July 3: Day 63, Tankavaara-Kaamasen

Despite looking like it was out of a horror movie, the cabin was great and I got a good sleep. I did have to go out to the bathroom in the middle of the night, I deliberately didn't check the time but it looked like midafternoon. Breakfast was OK but unexceptional; if I'd known what I was in for I would have organized something myself. And the Wifi cut out shortly after downloading the day's route and getting the weather.

So since there were no distractions I got on the road at a prompt 0915. The route for today is, follow the E4. Komoot would occasionally break in to pre-annnounce cyclepaths around towns but it really wasn't much value today.

The next supermarket was about 25km up the road. Pastries were painfully expensive - 4.50 euro for a pain au chocolate. So I got a lunch salad and kept moving.

There's more and more reindeer around and on the road. They're a mix of not very bright and not very afraid of cars: one was eating grass right by the side of the road, and when a car approached it suddenly decided to cross and everyone had to stop. One tried to cross over, found there was a guardrail, and was a bit lost until it decided to cross back. Traffic going both ways had to stop while it figured itself out.

I'm smaller than cars and unarmored so I give them as much space as possible. They act insecure and I can see years of fearful submission to cars suddenly boiling over, and some overwrought reindeer decide to dominate the cyclist. That would not end well for me...

But reindeer are novel! So I usually drive past with the camera out, steering one-handed and simultaneously trying to frame it up and not crash. So these reindeer pictures aren't top quality.

But to be honest, there were so many reindeer on the roads that I stopped taking photos!

I stopped for lunch in the middle of nowhere. Some lone horsefly had a go at me, so I had to walk around while eating. A quartet on road skis went past uphill; I didn't get a photo, and it looked like it had stopped being fun a few hours before: I'm quite glad I'm on a bike.

An hour or two later I passed through Ivalo, and after a brief internal debate decided I should stop for a coffee. And a doughnut. 4 hours to go - I get going, after a few kilometers the cyclepath ends, and I'm back on the road. There's an occasional buzz from the back wheel; usually this means the water bag is touching it. So I yoink the bag into place.

A bit later the buzz starts again, and it's definitely louder, so I stop and take a proper look. Can't see anything touching the back wheel... it'd be natural to add "hmm" or "interesting!" but things rubbing against the back wheel with no obvious cause takes me straight to DEFCON 1. So I roll the bike back and forth, narrow down the phase when the friction happens, and discover that the tyre is touching the frame... and the wheel is a horribly twisted shape.

There's about 300km to go. The nearest proper bikeshop is 32km back. What to do?

Well ... there's also a camping store back in Ivalo, 7km back, which has a 5 star review from someone who got their bike fixed there. I figure the problem has developed pretty quickly and will probably get worse, and I can't see the tyre surviving 300km of harsh friction against the frame. Probably going to need a new back wheel. So I do a U-turn and head for the camping store.

They're not really a bike repair shop, but they're trying to start doing it, and they have a bike mechanic! He has a bit of a look, his recommendation is: I'm going to need a new back wheel. Can we get one in town? Nope, the nearest part is 25km back in Saariselkä. That's the proper bikeshop I saw on Google earlier - they close at 1600 and it's 1530 now... I'll get a taxi; any recommendations? There's a bit of discussion and then they kindly offer to drive me! (For a price.)

So we zoom down to Saariselkä; he knows the people there so calls ahead and they stay open even though we arrive a bit after 1600. I get the wheel and some tubeless rim tape - not cheap, let's say it was worthwhile for everyone here - and we head back. Then there's the ticklish process of taking the tyre off the old wheel, removing the cassette and disc brake, getting the rim tape on the new wheel, getting the tyre on and pressurized, filling with sealant (it used up the spare sealant I had with me), fitting the cassette and disc brake ... and by then it was 1900.

But I'm rolling again! If I could I'd probably stay the night in town, but everything is booked for the next few days and none of it is refundable - so I get a pizza (not kidding, this is my last chance for dinner) and start riding. ETA is 2300, I've already swapped some emails with the place I'm staying tonight and they're OK with me arriving late.

The road to Inari is really scenic, it's surrounded by lakes and forest. I try to get a few photos but I'm not really in the right frame of mind - I'm a bit too focussed on getting to the destination ASAP and avoiding anything that might cause more problems. So the small picturesque lakes are nice, but the pothole-free roads with good surfaces had more of my attention.

I got into Inari at about 2100. I've looked at Inari on Google Maps a lot, I spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to schedule the last few days of the ride and it looked like a good place to spend the night... until quite recently, when I found a better option, that made tomorrow's ride 90 minutes shorter. So it'a a bit weird to see it from this angle! There's more accommodation options here than I remember seeing on Google Maps - also, I'd got the impression that it was a small and isolated and unfriendly place but at ground level it looks like a perfectly nice holiday town.

Two hours to go. The sun was out, and glare was a problem, but now it's become cloudy and it's basically twilight. There aren't many cars or trucks on the road but they have their lights on. I attack the hills, then have the thought that I have another 10 hours of riding tomorrow so I slow down.

There's a lot of hills. There was 800m of climbing and it feels like it's all been after Ivalo. There's some great views, but it's so cloudy it doesn't make a decent photo. I pass the turnoff to Kirkenes - it's 165km away; that's tomorrow's ride. It's a few kilometers from here to where I'm staying. They've left a map to my room and a key, I get it open and get everything unpacked. It's 2300, but it's really good to be here, on schedule.

And the bike is working well. Two more days of cycling! Really hope that I'm past all the drama now.

(Pictures to come - no Wifi right now...)