Global Fatbike Day 2013 and Winter Outlook 2013-2014

The very first Global Fatbike Day was last year, but I missed it because 1st December happened to be also 'Little Christmas' with my family. This year, the date was 7th December, hence no conflict with the Little Christmas. This year, MTB-Turku organized a GFBD group ride as the number of fatbikes in Turku area has increased significantly. My plan was to join in and do a long training ride in preparation for the Rovaniemi 150 race.

The weather has been miserable here in South-Western Finland, but the first snow finally arrived on Friday/Saturday, just in time for the Fatbike Day!

My route to Turku followed the nice scenery of Piikkiö and Hepojoki.

I was slightly late so I joined the group at Katariinanlaakso. After a tricky duckboard section and some bushwhacking, we found our way to Vaarniemi shelter for a break for sausages.

Before heading to next part of my training ride, I rode with Peter and Jarmo Järvinen (the other Finnish guy from last year's Rovaniemi 150).

Riding in the darkness to Kimito Island, but the darkness is not an issue with the brilliant Lumicycle Explorers!

Riding felt pretty good and I really loved the slight snowfall on my way to Kimito. The distance for the day was 117.34 km.

But as I'm writing this, it's rather painful to see the current weather forecasts.

The main reason for the mild weather is Arctic Oscillation that has been very positive, and the correlation with Southern Finland is pretty clear. At the same time however, Lapland has very good winter conditions. For example, about 100 cm of snow and close to -40°C temperatures in Kilpisjärvi!

Also, the AO forecast doesn't look good.

The only hope is that these forecasts will fail somehow. Otherwise, two rather depressing weeks are in store here.

What about the late December and rest of the winter, January-March? After a run of very good winters in 2009-2010, 2010-2011, the latter part of 2011-2012 and 2012-2013, I'm afraid of mild, slushy winter. But as always, it will be interesting to see how the winter will pan out.

SPECIAL REPORT: 9:ZERO:7 - The Next Generation

Back in 2010 my eyes were firmly on a fatbike. In 2011, I purchased my first fatbike, a first generation 9:ZERO:7. After one year of riding and adventures, it was clear that it is not just a bike. It's an extension of my body and soul. But like with many things in life, it was just the beginning. This fall I was very excited and proud to partner with the cool guys from Alaska.

In the fall of 2011, 9:ZERO:7 came with a new design for the frame and in addition to 135mm offset frame, they introduced a frame with 170mm symmetrical rear and new hubs too.

As the 4.8" tires and 100mm rims are coming more popular, more room is needed for them. At the same time, the trend is of course for lighter setups as well. For 2014, 9:ZERO:7 is addressing all these needs, by introducing new 190mm aluminum frameset and 190mm Whiteout carbon frameset for the weight weenies! And of course, a new 135mm / 190mm hubset too.

I have had my new aluminum 9:ZERO:7 for two weeks and it's time to take a technical look on the new rig.

Versatility was the key with my first 907. My goal for this bike project is maximum floatation and lightness, emphasis being on the racing capabilities for races like Rovaniemi 150.

Build specs:

Frame: 9:ZERO:7 190mm 2014 aluminum, ano black, medium size

Fork: 9:ZERO:7 2014 aluminum

Headset: Cane Creek ZS44 inset

Bottom Bracket: SRAM X5 100mm

Crankset: SRAM X5 175mm Fatbike cranks

Chainring: RaceFace Narrow/Wide 30T, black

Shifter: SRAM X0 10-speed GripShift

Rear derailleur: SRAM X7 10-speed

Cassette: SRAM PG1030 11-36T 10-speed

Chain: SRAM PC1031 10-speed

Brakes: Hayes Stroker Ryde

Brake rotors: Hayes V6 160mm

Brake pads: EBC Brakes, green

Brake hoses: Jagwire HyFlow, red

Gear cable housing: Jagwire L3, white

Stem: Thomson Elite X4 31.8, 100mm 0°

Handlebar: Answer ProTaper 685 XC Trail riser bar, 1" rise / 686mm / 31.8mm

Seatpost: Thomson Elite Setback 30.9mm x 410mm

Saddle: fi'zi:k Gobi XM

Pedals: Shimano XTR

Grips: SRAM X0 / ODI Ruffian MX

Rims: Surly Clown Shoe 100mm

Front hub: 9:ZERO:7 135mm

Rear hub: 9:ZERO:7 190mm

Front skewer: DT Swiss RWS 135mm

Rear skewer: 9:ZERO:7 190mm

Front tire: Surly Bud 4.8" 120TPI

Rear tire: Surly Lou 4.8" 120TPI

Tubes: Specialized 24x2.3/3.0

Rim strips: Surly Clown Shoe 75mm, red

Chainstay pad: RaceFace

The original plan was to choose SRAM XX1 11-speed system, but it's just way too expensive, hence ending up with 1x10-speed with a 11-36T cassette. But the great news is that a new company called OneUp Components is bringing an affordable alternative to XX1, by introducing 42T sprocket for most 10-speed cassettes.   

A sweet thing with a single front ring is the simplicity and silence of the drivetrain, and better Q-factor with 'normal' fatbike cranks.

The color coding is pretty much the same as with the old bike, black-red-white, with some minor tweaks.

The new 9:ZERO:7 hubs are sweet. They are constructed of cold forged aluminum, our hubs are assembled with a cold weather grease rated to -45°C / -50°F.

There is plenty of clearance between the chain and tire, and also between chainstays and crankarms.

No issues what so ever with the 10-speed drivetrain.

I'm using pipeline brackets to mount the bottle cages (and Salsa Anything Cages too) to 9:ZERO:7 aluminum fork.

The cockpit.

Trusty bits covering the seatpost and saddle.

Some nice details in there with the lovely Clown Shoe rims.

The 4.8" tires are indeed massive!

The trademark of 9:ZERO:7, snowflake.

The weight of this setup is 14.18 kg / 31.26 lbs, significantly lighter than my old bike, 15.3 kg / 33.73 lbs.

For racing, I will use a rackless system, consisting a Porcelain Rocket saddle pack and a dry bag on the handlebar. These will help further to reduce weight compared to the old setup.

A couple of shots with the red brake hoses.

The frame has all the braze-ons for versatile setups: eyelets for fenders, upper, lower, and dropout rear rack mounts, top-tube and seatstay guides for use with continuous shifter and brake housing and three water bottle bosses. And, the fork and frame are designed to accept 29er and 29+ wheelsets and tires!

I did the recent Vajosuo Beer Ride with it and have done a couple of commutes too, and everything works great with this beautiful arctic machine. Vajosuo provided some very demanding technical terrain and I was suprised how fast and nimble the new 9:ZERO:7 is. The bottom line is that this bike lifts your feeling of freedom to a whole new level. And then there is the carbon frameset with 12mm/15mm thru-axles for ultimate lightness. 9:ZERO:7 has taken quantum leap forward in the fat universe with their next generation framesets.

I want to thank 9:ZERO:7 for the new frameset and hubs. There is no doubt that this 'ultra fatbike' will help me in the Rovaniemi 150 2014 race!

Also thanks to my local bike shop Pyöristi and Jan for building the wheels and helping me with the build!

The next special report will feature the new Lumicycle Explorer lights. Stay tuned.

Newsflash

I am very proud and excited to announce that 9:ZERO:7 from Alaska will be my new sponsor!

Fatbikes were born in Alaska, and 9:ZERO:7 is one of the pioneers in the genre. They have two new fantastic models coming for the forthcoming winter, 190mm aluminium and carbon frames:

No doubt that 9:ZERO:7 is still in the head of the game, regardless that the big players are joining the party.

Also, Porcelain Rocket will make new packs for the new fatbike. Scott is the master of custom packs, and his attention to detail is close to perfection. Check out his incredible work on his website.

Previously I had announced on social media that Lumicycle will be the light sponsor:

Lumicycle's lights are unquestionably the best in the planet. They have a very stunning new model, called 'Explorer', coming out soon. Check out their new website for more, and stay tuned for a review and photos of the Explorer here on my blog.

And as a last note, I have created new pages on Facebook and Google+.

The forthcoming winter will be very exciting!

Race Report: Merida MTB Finlandia 70 km 2013

Curiously, it's one of my favourite MTB races in Finland, Merida MTB Finlandia. At 70 km (two 35 km laps), it really isn't my kind of race, being way too short, but I have always loved the race course. I have participated from 2003 without any interruptions, so this year marked 11th time in the race for me.

Last year I did it with my fatbike and 29er wheels, in horrendous, epic conditions. This year, I decided to ride with the normal fat setup, like in 2011. Slightly unsure about my form, my time goal was the same as in 2011. But most importantly, my goal was to have good high intensity training, in part of my preparation for Rovaniemi 150.

This time I was joined by my big brother Tatu, who took care of the logistics. This was going to be his first Finlandia and also first participation in any cycling event.

After arriving the race center, we picked up our numbers, and there was a little funny suprise.

My number was 42, "the meaning of life". :)

The weather forecast looked promising. Overcast and +20°C, which would mean quite optimal conditions.

100 riders had lined up for the 70 km race. The start went well, but as usual, the first 30 minutes was pretty much about warming up. After that I found my own rhythm and riding started to feel gradually better. The first hour felt clearly faster than last year, so things looked good for the 4.5 hour target. This was also the first time that I was racing with the 45NRTH Hüsker Dü tires. It's really outstanding how fast they are for a fat tire, and still provide critical amount of grip.

The last 15 km of the 35 km lap is the most difficult and slowest as the all four big climbs are in there. I checked my heart rate a couple of times and was pleased that it was running high and I was still feeling good.

After the first big climb, the front tire hit the rim on one of the descents. I was worried that it was punctured, because it had lost some of the air. I pumped more air at the 2nd service point, at the bottom of the next climb. Next accident happened on the muddy section to the climb. One rider fell against my front tire and fork, and as a result, twisting my drinking bottle and bottle cage. I straightened them right away, and marched on.

The climb went fairly well and my heart rate hit 184 bpm on the top. But the front tire was losing air again, and after the descent, it was almost empty. I wanted to get the first lap done before changing the inner tube, so I pumped again more air. After that, it also started to rain heavily. This race was turning to really demanding! But I didn't let all of this to bother me, and I was determined to ride hard and have a good exercise. Surprisingly, the air held to the end of the first lap, which I did in 2:09:52. Without the problems I would have done it closer to 2 hour mark.

I pumped more air to both tires, ate and drank a little and went for the second lap. Despite the rain, my riding felt really good, and interestingly the front tire was ok again. At the 3 hour mark my feeling was actually great. I had that adrenaline rush going on that I've had many times during 24-hour solo racing. It was a blast!

The rain started also to slowly fade. The race course was as messy as ever, but it didn't bother me at all. The toughest part of the lap went well again, and I was on course for the 4.5 hour target. I gave all I got on the last climb, as the finish line was on top of it. My finish time was 4:28:25! My brother came also to congratulate me. Amazing feeling, because I didn't feel tired. I could have continued for another lap easily. 

My average heart rate was 157 bpm, and according to RunKeeper, my net riding time was 4:07:02. I was so happy with my performance, because it was a clear indication that I still have the guts to ride hard, not only long distances.

Thanks Tatu for the logistics and company, and congratulations to him for his first race, in hardcore fashion. He did it with a 15 kg full rigid bike and with platform pedals and sneakers!

Thanks also to TWD for putting again a great race and event. My long tradition and love for this race will most likely continue, so next year again!