Here we go again!

Next sub 24: Friday 2nd September

Last time we had 8 riders. Let's beat our record! I can see already 5 people have voted that they are coming on the poll, which is promising.

So if you've never been with us, here's the gist: Bring yourself and your bicycle to the Shell station in Bemböle on Friday 2nd September at 17:30. If that's too early for you, just contact us (in the comments section, or on Twitter, or on Facebook, so no excuse!) and we'll make sure we wait for you.

What you need:

• A tent
  
• Sleeping bag and mat
• Food to grill
• Drinks (alcoholic or not, that's up to you)
• A willingness to share your food, drinks and life story
• Sub24 tradition encourages you to bring one "luxury item" to share. A bottle of something special, a local delicacy (the stranger, the better), or anything that you'd not usually expect to find on a camping trip.

And here's what you don't need: Coffee pot and coffee (and milk and sugar), loaf of bread and some jam, first aid kit, a lock for all bikes, matches and a night cap for eveyone...

Further packing tips and ideas can be found on this blog post.

This time we've decided to leave our destination open. This way it can be discussed with all participants at the Shell station on the day. We can go as far as people want, but also want to encourage anyone to come so if you're feeling a little nervous, we can easily redirect to a closer camping spot. Ideas so far: Nuuksio, Kaitalampi (via Velskolantie) or Pirttimäki (maybe this type we can actually end up on the lake we were aiming for last time!).

So tell your friends, get yourself motivated, confirm your presence in the poll (on the right-hand side of this blog) and see you in a week or so!

Breaking boundaries

When Lee and I first decided to start this sub24 tradition, we had been hoping that the idea would catch on and so we were delighted to leave from our usual Bemböle meeting point with 8 riders! Oh was that 7? No Lee in sight, where could the co-founder be? It turned out his trusty Crescent had decided to get the mother of all punctures merely 200 meters from the Shell station and so he had to go home and pick up his mountain bike instead. Little did he know then how useful that would turn out to be...

Kunnarlantie 

We actually caused traffic to have to seriously slow down to overtake all 8 of us. Bike power! 

Turning off the road at Pirttimäki 

"Here, turn! Turn!" 

Simo's already had enough ;-) 

Florian "The Beast"

At the water filling station, a kind soul accepted to take a picture of the whole group. 

Florian, Nico, and Charles' helmet 

Simo seems to have recovered now! 

"Are you sure we're going the right way Lee?"

We were not and so thanks to some creative map-reading led by Florian, we redirected to a smaller lake that involved pushing the bikes on the narrowest of trails. Xavier amazed us by actually riding long portions of it on his 23mm wheeled racing bike, Charles discovered the limitations of pulling a trailer, but in the end we all got our just reward with a lovely camping site and the warmest of waters to go and jump into at the end.

So many of us that all our tents didn't even fit on a picture! 

A common Sub24 sight!

For those that stayed up for the after-party, a rather uncommon site was seem in the sky - northern lights! You're not supposed to see them in the summer, right? Well, we did. Anyone get a good photo?! If you did, please do email us at sub24helsinki@gmail.com so we can put it up.

The morning after the night before. If only we were all in good enough condition to appreciate the beauty. And the ride home.

Thanks to Lee, Charles, Zuzanna, Xavier, Jussi, Simo, Florian and Nico for making this a memorable sub24 and we hope to see you again on the first Friday of September.