One Man's Lowride in the Finnish Countryside - 1

The plan: I aimed to cycle from Mustila (Hauho) to Kankaanpää in three days, a journey of around 220 km. Each day's distance was suitably short enough to allow for a flexible timetable, with time to look for a few selected geocaches along the way. I didn't take a tent with me, as the intention was to stay overnight with friends.

The day before my departure I heard that the friends at my first overnight stop would not at their summer cottage, so I had to quickly come up with something! Thanks to the internet, I found a B&B a bit further down the road from my friends' cottage, where I could spend the first night.

Tuesday 12 June:

The weather was warm and dry, shorts and T-shirt weather for sure, and a pleasure to be cycling! I'm not sure now what time I actually started pedalling, but I must have left Mustila village around or just after 10 a.m. (I should have made notes!) Anyway, I had recently put new tyres on the front wheels, and was a bit concerned how they were sitting. They seemed bigger somehow than the old ones, and only just fit under the mudguards. In fact they didn't, or at least the right hand one didn't fit without me adding a couple of spacer washers under the mudguard bracket to raise it a little. That helped, but still it was rubbing against the somewhat broken rubber mudflap on the bottom end of the mudguard, unless I lined it up precisely. Problem was I couldn't get it tight enough and with the vibrations on the road it tended to drift one way or the other and start rubbing again, so I was constantly tapping the mudguard to line it up. Anyway that was a minor problem, and if I had nothing worse than that to worry about, then I'd be doing ok.

I was still concerned that I should have a spare inner tube though, and decided to stop in Hauho (12 kms away) to look for one. That was my first stop, where the hardware store didn't have the size I needed, but another store down the road did, so I took one with me. According to the text message I sent home I left Hauho at 11.40.

I joined the main Lahti - Tampere highway (No 12 on maps) and had a few nice kilometres of tarmac all the way to Alvettula village which is abt 1 km down a left turn (but still tarmac though a much smaller road with no hard shoulder - on No 12 there was almost enough room for the whole trike to be on tarmac on the outside of the white line down the side of the road).

So a little after midday I was having lunch at Alvettula village shop and cafe - the last chance that I knew of for miles! I had no idea when I would find another place where I could get hot food on my route so I thought it best to eat there.

I was soon on the road again, but not for long! It started raining, but luckily I spotted a bus shelter up ahead, so I pulled in there and sat it out. It didn't last long, less than half an hour so on I went again. When I reached road No 57 I stopped for a couple of caches (there weren't many on my route on this first day). One of them was by a large erratic boulder (cache name "- KING OF THE ROAD -": I really felt like the king of the road on these smaller country roads, as there was so little traffic!). There are hundreds of erratic boulders scattered all over Finland by the retreating ice sheet some 10,000 years ago. See attached photo.

This cache meant a short hike through under-growth to get to it, but nothing too thick, even in cycling shorts! And it didn't take me long either! Nice to see yet another of these impressive rocks!

It was soon after crossing route 57 that the tarmac ran out! I now faced some 18 kms of gravel road, which in places was quite reasonable, but sometimes difficult to avoid potholes or loose gravel, with two front wheels! I stopped somewhere on the way for a break and coffee (I had a thermos of hot water and instant coffee with me, and a good selection of biscuits etc). I couldn't know it beforehand, but my chosen route, being the shortest I could do, would include quite many kilometres of gravel roads, so it wasn't as nice as it could have been.

At 3.15 pm I texted home: "A few more spots of rain, but only 22 kms to go to Kievari! (Sun’s shining too!)". Kievari was the place where I'd stay overnight. (See Guesthouse photo) At 35 euros per night B&B it wasn't bad!

There was one more thing of interest I saw on the way, that was worthy of a photo (or 2!) and worth mentioning here: seems the correct term for it is "burl" or birch burl, a kind of growth on the trunk of the tree (photo attached). They're amazing things when you see them, and I've seen a few in my time here in Finland!

I arrived at the B&B around early evening and was welcomed by a big alsation and a much less intimidating hostess/owner, who showed me to my room. After unloading the trike and getting my things up to my room and having another coffee with muesli and biscuits, I went out for a walk towards the town, and to look for the nearest cache. It was called "The Hidden Treasure of Hinkka" (Hinkka being the place nearby) and it was an easy find in the forest not far from the road. And the 3-km walk did me good, after 66 kms cycling!

Catching up: Eco Trip 2008 - Day 1

I can't begin to tell you about recent events without first bringing you up to date with where I left off. The first thing I should comment on is the Eco Trip I participated in.

For the first time (hopefully not the last!) I participated in the annual cyclists' Eco Trip (nowadays known as Lowride). The plan was to meet in Hämeenlinna on the Thursday morning and then ride to our base at Pappilanniemi, Sääksmäki (N61° 11.250 E024° 03.813). From there we would do day trips to various places.

I decided to take the train to H'linna, and went to book my seat a week before the trip.

I knew I would have to book a place for the trike too, but I didn't expect I would have to reserve 2 places for it! They thought it was so wide that it would be too tight if there were three cycles in the bike space!

When I arrived at the station in good time for my train, there was the same lady in the ticket office, so I popped in to say hello and that "now it begins". She was able to check and see that the remaining bicycle space was reserved! I might have guessed it would be another recumbent rider heading for the Eco Trip (but I didn't!). It turned out to be Markku, who was sitting immediately behind me on the journey, so we were able to chat a bit!

When we arrived at the meeting point (a big roomy car park not far from the station) there were already a lot of participants getting their cycles ready and more were arriving. Many were just standing around chatting and comparing machines. Five Russians arrived by car with their upright bikes on the roof, which they unloaded and started putting together. Theirs were the only uprights in the whole group of around 30 participants.

Eventually on no prearranged signal some riders just took off, and were on their way, while the rest of us hurried to follow them, with the result that from the word go (which nobody gave!) we were a very stretched out bunch. I particularly wanted to keep the guy in front of me in my sights, as I was unsure of the route. I soon found myself riding with another trike enthusiast, Mårten, whose machine was also made in England, but by a different manufacturer from mine. We found ourselves on the east side of the lake, with a good view of Hämeenlinna castle on the other side. Passing through Aulanko we continued via Hattula to Iittala, where we were scheduled to stop for refreshments. On the way I was able to find 2 railway station caches and one 0 km cache.

A beer and a sandwich (or was it coffee?) did wonders, and again the fast riders took off without as much as a 'See you there'! After some time (not many hours!) we rolled into Pappilanniemi and found our rooms. I ended up sharing with Mårten which was good because we had more in common than I would have had with many of the others on two wheels. I've no idea how many kilometres we did that first day, nor do I remember how long it took us to do the ride, but it was nothing too tiring.

Combining Triking and Geocaching

A bike or trike is an excellent way to get about in search of geocaches. What are they, you ask? You can find a lot about it on the internet, the main international website being the geocaching.com one. Basically someone hides a box or container somewhere (under a log in the forest, in a crack in a wall, behind a road sign or similar, just about anywhere where the general public can't see it), checks the coordinates for it, then publishes the details and coordinates on the internet. Then you can look up that cache's info, and with or without a GPS receiver you can go and search for it. They can be as small (and even smaller than) a film canister, or as large as a bucket or ammo box, and are often very craftily camouflaged. They contain at least a log book for you to record your find, and often contain a pencil so you don't have to bring your own, and swappable small items, nowadays mostly for kids (at least around these parts). You can also log your find on the cache page on the internet.

These caches are just about everywhere, from Alaska to Zanzibar (seems there are none in Madagascar, last time I looked!). The good thing about them is they get you to interesting places you may have never seen otherwise, and you're getting fresh air and exercise! Some caches also challenge you mentally or physically, so there's an increased sense of achievement when you find them! It can also be frustrating when you don't find them too, especially if they have a low Difficulty or Terrain rating.

I actually started geocaching last year, after mid-September, and without a GPS. I managed to find a little over 200 before I finally bought myself a GPS this spring.

The Good News

Catching up with events dating back to the spring, my employer finally found a change of job for me. After over 13 years of doing work for the same customer, in early May I switched from writing software documentation to writing installation, operating and maintenance manuals about big machines - in a nutshell (don't ask me how you get a big machine into a nutshell, 'cos I don't know! ;-)). What this really means is that I get to ride my trike 11,5 kms west from here to the customer's office, almost daily.

The bad news: There isn't much possibility to vary the route, and the way I have to go has many sideroads with their badly dropped kerbs to contend with. It was never designed to be a cycle path, but has been converted to one (shared of course with pedestrians), hence the bumpy side street crossings. And on a tadpole trike you feel those with both front wheels.

The other good thing is that I can certainly vary my home trip route in the afternoons, and have done so many times already, sometimes clocking up over 20 kms on the way home, via a few geocaches! (See the next post!)

Didn't stop triking, just writing!

No, of course I couldn't have taken such a long break from triking; it's too much fun! I've been on rides locally, nothing major, but just haven't had the inspiration to write much. But now there's a new light shining! I've changed projects and am now working for a different customer, which means I go to an office about 12 kms from home. I started there on Monday (19th), and after a few days to get my bearings there, I went by trike today!

It was good weather, just a touch cool, but not too cold for biking/triking. The route is quite a busy one, not just with cars, but a lot of bikes too. The annoying thing about the cycle paths here is, where they cross side streets, they haven't lowered the edge of the pavement sufficiently, and that causes quite a bump, which you feel worse on a trike.

I've also been using the trike a lot for geocaching (look it up if you're curious), and I looked for and found two caches on my way home from work today. But more about that in my next post, maybe.

Disaster strikes!

Well, not so drastically, but bad enough in one way. To explain: in the spring my employer was looking for smaller premises. After shortlisting three, one was chosen, and we were due to move there in early August. I was on holiday in July, so my first day back at work happened to be the same day we moved into the new premises.

It turned out that the new place is only 5 minutes' walk from my home - saves me a lot of travelling time, but now I can't trike to work! I no longer have a reason to get Beaatrice out daily! There's certainly no point getting her out, just to go 300 metres to the office!

Busy summer

High time I put pen to paper (or to keyboard!) and told you about my almost trikeless summer!

From mid-July on we were at our summer cottage, and I took Beaatrice (my Trice) to the farm and parked her there, safely locked up and indoors (plenty of room in one of the outbuildings).

Partly because of the weather, partly the painting which needed to be done on the cottage, and also because of a short trip to Estonia, I didn't get time for more than two rides during the 3 weeks we were there.

The first was on a typical warm and sunny summer's day, and my son and I went to the town centre 14 kms away. Our Italian baker friend in the local bakery there was very impressed with Beaatrice, especially after doing a circuit with her himself in the car park.

It was a very pleasant ride to town and back, though my knees were a bit sore on the way back, owing to lack of exercise in the weeks leading up to our holiday.

I didn't get another chance to do a ride until almost the end of our three weeks there, when I decided that "It's now or never" and set off on a round trip that covered about 48 kms. The first 20 kms or so were on dirt roads, and my knees were starting to feel sore before I reached an asphalt surface and a country village after those 20 kms, and made a stop at the village shop. It's a dying institution here, and there aren't many left. It's amazing the variety of things they sell, catering for all the summer visitors to the region, staying in their own or rented summer cottages.


I pressed on after an ice cream, and felt a few spots of rain before reaching a major road, but it didn't last long. The next 15 kms or so were rather uneventful. I must admit it wasn't a very pleasant feeling to have traffic roaring past at over 80 kph (50 mph)!

Gradually my knees were feeling worse with every kilometre I pedalled. It crossed my mind that I could have called my brother-in-law to come with his van to pick me up, but that would have felt like cheating. I decided to push on to the bitter end, and determined not to attempt such a long ride again after a long break without riding.