Hullun Polkasu 2014 (The Mad Cycle)

Äkäslompolo, Finland: Thursday 3^rd July 2014

It’s been light all night as it always is at this time of year in Lapland.  This far north, we have around two months of midnight sun with what they call “nightless nights” when the sun never sets.

Fortunately, this morning sees it a bit cooler and overcast, as we are up early, drinking strong coffee, repacking and trying not to think too much about the fact that we are about head off, with a group of fit Finns, on the longest cycle we’ve ever attempted – The Hullan Polkasu or, in English, the Mad Cycle.

Hullan Polkasu  

Sampo Kaulanen (left) owns and runs Jounin Kauppa, the supermarket and shopping centre here in Äkäslompolo. 

One day, in the heat of summer (yes, as well as being light for 24 hours it often tops 30C in Lapland) he was looking at a map of the area while trying to think of some ideas for a summer fun event.

He thought about the short distance to Norway, and came up with the idea of going for a cool refreshing swim in the Arctic Ocean off the coast of Norway.  

With typical Finnish consideration for the environment, he decided it would be best to cycle there,  all 350 km, and the idea for the first Hullun Polkasu was born.

The one proviso was that he put details of the event on Facebook, and would only go ahead with the cycle if it got 50 000 “Likes”. 

Within a few days, the number of “Likes” sailed past the 50 000 mark, and Sampo had started training!

Of course, it's no fun to cycle such a long route on your own, so Sampo sent out a general invite for people to join him on the trek.

Lapland Finns are typically fit and very keen on the outdoors, so soon people were signing up from all around Finland to join in. 

As part of the small contingent of Brits in the village, and badly in need of some exercise, we decided to sign up too.  Now, on the morning of the first day, it seems a bit rash to have made that decision only three weeks ago!

Äkäslompolo –> Hetta (Enontekio) – Day 1

As we gathered outside the supermarket at 7:30am we found, somewhat to our relief, that not only were there indeed quite a few other people ready to take part, some very well prepared with racing bikes.

Age no Barrier

Fortunately, there were some people that looked like they might go at a more reasonable pace, including a couple of fellas on a tandem, quite a few bikes with cuddly animal passengers and a lady on a traditional Tunturi bike with no gears!

The youngest participant was 11 and the oldest 63, excellent examples of the characteristic Finnish “Sisu”. 

After a quick pep-talk from Sampo and a brief group stretching and warm-up session, we all dropped our bags with Nils-Samuli in the Jounin Kauppa “Support van”, which was to follow us for the full route.


This was to prove a valuable lifeline as, along with carrying luggage, it was stacked with goodies!

Just time then for a group photo of a bunch of enthusiastic cyclists before setting off on the first part of the trek.

140 km to the lovely Sami village of Hetta (or Enontekio as it’s shown on the map). 

The road out of Äkäslompolo has one steep climb, perfect for warming up the cycling muscles.  

Once we had puffed our way up that, we were off at a good speed, and in no time, we had passed the road to Akäsmylly at 20 km, marking the furthest we’d previously cycled in that direction. 

The first Pit-Stop

Several Jounin Kauppa suppliers had contributed food, fitness drinks and energy bars to the cause, so after about 30 km, there was a pit-stop set up at the roadside for a quick refuel.  

This was the first time we really understood the benefits of having a support team, as they handed out much appreciated food and drink.

After a couple of minutes relaxing and watching a few other participants coming and going, we pressed on for the next 40 km to the lunch stop at the Loimu restaurant in Raatama, where there was lots of gorgeous Lappish salmon soup to get everyone raring to go again.

By this point, it was clear that we had spread out quite a bit, with the “Elite” riders well ahead, and the rest spread over quite a distance, in small groups, making new friends as people of similar speeds cycled together (some closer than others) or regularly passed each other.

By the time we hit the 110 km mark, it seemed that most people were feeling the effort taking a toll on their legs, and it was perfect to have another pit-stop to top up energy levels which helped the last 30 km fly by.

Welcome to Hetta

On arrival in Hetta, most of us were staying in the Hetan Majalta hotel.  Anticipating the arrival of a lot of weary Finnish cyclists, the hotel knew exactly how to prepare; getting the beers chilled as the sauna heated, providing the perfect welcome for the end of day 1.

The Hetta locals had arranged a welcome festival for the cyclists in the market square in the evening, with stalls selling coffee, cakes, sausages and

other post-cycling delights as well as laying on some locally flavoured entertainment, the highlight of which was a young singer performing a song that she had written especially for the Hullun Polkasu event.
  

Then back to the hotel, to bed.  

Day 2 – Hetta -> Kautokeino - Let’s go North of the Border

Day two dawned and it was apparent that the promise of lovely weather had been a little optimistic.  

Heavy clouds covered the village, and it didn’t look like the light rain was planning to stop anytime soon.

Gathering to start from Hetta market square, the villagers gave us a fantastic send off, with a quick Zumba session to warm up weary legs and a great sing-a-long of the Hullan Polkasu song, which even the Finns couldn’t understand as it was in the Sami language; not that that stopped everyone joining in with the chorus.

So many options!

Everyone started off in cheery spirits and was soon clocking up the miles to the first café stop after about 30km.  That bit wasn’t too bad, especially with the thought of lunch on the horizon.

The second half of day two was promising to be a bit tougher, with everyone setting off still damp after lunch, and with full stomachs and some steeper uphill sections, it was all getting to be a bit of a slog.  Then two things happened that really boosted us. 

First, we came to the border crossing between Finland and Norway.  It was an easy border to pass, with no stops and checks, but it was nice to get a cheery wave from Norwegian customs as we pedaled past.

Then the Jaunin Kauppa support van drove past with the team handing out energy drinks and chocolate to all the cyclists, on the move! 

No one could fail to be lifted by that kind of surprise, and with it being a shorter day, covering only 80 odd km, we soon had Kautokeino in view through the low clouds and a lovely downhill section to the Arctic Motel and Camping site to finish.

This time, some of the participants were staying in cabins at the Kautokeino camp site and some were up the hill at the Thon hotel.

After checking in, we headed off to relax in the outdoor hot-tub under the watchful eye of some of the local reindeer.   

As we sat chatting with some of the other cyclists, the weather started to clear, with the magnificent Norwegian mountains and scenery gradually appearing through the clearing clouds.

It’s at times like that, you realise what a special place Lapland is.

Gallery Visit 

With an earlier end to the cycling at 3pm, we had time to visit Juhls’ Silver gallery in Kautokeino.

The building and all the exhibits (most of which are for sale) were designed, build and collected by Frank and Regine Juhls since settling here in the 1950s.

It's a welcoming and fascinating place with an amazing history and a free guided tour.  It's no surprise that people travel from all over the Nordic countries to visit.  Highly recommended. 

Day  3 - Kautokeino -> Onward to the Arctic Ocean

After the wet weather of day 2, it was something of a relief to see that the more typical Lapland summer weather had returned.  

As everyone gathered outside the hotel, we started off in good spirits, though with dire warnings of mountains between us and our final destination, Alta, to be tackled later that day, ringing in our ears. 

  

The only en-route stop on day 3 was after 70 km at the top of the one steep uphill section, the first tough section that we had encountered that day.  

Photographer Stepi enjoys lunch

The support team had somehow managed to get hold of a vat of sausage soup, which, accompanied with cheese sandwiches and a fantastic view of Norway was the perfect pick-me-up for the second half; and what a second half it was!

As we descended from the stopping point, we seemed to hit one downhill after another, and were keeping up a much higher speed with far less effort than before.   Even the few uphill stretches seemed easier. Then we started to see the mountains in the distance, looming closer with every km.

Each km seemed to expose more and more impressive Norwegian scenery, with high cliffs, still topped with snow, gushing waterfalls and majestic lakes around every corner.

As we arrived at the mountains, to our surprise, the road seemed to go downhill more and more steeply, with the bending road snaking down through the mountains, where only the bravest of cyclists stayed off the brakes completely.

   

Keeping the UK end up

Past the mountains, it was easy to keep up the momentum, and keep the UK flags flying, as the last few km flew by and we were soon arriving at Alta River Camping, the end of the cycling route.

It was great to catch up with everyone there, enjoying the camaraderie, a relaxing beer, a sauna (of course) and some dinner in the sunshine.

A Refreshing dip

In the excitement of finishing the cycling, we almost forgot that the objective of the event was to swim in the Arctic Ocean.  

Fortunately, one of the Ylläs coaches had been laid on, and by 9pm we were all boarding to start our unusual trip to the seaside.

A couple of km outside Alta, we stopped at a lovely little beach with Norwegian mountains and sky perfectly framing the Arctic Ocean.

The end of the challenge and time for quick photo, just giving a few moments to think about the prospect of the final swim in the Arctic Ocean. 

Then into bathing gear to charge, run or paddle into the sea.

The water was quite cold, but wonderfully clear and refreshing after days of cycling.

It’s hard to imagine how the last day could have been better.  The gorgeous weather the Norwegian scenery and the fun of swimming in the Arctic Ocean really made it a special experience.

Big Thanks

Special thanks to Teemu Haavisto & Ylläs Sportia for support and technical services and to the Jounin Kauppa support team for helping us all to make it to the end, and of course to Sampo Kaulanen for the original idea and for making the event a reality.





Thanks also to Stepi Sundberg for taking so many great photographs of the event during all three days, and especially for allowing me to use some of these here.  You can see more of his work on his web site by clicking on his name.

Not forgetting Ylläs Express for picking us up and taking our bikes back to Äkäslompolo, especially since I’m not sure any of us could have cycled back up the long climb back out of Alta!

Video Footage

To get an idea of the spirit of the event and see some of the magnificent wild scenery, Veli-Matti Näränen took some excellent video footage during the event…

And the team from JVPS did a fantastic video blog!

Roll on Hullun Polkasu 2015!

Join Us?

If you fancy taking part in Hullun Polkasu 2015 and experiencing some of the summer magic of Lapland, please feel free to contact me or visit the Hullun Polkasu Facebook page.