A while ago we wrote five good reasons to try cyclocross, and one of the reasons was that cyclocross bike works as a pretty good pseudo-road bike too. I think I proved that point today for sure: I rode my first ever touring/road event today: Tour de Helsinki, consisting of a 140 km (87 miles) loop of roads that circle the whole greater Helsinki area.

To be honest I’ve never even ridden that much road before. Once, few years ago, I rode some 100 km (some 62 miles) of road with 26″ single speed mountain bike (dont ask why). Today I own a cyclocross bike that I usually ride on mixed terrain: roads, gravel roads, and some trails too. I enjoy the versatility of the cx frame and usually also wear some wider, more comfy, tires on it (32 mm knobbies or 28mm “messenger” type commute/city tires). That said, I didn’t know at all what to expect today.

I planned to take the route on very easy schedule, take photos, drink a cup of coffee somewhere, enjoy the scenery – just take it relaxed. Originally I also planned to use the said 28mm wide Panaracer T-Serv tires for the event. Then I got some serious cut on the rear tire and got a Specialized Armadillo 23mm tire from www.pyorahuolto.com as the last minute substitute. I was stupid enough not to change the front tire to decent road tire too (mistake number 1).

My Surly – Cyclocross bike that works pretty well on the road too

The the start came, and all the riders spinned the first 11 kilometers easily in a police escort. All was nice and easy and things rolled very well. After that the riders divided into the groups of target velocity (ranging from 20 km/h to 35km/h, 12,5 mph to 21,7 mph) – there were “guides” from the organizers that lead the said groups and maintained the chosen speed for the whole route. Very good service for the road riding novice like me!

At first, as I already said, I was planning to take it easy and take some slower group. But last minute call from a friend made me change my plans… “dude, take the 30 km/h group, riding in the peloton is totally different, just keep steady cadence and you’ll fly…” I guess that call kind of woke up my inner racer! Therefore all the today’s photos are only from the end area. I was too busy riding to take photos while on the route.

And, yes, I have to admit that riding in the group was a really cool and different feeling. I didn’t actually know that the aerodynamic benefit of riding in the group could be that huge! So, I took the faster group (targeting to 30km/h speed) and at times the average speed where somewhere around 32-33km/h.

I was a bit afraid if I can maintain such a speed for the whole distance, but everything went very well until around 100km… Perhaps a bit too well. I was feeling so good that I tried to chase the next, even faster group (mistake number 2) and that cost quite alot in the end. The main group attacked back and the two groups melted together, and my legs were starting to burn big time. After that miserable attack try I had to pause for a service break, eat & drink some, while most of the riders stopped only very briefly and went on – there was I, left riding alone, and I got two options: try to chase the faster pack or let go and wait for the next slower group. Or try to ride alone, which is very hard, I can tell you, compared to the easy pace of riding in the peloton. I guess these are the mistakes every novice must take at their first road events.

Anyway, I chose to chase the faster group and had to mash like madman for a kilometer or so. Damn, it felt good to be back in the group again, and I thought that I recovered quite well from the said sprint, but I had to pay that in the end – last 10 kilometers of the event were pretty much hell, I have to admit. I kept downshifting all the time and the damn bike just didn’t move anywhere… And just because of my own stupidity earlier. Ok, not a big deal, I was riding just for fun after all – but still, in the next time I think I don’t try ANY attacks for sure, heh.

Riders just about to finish the race in Olympic Velodrome

My end time was still quite ok (around 4.35-4.40 unofficially), and I suprised myself of keeping the steady average pace of around 30km/h for the whole distance. I guess I will ride some more road in the near future, or at least participate in the same event also next year! Road riding/racing was much cooler than I thought initially and I recommend to try it, just for kicks – keeping much higher avarage speed that you can ever achieve by just yourself is pretty good feeling. Also tight turns, fast downhills, cross roads etc. are suprisingly exiting when riding in the large group, you have to keep serious attention all the time, because everything can happen very quickly, and unfortunately even this event saw one big crash sending three people straight to the hospital!