Cycling through the night in Saimaa
The start could not be more Finnish: the Finlandia hymn over the loudspeakers while the gates of the 1929 Imatrankoski dam open and the rapids roar back into their old channel, a spectacle that has pulled in visitors since Catherine the Great in 1772. Then, at four minutes past seven on Friday evening, our fast group of the Saimaa Cycle Tour rolled out of Imatra. Just under eight and a half hours and 300 kilometres later we were back, and at no point did the sky get dark. If you ride a bike and want one big day that is more joy than suffering, this is the event I would invite you to.
Fueling is the real race
Long rides are rarely lost through the legs; they are lost through the stomach. I aimed at roughly 90 grams of carbohydrate per hour from sports drink, homemade glucose:fructose gel (1:0.8 ratio) and Fazer Green Jellies. I started eating within the first twenty minutes and tried to never let a gap open. With 8 hours and 21 minutes of ride time at 223 W average, I burned 8,043 kcal.
It was hard. For the first three hours the plan worked. Then came digestion problems, so for an hour I only drank; that helped, and I resumed fueling. At the rest stops I enjoyed pickles and coffee to reset the sweet tongue, and after that it got easier. Taking in 100+ grams of carbs per hour has to be trained, and I can do it, but in an easier 180 to 220 W range, not while toggling between 200 and 350 W every few minutes.
The route
The 300 km loop circles Great Saimaa clockwise: Imatra, Lappeenranta, Taipalsaari, Savitaipale, Mikkeli, Puumala and Ruokolahti. It rolls constantly, 2,800 metres of climbing without a single real climb (the highest hills are around 50 metres). The tarmac is smooth with no bad sections, and during the night the traffic is non-existent. Lake Saimaa glittered at times on both sides. The archipelago road near Puumala, especially Lietvesi, at two in the morning is one of the most beautiful stretches of tarmac I know in Finland.
Conditions and atmosphere
We had the dream draw: calm air, 14 to 22 degrees, and the nightless night doing its trick. The sun dipped toward the horizon, and after two hours of calm haze but no darkness it simply began to rise again. Volunteers poured coffee in the small hours, locals cheered from their yards, and the field ranged from steel-frame tourers to racers. Si Richardson's GCN film from last year captures the feeling perfectly, and I highly recommend watching it!
My numbers: 300 km, 8 h 21 min 53 s (official time), 35.7 km/h rolling average, 223 W average power. The full ride is below on Strava. But the honest summary is that the numbers were the least memorable part of the night. It goes more like this:
Hours 0–3: let's do this, just another hard ride.
3–4: oh no, only halfway there.
4–6: in the not-so-dark night: this will take its toll.
6–8: oh yes, this will end soon, familiar final stretches.
8:21:53: YES. This feeling, and a hot dog at 3:30 am. Next time again?