I was really looking forward to race in my home town Falun. I had done the 3 loops of the route many times and knew the course in detail! A lot of my friends and family were coming to watch so I was still a bit nervous since I wanted to do well when they were all there.

It was sunny and warm and a lot of riders were complaining about the heat, personally I thought it was perfect! :-)

We had a separate ladies start and it was nice to see such a good turn out of ladies in the ladies bunch. The race had a new start, we went up the climb, famous for cross country skiing in winter called “murder hill”, it was a tough start! We were 3 girls that got away already on the climb and after about 20 minutes Louise dropped off. Hanna and I rode together for the rest of the first loop. I did try to test her on some of the short climbs and single tracks and I got the feeling that I was a little stronger. We had a sprint prize after the first loop and that loop ended with a long hand made downhill and when we came in to the stadium we had 4, 180 degree corners to do before the sprint. I knew that if I was first on that downhill I would be able to take the prize. I put pressure on Hanna on the last single track up to the start of the downhill and got a small gap and at the bottom I had a gap of 15 seconds and could take the intermediate prize. I went out on loop number 2 in the lead and extended it on that loop. On loop 3 there were a few occasions were one could see the other riders and I saw Hanna twice and could see that I had a few minutes, I could enjoy the trails without killing myself. It was a nice feeling to come in to the stadium first in front of family and friends.

The legs felt really good today and the form is still there, now I must just keep this form for World Champs in 4 weeks time. 

Start climb. Photo: Eva Önnemar mtbfoto.se

On the first loop with Hanna. Photo: Mats Andersson

On "Old granny" Photo: Eva Önnemar mtbfoto.se

Coming in to the arena to the finish - happy! Photo: Mika Snell

The podium with Hanna, me, Sara, Fanny and Ingrid 

It was Mothers day in Sweden and it was 3 moms in my family there to watch the race: My niece Jessica with her son Dominic, my aunt Maj, me and my mom. Photo: Stefan Hjort (cousin)