I've been riding a few European brevets for some ISRs and so far I've ridden one 600 from Tournai in Belgium, so I wanted to ride the recent 600BRM from Hisingen CK in Göteborg, Sweden to add to that and be my PBP qualifier too.
Living in central Jutland means that the ferry from Frederikshavn to Sweden is half a days ride away on good cycle paths, which are part of the Østkyst route that goes along Jutland's east coast and makes for a pleasant 300km return trip from home.
On the Østkyst route up to Frederikshavn
Frederikshavn and the Stena Danica to Göteborg
I planned to sleep in a camping shelter somewhere at the 360km mark on the brevet, so I took my bivvi bag, mat and sleeping bag along with a change of cycling clothes packed in a heavy duty stuff sac strapped to the rack and enough food for 4 days in a Barley.
The first night before the brevet was spent at the excellent YHA in Göteborg which was about 7km from the start of the brevet and 2km's from the ferry terminal and I managed to get a good nights sleep. I took the precaution of removing all the lightbulbs from the lights in the room, so that I wouldn't be woken up in the middle of the night by whoever was sharing the room with me when they came back.
The route for the brevet was a plain vanilla out and back on fast rolling roads with a 50/50 mix of A and good rural roads, but being the weekend there were very few trucks, I think I remember seeing three or four in all and very little other traffic. The roads were in very good condition with an excellent surface and quite a bit of cycle path around Göteborg, so we weren't mixing with much traffic at all.
It being Sweden there was a good mix of forest, lakes and farmland with a few small villages and towns to go through. The service stations and most co-op's were open on both Saturday and Sunday from 0900 to 2100, so there was no shortage of places to get food or drinks, but it was worth allowing for 50-70km between refreshments as we traversed a fair amount of vildmark. This was spectacular with the most amazing moss covered granite and big Elk too, something you wouldn't want to run into at night, so good lights were a necessity.
At the start, the three racing snakes Åke, Per and Martin were planning to ride straight through and they were in cheery spirits, but soaking wet when I met them just before I got to the turn. Everyone else had plans to stop at hostels or hotels at some point, well that was the idea till the wall of water arrived.
But......
When I got to Årjäng it started to look like the forecast rain was about to turn up and it started to get a bit cold. In fact it got really cold and the temperature dropped to somewhere between 2-3ºC on the night leg up to the turnaround at 306km.
Plan BIt had been pouring down for 3 hours, with at least another 6 hours of heavy rain forecast. So when I got to the service station control at the 306km turnaround and after watching the forecourt punch up from the safety of the servo café, it was time for plan B. The credit card came out and I booked into the handy hotel across the road at a heavy cost.
This was wholly justifiable, as I was borderline hypothermic, it was dark and I was on my own. I was so cold that I couldn't keep my hands still and my whole body was shaking violently, very unpleasant and potentially dangerous to continue cycling in the dark.
After standing in the hot shower for an hour, it was time to do some maths. It was 9pm and I had 320km to go to finish the brevet, get through Göteborg centre and get on the boat.
3 controls, two which I bounced and one for lunch (40 mins). The boat left at 18:30, so I needed to be there by 18:25 at the latest.
As it was an out and back route I knew the road was fast with rolling climbs, so I could chug along quite happily at a reasonable pace and I opted for a 5am wheels rolling, a good plan if it went well.
On the way back I was presented with the sorry sight of my fellow wheelmen from the day before, who'd braved the night and rode through the rain to arrive at their unheated pre-booked hostel at about 360km. A stop for a 45 minute lunch at the Shell station at Ed with the wheelmen and it was back on the road again for a head down, bum up rolling 160km or so.
I met a fast club rider on the way in to Göteborg and we rode together towards the final control at a blistering 35km/h. She was very strong and I was glad for her company, as I had a feeling I was going to be late for the boat, so I had to pull my finger out and it was full steam ahead through town. I dived through the gap in the fence at the port and got to the boat with 10 seconds to spare, as it actually left at 18:20 and not 18:30 which I thought it did.
A top weekend and this was the second brevet that I'd ridden with HCK and I can recommend their brevets to the forum.
The route.
http://ridewithgps.com/routes/7780105http://ridewithgps.com/routes/7780104HCK's website.
http://www.hisingensck.seFerry costs 81Dkk each way, about £7.50 with a bike.
