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Scootin' on Top of the World
After a 26 hour flight fiasco I finally arrived in Helsinki. I checked into my hotel to get some much needed rest before the 600 mile ride in the morning. Our planned journey would take us to a run in Lapland for a few days, and then up to Nordkapp, Norway the northernmost point in Europe.
At 10:00am we had the bikes packed and ready to go. Even though it was July I had thought that it would be a cool ride as it
Dixie Biker Free-lancer Frankie 5 Angels rides Fin-land in July 2006.
By Frankie 5 Angels
Photos by Frankie 5 Angels & Anette Varjonen
Article originally published in the September 2006
issue of Dixie Biker Illustrated.
usually is there, even in summer, at least for a Florida rider like me. Today however that was not the case. It must have been 85 degrees when we hit the road.
I was riding a borrowed 1990 Sturgis (right and below) and my buddy Veide was riding his 1949 rigid Panhead.
This article is dedicated to
Fisu
Walkka MC
Helsinki
Southeastern Finland is a beautiful place with thousands of lakes. As we rode north-ward the city of Helsinki faded behind us and we rode through the Finnish countryside. (Pictures below and throughout the article.)
After an almost 12 hour, 600 mile day of hard and fast riding we entered Lapland, northern Finland, crossing the Artic Circle. There were big billboards warning of Reindeer and Moose in the road.
Not long after I started to see them along side the roadway. These things are fucking enormous with great big antlers to impale you with!
Although non aggressive animals, they are pretty stupid, and will just stand in the road and not move.
It was nearly midnight, but the sun still shown as if it were daytime as we neared the run location.
As Lapland is very sparsely populated by anything other than Reindeer we could ride without seeing anyone for 100 miles. As we cruised along
at about 60 MPH we
rounded a turn and
were quickly surpris-
ed to see the road
turn to loose gravel
without any warning
(left). I thought to my-
self “I’m glad I am
wearing a helmet for
a change because
this one is going to hurt”.
Of course there was nothing we could do but hold on and try to keep the bikes on the road.
As we drifted to a slow we both turned and looked at each other, but we didn’t have to say a word. We both thought we were going to bite it, and out in the middle of no where. After stopping to check our shorts we headed on down the continuing gravel road until we came upon a sign saying PRIVATE! Karu MC. Poronpurijaiset 2006 Rovaniemi Lapland.
I know what your thinking. What in the fuck is Poronpurijaiset??? It means Reindeer fest in Finnish and this year was the 22nd annual event put on by Karu MC.
As we pulled in people asked me where we had been as they had expected us the day before. Apparently I had come the furthest for the run and everyone greeted me with a very friendly welcome.
As we rode in I saw bikes everywhere. Not your everyday variety, but Flatheads, Knuckles, Pans, and Shovels were the majority of the rides. These were not museum pieces either; these were built by their owners, and more importantly ridden.
As we entered the party I was greeted with friendly handshakes and welcomes. I was starting to think to myself, “do these people think I am someone else?” “Fuck man, I’m just some guy who came over to go for a ride”.
It seems that friendly welcoming attitude is the feeling of true brotherhood Finnish bikers feel towards one another.
This is a pic of me and Pekkele (it means fuck in Finnish). He is the President of DS MC. You can't tell from da picture but he is a 6'11" tall Viking and the patch on his jacket reads :Short people have no right to live." I didn't know whether to laugh or hide. He was a really nice guy, though.
We walked around and talked to people from all over Scandinavia. There was a vast number of MC’s there, all drinking and laughing together having a good time.
One of them was called Reindeershit MC whose name I thought was more than appropriate after all the reindeer shit I had dodged on the road that day.
We sat around talking until I asked what time it was and was answered with 5am! Shit man, its hard to know when to go to sleep when the sun never sets.
We stayed the next few days checking out the great old chops, swimming in the river, and just swapping stories. They had Reindeer and “little fish” to eat (both were very good), and a kick ass AC/DC tribute band. That night they had an announcer saying something in Finnish followed by my name as my new found friends pushed me towards the stage I could only imagine what I was in for. When I got up there I was told that I had won the prize for furthest traveled.
I thanked them for all of their kindness and hospitality and told them how impressive it was to see people riding all of the old school bikes and the fact that I couldn’t believe how many trailers we saw pulling bikes on our 600 mile trip up to the run. Zero! These people build, wrench, and ride their own bikes. It was like going back in time to the 60’s and 70’s in America.
On Sunday it was time to head north. We rode to the next town to the Karu MC clubhouse where we would crash for the night and wait for a tire shop to open in the morning as Veide needed a new rear tire.
We had a great time bullshitin’ and looking at the bikes they had there. I couldn’t believe them all. No wonder we can’t find old bikes like these in the states very like we used to, the Finnish guys have them all!
After being lulled to sleep by Motorhead’s Ace of spades, we awoke the next day to head toward Nordkapp.
After changing the rear tire we were off. Our friend Sami decided to join us. We were heading about an hours ride north to meet up with some other friends, one of which was Esa, a friend I rode with to the 100th in Milwaukee 3 years earlier.
Esa lives in Lapland and told us that from now on we would be seeing more reindeer. After fueling up, six of us headed north. We rode through the vast wilderness at a pretty good clip as there was nothing but wide open road ahead of us, or so we thought.
As we rounded a curve we saw what must have been a hundred Reindeer in the middle of the road. As I slowed, I reached for my camera to take this incredible picture when the guys rolled towards them revving their motors and the herd trampled off before I could get the shot.
You see, these guys see Reindeer all the time and they weren’t as impressed with them as I was. It seems that Reindeer are just like free roaming livestock in Lapland.
At the end of the day we found some cabins for rent right on a beautiful lake. Two cabins cost us about $60. We cooked out on the dock and then decided to go to the sauna. In Finland everyone has a sauna. It is a long tradition and very relaxing. Until you jump into the freezing lake afterwards! I was told that it is very good for your immune system. Makes sense to me but it’s still cold!
We awoke to the sound of rain the next morning. Not only was
it raining, it was cold too. We suited up, and started our drenched
bikes.
Veide went to kick his 49’ Pan, and when he did, I saw the kick-
er peddle fall to the ground. The kicker shaft had broken off.
We decided to push start the bike and try to find a welding shop
along the way. As I looked around, I thought, “theres going to be a welding shop out here?”
Sure enough, about 30 miles north we found a small mechanics shop with a welder. He had to weld the whole peddle to the shaft, but it worked.
It continued to rain, so at our next stop along the Finnish/Norse border we discussed whether we wanted to continue to Nordcapp as the weather up north looked pretty bad.
We said fuck it, we’re already cold and wet so we might as well go across a ways along the river that separates the two Nordic countries.
As we headed north the weather started to clear as we rode along the winding roads through high hills with the river below. I started to notice all these long sticks stuck in the ground along the road side so I asked Sami what they were. He told me that they were there so the snow plow drivers would know where the roads were when Lapland was under four feet of snow in the winter. It is dark there for all but about 1 hour a day in the winter. He said that last year it got down to -52 degrees Fahrenheit!
After spending the day riding a loop road through Norway we crossed back over to the Finnish side and got a nice hotel for $20 each. There were a lot of other riders there who had also been at the Poronpurijaiset run.
We sat around bullshitin’ about where people were going and where they were from. After a pretty late night we were heading back south towards Esa’s home where we would spend the night and then the long journey back to Helsinki.
From start to finish we had ridden a little over 2000 miles in 4 days. A new
record for me, but one I don’t care to break .
Veide gets the hard ass award though,
as he was riding a 49’ rigid Pan.
Perkele! }:->
I have to say Finnish bikers are definatly
the real deal. They live and breathe the
true biker lifestyle.
Ride on ride strong!
