The evolution of bicycle touring (for Maria)

If you had asked me a year ago what I thought about bike touring, I would have said its for old people. Now, either my geriatrically-behaving boyfriend has rubbed off on me or I'm getting old, because I'm really interested in bike touring. It probably started after my boundary waters trip last year. This spring, Fruita planted the seed of off-road point-to-point riding with camping. Then, something happened and Sideburnz and I started going on ridiculous rides around the twin cities, on the hottest days of the summer, with minimal support supplies. For example, we decided to go fishing one Friday afternoon at Keller Lake (near Lake Phalen) and then took the Bruce Vento trail to downtown St. Paul and headed back to S. Minneapolis via Summit Ave. This would have been okay except that we had fishing equipment, lawn chairs, my school bag, and cooler. AND, I was riding my fixie with the Bob. Despite my severe state of dehydration and near heat exhaustion, I still thought it was fun.

Today I embarked on my first official bike tour. The goal was to ride about 40km to the town of Enonkoski where I could obtain information about the near-by Kolovesi National Park. I hoped to obtain the exact location of a kayak rental service so I could ride the remaining 20km to the park and take a kayak to see the ancient rock paintings.

The first leg went exactly as I expected. The information center was small and had a little interpretive display about the endangered seals that live in the lake. I was disappointed to find out that only 28 seals live in the park and its hard to spot them. I successfully asked the information lady where the kayak rental service was located, in Finnish. AND, which is really the more amazing part, I understood her response in Finnish!!!! It was 17km to the rental service, located at point number 6 on the local map she gave me.

I left Enonkoski feeling pretty good about my Finnish skills. About halfway to the kayak place, I came across this sign on the road.
The road was following the lake shore, so I interpreted it as "steep cliff." I was wrong. It really means if you keep driving, you'll drive into the lake. Around the corner from the sign was this:














It was a ferry (barge style). At first, I wasn't quite sure what to do. I looked at my map to make sure I was still going the right direction. When everything checked out, I got in line with the cars and boarded the ferry. The ferry chugged across the lake. The lake was maybe 100 meters wide, so I thought it was pretty funny that there wasn't a bridge. It has to be more expensive to pay the ferry operator and run the ferry over the course of many years.

Riding the ferry was one of the most unique things I've done in Finland. A half hour later, I reached the kayak outfitter. Unfortunately all of the kayaks were out until Wednesday, but maybe I could get one next Saturday. I headed to the national park to check out camping options and hike the 3.3km (2 mile) nature trail.

Unlike American National Parks, this park was really new (created in 1990) and very undeveloped. After some lunch, I departed on the nature trail, thinking it would take 30 minutes or so to walk it. I was wrong. This "nature trail" that sounded so benign, was some of the most rigourous hiking I've ever done. The land that the nature trail crossed was amazing. It was as if Porcupine State Park in Upper Michigan, the Boundary Waters, and the "Fred Flintstone" area near Grand Junction, CO* mated and this was their kid. Over the course of 2 miles, I meandered through a northern rain forest, carefully walked through a bog, climbed over car sized boulders, climbed up a huge hill (well, a few of them) and looked out across the lake.
*My name for the loop is Fred Flintstone, its actually called Holy Cross, look at those pictures in the link
After I finished the nature trail, I contemplated my return options.
1. Return the way I came.
2. Make it a loop, but it would probably add an extra 20-30km
Well, being the over-achiever that I am, I opted for the loop. Loops are more fun anyway. I made it home in one piece and had an enjoyable time.

Here are the stats for my ride:
Total time: 9 hours and 45 minutes (including lunch and nature trail)
Time on the bike: 8 hours and 20 minutes (riding + snack, map, info and potty stops)
Time actually pedaling (via bike computer): 7 hours and 7 minutes
Distance: 156.0 km (96.72 miles)

One might wonder, "You were so close to a century (100 miles)! Why not 3.3 more miles?" I have multiple responses:
I was really stoked about reaching 150 km.
Driving the Cross-check (probably 50lbs with my panniers) is tough enough, the extra 3.3 are freebies. Besides, I rode at least 7 of those miles on dirt roads.
If you had seen me climbing the hill (not a very big one) to my dorm, you would understand.
And lastly, I rode my bike for more than 8 hours! Give me a break!

And the aftermath of riding for 8 hours:
1 microwave lasagne 390 kcal
1 frozen pizza 500 kcal
1 glass of orange juice 40 kcal
2 pieces of toast with jam and butter 250 kcal
1 pear 80 kcal
Running total: 1260 kcal
And I'm still hungry!

The internet energy expenditure calculator guesses that I expended 3968 kcal. I guess I should keep eating.