The bus trip from Oulu to Tromsø for the Tromsø International Film Festival will be organised also for year 2012!

The bus leaves from Oulu Central Bus Station at 2:00 AM in the night between Wed the 18th and Thu the 19th January 2012, and it will be back on Sun 22nd.

You can find more information on the web page of the trip and you can discuss about it on its Facebook page.

Join the trip for a wonderful experience in the darkness of the far north!

See more pictures

Yesterday I forgot to use suntan cream and my arms will happily remember that for some days on. The temperature went down a bit, say below 30, so I had to get to the hottest area around here in order to compensate.

Yesterday I cycled in the so-called Crete Senesi, a region also known as the Accano desert, which tells everything. It's in the area south from Siena and it's completely different from the green hills of Chianti, which is from Siena to the north. Crete Senesi is yellow and white in this time (creta means clay, and the soil is largely made of it), and a few trees at the horizon. I also manage to get an off-road track I couldn't find even in Google Maps (that's the reason a part of the track below is wrong). However, the route took me to Monteroni d'Alba and from there up up and up hill (and off road) towards San Martino in Grania, with no trees and as a matter of fact, nobody around. Which is good as there were no cards, but at a certain point I felt really there's nobody anywhere. Fortunately I managed to get back to a main road, and I reached the village of Asciano.

It was 14 o' clock and I was wondering whether to get back to Siena or continue. Well, I decided to get to Abbazia di Monte Oliveto Maggiore, as it was highlighted on the guidebook. Here I found myself in trouble with the GPS, as it was telling me a different route than the roadsigns. I decided that the roadsings are more reliable and I ended up to the highes peak of the area (Chiusure), had I taken the other route maybe I would have sweated less.

Fortunately, from Chiusure to Buonconvento it was all downhill and I manage to get a nice small train (with air conditioning, oh yes), to get back from Siena. It's great that you can put the bike on any local train around here, I don't have to think about the time it takes to get back to Siena (and with all these hills it is really a relief).

View Larger Map

Altitude profile:

Different country, same bicycle. This year I moved a bit further to the south and decided to cycle in Tuscany.

Yesterday I cycled 70 km from Florence towards the Chianti area, and I realised that around here the problem is not the distance, but the altitude. From Florence to Monteriggioni there are three hills and the third one (the one of Castellina in Chianti), is more than 500 m. Having a bike with more than 20 kg of stuff on it, I had to walk for some time. And with around 35 degrees, it wasn't the best cycling of all time. But when you're done, you definitely feel happy!

As I said, this year I won't have the time to update my blog everyday, too hot around here and too complicated to find electricity everywhere, so I guess I'll be adding some new pictures every now and then!

See more pictures

View Larger Map

And here is the elevation profile:

So on Thursday I packed Maurizio's bike (a 7-gear city bike) just with some spare clothes and headed to my parents' place. Fantastic weather, sunshine and about 17 degrees, perfect temperature not to sweat too much. The main differences from Northern Europe are quite evident: just a few cycling paths (mainly in downtown Florence) and loads, loads of cars and lorries. However, the journey was very smooth, as I was pedalling across the valley. It'd be another story to get to the mountains. Guess I'll do it some day, maybe with another bike.

The scenery was nice, but the amount of houses along the streets still takes away the beauty of the nature: for that you have no other choice than take a detour to the near hills. One thing is for sure: if you have enough strength in your legs (you can always improve it along the way), using the bike is the best choice in big towns. The queues of cars are unbelievable, especially when you realise that you are so much faster by bike! Here people use a lot of scooters and mopeds, but think about saving money on fuel, avoid the search for parking it (yes, here it's difficult also to find a proper place to park a moped), and after all you don't have to think about doing some fitness

Pictures

[Show as slideshow]

View Larger Map

nel portarvi le mie felicitazioni per il vostro matrimonio, vorrei innanzitutto ringraziarvi per avermi dato la possibilità di partecipare per la prima volta nella mia vita ad un matrimonio laico in Italia. Fino ad adesso ero rimasto stupito dalla scelta di molti amici atei che al momento del matrimonio sono arrivati al triste compromesso di sposarsi con rito religioso per una questione di "cerimonia", o ancor di più "per non scontentare i parenti". Il matrimonio è una scelta che si decide e si compie in due; il resto, anche la cerimonia, è un mero contorno, di cui si può sempre fare a meno.

Grazie ancora per rendermi partecipe di un evento che vede come coprotagonista uno dei miei amici di più vecchia data, un amico che mi è rimasto vicino anche negli anni del nuovo millennio vissuti dal sottoscritto lontano dalla terra natìa. Devo ammettere che non avrei immaginato di trovarmi un giorno oratore nella sala maggiore del comune di Pistoia. È veramente un grande onore, una grande emozione e, per la maggior parte delle persone presenti in questa stanza: non preoccupatevi, questa sarà con tutta probabilità la prima e ultima volta.

La mia amicizia con Manfredi è nata nel comune periodo adolescenziale, nel quale abbiamo creato e condiviso tante idee e situazioni, delle quali è forse più onorevole non parlare in questa sala, ma che molto probabilmente non potrò esimermi dal citare durante il pranzo. Basti dire che sono molto orgoglioso dei risultati raggiunti da Manfredi negli anni successivi, sia nella vita lavorativa che, adesso, nella vita sentimentale: so con certezza che è una persona molto affettuosa, e sono convinto che sarà anche un grande marito e, a quanto noto, molto a breve, padre.

Comunque "hyvä puhe on lyhyt puhe", un buon discorso è un discorso breve: vorrei pertanto concludere leggendovi l'introduzione di Walt Whitman alla sua raccolta di poesie Foglie d'erba.

"Ascolta, disse la mia anima,
scriviamo per il mio corpo (in fondo siamo una cosa sola) versi tali
che se, da morto, dovessi invisibilmente tornare sulla terra,
o in altre sfere, lontano, lontano da qui,
e riassumere i canti a qualche gruppo di compagni
(in armonia col suolo, gli alberi, i venti, e con la furia delle onde),
io possa ancora sentire miei questi versi,
per sempre, come adesso che, per la prima volta, io qui segno il mio nome
firmando per l'anima ed il corpo."

Ecco, vorrei che la firma che oggi ufficializzerà il vostro legame di matrimonio, più che un augurio di felici anni futuri – del resto del futuro nessuno sa niente – sia per voi il proposito di scrivere, insieme, tanti nuovi versi per l'anima ed il corpo, versi talmente belli che, qualunque sia il vostro futuro, possano restare vostri per sempre, in armonia col suolo, gli alberi, i venti, e con la furia delle onde, in qualsiasi luogo, anche in altre sfere, lontano, lontano da qui.

Di nuovo congratulazioni.

Raffaello Tesi
Discorso per il matrimonio di Manfredi e Michela
Pistoia, 10.10.2010

Pictures

[Show as slideshow]

No, there's no mistake in the title. This stage of my Tour de Finlande has been exactly the Tour the Helsinki, which is a community ride of 140 km around the Helsinki metropolitan area. I knew about the race already the last year, but I was too late to participate, as I read about it the day it took place. So this year I had already enrolled in May, just to be sure I could make it. And it has been really unforgettable, so I'll try to be as detailed as possible about this day.

The morning started with a four-egg omelette, just to make sure to have enough energy for the day. There are service points along the route, with bananas, raisins and pickled cucumbers, but you never know what happens. The big decision in the morning was however what to wear. The temperature when I left home was 9 degrees, but the forecast promised 15 degrees for the day. So I took just a T-shirt and the wind jacket, and opted for attaching the race number directly on the T-shirt. And it was definitely the right choice, otherwise I would have sweated like hell.

I cycled from home to the Helsinki Olympic Velodrome – where the race started and finished – so I did some 13 km as warming up, and the feeling was definitely good. I took off my wind jacket immediately: my arms were a bit cold, but body temperature was fine.

I got to the Velodrome at about 45 minutes before the start, that was at 11: the place was already full with riders, as this year there has been a record number of over 1800 participants. The competition worked in this way: if you are a pro, you just ride with your group (or alone) at the speed you want. If you are not (like me), you have the chance to follow a pace group, with leaders who ride at a predefined average speed. Plenty of choices, as there were eight group for men (20, 22, 24, 26, 28, 30, 32 and 35 km/h) and two for women (25 and 29).

The choice for the average speed was something that made me think a lot in the last days: all the recorded times I have with my bike are with the entire luggage on, and the average speed has always been about 18-20 km/h. No idea how fast I can go without bags; furthermore, when you stay in a group you don't get any wind, so practically you can keep a much higher pace than when you're alone. I chose for 28 km/h, something in the middle between the possible choices, with the idea that in case I can't do it, I can always slow down and get into the next group. In the huge corridor they made in Mäkelänkatu for the start the leaders were already in place, so I got close to the leader who had the orange flag with 28 written on top.

At 11 sharp we started! For the first 11 km we rode as a huge convoy at a restricted speed to get out of the town all together: after that it was up to each participant to decide the pace. There was such a huge crowd that I immediately lost sight of my leader. End of the story: after those 11 km I ended up in the women's group of 29 km/h. As a matter of fact it was a mixed group, maybe more men than women as there were only 200 participants of the gentle sex out of almost 2000 people. Whatever: now that I am here I'll take this group and never look back, I thought. And it was a good choice: although I was the only one in sight with just T-shirt on (many questioned me whether I was freezing) and a mountain bike with hugely large tyres as compared to the thin racing bicycles around me, I felt really good in keeping the speed. I was definitely happy: good pace, not too much sweating, legs and lungs working well on uphills, I mean, everything was perfect.

During the race there were four service points: at 39.7, 58.9, 95.9 and 117.8 km from the start. Didn't know what was the policy of the pace groups: it ended up we stopped just once after 95.9 km for 5 minutes, and that was also a good choice. As a matter of fact in the morning I opted to take the handlebar bag with me, which was full of bananas, chocolate bars and yoghurt, so maybe if I knew I could have taken even more and avoided stopping. On the other side I had to go to the toilet, so after all one stop was a must anyway.

After 100 km I started to think about the end of the race: I was feeling very good and not especially tired. What to do? Shall I go faster? The problem when you start to go on your own is that you get the resistance of the wind, and the legs could start to fail. The choice became clearer at around 120 km from the start, 20 to go: one of our two leaders started to get tired (hard work it must be staying on front all the time!) and got back in the group. At the same time I saw a few riders increasing the speed and overtaking the group. I thought: now or never.

From that point on the real race started for me. We were a group of about 20 people getting on front and then leaving behind the 29 km/h group. The first ones were speeding up too much, so I couldn't follow their pace. Some others fell back, and after a couple of km I found myself alone in the middle, that is, the worst it could happen. My legs started to burn and soon I was overtaken by a guy: better like that, as I just hid myself in the vacuum behind his shoulders! We went on for some km like that, but of course while I was regaining power he was getting tired: at a certain point he started to look back and I decided to tell him to work in team. And we worked very well: alternating one other in front we were able to reach the group of riders which were a couple of hundred metres in front of us. It was like in a real competition, really exciting!

The finish line was getting closer as the tall buildings of the capital started to surround us: it was also unbelievable the amount of spectators at the side spurring on us; that also made the whole thing even more real. The last kilometres were the hardest for me, as I guess for anyone else: entering the Velodrome was anyway so exciting that I even managed to make a last sprint and overtake a bunch of people in front of me before passing the finish line. I was and I am still extremely happy: more like this! More of these group competitions! While I was still in the Velodrome checking my time I was approached by the guy with whom I did the team work to run away from the group: we just thanked each other for the job, and most of all for the feeling of cycling in a real race!

My Tour de Finlande 2010 ends here. Until the end I wasn't sure whether this would have been the last stage of my summer ride or not. But the cold weather of the last days, some work I have to do the next week, and most of all the need to get back to a "normal" life after so many months convinced me that this is the best end for my long run. And it has gone even beyond my imagination. From the 5th of June up to today I have cycled for 4353 km around Finland in 49 days (and with not even a punched tyre!), and sailed for four. It was something I had never done before: I had never had such a long free summer since the high school, and I would have never imagined that I could cycle for so long. Well, now I can say that it's possible, and this can definitely change my holiday plans for the next years.

I might be posting some statistics and details about this tour later on, but for what concerns the real thing, it is now history. Thanks to everybody who had the patience to read these posts, the ones who spurred on me along the way, the (so many) ones (I couldn’t have ever imagined) who hosted me overnight, and most of all to my legs, which still seem to be working, and still retain their stocking-looking tan. Let's check better tomorrow anyway. À bientôt!

"You just give me a bike and half of a draft of a plan. I'll take care of the rest"

Day 53 – Tour de Finlande 2010: Tour de Helsinki 2010

Trip distance: 140 km (route)
Actual trip time: 4 h 45 m 26 s
Final time (including stopover): 4 h 51 m 22 s
Average speed: 29.5 km/h
Distance from day 1: 4353 km
 

Although cloudy, today there has been no rain. A strong wind came up, together with the temperature going down. It reminded me of the weather I experienced in Norway, don't even want to know how it is like right now over there. However, I have to admit that it’s easier to cycle with these temperatures, as you don’t sweat too much, and I definitely feel less tired in colder weather.

As I said, a few km after trespassing river Kymijoki I got to Pyhtää, where I visited its old church, dating back to 1460. It is the one with the most preserved paintings from its Catholic era I have seen during my journey. And it's definitely something unique you don't see in traditional Catholic churches of Southern Europe, as also the painting are very old, being them from the time before the Reformation.

During the route I stumble into the King's Road once again, so I decided to follow it instead of the main road as it was much trafficked. It's still nice to be in the countryside, even if now it starts to be too cold. The only drawback of the day was an unleashed dog, which didn't have anything better to do than running after me. It's the first time it happens in this tour: I've met many dogs in the countryside, and noticed how much they like to barks at bikers, but usually they are on a leash, which has saved many legs I suppose. I mean, this one just run freely after me and even got so close that it bit my back bag! Fortunately its "surveillance area" ended a few dozen of metres from the house it came from, so it stopped running. I was so angry I started to think about the best way to kill a dog with a knife. Fortunately nothing bad happened to me, but it was really close.

My journey ended in Kotka, where the wind was blowing really strong. After two days in the woods I needed to find a warm place for the night. So, for the first time in this tour, I got a room in a gasthaus. And what a room! This is an old manor house from the thirties, and in my room there’s an original stove from the time. The owner had already put some woods to warm it up. I have also a kitchen all for me, and from the window I had the chance to see a wonderful sunset. Very inspiring place, I'm happy for the choice!

Kotka is famous for its port, which is one of the most important industrial port of Finland, and it has several attractions related to the sea, namely the Maretarium, a huge aquarium showing the species of fish that live in Finnish water, and the Maritime Museum, which hosts also the icebreaker Tarmo, built in 1907 and one of the oldest icebreaker of the world that still "alive". So, tomorrow I'll stay here, spending my time around fish, museums and icebreakers. And then…

Day 52 – Tour de Finlande 2010: Ruotsinpyhtää – Pyhtää – Kotka

Trip distance: 56 km
Actual trip time: 3 h 18 m
Distance from day 1: 4211 km
 

View Larger Map

It stopped after an hour or so, but it was too late to wait for the tent to dry up, so I packed everything as wet as possible and got on my way towards east. This time I was lucky: once I stopped for a coffee at the first gas station, it started raining very hard. The coffee became two and another forced stop of an hour as a result. I had anyway some e-mails to answer to, so the time wasn't really wasted. And once again, just a few minutes after I restarted cycling, here comes the rain again. This time I didn't stop, even because I had no place where to stop. And after all, I got all the water-proof equipment needed, why do I bother?

It was then that I got to Pernå, the place they mentioned yesterday in the news for some bears that were hanging around the houses looking for food. One was killed during the night, but the police stopped searching for the second one as they thought it might have well run into the deep forest, after what happened to its mate I guess it was a good idea. I didn't see bears either, actually not even people around, everybody scared? Guess it's the rain. And since autumn has arrived also here, everything was closed. Also the nice church you seen in the picture at the top of this post.

After a few km I reached Loviisa, the largest town in the area. It also has a nice red-brick church, that one also closed for renovation or something. Fortunately the town museum was opened (finally, at least!), where I had the chance to see a nice exhibition of photographs of Loviisa, placed in the strange attic of the old building which hosts the museum itself.

The weather got better in Loviisa, sun was shining and I was smiling, but grey clouds were always at the horizon, so I thought to stay inside for the night. To get to Ruotsinpyhtää it was only a dozen of km and it was just 4 p.m., so I called the gasthaus in the village to make sure there was a free room. Good that I called: all the rooms were sold out. I wonder who travels at this time and with this weather. I called then the gasthouse in Loviisa: closed. The owner told me anyway that the camping is still open and it has also cottages and rooms. Good: I called there and the cheapest room was 62 euro. Bloody hell! And what about camping? "No, we don't accept tents anymore at this time of the year". Unbelievable. Better to start cycling towards Ruotsinpyhtää.

Conclusion: here I am below a tree in a half-wet tent. Fortunately the scenery is beautiful as I am just at the lakeside. Outside it's silent: maybe also the rain wants to respect the scenery. Or maybe it just waits for me to fall asleep and make a nice and resonant surprise.

Day 51 – Tour de Finlande 2010: Porvoo – Pernå – Loviisa -    Ruotsinpyhtää

Trip distance: 69 km
Actual trip time: 3 h 47 m
Distance from day 1: 4155 km

View Larger Map

So, the last time I blogged something I was in Turku. From there I quickly went by train back to Helsinki as time was running out. Basically I had to be in Espoo for the Espoo Ciné film festival, which ended the day before yesterday. During this time I didn't drop cycling, as living in Helsinki I did my 20-25 km per day going back and forth between the capital and Espoo.

Furthermore I had to attend a party in Kerava, and when going there by bike (approx. 25 km from Helsinki city centre) I experienced for the first time what means to cycle in a big town: you get lost many times. Of course I had maps in my phone, but when you get in the woods somewhere with no street signs, I can tell you it's always hard to make a choice at a crossroad: and most of the times it's the wrong one.

That is also what happened this morning when I left Vantaa towards Porvoo. The metropolitan area of the Finnish capital is very well equipped with motorways, and also with cycling roads for the local traffic. I mean local, that is, it's good if you have to go from one block to another, it's deadly if you want to get out of the metropolis, as they are not designed for that! To make a long story short: it's easy to get trapped in a huge network of roads by bicycle, and in Finland this fortunately happens only in the Helsinki metropolitan area. I was so relieved when, after 25 km, I found the first street sign with Porvoo written on it. Didn't care about the road number, and whether there was a shorter way to do it, just happy I got the right one after all.

I got to Porvoo at 4 in the afternoon, just to find out that the museums here are surprisingly closed every Monday *and* Tuesday. Well, I managed anyway to visit the cathedral, and cycle around the old town with its wooden houses, which is one of the most picturesque in Finland.

You can feel that autumn is close not only from the temperatures but also from the light. I bought some food and left the town at around half eight, and I had to hurry in finding a proper forest where to sleep. At nine it already started to be so dark, that I had to use the torch to check that I put everything in the tent.

Funnily enough, today I was thinking for some reasons about bears, and I just heard from the news they saw a bear with a couple of cubs just 22 km from here. Well, let's think positive: it's a big distance, especially when you've got children

PS: Yes, the air mattress still has a hole, completely forgot it!!!

Day 50 – Tour de Finlande 2010: Vantaa – Porvoo

Trip distance: 85 km
Actual trip time: 4 h 50 m
Distance from day 1: 4086 km

View Larger Map

And with today's leg I reached 4000 km. I admit I really can't explain the feeling, it is a bit like living in a different dimension. Just to make things clear: the amount of km is really a lot, but this is not an extreme sport, nor a competition. You just need time and not necessarily a pre-training, the muscles will come little by little, you can decide how many km you want to do in a day, and the speed you want to keep. In any case I'm still impressed, as I had never done anything like this before.

I spent the morning in Kustavi, where I also visited the local church. As you can see from the picture there are several miniature models of old ships inside. In the old times it was common to make these small replicas in order to protect the seamen of the village while they were at sea. In those times journeys could last months, so that was also a way to remember them.

I took also a detour from Kustavi to go to check how much the ferry to the island of Brandö in the Åland archipelago cost: 22 euro seem quite a lot for me for such a short distance, although it wasn't clear to me whether that was the price also for cyclists. I didn't have time to get there anyway, however I might choose another route the time I will.

The cycling continued with a strong wind coming from any direction except than from the back, but today I didn't care too much: I wasn't in a hurry, and happy to know that I would get that 4000 at the end of the day. This is the thrashing period in the countryside and the colour of these golden fields is very very beautiful. Best time for cycling over here, I'd say.

After a ferry connection, maybe the last one of this tour, I visited Naantali, which has a wonderful old centre with colourful wooden houses. The town is maybe most famous for the Moominworld, although I have to admit I don't feel that young any longer to get there.

The last km of the journey brought me finally to Turku, which I'm planning to visit tomorrow. It's still open whether I'll continue the tour or have another break (this time longer), I haven't decided yet. At least if you don't see updates in the next days you know the reason.

Day 49 – Tour de Finlande 2010: Kustavi – Taivassalo – Naantali – Turku

Trip distance (excluding ferries): 99 km
Actual trip time: 5 h 50 m
Distance from day 1: 4001 km
 

View Larger Map