The Year's First

On Saturday it occurred to me that I hadn't been on a single overnighter yet this year. I sent an email to Toni and he had the same feeling. The weather was again safely below freezing after a few days of rain and above freezing temperatures, which unfortunately reduced our snow cover from 30-40 cm to 0-10 cm We decided to meet at Linnavuori in Piikkiö.

I started around seven in the evening and first spent some time on the trails near my home and took some video footage. The trails were hard and nice with occasional spots of ice.

After my home trails I rode on roads to Piikkiö and arrived at the trail leading to the shelter. The trail was rather bumpy, since some idiot had been there on an ATV vehicle. I don't like motor vehicles in the terrain and it is with very few exceptions illegal in Finland.

I arrived at the shelter some about half past nine in the evening and unpacked my stuff into the shelter.

Soon Toni arrived.

I drank a cup of hot chocolate and we chatted about this and that. Due to the light pollution from a greenhouse nearby, there was no point in doing much photography.

We went to sleep around midnight and slept very well. I hadn't slept until nine in the morning for a very long time. The temperature was about -7C, but for some reason it felt a bit colder, especially around my feet. I think my socks might have been a little too small.

The morning commenced with the usual routines. This time I had hot water from two thermos bottles and consumed some soon-to-expire hot chocolate and porridge. Toni melted snow with his new MSR Whisperlite Universal stove and had a Pasta Bolognese meal in addition to the morning coffee. He needed extra energy to train for the Rovaniemi 150 race.

The morning was nice and we were not too late, since sunrise was at 9:30.

We took our time, but finally got going. Toni was accompanying me to Turku, to get some more miles to ride.

The ice on Lake Littoinen was again rideable. After some ice riding Toni continued towards Paimio and I was only a few kilometers from my home.

I now had only a small section of my home trails left.

A nice overnighter again, but it felt a little underwhelming compared to the fantastic winter conditions we had one week earlier.

Thanks to Toni for the company Toni's report is here.

A Midwinter Night

The last overnighter of the year took place one week after the winter solstice. I spent the a week around Christmas away with my family, visiting relatives and returned on Friday afternoon. My original plan was to go on an overnighter on Saturday evening, but the weather forecast changed dramatically and I made plans with Toni to go on Friday evening, though it meant that I would have very little time to prepare and pack my bike.

I started riding on my local trails around seven in the evening. It was about -6C and full moon, but in practice it was too dark to ride without lights in the forest.

After my local trails I rode on roads around 25 km to meet with Toni in Paimio. We soon found ourselves on a uneven walked trail on forest road that had not been plowed. Toni lowered the pressure in his tires, while I still didn't have too much trouble with my slightly bigger Big Fat Larry tires.

The bike was packed slightly differently this time. The seat bag contained my winter sleeping bag, a Marmot Never Summer Long, the left Salsa Anything Cage had my cooking gear and some food, the handlebar drybag held the Alpkit Hunka XL bivy bag and a short NeoAir and some clothes. The frame bag contained a thermos bottle, as well as extra batteries for the lights and some bike repair stuff. On my back I had a Lowepro Photo Sport 200 AW with camera gear, a down jacket and some other clothes.

The route was not entirely rideable and we spent more than one hour pushing the bikes, the last section through some 30-40 cm deep snow.

The clock was almost eleven when we arrived at our destination, the highest point in Paimio, with views in all directions and not too close to any light pollution. I was now very hungry, since I hadn't really eaten anything since lunch, and I ate an outdoor meal from Blå Band.

After that it was photo time, taking advantage of the full moon. The temperature was now -8C, with a forecasted low of -11C.

It was a half hour after midnight before we went to sleep. Sometime during the night moon disappeared behind a layer of fog. The night didn't feel cold in my winter sleeping bag, even though I didn't think it was cold enough to warrant two sleeping pads. I was fine on just my short NeoAir.

I started to prepare my morning coffee at 8:15. Since I used most of my thermos bottle water for the meal before I went to sleep, I had to make water from snow. I eventually got coffee, though my old MSR Pocket Rocket stove was a little slow in this temperature.

Toni had a full thermos bottle of water and made do without a stove.

In the cold temperature, the moisture had crystallized on just about everything.

My poor old Canon S90 had been out taking time lapse pictures (ISO 400, f2.0, 15s with 50 s interval) until its battery died.

Toni enjoyed the crisp morning.

Going back. I tried to ride the downhill parts, but had to give up eventually.

Toni accepted that the bike had to be pushed this section.

A tractor had been out making an uneven, but rideable, surface for us.

Putting more air into the tires before the road section home. I had around 25 km to ride, which proved to be enough. With only a small sandwhich for breakfast I again got the opportunity to ride with a very low energy level.

My final trails just outside my home.

I got home in the early afternoon after a very nice trip. Thanks, Toni, for the company. Check out Toni's report here.

I even managed to finish a video of the trip, thanks to the miserable weather outside, and I think it turned out quite nice.