The time had finally come for the beer ride. It took some time to get a date that suited more than a few persons. This time there were five of us: Me,
Matti H,
greenman, JJ and HAK. There was in average about 15 cm of snow, but occasionally both a lot more and less. Greenman and I were on Pugsleys, the rest had ordinary 26" bikes. Matti H rode his fully rigid singlespeed Surly 1x1.
How do you fit two Pugsleys in a small car? The answer is barely. I want to have as small a car as possible, mostly since I don't care for cars, but sometimes it could be a bit bigger. The start was 45 minutes away by car.
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The ride started around 19:15 with boardwalks. In practice, only the Pugsleys could ride them. It was very hard to see where the boardwalks were, because of the snow. The temperature was around -12°C (10°F), colder than forecasted.
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The boardwalks consist of two parallell planks. Often there is room for a tire between the planks, making riding them an exercise requiring precision. To my surprise, even the fat tires sometimes got stuck between the planks.
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An animal showed the way.
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Pugsley terrain.
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Even JJ, who has a very good technique, had to walk.
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Some small gear problems.
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Not even a Pugsley can handle everything.
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Somebody had actually been here, surprisingly enough.
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At the Vajosuo lean-to at 21:55 after a hard ride. JJ starts the fire...
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHlRVVFYZTbQhRTNM9hEo6wZ9-NcFFdLd-JFpoTaACMKHhOFOm0rU1DGpmqL9I1IUde6r6L-wVm8LDDkYcENMEPrhHMipXgmg0S8rSY8iF3tGt4QKrLQ7C1tNYPIXejUYBIJz3h-scBC4/s800/IMG_4170.JPG)
... with success.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYvpsUNyePyw20zKeCOjS5swZ68Il2E31jGhuYS2YNxQc8YPKTqrnenQ9j5q_oCo1oVXEcMcvXVv_YkDvb0jYRO6fd4eFFbhF6zxEUw8biI4l9ISzxWlNZUFuoSUPks_wtMjzq2ClFpu8/s800/IMG_4176.JPG)
Time to drink beer, make grilled sausages and toast sandwiches and make glorious plans for the future.
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Laitilan Kukko, the preferred beer at Vajosuo. This is one of the very few Finnish beers that actually is good.
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My sleeping spot. We went to sleep around three o'clock in the night.
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To our (quite small) surprise Matti K showed up in the morning around six o'clock and started the fire. He even brought coffee and donuts. That is what I call service. He came by car and then walked the final bit to the lean-to. Thanks a lot! The temperature in the morning was again colder that expected, around -18°C (-0.4F), but it caused no problems for us.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjulEEWwiXOE129eageVlPrxnQzUamdXLX3SuteDaYYO3K7ybFH6I-Pk-5PKX7inR-48WJw8AaYIvsYfjjBtfTmWqPpUxPLZB7dPDvUbaRjRzRU57D5ARxfthEk7AEowRxToRnQbcCj7DY/s800/IMG_4231.JPG)
Making drinking water.
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Matti H, greenman and Matti K.
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Getting ready to leave.
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My bike is packed again. We left at 9:00 in the morning.
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Vajosuo in the morning.
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Terra firma. JJ riding.
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Matti H has a very bad moment.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiawo_W3LzVSkqHdLwRVpjDo1hHKZm3FgNDZf88B1zz-56CROo1F9cKfljCXZQEsLb7LN3h5YEiEFGPJhKfKmCrTuD-VXLjPIHpZX-vdonF_ZxW80AO8xvVD-efNzdxllxvbSjgv_5g47w/s800/IMG_4322.JPG)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI1U4b8gGNWOEgSD8WIU10bgkrQng_CFhsvpq3v_yHthhn4UQcG-hyuMn-jF4CTfc5MFDYEiHksQ6bbstggk_UD5jp6FC8en-QJ3_ZMjA1L7e3BPuEJyTkHVyng1nMFfh4T95nVHGGvYE/s800/IMG_4323.JPG)
Greenman
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOpXpchFzmtLU6nc80j2rNPCOuoQJjZSgIsNWuu9YfcxHKwokSMvWaf-did9XSTQhD5ESYPcKgGGJvKALCsAxQwAur3OKE81XObPDwin1pi5hGEMGpEg6RWENeSMqIcdox6XBC3GGte10/s800/IMG_4326.JPG)
HAK
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFXNA3kVGgWhaocLhGpUgpP3Rsx_BopOL71uN2m35lwXkawfV8YKIboxCLllCZuUOcKopfuZQ6LWJ-KNPhmJnHfEWlW6FhLYyqy6EUiOfuc_qBDEkxe_AA0PcqiV8j58If6Puar89CGEk/s800/IMG_4327.JPG)
JJ
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE45T8WnmSEuDOo3-3d-v471xkOfkjGIoJIbLl6KNXEUTxNZ9OVnqp-y9B0QGAbe_UkMdGMf_dt22CJnyaRcce2VO65rqRpsbYCbN_SmM0rBqA61EJSZIO8ex0APPt0WrpjuDXqQ__e00/s800/IMG_4339.JPG)
Short break to catch the breath. It was still around -14°C (7°F)
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Refilling the energy supplies. The riding was again hard and we were getting low on energy.
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A picture of yours truly taken by JJ.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9REbpGXZDWdlBp3Nu7u3xwa_Cj6Q2Gm90eo-fvPxXz0mU4sSjy36HGnkIEzR1AYHyklk4Qq2WWyB3u4melarHTfJelXchgDASR6Qn4nqVDJ-wIrAQcnVbXaJ4rVt41HqpWdF-GQzc2cE/s800/yeti-by-jj.jpg)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizozC79nr6PvdeF_SmBPgTjQgpfQRheNidyCOll_rDiTOIu_C-Jopai41pGjluGQ5wLUmOurIlnvvP8Z7fTJH6WJVSrMHExBzJssPec7IvRjElmTXW3l8SEoRsoj0qcsXwojv3DAS0Nsk/s800/IMG_4360.JPG)
Just a small bit left. JJ seems happy.
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We were done at 12:25. This was a fantastic outing, and I think this is the best way to do overnighters during the dark time of the year.
I will do a
post with some equipment ponderings in a few days, but for now I can say that the Pugsley definitely was the right tool for the job.
A slide show with more pictures is
here.