No. 84 made it!

No. 84 approaches the finish at the Helsinki Velodrome: Tour de Helsinki 2009

It was a cold, wet day but 1300 cyclists turned up for the Tour de Helsinki yesterday. Lue lisää ja voittajasta tämä suomeksi.

No. 84 (who bears a startling resemblance to emmdee) was nervous at the start: riding on a borrowed road bike* he had only ridden for 10km, not sure what speed group to go with, not used to group riding, not looking forward to the forecast day of rain and 14°C temperatures, and hoping to finish before the 7hr cut off for the event.

In the end he started with the 24km/hr group near the back of the field (so crossing the start about 5 mins after the official 11am start time in the last hundred or so people) and rolled along slowly in the convoy at less than 20km/hr for the first 10km. The rain had stopped and the roads were damp but not soaked. When the 'free' cycling got started he realised that he could go faster than the group speed, especially drafting in a pack, and after the first pit stop at Lepsämä (38km) left the group hoping to catch one supposedly 5mins ahead... the rest of the was spent moving from small group to small group, hoping to catch one that was travelling about 27km/hr on the road (his average by this time) and enjoying the ride.

Skipping stop 2, things stayed this way (near misses with cyclists dodging orava aside) until after stop 3 at Paippinen at 95km where after stopping to refill bottles, eat mini-bananas and phone ahead to the support team his ETA, he rejoined to find the roads seemingly empty, only catching and passing the occasional rider and seeing several stopped with punctures. The roads then became soaking wet from recent rain, and his legs started to tighten up and tiredness set in and without a group to shelter in the speed began to drop off. Then at about 110km as no.84 took a breather behind another slightly slower rider another one came past (no.1410) at a better pace; tagging onto him 84 was able to pick up the pace and after a few kilometres agreed (in broken Finnish) to try to stick together and help each other for the rest of the ride. Towards the final 5 to 10 km this became a matter of sisu as 84 couldn't quite stay with him - particularly after a close call with a car that disobeyed a signal to stop from policeman directing traffic.

The support team gives a hand: Tour de Helsinki 2009

Finally arriving in the Velodrome for the finish and after few scarey moments on the wet track 84 completed the course, and stiff, exhausted but happy to be greeted by his supporters.

Official timing stats

Distance: 140.1km

Time: 5 hrs 37 mins 50 seconds

Position: 947 of 1178 recorded finishers/1301 starters

Average speed: 24.9km/hr

Stats from bike computer (i.e wheels moving):

Distance: 144.5 km (!)

Time: 5hrs 20mins

Average speed: 27.10km/hr

Max: 53.75km/hr

Thanks to everyone who sponsored me for this event, it was really appreciated - currently we have raised £340 (+£47 gift aid) via my JustGiving pages for Cancer Research UK and the CJD Support Network. If you haven't and still want to contribute the pages are still open!

*Many thanks to Patrick for the loan of his road bike for the day - it would probably have been 7+hrs on my mountain bike. Hmm - maybe I could get my own road bike for next year....

Pictures by Bore & Konna