The track winding below the telecabin in Levi
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It was the hottest day for many years in the UK as I boarded the plane in London to head to Finland ! The weather gave some amazing views from the plane and across Scandinavia and into Helsinki. A trip around the whole of Scandinavia has always been on my list of trips to do once I have my summers free! The views only confirmed that this is a trip I really must do, it is just beautiful with so much open space and water. I flew out of London with Grant Fielder (Chopper), Kona's newest clump team member, after losing each other at Helsinki airport we finally arrived at our destination, Rovaniemi. The home of Santa Claus, it is also situated on the line of the artic circle. Artic was about the best word to describe the weather, having just left 37'C we arrived into light rain and 9 degrees Celsius ! A quick change out of my shorts and flipflops and I was ready for my first visit….straight to Santa Claus village and a visit to Santa himself !! We were met at the airport by Russell Carty and Jimbo from Kona Europe who took us straight to meet Santa ! It turns out they had already been !!We then met up with Fabien and Paul and drove the 2 hr drive north to the Kona Bikepark at Levi.
Reindeer for lunch anyone? The Kona team at rest!
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The roads were so quiet, the only thing we saw were a couple of Reindeer on the side of the road ! We also had Reindeer just cruising around the town of Levi, it was great to see them so in control of life over here. All the cars and people stop when they want to cross the road !! Although I guess they are not quite so in control as the first meal we had was Reindeer !!!
Levi is a small mountain with over 50 ski runs and the sleepy little town transforms itself into a big ski destination in the winter. Levi have just begun investing in mountain biking in the summer and are rapidly building trails and growing as a Kona Bikepark. They were playing host to the Finish National Champs and the Scandinavian Champs over the weekend. Everyone was really pleased with the track, saying that it was one of the longest and most challenging they have seen in Finland. It was still pretty short to World Cup standard at 2 minutes, but it was a very fun track to ride with a big variety of terrain.
Local wildlife
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Obviously myself and Fabien, not being of any Scandinavian origin, we were not entitled to win either of the events, but we had the opportunity to just have 3 days of great training, with 4 timed race runs. There were only 2 other girls so they were really happy I was there to swell the numbers ! One the girls had bought my race bike from last year, so it was good to see that it was still being put to good use. I won all of my races with consistent times of 2.05, 2.06, 2.06, and 2.07 over the weekend !!
Matti Leihikonen the Finish star won the men's event with his quickest time being a 1.51. Sadly Fabien's bike never arrived having been shipped from France, so he ended up racing on one of the demo bikes which he seemed to be riding really well. However he came off in one the races badly damaging his foot, breaking a bone which has put him out for the rest of the season. A really sad way to finish the year and more importantly meaning that is does not have the chance to retain his world title for the 3rd year in succession. I will certainly be one person who will miss his friendship and guidance at the last few races this year. Other than that very disappointing moment it was a great weekend in Finland.
We were looked after superbly by everyone at the Levi Bikepark. Check out the Kona Bikepark website for information on Levi
www.konabikeparks.com
and get across to visit Santa in Finland as well as some great riding.
Till next time, Tracy
Clurbee
