This year MotoAdventureDays took place for the fourth time!
I missed the first year, but I was one of the the group leaders the second year and now it was already the third time for me. Each year has been an improvement so the challenges for next year’s event are getting pretty big (when/if there is still room for improvement?)
Here is my compilation video of the 2024 event:
Muutama foto lisää täällä!
After some resting I was ofcourse riding again. So in July I took some interesting adventures and explorations around the area where I live!
First ride was 15th of July. I was checking the most southern parts of the mainland in Raseborg.
This ride has interesting very narrow canal in the beginning. This canal almost everyone remembers because one boating accident that happened there 14 years ago.
The second ride was 20th of July. I was checking some of the best trails near my home. It was also quite hot day.
Third ride was 21st of July. That was the group ride for “Pohjolan kurapyöräilijät” (Nordic dirt riders). We had super fun day!
Next ride was 23rd of July. I was finally checking the Kemiö island, the second biggest islanf in Finland.
Next ride was 27th of July. It is the seven sleepers day in Finland.
The last ride of July was on the last day of July. That I did with my friend Lauri in Hanko area.
I also shared a “remix” video of one of the best parts of that ride in Hanko area.
In August it will be the MotoAdventureDays again. I’m one of the team leaders (“Peura”) and I’m also doing some presentation about TET Finland. See you there!
I spent the night in Rovaniemi in someones private home. I never met this guy before and he was still offering me this. Some great people still exist! In the morning I continued my route south from Rovaniemi (ok, first it was east, then south). This was still TransEuroTrail Finland section 7.
I had about 130km route to check and first 40km were excellent!
In the video it’s the first 5 minutes…
Finally I was in the crossroads with TET section 19. Now I had to make a decision about where to next??
But that decision was actually made for me because on the previous evening I noticed that my front fork was leaking badly and the rear shock was soft (again!).
So when I cought some paved road I started to ride to south (I wasn’t thinking yet that I will ride as fast home as possible but that’s exactly what happened.) First I rode to Ranua… then to Pudasjärvi… and soon I was in Oulu and I took a swim in a nice beach of Vihiluoto.
I couldn’t find accommodation that was cheap enough so I continued all the way to Pyhäsalmi and stayed in a small cabin in Emolahti camping area (40€).
The route for the day 6 looked like this:
North Adventure Day 7 was only the ride back home on the paved road. I got heavy rain from Jämsä to Padasjoki.
After a great night sleep in Inari Uruniemi camping (30€ only!) I was more than ready to start exploring new possible section for TransEuroTrail Finland.
First I had to ride the section 7 until it’s starting point which was still more than 100km away behind Pokka village. And it was paved road all the way there.
Actually before the “starting point” of section 7 I turned away from the paved road and all the fun started!
I soon joined with section 1 and was riding 27km together with the “main section”! And that was maybe the best road/ track that I had on this day!
Then I had route ahead of me that I knew nothing about. I planned the route to make it a section of it’s own but at some point I realised that it could be a continuation of an already existing section 7!
So all this new route would be just a new beginning part of that section. And after the update the section 7 is now 770km long!
So I was riding all the way down to Rovaniemi and it was almost 500km of riding!
Here’s the video of that day:
The route for the day 5 looks like this:
My friends Eero & Lauri decided to continue west towards Kilpisjärvi. I had other plans so I started riding east. I was riding a big road all day. First it was paved road until I was in Finland and then from Karigasniemi to Angeli and Inari it was big gravel road.
In Vuottašjávri I took a short break and checked the place beside the lake. But there was too many mosquitos and black flies. So I continued riding.
The landscape and views are incredible in this area! So I can say that I did enjoy my ride. It was 370km all together!
The village of Angeli I have never visited before. I had to search the result for a quite a long time about how many people lives in this village. It’s less than 100!
The road from Karigasniemi south to Angeli and then east to Inari is also part of TransEuroTrail Finland section 7.
Here’s the video of this day. It’s the road up and away from Alta, so called Alta Canyon road.
The weather forecast was saying that it will rain today but we desided to go anyway. And the plan was to ride north first to Enontekiö, then to Kautokeino (Norway) and from there we took the “Old Postroad” to Alta.
In Hetta (Enontekiö) we filled the tanks and in Norway border we took few pictures. For my friend Lauri it was his first time out from Finland with the motorcycle!
After 3 hours of riding we reached Kautokeino and we enjoyed lunch in Pit Stop Café & Restaurant. It was simple grillfood with very reasonable price. Here we got few drops of rain but other than that we had pretty nice weather all day!
Then 15km north from Kautokeino starts the challenge!
The Alta Old Post Road is very well known route for adventure riders! It had been my dream for many years and now I was here!
The south part is about 60km and it is the more challenging one. There’s actually no really hard parts but after 10-15 km of riding started the puddles and more rocky parts. I started to count how many big puddles there was but after 30 (something) I got confused in the calculations.
The last picture is from Mázejohka old bridge and it’s definitely on of the best-preserved bridges on the route! But soon after this comes the place where one Norwegian couple crashed badly few years ago.
The north part of the Old Post Road is almost like a normal road. You can drive there nicely with a normal car or with street motorcycle. And the scenery there is simply amazing!
The route for today was about 300km and it looked like this:
My friends Eero & Lauri took a different direction from Alta so after this day I was riding alone again. I found very nice cabin from Strand Camping with 51€.
The 30 minutes video of the day you can watch here:
Day 2 started with a light rain but it was over before I started packing my bike. Second time packing was already much faster and easier (& better). First I was riding back to Muonio and from there I called my friends Eero & Lauri who I knew were staying somewhere close in a cabin. I also had a place there for the next 1 or 2 nights.
We wanted to explore the area and make a warm up for the next day. And it ended up being such an amazing riding day! First to Pakasaivo lake and then some smaller tracks/ roads to Äkäslompolo village where we filled the tanks and enjoyed some great lunch in Ravintola Rouhe. Then we continued to the Rautuvaara mining area and we spent maybe 2 hours exploring the tracks there. That was such an amazing area! After the mining area we still checked some smaller tracks in the forest of Kolari and Muonio. For me it was first 70km to the cabin and then 200km with my friends. The route was like this:
The video of the day is here:
The train from Helsinki arrived to Kolari station around 11. About 1 hour later I got my bike out from the car-carrier train.
First thing I did I wanted to find a better place to change to my actual riding gear. That I did in the parking area of one restaurant that wasn’t open yet. There was also gas station just beside and I filled my tank. Then I started riding!
Pretty soon I arrived to the gate of an old mine. It was Rautuvaara that stopped working as a mine in 1988!
Big disappointment was the possibilities for eating in Muonio on Sunday afternoon!
SEO Muonio right beside the main road has Rolls hamburger restaurant. But I didn’t want anything from there. Other than that there was no option! Harriniva resort has restaurant but the kitchen opens only at 5pm! SO I decided to ride straight to my accommodation and they promised to make some food for me! (What a great service!)
Here is the route I did on the first day:
From Kolari to Muonio I was riding TransEuroTrail Finland Section 3. Here’s the video I made of that day:
Big recommendation for the place I stayed for the night!!
It was Old School of Kihlanki village and I found the place from booking.com. Check from the end of the video… I was amazed especially how helpful and friendly the hosts were!
On the last days befere my “big adventure” I changed the tires to my bike. Metzeler MC 360 Mid Hard was already pretty much gone from the front. Rear had still about 5-6mm of knobby.
New tires were Heidenau K60 and they were quite perfect for me in this situation!
Then started packing:
I was very happy about the size of all the luggage! Even I decided to take my tent and camping mattress with me (and I didn’t need them!) I was ready for my biggest adventure so far.
First leg was to ride to Helsinki and put my bike to the train (Helsinki – Kolari). And after 15 hours in the train I was far north in Lapland!
My bike seems to work nicely!! I did already a trip to Himos and back.
The right side (365km) was the trip from my home to Himos and I was following TET Section 1 from Somero to Evo. That was super nice ride!
Then returning home I took the left route and it was only about 310km but it had also more than 50% of paved roads…
Then yesterday I changed the tires for my bike. Now I have Heidenau K60 and those are more like 50/50 tires but they also should last quite a lot of kilometers. Since in 3 days I’m leaving to my summer adventure trip… First I’m taking the train from Helsinki to Kolari and that will be 921km and it will last 14 hours!
Today I took a proper testride for my new tires. I checked one POI from TET Finland Section 5.
I was adding this place to the list of POI’s on last update and now I can say that it’s very nice place but there was no firewood and that’s a pity! Here’s a video from today’s ride:
So next sunday will be my first day far away north of Finland!
You can follow my trip here.
GoZa Mite 