Vajosuo Beer Ride 2013

It's November, and the winter is not yet here in Southern Finland. But one thing is sure in November, and it's the Vajosuo Beer Ride. I did it last year for the first time. For those who doesn't know, the idea is to ride on the mires of National Park of Kurjenrahka, camp overnight at the Vajosuo shelter with good food and beers, and ride again the next day back to starting point.

Last year I rode directly from home to Vajosuo shelter, but this time I would ride the Saturday evening section too. To make it even more special, I would ride with the new 9:ZERO:7 190mm fatbike and Lumicycle Explorer lights. My original plan was to ride from home to Lake Savojärvi (the starting point), but I decided to play safe because of a slight flu.

The weather was almost exceptionally good, with clear skies, +5°C temperature and a full moon. But prior to the event we have had lots of rain, so the route would be very wet and slippery. The athmosphere around Lake Savojärvi under full moon was absolutely stunning!

The duckboards were indeed very slippery, and even icy in many places. I managed to fall a couple of times but without any bad consequences.

I had forgotten my helmet and therefore the other Lumicycle Explorer light at home, so it would be have been easier in the darkness with the helmet light, but even the one light on the handlebar was very bright.

Without any doubt, this route is probably the most extreme I have ever encountered. It's very demanding and without my fatbike it would be complete nightmare for me. The new bike worked really well on the challenging terrain. I had RunKeeper tracking my progress, and the route took 13.36 km / 2h22min to complete.

There were two casualties who were escorted back to starting point.

At the Vajosuo shelter, the campfire was immediately started by Juha, the father of the Beer Ride.

Juha preparing a delicious looking pasta sauce.

My choice was pork chop with potatoes.

The mood at the shelter with the fire was great.

Traditionally, we visited the bird watching tower around 2AM. At this point, the wind had picked up considerably.

My spot for bivying.

In the morning, the usual breakfast chores.

I was not the only one riding a new bike. Peter had his new Salsa Mukluk.

Ready to continue.

At the Vajosuo. This is definitely one of my favourite places.

My new 45NRTH Fasterkatt shoes survived the water torture test very well.

A short stop at the Käärmelähde (translates as Snake Spring).

The new 9:ZERO:7 was absolutely mindblowing. Only my flu made the riding feel pretty hard. Another short stop at the Laaskorpi shelter.

Back at the Lake Savojärvi, after 25.74 km / 2h27min. We took a shortcut at the end and Juha completed the entire return route alone.

Thanks to all participants, it was a great time again!

Check out Peter's report here.

Tommi's great shots are here.

Race Report: Mammoth March Impossible 2013

The Mammoth March Impossible. The race of truth. The ultimate sufferfest. This fall, it was clear that everyone of our last year's team would participate again this year. Last year's race was a big monument in my racing career. I have never suffered so much as I did back then. Although in ultra endurance scene, it's certainly arguable if going through bad phases is suffering or just challenging.

The Mammoth March Impossible has potential to be most challenging and demanding ultra endurance race in Finland, specifically for runners. 170 km (closer 190-200 km for cyclists) distance is not that long for cyclists, but there are other elements that can make it really hard endeavour: start in the evening at 20.30 and consequently riding through the night in pitch darkness with sleep deprivation, orienteering that requires concentration, possibly adverse weather conditions of Finnish late fall. And that special swimming checkpoint in cold water. So, it's not just a long, long orienteering race. It's very much an adventure race.

This year, our team was smaller, as Matti decided to run the marathon distance (about 53 km) and Hannu decided to ride in other two-man team. This left us with Peter and Jarkko, and actually Peter registrated himself as solo participant in case of need to abort his race, because of his health issues.

Peter did the planning for our route and prepared the maps. He has lived his childhood and youth in the area of this year's race, Raasepori, formerly known as Tammisaari. This would definitely help our orienteering as Peter was familiar with the area, especially the early part.

Peter and Jarkko just before the start:

The weather was very nice. Clear skies, no wind and temperature around +2...+4°C. However, rain was forecasted for the morning.

The first checkpoints went well and we had good pace. Just before checkpoint 3 we had a short bike push section over a wet bog. Nothing too bad, but my feet got slightly wet (I was wearing summer mtb shoes and neoprene shoe covers). After that, Peter had lost most of his right pedal, but fortunately the axle was still there and he was able to ride. I had also lost my rear light that was too loosely attached to my dry bag.

Jarkko sending a SMS for checking the checkpoint.

Riding felt good and the following checkpoints before the swimming checkpoint went without problems. We arrived at the swimming checkpoint (no 7) around 00.30. Now, this was something that I really wanted to do. Last year I decided to run because of the cold conditions, but this year it was a lot warmer. The swimming task was very short and easy. The water was cold, but not insanely cold. I was very happy that I did it, and it was really refreshing and gave a nice energy boost for the next two hours.

Just before 03.00, I started to have first symptoms of sleep deprivation. I had prepared for this by taking one coffeinated Teho energy drink with me. It helped for an hour, but after that the sleepiness came back and hard. On one small gravel road section I saw strange things. On the side of the road, I saw flashes of big, blue road signs that you can see on big roads. I was hallucinating! I just shaked my head and blinked my eyes. My position on my bike is very comfortable, so I had to ride out of the saddle many times to stay properly awake.

The going was tough between 03.00 and 06.00. After a checkpoint and some eating, it was better. Slightly later, sleepiness followed briefly. I forced myself to ride out of the saddle many times and it helped. There was a good sign that I wasn't actually tired from riding. I was just sleepy. And I wasn't suffering, I just had to concentrate hard and play mind game with myself to go through it.

Throughout the route, there were some very wet sections and nasty, muddy places. After checkpoint 17 we faced a rather ridiculous section with the following result:

Amazingly, my bike worked really well, and the tires, Panaracer CometHardPack, survived this horrendous section surprisingly well.

I know from my previous 24-hour and other endurance races that if I get through the night and sleep deprivation, things will get better. And that exactly happened. In the morning I felt much better.

The rain started in the morning as forecasted, but it wasn't an issue. We put our shell jackets on and the last two hours of our race was a blast.

The last checkpoint on the beach:

After 13 hours and 50 minutes we arrived to the finish, with a total distance of 193.53 km. The feeling was great!

My bike in the finish (thanks Matti for holding it. :-))

The gear was spot on. The 9:ZERO:7 fatbike with 29er wheelset was flawless, and Panaracer CometHardPack tires rolled really well, but still providing some grip on wet trails. Trusty, powerful Lumicycle LED4 lights did their job without any problems. The energy department consisted pretty much from the usual, good crap food. Candies, chocolate bars, salted peanuts, chocolated raisins, flapjacks and a couple of rye sandwiches. And Pirkka rose hip soup was great. I drank surprisingly little, maybe 1,4 litres of water (CamelBak with 1,5 l reservoir and 1 l bottle on the fork) and that 0,3 l can of energy drink.

This was a great race, and for me, excellent training for the main event of the forthcoming winter, Rovaniemi 150. Thanks Peter and Jarkko for the company. Peter, your orienteering skills were excellent.

Thanks also to organizers of the event, great work. The route was really great, but there is no doubt that we cyclists need longer one for next year. :)

Check out Peter's report here.

Late fall S24O to Marttila

Peter contacted me about doing an overnighter. And, it's been a long time since I was at the Wilderness of Marttila. A plan was ready.

This fall has been almost exceptionally nice. Not much rain and very beautiful 'ruska', actually so beautiful in Southern Finland standards that it was on par with Lapland. It's gone now, because in the end of the week strong northerly wind and rain played their part. But the weather cleared and co-operated nicely for our little adventure. Subzero temperatures were forecasted and even a possibility of little snow.

Peter decided to do a longer ride and rode from his home, in preparation for the forthcoming Mammoth March Impossible. We departed from my home around 7PM.

My rig in the darkness. This time I was testing a new Thermarest sleeping pad too:

It was also a full moon:

We took the more familiar road route to Marttila.

As we arrived at Marttila, we were confronted with the duckboards that were in very bad condition.

There were not many sections that were ridable, and the battery of my helmet light died just when we moved to the trails. I didn't charge it prior to this outing as I reckoned that it would last.

As we arrived at the Onnenperänrahka shelter, Peter started the fire, and I did more firewood.

We were hungry and toasted delicious sandwiches:

It was a very nice evening.

Just before going to sleep, some snowflakes came down:

Going to sleep is definitely one of my favourite moments on overnighters, as the sound of campfire creates enjoyable feeling. This time I had a dry long sleeve shirt with me and I slept fairly well.

In the morning:

Peter did proper pot coffee for us:

My breakfast: coffee, a sandwich and porridge:

After the breakfast, a photography session followed.

We decided to take the same route back home:

Peter giving his best:

The nightly snowfall was very minor, and officially it can't be rated as first snow, but it's a clear sign the the winter is near.

At home, the snow was in the form of hail:

Thanks Peter for a great outing! The weather forecast is looking for warmer weather and rain in the end of next week. Hopefully the forecast fails, at least with the rain, as we have that sufferfest on our program: the Mammoth March.