April edition - Porkkala

Our annual trip to Porkkala took place last weekend. We have enjoyed autumnal visits there in the last couple of years, but this time spring was in the air.

Groups from Bemböle and Helsinki merged at Kirkkonummi station to enjoy the excellent roads down to Porkkala. 

The fields were ploughed and the trees were showing the beginnings of leaves as we sped down the country lanes to the end of the peninsular. 


Several times our ride was interrupted by deer and even some young elk. 

We arrived as the sun was starting to set over the water and discovered a new and very stylish cooking shelter waiting for us. 

Luxuries were enjoyed and stories told, but the kilometers in our legs sent us easily off to sleep at a reasonable hour. 









The sun was shining beautifully in the morning and after a fried breakfast, tents were demolished and bags packed. 

On the way out of the forest, we stopped to collect our thoughts at the burial mound. 
















Good weather, good food and good company - the reasons we scrape ourselves off of our sofas.

The trip in numbers...

Riders: 6
Women: 1
Round-trip from Bemböle: 80
Total time in the saddle: 5 hours
Flat tyres: 0
Sausages eaten: 8


Advance warning: The last Friday of June will be a special edition of sub-24... The Hanko Hop!

We will leave Helsinki in the evening and ride through the night along Kuninkaantie all the way to Hanko. 

Have a look here.

See you next month!

Sub24 March edition - Kattilajärvi under the sun.

Four bikers met in Bemböle 28th March by a very sunny Friday. We headed to Kattilajärvi that we found without too much detours. It is quite a funny place, very uphill in a sort of creepy neighbourhood. Despite the strong sun, the air was very cold there and the lake still hard frozen. We found the construction site of the camping ground-to-be and we decide to be very early visitors. A nice fireplace was assembled and few seats arranged with big logs and we could start a task that would take a lot of energy for the following hour: starting the fire and keeping it alive. The wood was humid and nothing could help: if not ventilated, it was dying in no time. We put there fire starter, candle wax, sinol, nothing helped despite the nice fireballs(-that-you-should-never-try-yourself). The solution came from the very dry wood from some pellets that were abandoned on the site. After that, we had a roaring fire to keep our front side warm.

During the evening, a sub24-er came for short while, distributing sausages and many beers (big thanks!). The Beast managed to join us quite late since he had a work thing in the evening. How motivated one can be! A work week, followed by some socializing and food in the evening at work, 50 km of commuting, jumping on the bike and bike 30 km in pitch darkness not to miss the sub24!

We woke up by the smell of grilled bacon and had a merry breakfast. Bikers started to head home more or less early. The way back was again extremely sunny. I have to say it felt incredibly good to have a day of warm sun. Memory of the winter were still around and I noticed that the ice of Pitkäjärvi was making a symphony of cracking sounds. That was for the lyric minute of the ride. Looking forward April edition! Olivier

Sub-24 February

On the last day of February, three Brits took on the mild Finnish winter on a ride from Bemböle to Halkolampi. It felt like the start of the sub-24 cycling season as we were able to ride during daylight (mostly) and along some of our favourite summer roads. Seeing a different season around Bodom lake and Velskolantie was good for the soul.

Beer can kettle

Turning off the road and into the forest, we noticed that not all the snow and ice had melted after all. And that winter tyres were still worthwhile.

We managed to light a fire in the cooking shelter and stayed there until warm sleeping bags called us in for the night.













The morning was crisp and bright. Cold fingers packing, hot coffee and the glimmer of the sun behind the clouds made for an enjoyable couple of hours before the ride home.

I wonder will we be on skis next month?

Back on skis! (or still on the bike)

We started quietly from Rasitla avanto as the sun was setting: 4 on skis, 1 on bike. City lights brightening the sky were enough to guide us without the use of headlamps. The first kilometers went by smoothly, though the thickness of the snow layer forced Dries to leave his bike on the shore to continue the journey on foot. Upon turning east at the tip on Ramsinniemi, a constant wind with heavy gusts made the progress a bit slower, and dragging the pulkka with regular cross country skis proved to be a challenge. Adding to that, the wind started to create snowdrifts and leave many patches of bear ice: a difficult changing terrain. 

Our efforts were rewarded when reaching the cabin, probably the most luxurious place Sub24 has ever had as a campsite: a large open shelter with fireplace, firewood , table and benches, toilets, and an underground "bunker" built of stones that would prove to be a really cozy place for the night and a great protection against the raging snow storm.

The temperatures were not so cold but the wind made the place quite chilly. After a quick stove competition with various attempts to melt some snow (alcohol burner, gaz stove, fuel, fire), we all chilled out by the fire before calling it an early night (10 pm).   

After an uneventful night only troubled by the howling sounds of the wind, we all got up, had a quick breakfast and 2 parties formed for the trip home: Dries-Robin, and Olivier-Patricie-Florian.

The landscape as we returned to the sea ice on the way home was stunning: Huge drifts up to 50m high, battered by a constant wind made for serious arctic conditions. Around Ramsinlami, Florian took off to Rastila while Olivier and Patricie would continue the journey to Kalasatama.

Happy New Year from sub-24!

Three intrepid anglophiles took advantage of the shockingly mild January weather to ride on untainted asphalt all the way to Nuuksio last Friday. The dark start from Bemböle was the usual fare for sub-24 winter rides, but the dryness and relative warmth were a pleasant surprise in a winter of wind and constant rain.

We followed Heinästie to Siikäjärvi on asphalt and took the final three forest kilometres to Mustalampi on a mixture of wheel and foot. After friends had been made and sausages washed, we turned in for the night with the first tiny flakes of snow starting to fall.

Unfortunately, morning light revealed that the snow was in fact drizzle.

Wet tents

A woodpecker

Mustalampi, Nuuksio

The cargo bike has a large rear end

If the miserable weather continues, we'll have no choice but to ride bicycles and camp in the forest again on the next sub-24 weekend - the last Friday of the January.


p.s. If you think you're feeling depressed about the weather now, just take a look at the sub-24 trips from around this time last year…

January II

January

December

Friday 29th, Pikku joulu

For the sub-24 of November (30.11.2103), the weather expectations were very low. 

But this time, we were were pleasantly surprised to have a rainless trip, with a thin layer of snow in the forest that gave a joyful look to the surroundings (and a very slippery road). 

We were indeed cheered up by the perspective of the pikkujoulu in Stenbacka and the Christmas porridge that Lee was busy preparing when the rest of the group was on its way.

Our stay in Stenbacka was as delightful as we've been used to. Sauna, a dip in the half frozen stream, roaring fire in the common room, Christmas delicacy, porridge, Abondance cheese, brandy, glögi, salmon, pineapple and much more.

While some of the bikers came back on Saturday, some stayed for the week-end in Stenbacka, happy to escape the crazy life pace of the city just before Christmas.  Stenbacka was made livelier by the visit of some more sub24-ers and the youngest of all, 1 year and 1 month; a baby already into the outdoor.