Hi!
Today I went with my mom to Nordic Wellness for a Vasaloppet workout. But instead of skiing, we rode stationary bikes.
The training was led by three instructors. Rickard was the main instructor and he talked a lot 😁. Sol had really loud music (to be honest, I didn’t like it that much). The third instructor was Christoffer. He isn’t from Nordic Wellness in Klippan, so he’s probably Rickard’s friend. Christoffer was very demanding, but also really nice. He helped me adjust my bike 😁.
Vasaloppet is a cross-country skiing race. The whole distance is 90 km (9 Swedish miles). In 1521, Gustav Vasa (who later became the king of Sweden) skied from Berga in Sälen (in Dalarna) to Mora. He was escaping from the Danes who wanted to kill him. Sweden was under Danish rule at that time.
Vasaloppet is the oldest and one of the most famous long-distance cross-country ski races in the world, in classic style. The first race was in 1922. This year was the 102nd edition.
This year, the first to reach the finish line was the Swede Oskar Kardin with a time of 4:14:45.5, even though he had to change one ski during the race. He skied on two different skis and still won! In the women’s race, Emilie Fleten from Norway won – for the third time.
Since there is no snow in Klippan, this year we chose bikes. Our group cycled for 4 hours, 14 minutes, and 45 seconds – until Oskar reached the finish line. We had it a bit easier because we took four breaks. But I still got a little tired. And I was better than my mom, whose bike was right behind mine. So I was first! 😁
I would rather have been skiing, because now my legs hurt. The bike had screws sticking out and I kept hitting them all the time. Also, my butt still hurts from sitting, because the seat felt like it was made of stone. And finally: the pedals had spikes that pressed into my shoes and hurt the bottom of my feet.
I’m not complaining. I’m very proud of myself and my mom!!! 4 hours on a bike!!!
