Thursday, June 23, 2005
Final Dinner, then off to Rovaniemi…with a plane to Helsinki. Things are winding down and given that it was our last dinner, we had small gifts for each other…but mostly were just reveling in the surprising level of friendship and good cheer that had been fostered by the trip. I think it caught us all a little off-guard, honestly, though I shouldn’t have been completely surprised given what I knew of Jari. Steve remembered how I’d promised a friend for life in Jari if he came in his toast and acknowledged that was more than a little true…and it extended to the four of them. Armed with three PMC biking shirts from Steve and a matching t-shirt for the 2001 event from me…we had our uniquely Boston gifts in hand. Below you will see the Host team in their shirts…Jari and Heli in their His and Hers 2001 shirts, Alex in the beautiful flower shirt…and if you tell him he looks pretty he’ll rip your legs off on the road, so be careful, and Tapio can now be called the “Big M.” He tells us all that he’s on a fitness kick (he rode 103 miles in one day) and soon the shirt will be loose and baggy. We’ll keep you all posted on that one.
The ride was a breeze and Rovaniemi is considered Santa’s home town, for some reason we not quite sure of. We went a full 100 km before even seeing a single gas station or store of any sort. Geeze…talk about remote. If you don’t like your neighbors, you’re in trouble around here…that is if you even have any.
The plane to Helsinki was a breeze and Jari/Tapio/Heli drove back with our bikes with Heli jumping out in Joensuu. Turns out that good-bye’s are hard for Heli…so this is just to say, “See you again soon, I hope.”
The group has split up from there and headed home. The HPG has done a classic “one for all and all for one” exit, as only we can do.
Photos are of the host team, Ray and Big M, Alex asks Jari to be his best Man, More nothing, Roveneimi Farm, Helsinki Fish Market, Stone church in Helsinki.
Tuesday, June 21, 2005
Day 10, our rest day is in Pyha that means holy hill or some such thing. You can see by the first photo, that we’re not exactly roughing it up here. We’re in a beautiful cabin/condo with a sauna, kitchen and dishwasher, washing machine, drying closet, and plenty of space. We’re looking out over a ski resort with beautiful woods all around (surprise, surprise).
What a pleasant surprise to find that Heli bought some Finlandia Vodka for after dinner! Now that’s a great dinner treat for sure. That certainly made it easy to try her stretching regimen. Maybe that was the plan.
For our rest day, we slept in…but it’s full light all night, so it feels late at 2:30 am, even. The plan was to clean-up bikes and then head to Sodankyla to wander around. An interesting thing about Sodankyla is that it’s been entirely rebuilt since the end of WWII. As the Germans were in their final days of WWII, with the world closing in and the end clear…they leveled Lappland completely. Incredibly pointless, and especially given it’s remoteness and lack of strategic importance in any way. On the way, we actually drove behind a caravan of three other cars…talk about a busy road.
We’ve seen so many reindeer, it’s becoming very much a “ho-hum” event. The photo below is outside the cabin. Not much else to report…tomorrow to Rovaniemi which is Santa’s hometown. May not get a chance to post to the blog before we fly to Helsinki and then back to the US.
Photos of roughing it, vodka paydirt, Reindeer, and Sodankyla.
Monday, June 20, 2005
Day 9…103 miles to Pyha. The weather is spectacular; crystal clear skies at 22 degrees Celsius; no wind; perfect roads…heading north (still) from nowhere to Lappland and the Arctic circle.
To my surprise, we didn’t head further into nowhere, but Lappland seems to be a vacation resort kind of place. There was a town or two that seemed to be really alive…and big enough to have an auto repair shop, a car dealership, and a snow mobile center. Imagine that. The homes were quite nice, very well kept…though still remote by any standards…with barns and other structures attached.
Last night we climbed to the top of a ski slope behind our room to see the midnight sun. It was perfectly light out and the sun was not even partially hidden by the horizon. We all took pictures, but they all look dark since we pointed the camera into the sun. I’ve put up a photo of the “team” at midnight…the sun obscures our Finnish friends, but you can see your intrepid Boston travelers.
And we saw a bunch more reindeer and it’s pretty clear why they fly on their Christmas Eve delivery route. They have to be the clumsiest looking animals ever. It’s an apparent miracle they can stand, much less run. Moreover, they really like to run down the road and are completely oblivious to cars or horns. I’m told they hate mosquitoes (in the woods) so they migrate to the hills about now and also prefer the roads to paths in the woods.
We’re staying at a skiing condo which is beautiful…very much a surprise this far north. Dinner was complete with Finlandia vodka (!) which I must say was a welcome surprise as well.
Photos are of the midnight sun, yet another remarkably beautiful lake, a reindeer, crossing the arctic circle, and Lappland town.
Rest day tomorrow…we’ll go out and spin for 60 to keep the cobwebs out of the legs. It will be great.
Sunday, June 19, 2005
Day 8…103 miles to Ruka on a beautiful day and still in the middle of nowhere. That’s not completely true, actually, as this town of Ruka seems to be a bit of a tourist attraction and a few miles back was a huge paper mill (currently shut down by a strike.) So there seems to be a bit of money here and there with attractive houses and more cars. We actually saw a car wait to turn right onto a street because another car was coming! Now that’s congestion.
The ride from Suomussalmi to Ruka continues to be tree lined roads without much traffic and without a single pothole. Actually, now that I think of it, there aren’t any billboards either. Occasionally there is a small sign for a store…right out front. Just a lot of open space. It’s also pretty amazing to realize how clean the air is too and very spring like at that, as they’re about a month behind Boston’s seasons it seems. Of note...we saw three other bicyclists and several boats!
So, more of the same…here are a few photos: Steve and Alex working on Steve’s bike at the start, the Silent People…a (strange) art exhibit on the way, a new Rider who joined our group, a big log pile, and Reindeer.
Saturday, June 18, 2005
Nurmes to Suomussalmi in 130+ hilly miles. This ride was pretty long and had more ups and downs than others...so it would have been brutal if we'd not been smart about pace and start time. As it was, it turned out perfectly.
First things first though...today is Tapio's "name day" which is a celebration that's more important than a birthday over here. I guess it's a church type of tradition, where each saint has a day on the calendar...so that's your name day. I guess there is a party of some sort...but Tapio is stuck with us.
We're officially in the land of the midnight sun...so as you look at the photo of Steve at the cabin at Nurmes, notice how high the sun is at 7am! It's very disorienting for sure.
As we headed north, we were on a road for many miles without a single thing on it but the road itself...Even Jari said "Now you're *really* in the middle of nowhere." Quite something coming from someone from Finland! And that is a good description for sure.
Today's ride was a lot like climbing a mountain in slow motion as far as scenery is concerned. The trees are getting progressively shorter and soon we'll be above the "tree line"! Pretty funny concept for those of us "southerners."
Today was also a special day because we saw a boat on one of the lakes!!! Incredible...the ratio of lakes to boats is about 10,000 to 1.
As we got closer to Suomussalmi things were much busier...we saw an occasional car going both directions. Very strange. For the cars heading north...the only question would be why?
We passed a WWII monument today that was really remarkable. Finland was invaded by Russia in 1939 in a battle that lasted 105 days and ended with the Russians being repelled in a costly battle for both sides. I don't really know my history well enough to know why Finland and whether Hitler started moving on Moscow which changed Stalin's focus and things like that. However, the Finns were outnumbered by many multiples and were very stubborn...there's even a word for it, but it's not something I can remember. Now why invade in the winter and what's up here that Russia wanted...access to the Baltic, maybe? Anyway, the monument is a field of stones which represent the fallen soldiers on both sides and there is a sculpture with 105 bells which softly ring in the wind...one for each of the 105 days of the battle. It's very touching and impressive.
Farms now look like farms...fields, barns, houses, tractors. A short growing season, though.
Our hotel is beautiful...with a fast internet connection, so I can post a bunch of photos. Tomorrow is 100...sounds easy as we head to Lappland whose primary claim to fame seems to be mosquitos and midnight sun. It should be great!
The cabin with early morning sun overhead...the lake in Nurmes, trees getting shorter, farms, another lake...very beautiful, if not remote, for sure.
