Race Report: Rovaniemi 150 2016

After my Iditarod Trail Invitational race last year it was pretty clear that I would return to Rovaniemi for a third time. In addition to 66 km and 150 km distances, last year there was a double distance 300 km for the first time. I had already decided to do the 150 km. Some people have asked me that why not 300 km? For those who don't know, back in 2014 I almost won 150 km. In the last kilometers I rode at wrong side of the Ounasjoki river and that resulted an extra loop. I had about 10 minute lead but lost the race to Rene Fisher only by one minute. Overall it was a great race from me but that dramatic finish has haunted me.

Winter ultras are far more unpredictable than other races. Conditions plays a major role. Every year there are different participants, and the level of competition is much higher now. My racing philosophy has always been to win myself and after that see where I stand in the final results. 2014 changed that a bit because I was so close to win. This time I set a super difficult goal for myself: to win this race.

I trained and prepared for the race a lot. A hell of a lot. And there were some scary moments. I had some back problems in December but luckily got my back in control quickly. I was on the edge, in terms of quantity and quality. And I was nervous. All kind of flus and lately influenza epidemic have hammered Finland. If I would get sick, the whole plan would collapse.

Luckily, it didn't. In the tapering period I was feeling great and I was optimistic with my chances in the race. In the last week, it snowed a lot in Rovaniemi and temps very only mildly below zero. It started to look like we would have at least tougher conditions than last year, when records were broken.

On Friday, the race briefing day, I rode a bit on the Ounasjoki:

Saturday, at the start line. Photo by Rovaniemi150:

As always, the start fast. I was in the lead group on the Ounasjoki river, and probably 3rd at the first checkpoint, Porohovi1. One of the fast men, Kyösti Soini, was opening a gap. There was no way for me to keep that pace so I just concentrated on my own pace. After Ounasjoki the real stuff started with the first snowmobile track to the Sinettajärvi. The conditions were soft and it was instantly pushing time! It was going to be tough race this time.

There were two 66 km riders in front of me. Another man to watch, Jussi Karjalainen, was with me and soon I couldn't keep his pushing pace. A tall man from Sweden, Zbigniew Wizner, passed me and he was pushing strongly. Certainly I didn't like the situation but it was still very early in the race so anything could happen. On the Sinettajärvi lake I soon passed Wizner and I was closing on Jussi. Sinettajärvi lake was rideable for the most part but it wasn't very fast.

Photo by Rovaniemi150:

After the lake I joined Jussi briefly. As soon as the tough climb on a snowmobile track started, we were pushing our bikes again. Jussi is also a tall guy with long legs. He was seemingly a very good pusher and again I couldn't keep the same pace. At some point Wizner came back and passed me. Also, the hard man in the 300 km race, Jan Kopka, was doing well.

It was hot, I kept my jacket open, but I already had first signs of headache. I drank and ate more. Eventually the mild headache faded away. A very good thing because the going was tough indeed.

After Vittavaara and Morajärvi checkpoints I passed Wizner somewhere and I was in third place. At the checkpoints we had to write our names before leaving, and there were in and out times too, but at this point of the race I didn't pay much attention to it. There is a bit longer road section between Peurajärvi and Kuusilampi checkpoints, and it was a relief to ride for awhile after the almost endless pushfest was going on.

Photo by Rovaniemi150:

At Kuusilampi checkpoint came the first surprise. Kyösti Soini had decided to DNF because his knee didn't stand all the pushing. I also noticed that Jussi wasn't too far away, maybe ~20 minutes. Kuusilampi CP is around halfway point, so I thought that anything is still possible and I just pushed harder. After a while I had to slow down just a bit because I knew that it could take easily over 20 hours to reach the finish and I was slightly worried if I had enough food for it. Another 300 km man, Antti Sintonen was doing great and I was going with him. He was able to ride some sections with ultra low tire pressure. My tire pressures were low too but I had tubeless setup so I couldn't go too low.

After a while I lost contact with Antti. Pushing felt pretty brutal here but there was that long road section ahead so it was about perseverance here. This race was so completely different compared to 2014! Finally the road section started and I pumped high tire pressures.

The long road section went pretty well but the fatigue started to kick in. I had to command myself pretty hard. As I reached the next snowmobile track to Torimokivalo I was surprised that it was rideable, for the most part. Some of the climbs had to be pushed, but it was slighly easier now. At Torimokivalo I passed the skier that had passed me after Kuusilampi. I was still about 20 minutes behind Jussi. I was tired but I didn't have any signs of sleep deprivation.

Just before Norvajärvi lake I caught Antti but Petri Lindström came behind and caught me. The wind was blowing really hard on the lake. We rode together. After Norvajärvi there was the last snowmobile track back to Ounasjoki. It was also rideable. It was good to have the company of Antti and Petri. Just before Ounasjoki we ate a bit, though Antti was heading to Porohovi2 checkpoint. When we arrived there with Petri, Antti took a short nap.

The wind was brutal on the Ounasjoki river too. We shared the work and agreed for a sprint finish to settle 2nd and 3rd place. Petri was just a bit stronger in the sprint.

Although I didn't win, I was on the podium again, and I really put a very hard effort. Actually, I think this is my best performance in the 20-24 hour range. I did everything I could and didn't left anything to the trail. On the next day I had difficulties with easy walking and I was very sore.

Final results: http://www.rovaniemi150.com/results/2016/rov150-2016/

I want to thank again my family for support and my sponsors: 45NRTH, Porcelain Rocket, 9:ZERO:7, Lumicycle, Nextie and Alpkit. Thanks also to Alex and his team for organizing the race.

Race Report: Rovaniemi 150 2014

This is a very special moment in my life, and I start this race report by saying my racing philosophy: you have to win yourself first. I have done that many times in the past, and I did it this time too. But this time I ALMOST won my first race ever!

I started preparing for Rovaniemi 150 in the summer, with Tahko MTB 180. It was a big disappointment with a DNF. But after that things started to get gradually better, and the last three months before the race were excellent. 

I had a clear, simple plan for the race. Go hard and keep the breaks very short. It would be very interesting race because temperature was 0°C...-1°C.

The start at 9:00AM was fast, as I expected. I was first in the lead but soon four riders passed me. At the first checkpoint, Porohovi, I was in third place. The riders in the front were riding strongly and opened a gap, but I didn't try to catch them because I knew that after the river, the course would get tougher. At the second checkpoint, Sinettäjärvi, we were nine riders together. On the Sinettäjärvi lake the same riders were again opening a gap, but I kept my own pace. After the lake came the notorious road section where I missed a turn last year, but certainly not this time. I was quite sure that we would be again together because a slow and tough climb follows. And just that happened. I was feeling good. After the descent a small road section followed and I was again dropped, but when we hit the next snowmobile track, I catched the leaders fairly fast. The same happened every time on our way to the third checkpoint. I was thinking that the leaders were burning themselves too early, because the race was still so early and after the halfway the course is really tough, except the longer road section. I was at fifth place in the third checkpoint, Vittavaara.

A couple of photos:

I lost contact with the leaders, but again, I catched them, and noticed that I was strongest on the softer snowmobile tracks. I wanted to go to the lead because the going was slow in the front. Passing is difficult on a narrow snowmobile track, and I touched one rider who fell. Apologies for that. After this section followed another road section and I was dropped again, but yes, on the next snowmobile track we were again together. The conditions were much faster than last year, but not superfast. There were still some sections that had to be pushed.

At the 4th checkpoint, Morajärvi, I took a short break to eat and filled my hydration pack. After that, the funniest section followed. Last year it was unridable but this time it was ridable to the small river.

Last year at this point, it was already dark but now that we were faster, you could see so much more of the surroundings and landscapes.

Marco Nicoletti and Martijn Boonman:

It was stunning!

This photo was taken by René Fischer:

I was third at the 5th checkpoint, Peurajärvi, but the top 7 was still very close. We were working together and the going was now slower and tougher. We arrived at the 6th checkpoint, Kuusilampi, together. I ate fast some of my freeze-dried meal that I made ready in a thermos bottle, and moved to the lead. I was expecting that following snowmobile track would be rideable but for the most part, it had to be pushed. As the darkness started to fall, I saw two reindeers on the track. As I got closer, they ran away. Martijn Boonman catched me and we were working together. After awhile, René Fischer joined us.

The long road section was next. Like last year, I stopped to pump more air to the tires. René and Martijn passed me. Later I passed Martijn but René was riding the road section fast. At one point, I saw his rear light, so the gap wasn't long. As we hit the snowmobile track, I catched René. I rode behind him for awhile but passed him on the way to the 7th checkpoint, Toramokivalo. A short eating break there. René didn't stop, but I was still feeling good and passed him again. This was the place where I really struggled last year, but now I was going strong. The tire pressure was just perfect for this section and it seemed that I was gaining on René.

As I entered the Norvajärvi lake, there was a headwind but I liked it! I was in the lead and I told to myself in my head: keep going, keep going. You can do it!

The section between Norvajärvi and the Ounasjoki river is tough and great. No sign of René behind me.

Last, 8th checkpoint, Porohovi. I just drank water from the other thermos bottle and emptied it on the snow.

My feeling was so great on the river. It felt like nothing could stop me. I saw the headlight of René in the distance but I knew that he could not catch me if I kept my pace. As the city of Rovaniemi got closer, I tried to see the Jätkänkynttilänsilta bridge. I saw it but after awhile it was difficult to see in the darkness. I just followed the snowmobile tracks in front of me and rode hard. Finally I arrived at a bridge, but noticed that it wasn't the same bridge we went under in the start. I saw Ounasvaara in front of me, and realised that I took a wrong route! I couldn't believe what was happening! I saw the right bridge and René. I rode as hard as I could but there was no way I could catch René. The finish was inside the Pohjanhovi hotel, and I came just one minute behind him!

Everyone was surprised in the hotel for the dramatic finish. René gave me a comforting hug. Also John Lackey from Alaska was there. He couldn't participate in the race because of a health problem. He had been also on the race course cheering us. Thanks John for the chat, it was so great race and ride for me, but the finish was so devastating. Marco Nicoletti came third and we congratulated each other.

Despite losing the race, I'm proud what I achieved and this is not the end. Will I come back to try to win it? Probably not next year, but maybe in 2016. I have something bigger in my mind for 2015. This race was one episode of an incredible journey in my life.

There are so many people that I want to thank.

First, my outstanding family, wife and daughter. You know what I mean!

My awesome sponsors: 9:ZERO:7, Lumicycle, Porcelain Rocket and Pyöristi.

My parents, Mira and Matti, and big brother Tatu.

My wife's parents. Tremendous amount of help!

All my adventure and riding friends in Turku area. You know who you are.

Alex and his team for organizing again a great event. Great work!

And of course all you readers that still keep reading my blog!

A gear related blog post will follow later.

LATE EDIT: the full results are online here: http://www.rovaniemi150.com/results.

Training on the ice

It's 18 days now to Rovaniemi 150 race, and it was time for another longer training ride this weekend. Winter weather has continued here with -10...-20°C temperatures, and lakes, rivers and some parts of the seas have frozen, ice thickness being at 5-30 cm. The quality of the ice is very good, because there is very small amount of snow on top of it. In the previous winters I have wanted to ride along the Paimio River to the sea, but mainly snow conditions have prevented it.

So, I headed to Paimio River.

There were tracks of others on the ice, so it was fairly safe to ride there. However, you should always carry some safety gear with you. I had my icepicks with me.

Out from the river and I got pretty excited, as the views opened.

As expected, there was other people too on the ice, like fishermen, skiers, skaters and some snowmobiles. I asked about the ice thickness from the fishermen, and it was around 15-30 cm in different places.

The surface of the ice had all kind of forms:

I really like the very open and wide surroundings on the ice.

I decided to ride to Karuna, a south-western part of Sauvo. Over there, I didn't need to worry about the ice thickness, but a very reckless van driver that was all over the place on the ice.

On the shore at Karuna:

I rode to Sauvo along the old Karuna road and purchased some eating from the local grocery store. Feeling was great, not tired at all. Then I countinued on the small roads to Paimio in the darkness:

About 90 km of riding and a very nice day on the ice. Also, 1013.25 km of training so far for January. Things are looking good for Rovaniemi 150.

Running!

As part of my training program for Rovaniemi 150, I will do some running exercises this fall and early winter. I actually ran fairly regularly in the late 90s as part of road cycling training in the off-season, and I have to admit that long distance and endurance running is something that I have wanted to try. So yes, it means that 'in the long run', I want to run full marathon, but of course it would be cool to run an actual ultra distance, probably 100 km.

Anyway, I purchased new running shoes that were on sale, Adidas Response Stability 4M:

Today I had time to try them in the evening. My aim was to run just relaxedly and be careful to not run too fast, avoiding 'jamming' my muscles. It didn't feel too bad.

The loop was 6.45 km long. I'm using RunKeeper to record my training. A nice thing about it is that I can use my old Polar S710i with it and add the heart rate file afterwards:

The best thing about this kind of training is that it's very effective when you don't have time for longer exercise.

The new shoes feels pretty good, so I'm looking forward to more of this.

Race Report: Rovaniemi 150 2013

The time had come, for my first winter endurance race, Rovaniemi 150. In 1997 I did my first road cycling race. If someone would have told me that 16 years later I would end up doing 150 km winter race on a very challenging route in Lapland, I would have had a hard time to believe it. But here I am, writing a race report of it.

The lead up to this race was very interesting. After the LEVI24 in 2009 I didn't do a long race (for me, races under 10 hours are not long) until Mammoth March Impossible in October 2012. And that was an ultimate sufferfest. Overall, in 2012 I had sometimes a feeling that maybe my endurance career is over. But after Mammoth things started to get better. I thought that maybe the "old me" is still there and I could at least survive Rovaniemi 150.

My preparation for the race was good, and you can read about it from the 45North Chronicles over here.

In this time of the year it's usually cold in Rovaniemi, and a week before the race the temperature ranged from -15 to -25°C. But the weather can be tricky in Lapland. The temperature rose to -1°C during the last days before the start, and was forecasted to be just that during most of the race. That would mean soft and slow trail conditions. Cold weather would have suited me better too, not only because of better trail conditions but I can withstand cold temperatures fairly well.

I had a real headache on Friday, due to not sleeping well in the train, but I felt good on Saturday morning before the start.

The mood was great on the start line. I met Mark Roberts (Backpacking North blog) who was taking photographs, and he took also the photo below. Great shot:



Mark is a brilliant photographer, and if you haven't already seen his work, check out his outstanding winter photos taken recently!

I had a good start, and was second in the checkpoint 1 (Porohovi 1). The first section runs on the river Ounasjoki and is part of an official snowmobile route, so it was well groomed, but the conditions were soft. I was running my 45North Dillinger tires with a pressure of ~0.3-0.4 bar / ~4.5-5.8 PSI, and as expected, they worked really well.

After Ounasjoki the route turned to west and a long, long uphill followed. I was riding with John Ross. The scenery was stunning!

John took some photos too:

The forest road was followed by a snowmobile track that was fairly soft, and most of it had to be pushed. I was third in the checkpoint 2 (Sinettäjärvi) and I was riding alone at this point.

Next up was a very narrow, soft trail through a forest with lots of twists and turns, and after that came the long stretch of lake Sinettäjärvi. It went really well too. There were a number of overflows, and one of them forced me to stop. No problems there, because the 45North Wölvhammer boots are 100% waterproof. The boots worked again perfectly the entire race.

After a gravel road section came a big road. One car (most likely part of the volunteers) from the opposite direction stopped to take photos. I continued riding but started to feel that something is wrong because I didn't see any signs on the sides of the road for a turn. I checked my position, but was still unsure if the turn was still to come. A car of the organizers stopped there too and a guy told me that 'I have probably passed the turn'. I was furious. I couldn't understand how that was possible. I had ridden about two kilometres past it. I rode back and now there were more people directing participants to right track. It turned out that the car with the photographers covered the junction so I didn't see the signs!

I lost a couple of places but was able to reel in and I was soon together with Jarmo Järvinen, the only other Finnish participant, in 4th place. We were again on a snowmobile track with a long uphill. This route was definitely tough! It was pushing time again.

We arrived together to the checkpoint 3 (Vittavaara) at 44.28 km. My 1,5 l hydration pack (with sports drink) was almost empty, so I refilled it. I had more sports drink powder in my frame bag. This was part of my strategy for hydration. My energy level was fine but I had a little hard time to eat some of the energy gels, because they are just too sweet and oversaturated with sugars. I had also the usual chocolate and musli bars, and Flapjacks. Even them didn't feel too good but I was ok.

After checkpoint 3 I was able to ride a fairly long section of the snowmobile track, and distanced Jarmo. A gravel road section followed, and then back again to snowmobile track heading to next checkpoint, 4 (Morajärvi) at 58.38 km. It was mostly too soft to ride so I was marching with my bike again. Pushing wasn't that bad, because the track upheld walking fairly well and feet didn't sink deep. And, the scenery was so, so beautiful!

Darkness started to descend. After a lot of pushing I was with Jarmo again, and one of the "craziest" section was upon us. It was a narrow track, opened with snowshoes. Now, here the track didn't uphold walking and almost every footstep was over knee deep. I liked it a lot and it was fun!

After the checkpoint 4 (Morajärvi) I distanced Jarmo again and was able to ride almost all the way to the next one, checkpoint 5 (Peurajärvi) at 69.70 km. I was 10 hours into the race, and my energy level was now lower. I had three outdoors meals with me, and I knew that soon I had to eat one. I wanted to get to the next checkpoint because after that there would be the long road section and the checkpoint after that is still far away. The section between CP 5 and 6 (Kuusilampi at 78.30 km) was very slow and it was practically pushing all the time. Although it was dark, I saw the trail and surroundings very well with my lights. And the surroundings were amazing! The trees were thin and high, like a giant snow pillars!

The checkpoint 6 had a warm hut, and there was hot water too. I made and eat my meal and had a nice chat with the volunteers. After a while Jarmo came in.

I continued alone. After the warm hut it felt cold outside, so I wore my down jacket to warm up. Again, it was mostly pushing until the next road. When the road got bigger, I increased the tire pressure a lot with my mini pump. I was able to ride the long road section very well and fast, and I was using the biggest chainring most of the time.

After the road section came a surprisingly long snowmobile track to the checkpoint 7 (Toramokivalo at 113.10 km). It was really tough going and I was getting tired. I decided to eat another meal at the CP 7. Like in all of the checkpoints, there was a nice campfire and great volunteers. Jarmo came in again after a while and seemingly had a good pace. He had a short break and left the checkpoint just before me. This was a crucial point for me in the race. After eating the meal I really started to feel tired and sleepy. There were long uphills, and I pushed my bike, but my eyes just wanted to close. After 19 hours I decided to bivy and take a nap, because it felt like otherwise I just could not continue the race. I knew that the next behind me was a couple of hours away, and was actually the tandem pair. I rolled my sleeping pad on the snowdrift and decided to wear only down jacket, and not use my sleeping bag,  because the temperature was about -5°C. The break took maybe slightly over an hour, and I felt better again. I was joined with the tandem, but I distanced them when the track was rideable again.

On the lake Norvajärvi I felt good and confident and without any crisis I would keep my 5th place.

After Norvajärvi came a long and tough snowmobile track with pushing, but it then improved and was rideable. This place really had the winter endurance racing feeling all over it.

Alex, the race director, came with a snowmobile and I had a short chat with him. I told him that now I was feeling fine but at the 19 hour mark I was really sleepy.

After this great section came a short road before the last, same stretch as in the start, the river Ounasjoki. On the road, I met one volunteer with a snowmobile and he took a couple of photos.

My break at the checkpoint 8 (Porohovi 2) at 137.64 km was short, three minutes, but I had a good feeling that I will ride to the finish and keep my 5th place. The last ~13 km felt really hard. Several snowmobile safari groups came from the opposite direction and the surface was actually fairly soft after them.

After 26 hours and 54 minutes, at 5th place, I reached the finish at the Hotel Pohjanhovi. As I walked inside the hotel the Brits (John Ross, Ed Oxley and Brant Richards) cheered and I waved my hand - I did it!

I received a wooden medal and the other prizes, and was photographed (photo by Rovaniemi 150):

The race was truly an outstanding experience. My plan for the race was very simple: just keep moving and don't give up. I had to 'improvise' a little after 19 hours, but otherwise the race went better than I expected.

Considering that my training has been compromised a lot with a full day work and everything else in life, I'm very happy with the result. It reaffirmed that I'm an endurance guy. With better training I know that I can improve and this race will be definitely my goal again next year.

I want to thank all my supporters, without you this wouldn't have been possible:

My family: wife and daughter. You are my inspiration!

45North, my main sponsor. Your products were instrumental for my result, and the partnership has been a huge moral boost.

Alpkit, another vital kit sponsor.

My mother and father, a very important part of the 'Team Lund'.

Mark Roberts, Peter Nylund, Matti Hallikainen, my big bro Tatu Lund and everyone else who sent encouragements on Facebook! And of course all you blog readers who still keep reading my stories!

And thanks to race organization and the volunteers. Alex, you can be proud of your work and your team, you organized a fantastic race! The race route is awesome and excellent, and so beautiful! I hope to see you again next year!