KEPOSTI

Where were you when the millennium changed ? Do you feel a sting in your kicksled conscience ? The kernel of Ketkupolkka sensed this significant moment standing on Kickspark runners after a unforgettable street race on glazing ice in Kuopio.

There would have been room, though, for one or two more relaxed kickers as celebrated objects of admiration for the Savonian public enchanted by the speed and tough struggle of the kicksled competitors. Now a random bypasser observing only Ville's race grimace could get the impression that this sport is not suitable for children, women or otherwise infirm individuals.

Also in many lesser sports they have elected an athlete of the century. Could the readers of Keposti perhaps be interested in starting a discussion on possible election criteria ? Furthermore, what do you think about the necessity of nominating a "Kicksledder of the Year" in order to increase the respectability and popularity and to motivate our juvenile kicksledders ?

The final round of Finnish presidential election will be coming up soon. Only one of the two candidates has participated boldly and honourably in a kicksled race demonstrating brisk capability of taking risk and a hard head while steering through tough curves. Or do we wish to direct our last remaining tax money into overwhelming guardian systems of the society, such as street glide removal taken to the degree of insanity and buying buns to be tossed into the mouths of loiterers ?

The best kicksled events of the season are still ahead. Weissensee, Vikingarennet, Balck and Multia are all fantastic experiences also for those kicking hard but not fast. If one's self-esteem does not tolerate honest defeat, one can try merry fitness kicking or kicksled walking instead of pole walking. Therefore I expect to see all you new owners of a Kickspark open-mindedly there. Otherwise you cannot enter the after-spark sauna and cannot enjoy the after-spark beer.

Vierikko governs the old millennium

The bygone epoch ended in centre of Kuopio on a icy but dwindling 2 km street course. The warmup for the 3-lap race was done behind the loudspeaker van planting the sport in the minds of all town dwellers. Two hours before the awaited clockstroke the elite of the old millennium took positions behind the start line located at the lake passenger harbour.

Hannu's lightning start reflected the final result.

As usual, Hannu thrusted onto the course in the lead ahead of all the cream of ketkupolkka. Tomas passed Hannu in the first turn with the pack following immediately behind him.

Approximately at one mile Tomas started slowing down and soon Hannu pulled away from the rest towards an overwhelming victory on the technical course requiring skillful sled management and even running at corners and around occasional spectators not aware of the enormous speed of a race kicksledder.

Jan, who didn't run at all, took the second place only inches before Ville in a fierce sprint struggle. Tomas had finally to be satisfied with a fourth and Alpo with a fifth place before Väiski.

Hannu turned his sled with feet spinning at an amazing frequency

Ville and Jan took the curve with much less movements.

The elite ladies Anne-Maria, Karoliina, Annika ja Reetta chose to celebrate the millennium without a lung-bursting race in the frost, kicking around the track at a relaxed pace enjoying the last moments of the old millennium.

The public had an opportunity to try the Kicksparks, too. You could see many happy people kicking in a rather wobbly manner, which was not necessarily caused by Kickspark frame instability. Ketkupolkka celebrated the special occasion in our calendar by declaring the start of a Kicksled Millennium.

Membership fee adults 50 FIM, youth under 18 years and students 20 FIM, whole family 100 FIM, supporting member 500 FIM.

Bank account Merita 142650-82829

Chairman Hannu Vierikko p. 3883231, 040-5723432

Vice chairman Alpo Kuusisto p. 040-5409219

Treasurer Sami Siirilä p. 040-5168824

Keporter Esa Mononen Aittatie 13 B 18 00390 Helsinki p.5482213, 040-5655993

The traditional evening race was held on 17th Dec at Lake Kuusijärvi, Vantaa in a wet and slushy Little Christmas weather. The quality of the participants was chilling tough, although the sleet rain and wind blowing off most of the route-marking torches did not seduce too many merry club members to witness the ice races on a 600 m track.

Jan ja Ville had to participate also in track preparation.

Old champ Hannu kept his promise by keeping all others tightly behind him in the sprint races that finally started after the track preaparation and measurements. The host of the night had charged his batteries appropriately before the race.

Although the starting procedure on 200 m was bit improvised, the order was quite like expected. There was no argument about the winner. Some observers awaited even a record on the traditional English mile, but the suboptimal conditions forced the optimists to become disappointed. Great victory again for Hannu, although Ville and Alpo did not leave room for relaxing during the race.

All other except the three top guys chose not to enter the 10 km race, on which the few spectators could witness the most sovereign kick effort of the night. Alpo pulled away from Hannu and Ville slightly after halfway, and not even collaboration brought the trailing duo close enough to challenge the distance champion.

Kuusijärvi was used first time as the stage for Night of Ketkupolkka, and proved to be quite a suitable place for this early-season event. One can also do the aboriginal "Ketkupolkka Baptism" in a safe and controlled manner in the swim opening at the public sauna shore. This time, however, everybody seemed to be wet enough to forget the possibility to take a voluntary swim with the kicksled.

On 22th January the domestic race season of the new millennium was officially opened in Vihavuosi, Hauho. The local village council has open-mindedly taken kicksledding in its activity program, and arranged a cozy but tough national 10 km terrain race.

The 5 km long course was very diverse, containing more or less well gliding village roads, terrain paths requiring also some running and a blizzard-struck ice segment. Men's race consisted of two laps, in other classes one round was enough. On the start line there were about one dozen racers and a delighting number of recreational kicksledders.

Race kickers grouped behind the starting line.

The elite attacked the first sharp uphill in a dense crowd. Alpo and Ville continued with a pace hard enough to exhaust all fellow competitors, also Hannu who had to give up before halfway mark.

In the heavy cross-country segment of second lap Alpo succeeded to make a small gap to Ville, but it was not quite enough in the end. Ville showed that the tales in "Slickkedders Diary" are no fiction, and partly kicked, partly ran the last curves bit faster than Alpo, who had to finally yield by a couple of sled lengths. Winner's time was 28.02, which is amazingly fast considerintg the route and cold weather.

Hannu ended up at his worst palce ever in a kicksled race, as Jan passed him in the second lap demonstrating surprisingly diverse kicking talent. Tomas came in as fifth man under half an hour. Anne-Maria was the unthreatened number one in the ladies' class.

The draft outlined by Alpo expresses the concern on increasing the welfare and work capability of citizens by evaluating criteria of good hobbies.

This draft is necessary, because in our culture citizens are not willing to sacrifice themselves maximally for the society. This would require all energy to be directed to productive work and as the work capability decreases below the self-supporting threshold, eventually exiting from society.

For national-economic reasons all individuals should keep up their witness acquired in childhood by actively participating in at least one form of physical exercise. This does not exclude other hobbies. However, only a minimum amount of time should be spent to hobbies not commonly profitable.

The selected form of exercise should be an endurance sport, because the fitness of blood circulation system is most essential for general health. Furthermore, endurance sports develop the muscles, too, in an adequate manner.

Major part of wake-up time should be used for profitable labour. Therefore the time used for fitness exercise must be minimised. Because all endurance sports, unlike viewers of TV shopping channel might think, are approximately as effective, time consumption can optimised by combining motion and work.

Today's filed of employment cannot offer everyone fitness jobs, like delivery of mail. Therefore others have to combine their fitness exercise with commuting and other necessary errands. Human-powered commuting decreases the use of motor vehicles, which induces major savings for the society. That's why even the post(wo)men ought to commute by their own means.

Modern infrastructure favors excercise forms that can be done on roads and streets.

Kepo's insider stories

This column contains rumours, gossip and gibberish. Hints can be discretely directed to Keposti editors.

• Henry H. joined the kicking chorus above the clouds
• Ngugi took WC bronze in M40 master's orienteering WC
• Tomas left Annika for ice kicks
• Kickspark sleds are teared from merchants' hands
• Kickbiking will be included in adventure races next summer

Do your children have a scooter ? If they have, then make sure that their both legs get exercised equilaterally. Otherwise one leg easily grows longer. Also a kicksled is often dangerous in this respect.

It is strange, how many aspects is induced by the length discrepancy of the left and right leg. The child tends to balance the work load of both legs by pushing the plevis outwards, ending up sometimes in a strange rotated posture and the spine gets bent. If no correction is made in time, the defect remains permanent, even though the original leg length discrepancy might level off with time. This length discrepancy may as well be a pure anomaly of nature, one leg just happens to grow faster.

"Here we again have a boy with a shorter left leg. Has he used a scooter or a kicksled ?" The question was presented by white-coated gym teacher Airi Koskimies, who experiencedly observed her long queue of patients occasionally consulting the accompanying medical doctor. In no time the origins of posture defects were localised, and teacher Koskimies ordered as cure gym workouts strenghthening sometimes leg muscles, sometimes back and belly muscles - or hanging on the bar or rings.

17.01.2000 a gentleman born in year 1902 was hit by a car in Muurame while he was crossing a road with his kicksled. Would the deceased perhaps have reached a full century without a kicksled ?

Are you without kicking equipment ? Now they are available again ! Last year's KB stock is sold out at Kepo prices. Also kicksleds, gadgets and hints p. 3883013, 040-5723432 hannu@kickbike.com

10.11. 0.40h fartlek running at school on my pupils' "jog". I ran a bit back and forth. After school 1.20h KB incl. some lactic acid free intervals until my back tyre exploded + 30 min running my KB.

13.11. 45min KB headwing to Porlammi until the back tyre exploded again. The outer tyre had worn out and my temporary cover made of grip tape between the inner tube and the tyre did not work. I had my patch kit and small pump but the mouth piece was not the right one for the back valve. I left my KB in a fur thicket and ran another route 1.35 home. Running felt stiff and arduous. My plan was to KB 90 km, but plans don't always work. I fetched my KB with my car two hours after coming home.

14.11. Heavy snow -1 C. Yesterday seems to have been the last KB workout for the season. 2.35 terrain cycling.

17.11. 25min roller cycling + 40min Kepo-circuit + stair workouts, PB records running 8,1sec, hopping 12,9sec + 35min on rollers

19.11. 3,2km swim, evening YEPPYIYEEY!!! KICKSLEDDING on Lake Lapimjärvi; in EXCELLENT conditions. 1.25 h. Before the workout I checked the ice situation. 100 m from the shore the ice was so thick that I could not bore a hole with a dull ice drill. I could make only a 3 cm dent in the ice. The first ten minutes I felt a bit timid, but when I learned to trust the ice kicking was a pure pleasure. I did a couple of sprints in tailwind.

20.11. 3.20 h workout on the lake. A small flu strain my kick a bit. I raised the stem one step higher and the driving posture felt quite comfortable. I can use even more high gear in tailwind. The driving posture begins to be rather Alpo-like. In the end 2 x 2400m 4.58 and 5.00. Otherwise it was an even-paced aerobic workout except fot the few sprints in tailwind.

27.11. The first ice marathon on Lapinjärvi was cancelled for nothing ! I set out in the morning for a brisk 1h30min run, whereafter I just for fun's sake inspected the kick conditions on the lake. The condition proved to be superb, neoprene socks were not needed. There was only a thin 2 mm layer of water on the ice although the temperature was +7 degrees. One could observe one's own kicking technique on the mirror-bright ice. I kicked in fantastic natural conditions for 50 minutes.

If I only had known the circumstances, I would have cancelled the running and kicked much longer. In the end I tried to speed up, but the going felt tired so I let it be.

30.11. Winter is lost. KB workorkout with old training tyre that made kicking feel depressingly tacky. 10 km time trial took 24.54; that is 2.47 more time than my record. I tried also my running shape after the KB workout and it felt easier at same relative pace.

1.12. Thaw at Lapinjärvi; all ice gone !!!! The hard storm and warm weather (+5 to +10 centigrade) for several days did their job. tekivät tehtävänsä. 2t roller cycling + 45min Kepo circuit. My stair running record is now 7,9sec and hopping 12,1 sec

5.12. The first ice marathon watered up at Lake Halkolampi, too. Väiski and Keporter went for ice surveillance on Saturday and announced that the ice wat not kick-proof. On sunday the roads, however, were in perfect kicksled condition and Hannu, Alpo, Jan and I made a good workout from Puistola. After one-hour warmup we did some 2000 m intervals at Tattarisuo KB time trial track. Historical records indeed; there were no previous ones with kicksled. Times were VV 5.12+ 5.11, JE 5.14+5.18, AK 5.24+5.21, HV 5.28+5.44. Total kicking time was 3 hours.

6.12. My own kind of Independence Day Safari in East Nyland. Lapinjärvi - Heikinkylä- Lapinkylä- Hommansby- Church road Liljendaliin- Rutumi- Lapinjärvi.

Old main road in Liljendal was Liljendal a one-kilometer dream until salt and sand made slickkedder curse in Kepo style <+">Darned salt and sand <-"><+">!!!!! Luckily in the end the roads were in good kick shape again Total 3.25 hrs with 15-20 min running with sled.

7.12. My car is broken. 35 min kicking to work at Hindersby school with more than 10 kg of Moomin clothes in my backpack. The road was a misery at places. The temperature was well above freezing and I felt still totally stale.

11.12. Kick and sled carrying workout in Helsinki Central Park sparred by H. Vierikko. Due to my bad memory I had crampons borrowed by Hannu on my feet. Crampons worked quite all right at slower speeds and while running. The conditions were varying, on icy segments they were suitable for racing. We did some 15 kick sprints on the lower skating field in Pirkkola. = 1.25h + 40min run back to Puistola.

14.12. Nice cross-country tour on Church Road. In Liljendal I was forced to run at places where the ice disappeared. The route was mostly in good kicking condition; in downhills the speed was frighteningly fast at places and my sled management skills were tested. I had to balance between the car tyre tracks; in some places the snow had frozen "vertically" and sled fron iron served as a bumper. It was already dusk on my second lap so sparks from my kickspark accompanied me.

15.12. 3 hrs kicking on Lapinjärvi ice in dream conditions. 9 swine-horse intervals; first ones submaximally with relaxed pace. 4.34, 4.32, 4.25, 4.25 ? no time (half moon went behind the cloud and illumination thus weakened), 4.41 (started to feel tough), 4.38, 4.36, 4.27. Last interval felt enough.

The ice was in esthetically fine shape with all the hues of water and snow. One could spot interting zebra textures, white spots, dark green water coloured ice, half moon reflections and other things beyond the power of words. The snow had melted in the rain and caused those phenomena.

Alpo called in the evening and told that Night of Ketkupolkka will be on Friday. I had to start immediately a merciless stretching and self-massage programme.

17.12. Keponight in wet and slushy weather on Lake Kuusijärvi. Hannu and Alpo were the winners of the night. My kicking was not not best possible, especially not in sprints. Alpo pulled away with a monstrous sprint already at halfway of the 10 km. I could by now means challenge him. Again Hannu hanged behind me and beat me just before the finish line, just like in the one-mile race. Perhaps my tough workouts on Monday and Wednesday had made my race shape a bit stale.

Keponight was good although there were not too many participants. In kicksled races quality seems to replace quantity a bit too often.

19.12. AM 1.30h ski skating + 30min run, PM 1t uinti , evening 40min kicksled fartlek + 40min kepo circuit, stair hopping now 11,5sec and run 7,7sec!!! The evening workout felt surprisingly light.

23.12. AM 15min run + 1.30h snowploughing = 450m. 30min warmup 2000m 5.19, 5 x 1800m/ 900m recovery 4.50, 4.50, 4.46, 4.42, 4.37 + 2 x 450m max/ 1350m 1.04, 1.04 + 1800m max.4.23. The track was slow, runners bit on the thin layer of snow mixed with ice. My organs and muscles were in a rather flegmatic shape in the beginning after yesterday's massage and the "machine" required a long wake-up time. It was not before the short one-lap intervals before it started to taste all right.

24.12. Watery Xmas Eve. In spite of this I went to the lake with my handplough in the afternoon. The snow had melted partially and I tried to kick without ploughing. There was, however, enough slush and water that I didn't continue that experiment for too long. The circuit I ploughed yesterday was not open anymore. There had been a minor blizzard during the night. I was in doubt wheter I should commence ploughing or go home turning the pedals.

I decided to plough the yesterday's circuit in a haste pace; it took about half an hour. The slush snow was really tough to plough. 15 min warmup + 25 x 450m/450m. The weather became more wet all the time. A nice rhythm change workout. The interval times were between 1.10 - 1.04.

26.12. Nice circumstances on Church Road in Liljendal. 2.50 h kicking = 44km. In the beginning the road was quite fast, but fresh snow slowed me down in the end. Last 5,5 km in time 18.05 above my aerobic threshold. Based on this I judged that marathon racer time would have been around 2.10 - 2.20. Quite a sharp feeling in spite of Xmas celebrations.

27.12. AM 1 h kicking that felt like turning a grinding wheel on the lake and the forest road behind it. In practice inside the snow, included also a bit of running.

31.12. AM 30min verryttely juoksu.
In the evening Millennium race in Kuopio, with Vierikko swinging the rhythm foot most vigorously in the accelerations after running curves. I myself got a bad start and the curves didn't go as expected, either. After the first lap I was only fourth, far from the leading trio. Luckily the others slowed down so I could advance to second place. Elmgren followed me and took me in the end by a couple of inches. Vierikko had escaped too far already in the beginning.

In general, the race was great. The track was in fine gliding ice runner shape. I didn't like the curves too much, but they brought indeed an extra spice in the race. There were a lot of spectators and the leading car added to the feeling. I lost two spikes during the race and at closer inspection I noticed that one spike base came of completely.

New Millennium started after all while standing on the runners and watching the fireworks. Early in the morning we kicked to Sammalniemi and the last kicker there was rebaptised to Edward Furuhjelm. Title was taken by Wäiski.

2.1.2000 3 hrs cross-country on Church Road. The surface was sticky due to fresh snow, in spite of this last 5 km 18.38.

4.1. AM Five hours' sacrifice for kicksled fitness. A 2.35 h kicksled workout required a two-hour track preparation session including all the measurements. Due to circumstances the circuit was only satisfactory (about 475m). The weather was a bit wet and the surface was rough. Warmup 50min 2 x 5 x 1900m (last century in memoriam) /950m rec. start interval 9min, middle break 8min 5.22, 5.15, 5.12, 5.13, 5.10 + 5.10, 5.08, 5.04, 5.02, 4.53

My spike shoes exploded inrecoverably. The carbon fibre midsole of the right shoe penetrated the outsole.

5.1. In the morning urgent call to Keltamäki and order of new ones. The yellow map-textured Jalas spikes that I ordered last winter endured a mere 2000km. The red VJ Falcon shoes lasted much longer, from 1994 to 1998 when the spike bases wore out. In the soles there is still no defect. Perhaps carbon fibre and more effective horse kick technique has an impact on the durability of modern spike shoes. There has been also much more quality training than in the bygone years.

AM Run to yeaterday's track. I had my spare spikes, the Adidas track shoes that I purchased already when I was 16. I had glued fixed spikes to them with a bi-component glue three years ago. I recall that I used too long spikes in them in the Olympic trials in Jämsä 1994 and destroyed the spike bases. The shoes were a bit tight with neoprene socks and too small for carbon fibre midsoles.

Surprisingly, the track was faster than yesterday although more wet, too. 30 min warmup, "Zatopek" intervals 30 x 475m (1.12-1.15) / 475m rec. + 1 x max. 1.08!!. cooldown 15 min kicking + 7 km running back home.

6.1. 66km on Church Road, that means 6 laps á 11km. A devilish exercise, no milk safari. 3.40 h in super circumstances. The road was icy almost everywhere and no sand grinding could be heard. The temperature was a degree or two above freezing. The lap times were all around 36 mins, which means that my speed on every 5,5km slice was faster than my previous trials. The last 5km went today 14.32!!! This means that marathon estimate today was around 2 h, which means about 1.52 race time. In the beginning my legs felt a bit dizzy from the hard ice workouts of the previous days. One could notice the tiredness especially in uphills. When my body warmed up the pace and feeling went up, even the last slice went quite all right.

Evening 40 min Kepo circuit, stair running 8,1-7,6 s and hopping 12,5-11,7. I felt tired at first but I felt quite fresh afterwards.

8.1. Fantastic circumstances at Church Road, this kind of dream cross country conditions don't come too often during one winter. 66km flied in a relaxed manner in 3.25 h. My lap times were initially around 33 mins, especially in downhills the speed was rocketing. On the two last laps I timed the return halves 5,5 + 5,5km in 14.26+14.44. They were already in the dusk, the last one in the dark. The road started to wear more and more in the end, which slowed me down as the day got dimmer. I believe that the return half could have gone under 14 mins in the beginning.

Couple of downhills were in a hazardously slippery condition and on the penultimate lap I stumbled down. There were not many cars on the roads. I encountered only one car and one forest harvester driving slowly. In these conditions kicksled was the overwhelmingly fastest vehicle. The road was covered by mirror ice and the temperature was +2 centigrade.

9.1. AM 30min run + 50min Kepo strength + 35min recovery kicking. There is several mm of water on the lake. Tomorrow when it freezes up there will be excellent conditions.

The week has been quantitavely and perhaps also qualitatively the toughest kick-specific training week during my career. I have gathered 12 and half kicking hours and almost every workout has included a high-effort part. Total training time during the week was 22.40.

10.1. PM 2.55 h kick training on the lake in super conditions incl. 5 x 2,2km with 20 mins kick recovery with ascending effort. First three 4.47, 4.42, 4.40; two last in the darkening night with full effort 4.24 and 4.30 = 11km/23.03 (2.06min/km). My legs are now totally stale. The hamstring muscles of my right thigh are almost pathologically stiff.

15.1. Fantastic natural circumstances on the lake. Mirror ice and sunshine gave my kick wings. 6 laps around the lake tranquilly sparing the back of my right thigh. Sparing meant using right leg more for kicking. The thigh bothers only as support leg at a certain "squat" angle. It felt better and better on each lap. In the end I did once 2200 m in 4.20 with full effort. The leg tolerated in spite of doubts. However, I didn't dare to do more intervals, although I really felt like it. On tailwind segments I sprinted practicing rotating kick and frequency. Rotating kick didn't hurt as badly as horse kick. Total 2.45h.

17.1. Last night the situation for kicking seemed miserable when it rained wet slush. However, it was wet enough that it melted on the ice forming a tartan-like gliding surface. The ice runner bit into the rough surface at places making quite a noise.
7 x 2400 m from north to south in tailwind 5.12, 5.09, 5.07, 5.05, 5.09, 5.05, 5.05. Two last ones with full effort in dusk and some fresh snow didn't go under 5 mins with any grimaces. I glided relatively much with only one runner because of the friction. The lateral grip was excellent so there was no need for balancing.

19.1. Preparation for Vihavuosi. PM 2.35 h kicking at the lake in brisk wind. In the end 2400m 5.04. Strong kick feeling. Afterwards 30 min Kepo circuit, stair running 8,0-7,7 and hopping 12,6-11,9. Felt a bit tired in the end.

The municipality of Lapinjärvi celebrates its 425th anniversary. In the opening ceremony there will be a kicksled demo. There will be a 60 m park sprint and a 1-3 km short-distance event on road or ice depending on the circumstances. Come to freshen up your muscles !

We offer field tests in cross-country and on ice, tough training partnership, camps and programs.

Guaranteed kicksled conditions from November to April in East Nyland's diverse circumstances.
Accommodation, camp reservations and inquiries p. 040-5423568 Ville Vickholm Lapinjärventie 20 C 7 07800 LAPINJÄRVI

2.-3.2. Weissensee, Austria, International Kicksled Days
13.2. Vikingarännet 80 km, Uppsala-Stockholm 19.-20.2. Kestilä Riverside Kicksledding
23.2. Ikaalinen horse kicks
26.2. Victor Balck 100 km, Kuopio 
29.2. Kick-off Night, Lapinjärvi 
11.-12.3. Jämtland Kicksled Tour, Sweden
18.-19.3. Multia Ice Track WC
29.4. Bodensee 25 km, Switzerland
13.-14.5. Plzen International, Czech Republic
28.5. Tjejtrampet, Stockholm
9.-10.6. Step Criterium Hengelo, Netherlands
29.7. Dinkelscherben Halbmarathon, Germany
19.-20.8. Helsinki City Marathon

Vikingarännet, Balck, Jämtland and Multia not speaking of smaller or more distant kick events are meant also for you !

New races and modifications are announced on KBWW bulletin boardwww.kickbike.fi and in kEponakka http://www.hut.fi/~akuusist/kepo.

Vikingarännet cancellations available !

Race entries kickbike@dlc.fi

Sea ice already in kick shape

Our coastal observer Tomas reports 24.01.

When sea-bound on your kicksled, never forget safety equipment nor your buddies. On the same day when the guys kicked from Porvoo to Loviisa, a fisherman plunged with fatal consequences in the same area.