DAY RIDE

To Riihimäki and back

By Erik Plankton

June 17^th, 2014

The plan

Was to leave early and ride around 80km to Riihimäki and meet friends at the outdoors expo. After breakfast I packed some food and clothes on the bike and got going after 8.

Testing: JONES LOOP H-BAR

This time I had some new gear to test: The Jones Loop bar. On full day rides my wrists tend to suffer a bit on a normal handlebar. So I searched for a sweeping bar that was wide enough. Found quite a lot of positive comments on various forums and decided to give it a go, even though it is pretty pricey. After installing I did some minor angle adjustments and that was pretty much it. Feels really solid and stable and immediately found use for the different hand positions it offers. Handlebar bag sits nicely in place and there is still good room for a GPS device.

KERAVA

First stop was my old home town Kerava. Well actually I didn’t really bother to stop, but found some pretty good trails to get lost on. Found mosquitos too in the forest.

What are these photos about? (Optional)

Järvenpää

I managed to get out of the woods and swamp area and found a nice gravel road that led to a bike path that went directly to Järvenpää. Another smallish town that felt much more alive than Kerava. They have a fountain. It must be the fountain. And the yellow tripods.

take away

After a quick coffee I could continue quickly since I realized that the Jones bar serves as a temporary bottle holder too.

service roads

A few kilometers after Järvenpää I found a railway service road and figured that it has to go in the right direction since my target Riihimäki is by the tracks. The gravel road was rideable all the way to Hyvinkää and was great riding. Straight and fast.

What are these photos about? (Optional)

Lunch

Just before the town of Hyvinkää the rain caught up with some considerable force. The only shelter was under a bridge next to an intersection. Took out the Jetboil and made a quick lunch. After about 20 minutes the rain held back a little and I continued onwards.

Riihimäki

Got to Riihimäki a bit late. Went to the outdoor expo, met some friends, bought nothing and hopped on the train that took me back south to Tikkurila. The train ticket was as long as my ride.