In reality, my participation in the race couldn't have started worse. The race was cancelled even before I left Denmark. The organizer, who is what you call a character with a twinkle in his eye, couldn't get the project to stick together anymore. Shortly before departure, he cancelled the whole mess. And here we were with plane tickets and packed equipment. What do you do then?

I found a Facebook group with some of the other participants who wanted to go anyway and just do the 100% route unsupported. Exactly the same thought I had. 

I arrived in Rovaniemi and was picked up by Alex, the previous organizer, who was a really nice guy. He invited everyone who had come to town to meet at a bar in the evening to socialize and talk through the route. That's how I met the 3 other fat bikers, of which only Martin from Switzerland could speak English. But it was a nice evening and the 4 fat bikers we were agreed to meet the next morning and ride off together as a group.

It was great to finally get out on the bike, with crunching snow under the tires. And soon we were out on the frozen river, heading south. 

The mood was high and the terrain varied from deep snow in reindeer tracks to frozen lakes with a hard surface.

By the afternoon, half of the team was pretty tired and there was talk about a cabin that was close to the trail. Martin and I ended up driving on while the other two drove to the cabin.

In the evening we had the most beautiful light imaginable. A low sun that moved infinitely slowly downwards, making the silhouettes of the trees more and more beautiful.

As night fell, we found a small open space next to the trail. Here we made camp. We stamped the snow out to fit the size of the sleeping pad and made a small “chamber” for boots and a bag. 

While the packed snow settled into a hard surface, we cooked over our campfire. And the conversation turned to other cycling adventures. 

At bedtime we jumped into our thick winter sleeping bags. I had a down jacket on underneath, as well as felt inner boots. It was a great choice, because it was minus 32 degrees at night, when we were lying under the open sky in the Finnish wilderness. Great experience.

The next day we got going again and the landscape was still beautiful with several large lakes to cross. Among them was the lake that Alex had referred to as “Motherfucker Lake” because it often had “overflow”, so you might have to go around it, which is a huge challenge in soft snow without paths. “Overflow” can occur where the water in the lake pulls up through the ice, and forms a lake on top of the ice. In addition to getting a huge shock if you walk through the thin layer of ice, down to the overflow, you obviously get wet feet, which can quickly develop into a pretty serious problem in the frozen wasteland. Fortunately, the lake looked completely stable, with fresh scooter tracks we could follow, and no dark spots, which are signs of water under a thin layer of ice. 

During the afternoon I developed more and more pain on the side of my right knee. It had been building up since yesterday. Martin was kind enough to give me some pills of the kind that should cure everything. But it only helped a little.

The route is designed in such a way that it consists of two loops, like butterfly wings. That is, it comes back to Rovaniemi halfway. And at the end of day 2 I could feel that I had to interrupt the trip. It was incredibly painful to pedal. And I knew the terrain on the next loop was even more intense. So I had to bite my pride and drive into town and spend the night, instead of continuing with Martin. 

The next day I took a rest day, while I planned to drive to meet Martin the day after. 

So on the fourth day I saddled up again and set off in the opposite direction on the route, knowing that I would meet Martin at some point. 

After about 10km, however, I could start to feel my knee hurting again. I made a new plan. I saw a shelter on the route where I could wait for Martin.

It was a cool place and the best part was that some different local Finns came by and hung out. It was pretty cozy. One, a local fisherman, grilled sausages and shared with me. 

The place was so magical that I decided to sleep there for the night. Martin came by early in the evening and hung out for a short while before continuing the last stretch into town. 

I slept wonderfully for another night out in the cold. The next morning I calmly rolled back to Rovaniemi. 

Even though the race was canceled, my knee was causing trouble, and everything in general didn't go as expected, I still had some super good experiences up there at the Arctic Circle.