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The frame bags are made by my dad, according to my wishes. He's been sewing all kinds things as a hobby, especially for the last couple of years after he retired, clothes and bags and he's gotten really good at it.
You probably didn't mean these but I made the drybag holster on the handlebar (like my version of the Revelate Pronghorn) and the pouch between the aerobar and the stem bags on the older pictures and some less nice frame bags that aren't pictured here. -
The northern Lapland with the few hiking trails and the more usual ATV tracks of the Sámi reindeer herders is the perfect area for rather remote bikepacking. Huge area, usually no people. Great views.
I started this trip from Mieraslompolo, after spending a week in that direction at a cabin. I rode through the biggest roadless wilderness area in Finland, Kaldoaivi, which is kind of a classic route for such.
Then I got a boat ride over the river to Norway and kept heading north until I got to the sea in a couple of days.
Then I turned to the west, after a bit of road riding I continued on the tracks higher up, but following the direction of the coast, to get to a town in a couple of days. There was a fair amount of hiking on this stretch, as some of it didn't have any kind of trail for a bit in the middle and some of the track was only just visible on the rocky terrain, but here are some of the better parts. There was also a slightly bigger river to cross here but the water was pretty low now. There's usually lots of small rivers to get your shoes wet anyway around here.
Onto another track that goes through the highlands towards Alta, while the roads circle around the area far from this. Some swamp and rough trails, but it was still pretty straight forward and very entertaining. Lots of birds.
From Alta I took the old post road to Kautokeino, a gravel road that used to be important way back, but isn't really suitable for cars anymore with broken bridges and erosion.
Then to the north-west, passing the old mining site of Bidjovagge and following the weak tracks over the Scandinavian mountain range, ending up on the coast again after a while. Loved this part. The terrain feels pretty mountainous, though it isn't that high above sea level, just a kilometer or so, but so high up north.
Then I turned back inland and towards Finland again. Up the gravel road that leads to Halti, the highest spot of Finland, and then onto the tracks and hiking routes that lead to the town of Kilpisjärvi in the north-west Finland, after crossing the wilderness area. This might be the part of the route that is least suitable for bikes, though there are some really nice sections. But a lot of hiking, wading through rivers and jumping on rocks.
So that was quite something. The whole thing took something under two weeks. Just under a thousand kilometers. The terrain is demanding and in a way this was as hard as the races I've done, I rode long days. But I took my time when I wanted and slept as much as I wanted. Usually the sun that's up through the night was already warming my tent enough to not want to sleep past seven. Enjoyed being there on my own, which made this feel more adventurous in a way, compared to being in a race with a bunch of others, even if the race was in a remote setting.
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So good!
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looks desolate and beautiful, well done.
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Fantastic as usual!
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Well yes, and the few others I know that have done more than one ride up there recommend taking a full suspension or a fatbike. One had a rim and the rear triangle of a full suspension bike crack there. But it would be possible to travel the distance with a rigid bike too, it would just be slower and harder, more walking. I did do a trip in a different part of Lapland on a gravelbike, 650b 2.2" and 48 mm. Had fun but a hardtail would have been better. There's pictures of that on the first page.
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Yes, love it!
This thread did actually inspire me to go to Finland recently, although nothing as wild as this. A more partner-friendly ride around the archipelago trail in Turku.
Still.. a beautiful country, so can only imagine how nice these trails are.
Epic stuff.
How are the mosquitos? -
Nice, that's great to hear. Hope you had a good trip, the archipelago is rather special too.
It really varies with the mosquitos, but generally there's plenty of them this summer. Had lots of them anywhere near water and swamps and below treeline, it was good to have a head net for spots like that. But at least on a good year (or a bad one for the birds that eat mosquitos) you can do a long trip in the open highlands with only a few mosquitos. And there's a brief moment when they are generally gone at the end of the summer, before it gets cold again.
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Yeah, they are reindeer herders' cabins. There were no-one there now, I've heard they only use these in the spring when they are gathering the herds to mark the new calves. Kind of remote indeed, there's no road, only a trail they use on ATVs. It's something like 15 km to the nearest road and about 50 km to the closest village, which isn't too bad for how it is in the area. I came from the other side, which is a bit or a lot further depending on which direction you come from and some of it didn't have a trail at all.
The van is on a different part of the route I took, along an old maintenance road called Kalkkoaivintie that was built for WW2 and hasn't really been maintained, but is still drivable on a 4x4.
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About
Samuli's bikes, off-road touring in Lapland and other rides
Posted by
@Samuli
No plans. Been kind of busy, have some other things I'll use time on and have felt I want to do rides where I'm not one of two hundred others doing the same thing but be by myself instead, as nice as the community side of the races is. Though now looking at tour divide, skinny's race and whatnot, it would be fun to do some racing again.