day 72 - Imatra to Vyborg

Day 72
September 12th

The last morning in Finland was spent with careful preparations. Our unusual travel group would surely get some attention at the border and things are much easier when carrying the right documents. After breakfast and filing, we said goodbye to our hosts and moved on, scheduled to meet Boris just before the border.

Coming to the border crossing, we all stood in line, a pack of bikes jamming up the traffic. We were barely controlled exiting Finland, then proceeded to no man's land, quick stop for nature calls and then on to the Russian side.

Separated from Boris at the border control, we all took care of our paperwork, while Boris got checked at customs. We'd heard some horror stories about the checkpoints, but nothing scary came to be. Customs check included, we made it across in less than 2 hours.

Before resuming our journey, we got some rubles on our hands and realized communication would be much more interesting, since the phones weren't working properly, and when they did, they left us bankrupt. Having established contact with our local guides, we headed to Vyborg.

We met our guides from the Fixed Gear community from St P, who took us to the hotel in Vyborg. Again faced with language barriers, we made our point anyway and got installed in time for a next pizza and push-up dinner in town.

We've crossed the border and we're so close to our goal...

day 71 - Savonlinna to Imatra

Day 71
September 11th

This morning our wonderful hosts prepared breakfast for us, including a generous amount of coffee, much needed for the challenge at hand. We packed up, said goodbye and headed to our last stop in Finland.

We had a lunch break about halfway, now facing the cold without warm food. We managed to bypass this problem with an instant barbecue set and Matt's metallurgy skills. Having salvaged the situation, the road awaited. We still made it to Imatra before dark.

In Imatra, we stayed at the Koskis Youth Club, a huge house with all sorts of spaces and equipment for any activity we could think of. Our host showed us around and explained that, even though the club caters to the needs of dozens of youth and elderly each day, it might be closed down because the land is too valuable. We're also riding for their right to keep this space open!

We settled in, had some warm vegetable soup, put the sauna to use and began preparing for the big moment: tomorrow's border crossing into Mother Russia.

day 70 - Joensuu to Savonlinna

Day 70
September 10th

The most feared day came, and we were all careful about it. Last night, most of the talks circled around the fact that today would be the longest stretch in the whole ride, and the record was already set pretty high. Since we had a new rider for the day, Sari, we could count on a local guide to help us. We met at UEF, said goodbye to our friends and began riding...

The roads were nice and peaceful, but the rain struck us with no mercy. We rolled all day through the forest, stopped for lunch in the middle of nowhere, kept going, eventually realized we'd never make it before night. With one last break to enjoy the sunset, we switched to night riding mode and eventually came to Savonlinna. 156 km!

Waiting for us at the gym in Savonlinna were Tiago and Eeva, plus our local team who had been kind enough to prepare dinner for us. We also met exchange students and were repeatedly challenged to go out clubbing. We'd all like that, wouldn't we? But after beating the distance record, under these conditions, we could move no more. Sari went back home and we hit the hay, knowing that the hardest part was over. Russia is not far, now...

day 69 - Joensuu

Day 69
September 9th

Our stop in Joensuu, as hinted by the glamorous welcoming, was supposed to be a busy and productive one. So, after each of us had some nice breakfast with our hosts, we gathered at the North Karelia Regional Council for the morning session.

We were officially welcomed by Ms Outi Savonlahti of the International Office of UEF and participated in a workshop on Cross-Border Cooperation.
Sisko Kaarto, Director of Public Relations and Cross-Border Cooperation of the Regional Council, gave a few welcoming words to the group. Unfortunately, we would be meeting Pentti Hyttinen, the Regional Mayor and one of our supporters.
Then, Prof Heikki Eskelinen from UEF's Karelian Institute taught us about Karelia in Finland and in Russia, followed by Dr Minna Piipponen from the VERA Centre for Russia and Border Studies, who told us about the research carried out at UEF.
Later we heard from researchers Olga Davydova and Pirjo Pollanen, who presented us their work entitled "Gender and Checkpoint". They elaborated on gender issues in the border area and also gave us some advice about Russian roads, which might come in handy...
Finally, Ms Tiina Moisala and Ms Ulla Aanismaa from the Regional Council spoke of cooperation with Russia and other Eastern Border Regions in the European Union.

This interesting but long session led us to our lunch break, after which we gathered at UEF to meet the Rector, Prof Perttu Vartiainen. Over coffee, we had a lengthy talk about UEF, Student Mobility and our project. This nice meeting was topped off with the signing of the Bike of Honour.

After our meeting we visited the Faculty of Science and were introduced to many of the brilliant projects and fields of research going on at UEF. During our tour we learned about Colour studies, Andi showed what he can control with this intense stare and we might have sighted the Grinch...

In the evening, we all gathered at Sini's place for a little get together with buffet. Matt tasted reindeer meat and he was never the same again.

day 68 - Tuusjarvi to Joensuu

Day 68
September 8th

This morning's challenge was to start riding as early as possible. We had a long way to cover until we'd reached Joensuu, the final stop for this stage. Also, we had to be there in the early afternoon, as there were plans laid out for us which we wouldn't want to miss...

We had to face the rain again, and we kept riding on the main roads to avoid losing time on the way. We took a lunch break by a gas station, in a sort of open hut with a fireplace. We needed that fire badly, and the folks from the station were kind enough to restock the firewood reserve for us. At the end of lunch a polite gentleman sat beside us and began to speak Finnish for quite a long time, choosing to ignore the fact that we didn't understand anything he said. It was time to hit the road once more.

Much to our own surprise, we made it to Joensuu right on time and headed to the UEF campus, where were met our hosts. Nothing sounded better than enjoying the best kind of hospitality, crashing on the couches of our fellow students! We got our luggage, split to make our beds and gathered again for a promising evening.

A respectful delegation from UEF welcomed us to a magnificent villa, where we had a great dinner and the mandatory sauna session. We met some fellow students, including our friend from Vilnius, Kristina. We enjoyed a wonderful time, before going out to visit the Student Union and to check out the local nightlife.

Stage N completed, one more to go.

day 67 - Kuopio to Tuusjarvi

Day 67
September 7th

Again treated to breakfast at the cafeteria, we visited other spots of interest on campus, particularly the International Office. None of us really knew much about Kuopio and UEF, but we were all very impressed (some actually consideration moving here). Having said goodbye to our wonderful local team, we finished packing and moved on.

It was impossible to get lost, since we were crossing lakes all the time and there was only one road ahead of us. When there was no road, there was a ferry. Since today's distance was smaller than usual, we took some more time to enjoy the sights and do some filming. Even Tricky caught a fish "that big".

We took a lunch break by a small marina and checked our route thoroughly, since our accommodation for tonight was on a farm, far away from any populated area. Rolling through dirt roads, we arrived to find one of the nicest places we could dream of. Comfortable rooms in cottages, with the mandatory private sauna, a great garden with swings to enjoy a beer at sunset and a nice warm meal. There were lots of hunters staying there, or just stopping for dinner, who were a bit puzzled by the group of bikes. All in good spirit, of course.