On Friday I´m heading back home to Sweden for a different and very valuable mission.
The 2nd last stage of Ride of Hope is going between Västerås and Uppsala and I will be at the start to join all the beautiful people that are riding their bike as a charity to children that have cancer.

Ride of Hope is a stage race that started on Saturday the 7th of August in Lund (south of Sweden) and ends on the 15th in Stockholm, the capital of Sweden. The nine stages are in total 1250km, and you are free to choose if you want to join all of them or just one.

It cost 200 SEK to start and all of the start money goes to the childrencancerfoundation.

So I really hope that I get a lot of company on Saturday!
Start is at 9:00 at ICA Maxi Hälla, Västerås

See you there!

Emma

PS. My guestbook is up going again…

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Yesterdays race was not so fun. It was finish on the top of Cauberg and with 19 hills before that it was a circuit that normally suits me perfect. But when a group of 4 that soon became 10 rode away it was not so much fun anymore. I tried to jump across but with Emma Pooley in my wheel (with strict orders to not work with me) I could not close 1,40 minutes on my own.
We had Petra in the group but her legs went empty on the last kilometers so no podiumplace for RedSun this time :(

Emma

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The World Cup in Sweden was good arranged as always, and at the end of the race we even got some sunshine for all riders to remeber how beautiful Sweden is!
I became 3rd in the sprint and are happy with a podium place in my homecountry.
Right now I´m back home in Norway, it´s lovelly to sleep in my own bed and to crashland in our sofa :)
Training as well of course and catching up some time with friends and family!
But ít´s only for a short week, already on Saturday I go back to Belgium. Sunday I race Holland Hills Classic and on Tuesday in Braaschaat.

Time for some vacuumcleaning now :)

Emma

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For RedSun it was not the best ttt that we have done. The rain and the hard wind made the race very hard and also the change of circuit. One good thing is that my legs felt good and that was the most important thing for tomorrows race.

More info about the world cup here.

Movie from the race here.

Emma

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Some days training in my home country Sweden is maybe the best medicine I can get. I feel fine and are ready for racing again.

After Thuringen I rode up to Ängelholm to visit the family Persson. A lovely family who always welcome me as a daughter. Some good days rest, nice food and training helped me get focused again.

We also did some tourism visiting Nimis, which is the artist Lars Vilks great world of towers build of drift wood in the nature reserve in Kullaberg. After a long walk in the forest and climbing down the rocks to the seaside we found his hidden miniature world. For 20 years he have build his towers, sculptures and castle illegal in the protected nature reserve and for years he have fighting the court battle against the government. It was a great evening with coffee and cookies made by Axel, Linn and Elsa the children in the family.

More info about Nimis here and here.

Yesterdays training with speed pacing behind the care agave me the last touch I felt I missed after more then a week with no racing. I’m hungry for competitions and look forward to race again!

Last year I came to Vårgårda with the WC leaders jersey. This year I’m one of the favorites and for the first time racing in my national champion jersey in Sweden. It will be great!

Some photos from last years preperation taken by Christer Hedberg just to get us all in the right mood…

Emma

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Foto/©: Martin Vestby Podium

After my good start on Tuesday with taking yellow in Thüringen Rundfahrt it all came to a fast end.

1. Etappe der 23. Internationalen Thüringenrundfahrt der Frauen 2010

Woking up on Tuesday night feeling sick… after 6 times to the toilet I woke up on Wednesday totally empty and with cramps in my stomach.
One banana some coca cola and a bit water I was ready to try… but the stage from 133 km was 70km to long in the 40 degrees!

Foto/©: Martin Vestby Winning legs

Dissapointed because I think that this year was my year in this tour… But the way I was feeling that was the only right thing to do.
Today I´m feeling a bit better and I even had some breakfast, but my body feels weak and I will spend most of the day in bed.

Foto/©: Martin Vestby Victory

Atlest I get to go back home with one victory :)

Foto/©: Martin Vestby German beer

Foto/©: Martin Vestby Happy people!

Emma

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First stage in Thüringen was hard and agressive… All to my benefit :)
From the initiative from Hanka (who knows all the small roads and corners here in this area) a group of 8 riders got away already after 20km. At the most the gap to the peloton was more than 2 minutes.
On the last climb, 3km from the finish, I tried my legs and got Noemi with me… We just made it before the rest came on the last 500 meters.
A nice victory for me and my team and tomorrow I change the swedish jersey to yellow :)

Emma

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Hope you all will follow me this week in Thüringen!

Official web site, start list and stages you find in this links:

- Web site 

- Start list

- Stages

Photos and info from Dwars door de Westhoek here.

Results: ”Dwars door de Westhoek” 18.07.2010

1. DE VOCHT Liesbet             NEDERLAND BLOEIT                         3:16:52
2. DIJKMAN Petra                  REDSUN CYCLING TEAM                   0:00:41
3. DE GOEDE Suzanne         NEDERLAND BLOEIT                         0:02:22
4. MARKERINK Loes             NEDERLAND BLOEIT
5. JOHANSSON Emma          REDSUN CYCLING TEAM
6. MUSTONEN Sara              HITEC PRODUCTS UCK
7. VERBEKE Grace                LOTTO LADIES TEAM
8. D`HOORE Jolien               TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN -THOMPSON
9. VAN DE REE Monique      LEONTIEN.NL
10. LAMBORELLE Nathalie    HITEC PRODUCTS UCK  

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Yesterday I had my first race since the national championship, my first race in the swedish kit :)

We arrived Arendonk about one hour before the start and soon it started to rain… no I mean heavy rain, storm and hail!! It was so bad that they had to delay the start with 30min.
It still rained but the storm had passed and we could finally take off. Because of the bad weather I decide to go for tactic 147: Ride like hell! So I attacked already on the first lap… with three laps to go I came away together with Lisbeth De Vocht (the belgium champion) and could outsprint her and take first place!

Nice victory in a nice jersey :)

Emma

Results:  

1.      JOHANSSON EMMA KAROLINA REDSUN CYCLING TEAM                                                    01:40:00

2.      DE VOCHT LIESBET                                     ARCOIRIS CYCLING LTO              

3.      D`HOORE JOLIEN                                       TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN-THOMPSON LADIES TEAM     :00:47

4.      TABAK NOORTJE                                        TWC HET SNELLE WIEL

5.      DIJKMAN PETRA                                        RED SUN CYCLING TEAM

6.      CULLEN CATE                                            GROENEWOUD

7.      DEBBOUDT LENSY                                      KEUKENS REDANT CYCLING TEAM

8.      CANT SANNE                                             TEAM CICLISMO MUNDIAL

9.      CEULEMANS DUNJA                                    EMVERSPORT INTERNATIONAL CYCLING TEAM V

10.       COLCLOUGH KATIE                                     NATIONAL TEAM GREAT BRITAIN

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Vacation was lovelly, but for sure one week is more than enough!
Our last days we spent on Åland, preparing and witnessing my aunt Jenny’s  and Alexander’s wedding.
A very beautiful day where both me and Martin got really inspired for our own wedding coming up in January.

Directly the day after the wedding we packed the car again… next stop Belgium! Two days of driving we arrived a very HOT Zingem, and our motivation to start the preparation for part 2 of the season was on top…
3 days of longdistance training in 34 degrees is hard, but once I was through it and after one restday I started to feel good. Now I have just finished another block of 3 days in the sun and feel even better!

Tomorrow it’s time for race again, Arendonk with start at 18:00… First race in my new jersey!

Emma

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