It will probably be rather open (bad news if it's windy). There are two tunnels shown on the map, that'll be a first!
In the scale of cycle rides 30km isn't very long. This should mean that the speeds of the faster riders will be very fast. I hope that I can find a group that goes at about my speed.
Result: I came in 17th (out of 400+) with an average speed of 33.6kph.
We are in the starting phase of renovating our kitchen. This also means that we have to change the floor in the kitchen, allrum (the sort of dining room) and the hallway. This also means that all that area needs to be redecorated.........
