Summer's here... before the rain

 
The big summer sub-24 saw eight riders make the journey to Haukkalampi in Nuuksio. Beautiful weather, the wind on our backs and warm lake water made the trip memorable.


Never before on a sub-24 have we seen so many varieties of fruit and vegetables, healthy food vastly outweighing the usual sausages and chocolate. Also, rarely have we seen such strange sights in Nuuksio - life-vest adorned Chinese people lure-fishing in tiny inflatable boats? People dressed in baby costume party clothes running around while being filmed? Second world war bombers flying over? All sad but true.

Four and a half Frenchies rode the 18km from Bemböle along with one Finn, two Brits and half an American... X's videos can be seen here.

Some experiments turned out better than others - Florian's night without a tent worked much better than his home-made methanol stove. For my part, I would not recommend leaving your sleeping bag at home, even in summer. And Robin's rack repair again reminded us of the supremacy of zip-ties in all things. By the way, at the risk of appearing fetishistic, I have to say Robin's old Raleigh is very nice:

The wind that supported us from behind on the way to Nuuksio was inexplicably blowing right down our throats on the way home and I would say that we all noticed at some point that sub-24 is about exercise as well as food, drink, nature and company. Having said that, my bike computer says 15 km/hour for the whole ride...

Other comments: The Hanko Dynamo is schedules for Friday 27th July. Any takers? The "triathlon" (I've decided to put it in inverted commas) will probably be on the occasion of the September sub-24. We will have a normal sub-24 ride to a camping spot but those interested in swimming and running will drop off their running shoes at one end of a lake, ride to the other end and dump the bike, swim across the lake, put on running shoes and run around in the forest for a while before returning to the camping spot for refueling and congratulations. Possible distances are 15km ride, 500m swim, 5km run - almost Sprint Tri-length! - and it looks like Halkolampi in Luukki is a good option (even though sub-24 has visited there twice this year already...).

As ever, please comment freely on all of the above...

Better late than never

Apologies for posting so late about this, I'm sure you're all on the edge of your saddles.

Although holidays will be getting in the way for some of us, this coming Friday is sub-24 Friday! This time last year, I had a lonely trip to Kaitalampi, but I'm hoping for some company this July.

One suggestion made last month was to write in more detail about the length of our rides, so here goes...

Possible destinations for this Friday's trip (approximate distances from Bemböle):

Pirttimäki - 10 kms / 1/2 hour
Luukki - 15 kms / 1 hour
Nuuksio - 17 kms / 1 1/2 hours
Porkkala - 40 kms / 4 hours (or 25 kms / 2 hours from Kirkkonummi railway station)

Use this journey planner to check the destinations.

I have been very generous with the timings, but I think it's quite accurate. Perhaps we are not riding at that pace all the time but with frequent stops and enjoyable rolling, we seem to be averaging 15 kms / hour. Or so. Maybe someone wants to comment?

I'll throw out another couple of ideas, while I'm at it. We have been talking about doing a night ride - enjoying the midnight sun and twilight. Actually it has already taken on a life of it's own and become The Hanko Dynamo (based loosly on The Dunwich Dynamo). Too far? Any other ideas? It supposed to be transcendental...

There has been an unusually great interest in swimming in the freezing Finnish lakes over the years. We all enjoy cycling. Some of us like running. Sub-24 triathlon, perhaps?

I'm fishing hard for comments...

Suffice to say, Friday 6th July, Bemböle Shell, shall we say 16:30?

See you then!

HUOM!: Friday 6th July, Bemböle Shell, 17:30,  destination Nuuksio, 15 - 20kms, Frenchies encouraged...

...and we didn't even cry!

Zuzanna and Charles' farewell Sub24 was hardly an emotional cry-fest (we're just too tough for that, right Beast?) but it was quite a send-off.


First of all, we enjoyed the company of 3 new Sub24ers: Immi, Céline and Siert. It was great to have you guys and we hope our silliness hasn't put you off joining again in the future! That meant there were 10 of us actually cycling, a record!


We also enjoyed beyond any doubt the most amazing culinary experience in the history of Sub24! This included:

Champagne 

Swiss Cheese Fondue (thanks Olivier)

 Banana and Chocolate dessert (Thanks Florian and Elsa)

And Céline and Siert also brought lovely saucisson and French wine. Phew... we were full!


In other news, he's some of the wisdom that we learnt during the trip:

Zuzanna brushes her teeth in a really silly way

Lee is grumpy. Xavier is cheerful

Immi likes makkara

Ten bikes in the forest look cool

The wonky road is still our favourite

Xavier's bike (far left) must have been VERY heavy!

Halkolampi has maybe the best area for camping that we've tried out

Finland is mighty beautiful

So thanks again for all the memories guys, not just from this edition but all the previous Sub24s. It's definitely one of the hardest things for me to leave behind as I start my new life in France. However I do look forward to following your future adventures on this blog and Zuzanna and I will try and join again when we visit. Try not to miss us too much!

Charles

Charles and Zuzanna's farewell

Warning! Soft of heart keep away!


The June edition of Sub24 may get a tad emotional as co-founder Charles (yours truly) and Zuzanna are moving to France at the end of the month, making this their last Sub24 (at least for a while)! So champagne will definitely be my luxury item (if that doesn't convince you to join us)!

As a one-off occasion (to make sure Zuzanna can attend), we'll be breaking away from our "first Friday of the month" rule and instead we'll be going on the first Saturday of the month, which is June 2nd. Last year, the June edition was among our best ever, owing to the weather and amount of light. 


So, here goes for the details this time around:

• Meet at Bemböle Shell station at 16:30.
• We'll head to Kaitalampi/ Halkolampi via Velskolantie, since it's such a beautiful ride.
• Those who want to join without a bike have an easy job of it as it's easily served by bus 345 from Rautatientori. The stop name is "Kaitalampi".

Any questions, feel free to use the comments section .In the meantime, I'll try not to cry!

...and don't forget your toothbrush!

First Friday of the month meant Sub24 and this time it was a male only affair, but there was more variety when it came to nationalities. We had an Australian, a Russian, a Swiss, two and a half Brits and one and a half Frenchmen. 

The ride was beautiful, first riding up the length of Bodominjärvi, before taking the riders' heaven that is Velskolantie. 

Ok so Robin's bike did have the odd technical issue, but it's part of the fun and made for some excellent pictures!

In the end we made it to our camping spot in Halkolampi. A big group of scouts had claimed the grilling area at the far end of the lake so we thought we'd be safe on the near side. Time would prove us wrong...

After calling the Finns a primitive and brutal species, Florian and Olivier (French and Swiss) decided to go and swim in the very cold lake naked with only a hand towel for warmth afterwards. Primitive. Brutal.

It's always nice to see what people bring on these trips and Florian's taste for (ultra) minimalism was the talk of the evening. Who needs tents? In fact, who needs sporks, when you have a toothbrush?

It serves as a brush to clean it afterwards too. Genius! May in Finland should not be confused for warm and sunny, and soon we were chilly enough (and curious enough) to decide to take a twilight walk around our little lake.

It was all going so well, but then who should show up? No, not the devil, but close! A group of breakaway scouts who obviously got bored with the rest of the group and decided to set up camp right next to us. And talk very loudly. Until past 3 in the morning, by the time the rest of us had of course gone to bed a long time ago. Brutal. Primitive. The rain was also pounding all night so it certainly wasn't a quiet night. 


But it's ok, we got our revenge (on the scouts at least) in the morning, as we guiltlessly started having (loud) breakfast at 7.30! 


We then left in 3 groups. Robin's family duties called and he left first. And an hour or so later, we split into two groups to take our respective scenic routes back home.


So thanks to Lee, Florian, Nick, Robin, Olivier and Dima for another great outing. Remember, the June edition will exceptionally be moved to the first Saturday of the month. That's Saturday 2nd June!


Charles