Tour of Sweden – day 13
Today dawned sunny and mild. At 7:30 am Jonas, Clas and Marco set out on a run. I joined them but soon realized I was still fatigued so turned back early, running a bit over 5 miles. We grabbed breakfast, packed, topped off our water bottles and food supply for the desolate road and headed out eastward at 10 am into a strong headwind which became a cross wind when we turned north after several miles. Jan, Nicolas and Conny had set out an hour early to avoid being left behind and Bjorn had the day off of the bike. Sadly, Passi has been struggling with an injured hip flexor. Just prior to camp, he ran a 1:15:00 half marathon and the camp came too soon for him to recover from that effort.
Our destination was Karesuando, 250km north of the Arctic Circle and 180km from the nearest town, Kiruna. Karesuando’s population is 350 people and is one of the main Saami ethnic regions. Most Saami live on reindeer keeping, hunting, fishing and handicrafts. From May 25th to July 17th, you can see the midnight sun. Thank goodness I packed eyeshades for sleeping.
Speaking of reindeer, today we saw very many of them. They’re as stupid as New York deer and are more likely to run up the middle of the road in front of you than to just bolt into the safety of the woods. The first one we encountered, a young buck, ran ahead of us for 200 meters, then veered into a logging road where he stopped and turned as if to challenge us. I was relieved when he didn’t charge. A few miles later we had to slow to avoid a pair of huge rabbits frolicking in the road.
The road climbed steadily all day. Nothing steep, just constant climbing. Still, even with the cross wind we made good time to our support van at 70 miles, clocking just under 3:30:00 to reach it. Of course, Jonas did the lion’s share of the work. From that point, the road conditions deteriorated with various cracks, potholes and numerous sand and gravel sections which I could power across on a carbon road bike but Jonas had to take more gingerly on his TT rig. The view was pine trees and lakes and nothing much else. It’s very desolate this far north. Other than the occasional pack of reindeer, there wasn’t much to distract us. We were riding in an echelon due to the wind, so there wasn’t even conversation.
For the final 15 miles the wind strengthened and became a cross headwind. It was incredibly hard and reminded me of Kona in 2004. Our speed dropped to a crawl and we had to hammer just to maintain forward momentum. Finally, the hotel came into view after 115.1 miles and 5:55:00. Within a half hour we we’re showered and seated for a fine dinner of reindeer and mashed potatoes, followed by a desert of vanilla ice cream topped with hot cloudberry sauce, which made the doodes giddy.
It’s quiet now, with everyone either reading or blogging. Not a beer or glass of vodka in sight. Patrick, our driver, is taking a sauna but the riders know better than to do that. We’re supposed to have a party tomorrow night after an early start, 69 mile ride to Kilpisjarvi, Finland, a 7 mile run to Treriksroset where the three countries of Sweden, Norway and Finland meet, a return 7 mile run, pack the bikes, and a 175 mile ride in a packed van to Kiruna. I’ve got a 6:25 am flight the next morning so I don’t think I’ll have much to report from the party, assuming one occurs.
