Sunday, February 14, 2010

A colder winter ride

Toni Lund had planned a longer winter ride using mainly smaller roads and forest roads in the Paimio-Kemiö area. The route was very nice and the total distance was about 90 km.

I met with Toni in Paimio a little over 8 o'clock in the morning and we started riding. It was somewhat chilly with a temperature of -16°C and the air was very humid when we started. It did not warm up much during the first four hours.

Packing some liquid. I packed two bottles in the frame bag with a down west around them. They did not freeze during the ride.


Riding some country roads. Toni Lund in the picture.




It did not take long for the bottles in the bottle mounts to freeze.


Frozen power bars do have some chewing resistance.


Just before the Kokkila ferry, we went to the dressing room of the local winter swimmer's club to try to thaw the mouthpiece of Toni's hydration system. It succeeded and worked for some time after that.


On the Kokkila ferry.




On the Kemiö island, we rode some really nice forest roads.




Not everything was rideable, though. We had to push the bikes for some time as well.


A short break.


The plan was to cross the Halikonlahti bay between Lappdal and Rajalahti. There were people and a snowmobile on the ice, so it seemed safe to do it.


Easy riding on the ice.




After crossing the bay we continued riding smaller roads back to Paimio. The riding started to become heavier. Obviously the colder weather made riding harder. After a little over seven hours we were back in Paimio. The temperature had risen a little now, it was only -9°C now, but the humidity was still very high. The ride was a lot harder than we thought it would be, but we still made it without any problems. The Fargo worked very well again. This was my longest ride since Kangasala 24H.


Thanks Toni for this ride! Toni's report can be found here.

2 comments:

  1. Great report and photos again! It was hard but now my feeling is pretty good.

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  2. Yes, the food tasted rather good afterwards. A great ride!

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