Reitti 2000

A winter overnighter

By Erik Plankton

December 23^rd, 2014

The route

Reitti 2000 (Route 2000) is a 110km hiking and biking route that starts right from the outskirts of Helsinki and makes a loop in the Nuuksio National Park. The route is mostly pretty easy gravel grinding with some technical single track mixed in. Some nice hills to climb as well. We decided to do it right before christmas and make it an overnighter. I left home at 0900 on sunday morning and pedaled the 35km transit to the starting point where i met Mathias. It started snowing about 20 minutes into the ride. Mathias had loaded the gpx waypoints of the route to his Garmin which would have made for easy navigation. For some reason the device was not fully co-operating and we could only get a basic map view with a 10km scale. So we had to rely on the sign posts and a downloaded pdf map on the phone.

URban riding

The first part of the route goes through the central park of Helsinki, which takes you north for about 15 km. We had lunch in the wonderful mall of Martinlaakso and bought two beers for the night.

grinding

From Kehä III (the outer main ring road) to Luukki recreational area the route was straightforward gravel grinding on nice paths. The snow had covered the icy patches so there were some scary moments on downhills but we both managed to avoid crashes even though we slid off the road a bit a couple of times. Some other biker had made awesome crash marks in the snow on one icy corner.

HAUKLAMPI

We stopped at Hauklampi lake to enjoy the view.

pushing it

As the light faded away the terrain turned into technical slippery single track with some water and mud bonuses. Most parts were unrideable so it made for a nice three hour hike-a-bike session.

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NAVIGATING

The route markers with blue and white bands on the trees were missing in some parts of the trail so we had to use a pdf map to navigate. It worked out good enough and we did not make any big mistakes. I had some clearance issues on the frame with the snow and mud.

Takala lean-to

After a 12 hour day we arrived at the Takala leand-to shelter around 9 in the evening. An older gentleman had arrived just before us and started the fire. He also spent the night there so we had a good two hour chat. After making dinner and coffee it was beer o’clock. Our plan was to get up around seven in the morning so we could get moving at first light, but of course we overslept and didn’t leave until 10:30.

day two

Monday started out with some trails in the forest with nice views. The single track turned into gravel recreational paths that were nice to ride, but offered plenty of steep hills to climb. We finished the loop and started backtracking towards the starting point. During a gas station lunch break it started snowing again.

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the final push

We completed the Reitti 2000 route in good spirits at 17.30 and we split our ways. Mathias had only a few kilometers home and a well deserved beer. I thought that my bonus 35km ride home on paved cycle paths wouldn’t be that bad, but this time I was wrong. I sent a message to my wife that I would be home in two hours, so heat up the sauna. I was home almost 3,5 hours later. The constant snow pilled up and there was a good headwind dropping my average speed to just a bit over 10 km/h. I really felt like quitting and taking the bus or calling a cab, but I knew it was mental game so I refused to quit. My legs were pretty much done at this point but still they just kept going. Your body is an incredible machine that will keep on going longer than your mind will believe that is possible, given that you fuel it constantly. I stopped two times and went through the last bits of my trailmix and a Snickers bar. It wasn’t until one kilometer from home that I realized that I had this in the bag.

THE RIDE

The trip took 36 hours to complete with riding time total of 16 hours. Did 190 kilometers with 4 896 meters of elevation gain (according to Strava mobile app - I think this is a bit lower in reality). Great ride in wintery conditions. Thank to Mathias for the navigational duties and letting me follow his back tire on the climbs.