American Birkebeiner

Parliament of Canada, Ottawa

One week after Gatineau - loppet there were 55K American Birkebeiner ski race in Hayward, Wisconsin, USA. Plan was to fly to USA just before the race and therefore spending week between the races in Ottawa.

Ottawa Senators home stadium

Winter temperatures were just freezing and the wind made it feel even colder. Despite of the coldness during the week there were some activity. On Wednesday evening went to see NHL game Senators vs. Hurricanes.

Final 100 meters in Hayward

On Friday flight from Ottawa to Minneapolis was on schedule and 3 hour drive up to Hayward went without problems. Quick bib pick-up from Hayward high school and then to dorm housing at Hayward Intermediate school. There were hundreds of skiers sleeping at the school floor. After short sleep I jumped from my sleeping bag at 5AM and started to prepare for the race. There were bus transportation to the start area at Cable. Fortunately there were warm-up tents, where you could get warm chocolate. It was snowing and the temperature was around -10 degrees. I started slowly and ended slowly. 55 kilometers felt like endless journey, cause I had had cold couple of days ago and I was skiing with the help of painkillers today.

2 Worldloppet races completed

I managed to finish the race somehow and was happy to aim the objectives for this trip.

Gatineau loppet, skiing in Canada

At Helsinki-Vantaa boarding towards Stockholm

On Thursday 12th of Feb I had an early bus drive from Tampere to Helsinki-Vantaa airport. I was starting 12 days skiing trip to Northern America. As part of my this year objectives I had selected two long-distance skiing events, Gatineau loppet from Canada and American Birkebeiner from USA.

The flight to Ottawa, Canada took 24 hours via Stockholm and Chicago. I was pretty exhausted when arriving to Ottawa, cause it was 5AM at Finnish time. Fortunately all flights were on schedule and all the luggages including skis arrived on time.

The next day, Friday, was cold, but according the weather forecast the race day on Saturday would be warmer though. I picked up my bib on Friday evening from Mont Bleu high school, which was acting as a race office and finishing line for the competition.

School buses, which took us to starting area

On Saturday morning it was -18 degrees and snowfall at start line. There were 51 km track and over 1000 meters total ascent ahead of me. All the skiers were taken by buses to starting area at Gatineau park, where we would ski back to Mont Bleu high school at Gatineau.

10 minutes to start

The first 30 km were undulating terrain with couple of demanding downhill sections. It was snowing and glide was not too good. I started a bit too fast, which hit me back after 30 km milestone. The most demanding climb was between 30 and 35 km. Over 200 meters climb in just 5 kilometers. I was just exhausted when I managed to reach 35 km control point. From now on it would be easier terrain up to finish line.

Finish line at Mont Bleu

All in all I was satisfied when crossing the finish line and getting medal. This was my 8th Worldloppet ski. Only 2 more to go...

And the medal

One week in Lapland

Skiing at Ylläs

One week skiing holiday in Äkäslompolo in Lapland was nice experience. During the new year the temperature were around zero and thus skiing conditions were perfect. The tracks were in perfect condition too and there were not too many skiers on tracks.

At Hangaskuru

I managed to get over 100 km in 5 days, but it didn't come for free. My muscles especially in legs were hurting and they were really tense after couple of first days on tracks.

Sunset

This was a good start for the rest of the winter season, cause I have booked myself to 3 long distance skiing events during February - March. I really got confidence that I can manage the 50 km or even 90 km skiing events later on.

Closing Märket - lighthouse for winter 2014-2015

Märket profile with 3 buildings

On 12.-14.10.2014 I was on Märket lighthouse island with other 8 people from Finnish lighthouse association with the aim to close the lighthouse for the winter time.

Sefyr heading back to Åland

The Sunday morning was foggy when we left Eckerö in Åland mainland and headed towards the sea on a Mats' boat "Sefyr". On a way to lighthouse we passed a small islet full of seals and after 1,5 hours reached Märket. We did quick changeover with volunteers, who had been working on a island previous week and carried food & backbags inside the lighthouse.

Sauna ready for use

New sauna has been built this summer to one of the lighthouse buildings and from my previous visit kitchen has moved from second floor to first floor as well.

Fishing on a northern cliffs

We had one fish enthusiast among us and he took care of fishing during these 3 days. Therefore we didn't had lack of fresh fish at all. There were lots of cod & sculpin on our dinner table.

Cod

3 days was too short visit back to Märket, but anyway it was better than nothing. Excellent steams at new sauna, great delicious and fresh food, magnificent views as rainbow overarched beautifully over the lighthouse.

Rainbow over Märket

Northern lights and local trips

Tampere by night seen from Näsijärvi lake

According the Finnish weather forecast company last weekend was supposed to be excellent for seeing Northern lights due to strong solar flare in the sun.

However the weather forecast showed cloudy weather to southern part of Finland and I was bit skeptical to see any Northern lights. I went to bed on Friday and of course the clouds swept away during the night and there were beautiful Northern lights.

Tent at Siilinkari - islet

On Saturday I decided to paddle on a small islet - Siilinkari - just 1 km next to my house on Näsijärvi - lake. I pitched the tent and started to watch the dark sky hoping to see Northern lights. But I was not lucky, the solar flare was a very short one and lights were visible only on Friday night.

Lighthouse at dawn

OK. Instead of the Northern lights I spent a night on Siilinkari and took photos during the night and morning. I'll share some of those here.

From Iran to Baku, Azerbaijan

Delicious!

Tabriz has the world largest covered bazaar and I must admit it feels like a huge endless maze, from where you can find and buy everything you need. There's everything from jewellery to shoes, from spices to household goods, from clothes to carpets...

Empty streets of Baku

After travelling one week in Iran, I was flying to Baku, Azerbaijan. Baku is called as a city of wind and indeed it turned out to be windy. It was hard to communicate with the locals, they didn't speak English at all or just a few words. 

The old town

However I managed to take a bus from the airport to center of town. Although there are over 2 millions residents in Baku, there were not too many people walking on the streets and no traffic jams.

Ready for sauna

It was nice to have a possibility to have a sauna at a hotel after two weeks travelling. Enjoyable!

Travelling in Iran

My first visit into Iran started by a long bus drive from Yerevan to Tabriz. Although it was 34 degrees outside, the temperature inside bus was pleasant +20. When arriving at Tabriz at 1 AM in the night the search for the hotel is a challenging task. Fortunately there was one hotel - Koshar - open and there were room for 5 people available. Me and Swiss guy took the room and we got it even a bit cheaper. Swiss guy, Rafael, had been travelling already 5 months and Iran would be his last country to visit. He had planned to travel in Iran 1 month.

 

 

Stone-carved bedroom in Laleh - hotel

Nearby Tabriz is located Kandovan village, which is famous for the people living inside the rock. They have carved their own rooms and houses onto rock and are living there all year round. Nowadays there's even hotel, Laleh, which offers the same experience of sleeping in a carved room.

 

 

With arabs in a museum

I have been asked constantly to be photographed by the locals. National museum couple of Arabs from Iraq wanted me to be in a same photo.

 

 

Street musicians on a street of Tabriz

Today I was having my first performance as a street musician with the traditional sitar instrument. Perhaps I could earn my living in this way, playing sitar at the streets of Tabriz and being photographed.