I’m a member of motorg ry and members have a chance to borrow a motorcycle for free!! It’s a Yamaha MT-07 and I took it for me yesterday. It felt very good to do some proper Street Riding after almost 2 years!!
#MotOrgBike
Then I attached my Insta360 camera to bikes handlebar and went to Hymyilevän Motoristin Kevätpäivä motorcycle meeting and parade. This was my fourth time in this meeting. The #HMKP places I’ve been were Lahti 2011, Jyväskylä 2013, Mäntsälä 2016 and now in Helsinki 2023. Here’s The video I made:
I made myself an intro that I will start to use in all of my motorcycling videos! I’m not a graphic designer so I just put a search word to Google “Free animations” and downloaded the first one that looked good to me. Then I added music from my favorite band Tangerine Dream. It’s the first notes from the track called “Kiew Mission” from the album Exit. Here is my Intro that you will be seeing many times from now on:
I hope you like it!! Or at least don’t find it irritating!
Ok maybe not the warmest ever… but anyway in 60 years! The Saturday 12th of November 2022 it was +13 or +14 in south Finland and of course we had to go riding! I was home quite early on friday so I decided to change my rear tire! And first time in a very very long time everything went quite smoothly and now I have a Motoz (Tractinator Adventure) tire first time in my bike! Saturday morning I was very early going to check the pressure of the tire (I have only a simple hand-pump to put air to the tire at home). At the gas station I checked that this time I had 0,8 bar pressure on the tire -not bad (but it could be more).
Rode to the forest right away to try how the new tire felt… And it was very ok! The sun wasn’t even up yet! We had agreement with my friend Lauri to meet in on Gas Station after 9 a’clock but because I was ready with all my preparations I started maybe 8.30 from home! This short track I’ve been thinking should I add it to the TET but the problem is the fence/ gate/ barriers when entering the road in the end of video:
They are probably going to tear down the buildings that you can see in the end of this video. We will see how the area will be after that? It was already 10am when we started from Virkkala ST1 -station and the goal was to ride all the way to Kisko TL! This would be a lot of kilometers! The route that we did was like this:
That was 340 kilometers from Virkkala via Fiskars, Teijo, Salo, Heikin Laavu, Koski TL, Somero, Iso Valkee to Kasvihuoneilmiö where we separated. We were mainly using TET route while riding to Heikin Laavu but after that not much anymore.
My friend Lauri used to have Honda CRF300 Rally but now he has Husqvarna 701 Enduro. Quite big change I would say!
The weather was amazing!! Not cold at all but the wind was quite hard and it was bothering a little bit in open places! Finally we arrived to Heikin Laavu and it was first time for me to visit this beautiful Lean-To.
I didn’t know that it’s not easy to see this place from the road. So I decided to add map marker to the TET route because this is such a lovely place! We met also another rider there and he had already made the fire so we could fully enjoy our short brake. I spotted some woodpecker knocking on a pinetree there!
November woodpecker
Then we had to ride straight to Koski TL to fill the tank because I already made 200km’s (and I can’t do much more than that!). After that we found one OffRoad route that was nice challenge for the day. In the southside of Somero there was some very nice nice small roads and once we even visited some private yard. You can see how was the chat with the houseowner if you put subtitles ON in the video. The full video of this great day here:
Warmest November day in 60 years!
Now they have promised snowfall… so next time will be maybe in 2023?!
I’ve started a project that is totally crazy! I’ve been trying to taste all energy drinks… The list is in Facebook. And sorry the comments are only in Finnish! Check here!
Early this year I paid my deposit to join this big adventure motorcycle event. But soon I got a phone call from the person who is one of the organizers… And I was asked to join as one of the “group leaders” to make this event possible to happen. And of course I said “Yes!” Moto Adventure Days is pretty much similar than any other adventure motorcycle event all around the world. This year it was the second time they arranged it and it was already many times bigger than last year, There was more than 180 participants and the event was sold out quite early in the spring.
About 9.30 PM tuesday evening
I started my ride on tuesday evening to Jämsä. It would be about 240 kilometers and I was choosing many times smaller roads. So I was in Himos only after it became dark. After Kuhmoinen I was already riding only the main paved road because it was dark. This was my route:
Route to Himos on tuesday evening
On wednesday all the teamleaders had some practise at Haaralankangas motocross track. We were testing quite many different things about riding enduro but it was too hot! After 2 hours I was loosing my concentration and after 3 hours I simply had to stop riding!
Uphill startSteep Uphill start
We had routes in 5 different categories: Black, Red-Black, Red Technical, Red Tempo and Blue. Balck route was mainly offroad even with swamp and other wet parts and then the categories after were easier and easier. Blue being mainly simple wide gravel road. I was one team leader for Red Technical routes and my team number was 16!
The event itself started on thursday when all the riders started to arrive to Himos. And on thursday afternoon about 15.30 we started the first group ride!
First ride in MAD 2022
I had one 1250GS Adventure that was stuck in the loose sand part in the beginning. But after that we didn’t have any problems. Route was the best of all three different routes I was riding. It had so many different kind of surface to ride! Second time riding was on friday morning 8.30 AM.
Second ride in MAD 2022
On this ride there was pretty much no problems at all! Third ride was on friday afternoon after 3PM
Third ride in MAD 2022
From this afternoon ride I remember that it was very hot! And that in the end of the route I made the water crossing… which was very nice experience! I have low adventure boots so I got a little bit of water inside but much. It looked deeper when I was watching the others riding there… Saturday morning was the next ride. 8.30AM!
Fourth ride in MAD 2022
On this ride there was mainly quite big bikes. All of them were much bigger than mine! The last ride of the event was on saturday afternoon. I was changing the route quite a lot… Mainly because I wanted to make it shorter.
Last ride in MAD 2022
The routemasters had been doing excellent work! These routes were super nice and fun to ride. Thank you again from me as a team leader and I think all of the riders are happy and grateful too! I can only hope I will be a team leader again next year. This was so perfect experience! I was riding back home (or to Espoo) on sunday with 2 friends. Route was pretty much the same that I was riding few days earlier. Only in EVO area we made a little bit exploring… Like this:
Exploring in EVO
In EVO
This was Great and Amazing event. I hope to see you all again in 2023!
Surprisingly june and july were moths (in the middle of the summer) and there was almost no riding at all. But when august came… It was on again! August started with “Tour de Karis” -kind of ride around this village where I live.
28 minutes video of riding in Karjaa – Snappertuna area
And quite soon again I was riding. This time to the north side of Raseborg city. I was especially interested about this road: Malmitie – Malmvägen. It looked interesting on the map and it turned out to be even better!! (in the video it’s from 4:45 to 09:15)
Malmvägen and some offroad
Then on 7th of august I did a ride with friend. That turned out to be excellent tour from Veikkola all the way to Kisko. Best parts were in Fiskars forest and then on the north side of Kärkelä Ironworks area. First Järventaustantie then Ruonankorventie and then Ahvenlammintie. Great Roads! And I made my longest riding video so far (38 minutes!).
Long ridingvideo!
Next week we’ll have MAD (Moto Adventure Days). It’s now second time this event is happening in Finland and I’m one of the guys riding in front of some group, doing so called “punainen tekninen” routes. These are mainly big and small gravel roads added with some challenging tracks and trails. Here is the description in Finnish: Harvaan liikennöityjä metsäautoteitä, polkuja ja kapeita yksityisteitä, joille ei välttämättä kannattaisi lähteä henkilöautolla yrittämään. Vastaan voi tulla pehmeetä hiekkaa, sepeliä, helppoja vesistöylityksiä ja muuta hauskaa. Toki välillä ajetaan nopeampia sorateitä. Sopii jo kokemusta omaaville kuskeille. Kuivalla kelillä pärjää hienosti karkeakuvioisilla kumeilla, mutta kostealla suosituksena nappulat. See you there!
New cafeteria/ motorcycle meeting place Cafe Lättis was opened few years ago. It has become very popular and if the weather is nice there can easily be 100 or even 200 bikes on sunday afternoon.
Last august we had the first ever XR-meeting there and we had even 12 or 13 BMW S1000XR bikes in the same time!
8th of August 2021
This cafeteria has homepage in facebook. They are quite active there and sharing new pictures and updates very often! This summer when I’m riding with my enduro the distance to to visit Lättis is quite long. But if you just make the route it can be made easily. This time the route was excellent!
Best ride so far this summer
The route from Veikkola Neste to Cafe Lättis was like 150 kilometers. I found trails that I did’nt ride before and especially the trail that starts from Suopellontie (Karkkila) was excellent!
In the map the route looked like this!
On the west side of Cafe Lättis there is one landowner who doesn’t want bikes or cars to ride through!
So you need to ride to the paved road of Rautakoskentie! It seemed there was al lot interesting trails on the west side of Lättis so gotta go exploring there again!
Elias Lönnrot kuoli vuonna 1884 ja hänen testamentissaan luki että rahaomaisuus piti käyttää Sammattiin perustettavaan tyttöjen kansakouluun. Testamentin täytäntöönpano alkoi heti mutta aikaa kului vuosia ennen kuin koulu aloitti toimintansa ja matkan varrella idea ja nimikin oli muuttunut. Elias Lönnrotin emännyyskoulu Sammatin Niemenkylässä aloitti toimintansa vuonna 1897. (lähde: https://sanataito.blogspot.com/2017/08/emannyyskoulusta-tts-lonnrot-opistoksi.html) Sammatin Nuorisoseurantalo rakennettiin v. 1911. Jo sitä ennen oli Sammatin nuorisoseura järjestänyt juhlia ja kokoontumisia Pousun isossa ladossa tai vintillä. Talo rakennettiin aivan emännyyskoulun viereen. (lähde: https://sanataito.blogspot.com/2018/04/yleison-pyynnosta-huolimatta-aikamatka.html)
Kesä 2021 Lärvätsalo Go Go pihalla
Nuorisoseuralla ei ollut alkuun mitään soitinta joten vieressä oleva emännyyskoulu lainasi urkuharmoonia jotta uudella nuorisoseurantalolla voitiin järjestää juhlia joissa soi myös musiikki. Emännyyskoululla taas ei ollut omaa juhlasalia joten he lainasivat nuorisoseurantaloa omiin juhlatilaisuuksiinsa. Sodan jälkeen emäntäkoulu alkaa olla melko tunnettu morsiamen metsästäjien keskuudessa. Nuoret miehet saapuvat kaukaakin (Lohja, Virkkala, Karjaa, Karjalohja, Saukkola, Nummi, Nummela, Pusula jne jne) kurkkimaan emäntäkoulun pihapiiriä kiertävän tiheän kuusiaidan takaa paljastuvaan pihapiiriin. Vuonna 1949 emännyyskoulusta tuli Maataloushallituksen alainen emäntäkoulu ja 1955 koulu valtiollistettiin. Samaan aikaan nuorisokulttuuri nosti jo voimakkaasti päätään ja nuorison oma musiikki ilmestyi kauppojen hyllylle sekä osaksi tanssilavojen ja juhlapaikkojen musiikkivalikoimaa. Sammatinnuorisoseurantalolla järjestettiin keskiviikkotansseja. Nuoria miehiä saapui kaukaa Helsinkiä myöten katsomaan emäntäkoulun “tarjontaa”. Aluksi musiikki oli livebändin esittämää mutta jossain vaiheessa 60-luvulla nuorisoseurantalolle saatiin radio jossa oli yhdistettynä levysoitin. Alkoivat keskiviikon levytanssit. (lähde: Antero Sarakivi, pitkäaikainen Sammatin Nuorisoseuran puheenjohtaja) Viereisen emäntäkoulun kuri oli kuitenkin edelleen tiukkaa. Iltakymmeneen mennessä tyttöjen oli oltava takaisin koululla ja omassa sängyssään nukkumassa. Tämä oli varmastikin osasyy siihen että miehet “joutuvat” palaamaan aina keskiviikkoisin uudestaan tapamaan morsianehdokastaan. Vuonna 1966 julkaistaan Kari Kuuvan rock kappale “Lärvätsalo Go Go” joka on omiaan lisäämään nuorisoseurantalon suosiota juhlapaikkana.
Kari Kuuva: Kappale on kirjoitettu kiertueella Rovaniemellä. Aluksi kappaleen nimi oli Säynätsalo Go Go, koska olimme äskettäin olleet kyseisessä paikassa keikalla, mutta se vääntyi myyttiseksi Lärvätsaloksi laulun työstämisen myötä. (lähde: https://www.studio55.fi/vapaalla/article/tarinoita-kari-kuuvan-menestyskappaleiden-takaa/136056#gs.oyk7ks) Sammatin nuorisoseurantalo ei ole kooltaan kovinkaan suuri. Sisään mahtui enintään parisataa henkilöä. Mutta keskiviikkotanssien villeimpään aikaan lippuja myytiin helposti jopa 400! Osa miesporukasta vietti aikaansa enimmäkseen metsän siimeksessä siemaillen rohkaisuryyppyjä jotta uskaltavat lähestyä ihastustaan. Eivät sitten välttämättä kuitenkaan käyneet illan aikana edes juhlapaikassa sisällä kun jäi ehkä vähän “ryyppy päälle”… Kari kuuva kertoo toisessa haastattelussaan kappaleen nimen synnystä hieman enemmän. (https://musiikintekijat.fi/artikkeli/kari-kuuva-60-vuotta-elama-taynna-rokkia-ja-pelargoniaa/). “Lärvätsalo” ei siis alunperin viitannut suoraan Sammatin Nuorisoseurantaloon paikkana vaan illalla tapahtuvaan toimintaan nimeltään ryyppääminen. Mutta Kari Kuuvan rokkikappaleen myötä se kuitenkin yhdistettiin tuohon Niemenkylässä tien vierellä sijainneeseen nuorisoseurantaloon niin voimakkaasti että jopa taksikuskit Helsingissä tiesivät mihin ajettiin jos Lärvätsaloon piti päästä. Melko pitkään nuorisoseurantalolla esitettiin myös näytelmiä mutta keskiviikkotanssien suosion huippuvuosina näyttämö purettiin ja talon päätyyn rakennettiin tiskijukalle oma koroke ja hankittiin omat kunnolliset DJ-laitteet. Tiskijukkia kävi Helsingistä saakka soittamassa levyjä. Vuonna 1970 nuorisoseurantalon vastapäätä avattiin myös grilliravintola. Se pysyi auki melko pitkään vielä tanssi-iltojen loppumisen jälkeenkin. Taisi olla auki vielä jopa 2000-luvulla. 70-luvun puoleen väliin tullessa keskiviikkotanssien suosio hiipui. Helsinkiin ja muihin lähikaupunkeihin oli alkanut ilmestyä kunnollisia “Diskoravintoloita” ja iltaa sai jatkaa paljon myöhempään kuin klo 22:een. Se miksi “Lärvätsalo Go Go” hyytyi kokonaan on kuitenkin monen asian summa. Viimeinen keskiviikkotanssi-ilta järjestettiin v. 1975. Joka tapauksessa on selvää että tämän talon (ja siitä tehdyn kappaleen) merkitys on valtava nuorisokulttuurin kehityksessä 60-luvun lopussa ja 70-luvun alussa ainakin Länsi-Uudellamaalla.
It looked like good weather for the weekend so… Let’s go riding! We started saturday morning and were heading north. FIrst stop we made somewhere near Rekijoki when we saw young Highlanders beside the road.
Young cows
But they didn’t like us too much!
Outta here!
Riding to Koski TL, Mellilä, Alastaro, Vampula, Huittinen… and stopping to take pictures every now and then.
My bike in autumn colors
Not far north from Huittinen we were already in Pirkanmaa district and it’s most western city: Sastamala. It was created on January 1, 2009, when the municipalities of Vammala, Äetsä and Mouhijärvi were consolidated into a single town. Population is little bit over 24000 (Smaller than Raseborg). In the village of Keikyä there is one of the most interesting suspension bridges in Finland! (Keikyän riippusilta). It was built first time in 1948 but it was restored and re-built few times since. This newest one is made by the people from the village without actual funding.
230 meters long suspension bridge
And then we arrived to Sastamala centrum area (Old Vammala). It’s nice small town with lakes almost everywhere around. And now I can say that I’ve checked almost every possible street of the city!
Sastamala city by motorcycle
After we took our stuff to the hotel room we noticed that finally the sun has showed itself from behind the clouds. It was definitely the best time to check the medieval church of Tyrvää (St Olaf’s church). I had also my drone flying there and taking pictures of that beautiful area!
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St Olaf’s church October evening
Next morning we took a ride to another medieval stonechurch which is only 6km’s north from the previous one.
St Mary’s church
On the other side of the lake is the “Ellivuori” Ski-Resort. The mountain top of Ellivuori is called “Devil’s Mountain”. This place we checked next…
Peikkovuori Hut
Emil Danielson’s Stone Castle
Pirunvuori – The Devil’s Mountain
The route from home to Sastamala was like this (250km):
In the beginning of July 2021 the Linesman of Finland (Roland from Austria) gave the task to me! I was ofcourse very flattered about this and I was thinking should I take such a responsibility to me since I’m not very active rider anymore, But from the other hand I want to be more active! So here’s my reason to go riding Enduro more often!
I’m the new Linesman of TET Finland!
For my first active thing I went riding! Took my XChallenge very early in the morning…
Sun is about to rise…
I didn’t have too much planning done. First to ride to Iso-Valkee lake and to the TET route and then start to follow the route to Hämeenlinna and beyond. My main goal was to change the eastern route to go to EVO -area. It was about 1,5 hours ride to Iso-Valkee.
Just before Kisko Kko (Church village of Kisko)Somewhere in Kiikala forest
About 6.30 am I arrived to Lake Iso-Valkee -I had the video camera also with me!
Iso-Valkee as beautiful as always!This place is already in Kanta-Häme (Tavastia proper)
Riding up to the lake highlands of Tavastia… 150 meters AMSL
Getting closer to HämeenlinnaShort visit to Aulanko area in HämeenlinnaAnd the TET route goes through Parola military area…
FInally I found the place to stay for the night quite close to EVO area and next morning I would meet Lauri and we would ride together few interesting roads of EVO.
Early morning in Kuohijärvi
After 2 days of riding in this interesting area I can say that I know area quite well!
These roads I was riding in EVO.
1 interesting road in EVOHere I separated from Lauri
I wasn’t sure where to ride on the 2nd day but the bike was making some strange sound! I got little bit help from Autohuolto Markku Ruuskanen in Luopioinen to find out that it wasn’t the rear wheel bearing that was making sound. But I still decided to continue riding south… I was thinkin maybe to spend the night somewhere in Forssa (???)
I checked this Off-Road route near Toijala
But finally it was riding all the way back home! And it almost 400km’s in one day! The whole trip was like this:
2 days Enduro trip…
And after few days of planning the new TET Finland route is ready for download!
Go - Za 