Random bike shots from the north..

[wiicrackpot]

Bet it was good spinning your ache's and pain's away after your house move,
another thing in common, i've always used corks trimmed from wine bottles as bar end stops,
you go one step further with Champagne one, popping out as well.

Have been bidding like hell on Thomson Elite stems and seatposts to no avail, also keeping tabs on USE Alien,
they've yet to fall into the price bracket i am willing to pay but one day one will, we'll see.
been thinking about a B17 for my build, how long did it take for you to break in your Swallow? (or is that a Swift ).

[Mika K]

It's actually Team Professional with bit thicker leather. Not so comfy saddle than my B-17s but works better at riding trails and does not wore so much in case of rain and mud etc. Btw this took a year or two to break in, which is considerably more than weeks/months it has taken with my b-17s..

Thomson products are all very good quality and worth the price. At the moment have there send and one seatpost from them and again planning some new ones.

[Mika K]

Today right after returning home from office had a light dinner and went for a ride to enjoy the summer evening. Mrs.Mrok promised to take care of the kids and also cut the grass, so..



The weather was exceptional as it was really warm and practically no wind at all, which is almost miracle at this part of Finland as we live at the coast. At the country road called Lännentie the scenery were mighty nice and my Canyon wanted to check what can be found outside of asphalt but luckily the grass was not more green at the other side (or it was too green actually) and she preferred pavement at the end. Lucky me.



Stats for the days ride: total 134km, avg speed 26,5km/h ja max speed 61km/h. Rider himself still 189cm tall and little bit fat 110kg office worker

[Mika K]

Last week it has been more or less raining all the time. Still have had time to do some small evening rides every now and then. Yesterday left early from work as it was my last working day before my three week summer vacation. Biked to downtown and had a huge bbq-burger and beer at one of my favorite restaurants. Visited the LBS (=local bike shop) and came home. Evening went to my friend Mr.Ts home as they had small summer party there. Some bbq and beer. Nice people. Young people. Old people. Drunken people Had few beers and before the midnight started my bike ride back home. The weather was nice and warm despite of the clouds, so just had to do a little tour.



Vacation has started. Evening ride was a bliss. Shadows are nice.

[Mika K]

Vacation period is over for me and first week at the office already suffered. Luckily the weather is still nice and can do some rides at the evenings whenever have a permit from Mrs

During the holiday we went to southern Finland to see relatives and I had a change to go for a spin there. The ox road at Häme, southern Finland is the old medieval main route from Turku to Helsinki to transport all the needed equipment and food between the two biggest cities in the country. The ox road nowadays consists of the long straight roads and then small roads with hills and corners that go through a agile farming land with rivers and small lakes. Totally different scenery what I'm used to see at home. Perhaps that is the reason I decided to do a little longer spin despite of the hot weather (burning my nose, neck, arms and knees). Days total 187km.



Last month the students of the Liminka Art School painted the walls surrounding the main construction site of Stoneheart (the new underground parking place and mall) as earlier those did look like some russian concrete ghetto in the middle of our nice city. Well done!



This is from Syöte MTB where I was attending as organizer. Me and Mr.V did some route checking for the markings etc during the last evening before the race. Naturally it was raining the whole time we were out there ..





Then yesterday I received my new custom made Konga Truss fork to my Sawyer. Oh boy that thing rocks! The ride is so well rounded that other non suspencion forks don't come even close. The accuracy of the steering is something have not experienced earlier and it looks damn nice too. Me so happy!

[wiicrackpot]

Missed this post and missed what was on the delete pics, nice panoramic shot,
can see the logic in the Truss forks stabilising and tracking effect but would it not make the feel a little dead with it's added weight?,
would've thought playing with the trail of different forks be just as beneficial without the drawback?,
lovely bike and love the unusual look of them forks all the same.

[Mika K]

^ Actually the Truss is equal in weight compared to my previous rigid fork found from stock Sawyer. And soon when get the aluminum steerer, it will be even slightly lighter..

Will try to look those broken links tomorrow. Had to update my Mac and somehow the Aperture photosync crashed and the flickr-stream was partially re-arranged and something went horribly wrong. Also some other reporting to do for this thread then. Now off to the bed.

[Mika K]

Still haven't repaired the Flickr-stream

However last saturday rode 300km brevet here in northern Finland. Left 9AM and came home after 13h 49min of total time final distance being covered 301km. This means that the average speed for the ride was 24,9km/h plus almost two hours of breaks for eating, stretching, switching gear etc. Managed to do surprisingly well with hydration and energy sourcing, and also my good old Brooks saddle kept me going without any problems. The official brevet max time for 300km is 20h, so had plenty of time there. Next summer I hope I'll take part to few public brevets at least in 200km and 300km routes, perhaps even 400km.

Also last week received new bike (my 6th ). It's Genesis Croix De Fer cx-bike for the autumn rides as have been planning to do more cyclocross riding and also gravel grinding than earlier years. Also wanted a good quality steel frame that I can alter from mean CX machine to light tourer or randonneur oriented bike for next summer. Genesis geometry suits me well and that Reynolds 725 frame and fork have all the neededs eyelets, so it was actually quite obvious choice. The disc brakes work really well here in northern Finland and being a big bloke don't really mind the weight penalty. However the Shi Tiagra groupset feels weird as have been riding mostly Campa for past 3-4 years and also the build quality does not dazzle me. Perhaps there might be a change for the upgraditus maximus bug to come and bite me. On top of those basic updates as Brooks saddle and Thomson seatpost and stem that will do anyways, naturally..

[wiicrackpot]

Mika, those distances just make my eyes water, add to that Finland is not Holland flat, Reeeeespect !!!!.

Wow !!, lovely bike once again, right after seeing Paul's too, you know i really wanted disc brakes on my build but really can't justify a Crosslight Pro 6 i so wanted,
your Genesis is just immense, funny you should mention the Tiagra mech, i got the same impression when i received mine from Probikekit,
although stamped 'made in japan', i am not convinced after seeing/feeling the quality on hand, i've had Shimano stuff from the past and it's waaay better,
i really think it's made in China, we'll see how i get on,if it doesn't live up to scratch, i'll go back to a Campy rear mech, no big deal.

[Mika K]

Again almost one month passed and no update! Is Dr.Who stealing my time or what the hell is going on

August 24th participated to the Kuusamo GG 2013 event with few of my friends from Oulu and what a wonderful gravel grinding event it was! We covered 145km at the best gravel roads with some beautiful views and places. So happy for the Croix De Fer and its performance at the gravel roads at its current setup. Really a must event to add to the calendar next season.









Now as CX season at Oulu has started have been taking some pics of the weekly Wednesday CX madness that our club is arranging at the local parks and trails. So far two events behind us with 27 and 29 participants! Still three events plus the main race ahead of us and the CX fever is getting hotter and hotter..















Naturally have done some leisure riding at the autumn evenings also just be me myself and I. Also did the first mtb ride with the full headlights as the evenings are getting dark already. Soon will have some nice evening rides at the local trails and singletrack