The outdoor year 2015

Take a look at my outdoor year 2015.

Vajosuo Beer Ride Episode VII

It was time for the traditional annual November beer ride to Vajosuo, the seventh year in a row. This time the concept was changed a bit. Instead of taking the cars to the Kurjenrahka area and then riding for 2-3 hours before stopping at a shelter, we decided to make it (a lot) harder. There is a marked route going from Raisio (and from Turku before that) to Yläne and we were to follow it to the Töykkälä shelter, where we would spend the night and then ride back in the morning. We estimated it would take 6-8 hours to ride from Raisio to Töykkälä, including some short breaks, since the trails mostly range from technical to very technical. This was definitely not a trip for someone with lacking riding skills or fitness.

A new fatbike!

Finally some fatbike content again! Perceptive readers might have noticed that I've mostly blogged about kayaking this year. The main reason for this is that I've pretty much dedicated this year to learning the skills needed for more advanced sea kayaking. This will continue next year, when I'm taking a thorough sea kayaking module as part of the wilderness guide education. I will however do more cycling next year, though this depends on the weather. If we get a real winter I foresee a lot of fatbiking next year, but if the winter is like last winter's continuing misember, I'll do something else instead. At least during the winter...

Aquarius Sea Lion kayak one year review

This review is an updated version of my initial review from earlier this year. I think it is motivated to update it, since fairly little information is found on the web about this particular kayak. It has gained at least some popularity in Finland, along with the kayaks of another Polish manufacturer, Kayman kayaks. At the Hanko Sea Kayak Gathering in August I saw about five other Aquarius Sea Lions.

The last kayaking overnighter of the season - second attempt

This was supposed to be about the Mammoth March. About 25 hours of epic struggling, riding the bike on roads of different size, trails and non-trails and searching checkpoints over seemingly endless mires. Unfortunately, I was not well enough to participate. A persistent flu had me make the choice to opt out. It simply didn't make sense to start pushing myself far beyond the comfort zone when not being in perfect health. It was the sensible choice, but seeing the GPS tracking of my team mates Toni and Jarkko really had me wanting to be there. Ultimately they didn't make it to the finish. After almost 26 hours of struggling they decided to call it in.

While I wasn't well enough for the Mammoth March, a light kayaking overnighter was no problem.

Fall break

 

The kids had fall break from school and I also had the opportunity to take a day off, so on Thursday afternoon we drove northwards. The wife dropped off at her former home to meet up with some friends, but I continued to Vaasa with the kids. The next morning my brother would take the kids by boat to his cabin at an island in the outer archipelago, while I chose to take the kayak. The weather was the brilliant, the best one can get during fall.