Summer challenge: by bike to work

Few weeks ago me and two co-workers were talking at the office that we could all come by bike to work the whole summer. Only one of us had already a racing bike so me and the other guy without a proper bike decided to buy ones. Today I went to pick mine. I rode it home and oh how sweetly and fast it rolled forward, almost like the wind. So tomorrow begins my summer challenge 'by bike to work'. I guess I gotta rip off the reflectors first, namely I got a little bit feedback from a friend about them ;D Here's a picture of my Paddy Wagon:

Yesterday I did an expedition on my own to the woods nearby. I knew they'd be swampy but not that swampy... yeah, the ground was totally watery and there was even snow left in some places. Well, I was looking for semi-difficult trails, but trying to survive from the rhizome and stones in the middle of the mud, water and snow, was maybe a little bit too ambitious for me after all. I was cursing more than ever, hiking the bike through muddy puddles, fighting to advance in the swampy ground and over the dense rhizome... My shoe got stuck in the watery mud, I dropped the chain, and even managed to jam the front derailleur. It felt hopeless, but I understood that all I need is practice and that was the best practice I could get. Just gotta do it again and again so that I can get faster and faster :) I didn't give that trail a second shot but I headed to another place by the sea. The trails were dry and didn't have much rhizome or stones so they were also much easier and faster to ride than the tracks in the swampy forest. Of course it was more fun for me - no doubt, the easy ones are nicer and comfortable to ride - but I know if I wanna be good (or even one of the best! ;) the harder trails are the ones to go for. So I guess now I know at least one place around here where I'm gonna spend time and practice hard this summer :D

Found some nice trails in Kallahti's natural park

Today I was driving in a dry peaty forest with a friend. The trails were really fantastic with lots of variation such as height differences, curves, jumps, fast and slow tracks, easy and difficult parts, etc. not to mention that the nature in the natural park is beautiful. And of course riding by the sea is also a very cool thing :) I haven't been riding much yet but still I can notice quite fast improvements in my skills! Maybe I should start competing soon ;)

Sunny days - ain't that cool for biking!

Lately we've had a lot of sunny days in South Finland. That, of course, means nice biking weather. Unfortunately I just don't know many woods to jump in and good trails to try out since I just moved in here. It's been a while since I was hanging around here and many changes have happened in the scenery, so it takes a while, I guess, to become familiar with the neighbourhood again. Yesterday I went just for an easy ride with a friend of mine. She doesn't have a mtb so basically we just rode along sand roads. Once in a while, when I picked a trail, I couldn't help trying it out. But all in all, it was fun to just drive around and have a good company :)

Easy start? What is that?

It was back in 2005 when I got my first real sight of mountain biking. I was hiking in north Tyrol with my mum and saw bikers whizzing by all the time. And me being totally reckless and little crazy for speed, looked those bikers with green envy. At that time I decided that someday it'll be me whizzing by others.

The same year I started studying as exchange student at the University of Zurich in Switzerland. I never stopped thinking about mountain biking, but I mostly concentrated on enjoying the Alps by skiing. During the second semester I took part in a course called Consumer Behavior. The idea was to do a case study that was somehow related to the topic. I belonged to this group of three which decided to build the study on a launch process of a small company making Swiss mountain biking movies. Seeing clips of the movie made me realize how awesome the sport can really be.

Years went by and as a poor student, I didn't have much of a chance to buy a good bike. In the summer of 2008 I graduated and started working. Then the recession hit and companies started to kick out employees. I didn't got kicked out since I had only a temporary contract of employment in that company, but I couldn't continue in that position either. So the next step was to find another job. It took few months, and the summer flew by, until in Autumn 2009 I got a cool job in a small social media company. I met a guy there who told me he was into the sport and knew someone dealing neat mountain bikes. Maybe destiny had it's fingers on it, who knows, but finally in January 2010 I bought myself an Orange Five Diva.

I needed to wait over a month for the bike to arrive and with a delay as well, since the damned Finnish dockers were striking... Eventually when I got the bike, there was still snow all over and I didn't have studded tyres. Anyways, that didn't stop me. 'Cos I don't have much instinct of self preservation, I jumped on the bike, hit the road and it didn't take too long as I also hit the snowy trails.

Now the snow has almost melted all over and the trails are revealed again. Today I decided to go for really muddy and rough trails, just to try out how it is. Well, of course I managed to pick ascending swampy tracks with high level of difficulty, at least for a beginner... but I didn't give up, did it even twice with the most difficult parts and enjoyed rolling down with speed and adrenaline.

It's exciting, accelerating, fun and I just love it! Can't wait to hit the trails again ;)