• Where: Fiskars Trail Center, Finland
• When: 27.05.2025
• What: Mountainbike Enduro race
• Why: Because

Where?

There are many good reasons to visit the village of Fiskars. Many are drawn there by the beautiful nature and the Finnish industrial history. If Fiskars means scissors and garden tools then you’re not mistaken. Just like Nokia originates from the town of Nokia, Fiskars company was founded by the Fiskars river in Finland back in 1649.

The famous orange scissors were developed and made in the village in 1967. To read in more detail about the industrial history of Fiskars company, it’s better to check Fiskars Group.

Today, the village of Fiskars is a lively community and a popular tourist destination. The village is a combination of culture, outdoor activities and artisans.

Bike trails are maintained by local enthusiasts and marking the trails started in 2015. Officially the trails opened in 2017. Trail maps, bike rentals and more info can be found at the Fiskars Village Trail Center website.

All in all, it’s possible to a spend lovely day or a whole weekend in Fiskars by yourself or with the whole family. There are many activities for different interests.

When?

The enduro race took place on the same weekend as the annual Bike Expo. If you’re interested in bicycles or looking for a new one, the expo is the place to be. In addition to the expo, there is a massive demo area to test bicycles of all types. This year there were over 200 bikes to try out.

The expo was on Saturday and the race on Sunday. I arrived on Saturday and enjoyed the expo, greeted the friends in the Vintage MTB stall and checked out the stages of the Sunday race.

For a good gallery of the Vintage mountainbikes see Flickr here.

Then I came back to my hotel, had a shower, dined well in Kuparipaja and went for a pint in Fiskars Brewery. Tasted their new Ruukin Tripel, Belgian-style strong blond ale. Actually, I forgot to buy some to go on Sunday. Bugger.

The Torby hotel was nice. The staff were lovely and I had nice chats with them. My room was compact and had everything I needed. Mind you – no television – but neither did I need one. it was nice to get geared up in the warmth of the hotel room, then check out and get ready for the race.

What?

MTB Rally organises several relaxed, no-fuss mountainbike races in Finland. This race format was mountainbike enduro. It consists usually of 1-6 stages and in most classes those are ridden twice.

The start is always higher than the finish and the duration of one stage is normally between 1-3 minutes, depending on the skill and fitness level of the competitor. The results are then a total time of all stages combined.

The info, results, rules and media can be checked in more detail from their website MTBRally.com.

Why?

The question I always find myself asking before or during the race: What the hell am I doing here? Voluntarily.

I have a history of competitive mountainbiking but that was the golden nineties and I had my last race in 1997. In spring 2024, I decided to try racing again after having talked about it for 2 years or so..

In 2024 I participated in one downhill race (Gravity Cup in Kokonniemi) and two endurance races: Tuusula MTB and Finlandia MTB. There was no going back.

In spring 2024, I decided to try racing again after having talked about it for 2 years. There was no going back.

After each race I was gutted how rubbish I was, but I had fun every time. Although, during the Tuusula MTB 42km and Finlandia MTB 27km races I seriously questioned my choices and judgement.

I had never tried MTB Enduro before and this season opener aligned nicely with the Bike Expo and was relatively close to Helsinki. I rode 3 out of 4 stages the day before: Exhausted, wearing too much gear and not having trained enough, obviously. The 4th stage I visited on foot in the morning before the race.

How did it go then?

I raced in the Weekend Warriors class, where the stages are ridden only once. There was an option to ride the stages twice – but in all honesty – one round was enough.

I finished second last. So there was no need to hang around for the podium ceremony. It was my first time in this race format and on these trails.

I had difficulty to maintain speed and especially accelerations out of the bends or obstacles. In hindsight, I could have chosen a lighter bike for this format.

No need to hang around for the podium ceremony.

I had my Mondraker Superfoxy that is really good for bike parks and downhill (on my level) but I think my XCO bike, Mondraker F-Podium DC would have sufficed.

Regarding body armour: I had a fullface helmet, impact pants, shorts, kneepads and upper body armour. Even thought the temperature was some +8°c I was not cold. The protective gear is so warm that I had a simple long sleeve jersey over the body armour. Less protection might work, but better safe than sorry.

It took me around an hour to ride all the stages and the transfer sections between. There was no lift of any kind, so all hills to the start had to be climbed up. It was important to take care of hydration, so I had sports drink and energy candy with me to keep up the energy levels.

Anyway, this was the best I could do on that day on this fitness level. Now, there’s nothing to do, but hop onto a bike and train more.

Simple.