KEPOSTI
Kickmail from Ketkupolkka number 4 November 2000
The finals of inofficial Kickbike Eurocup were held in Helsinki, in the home town of Kickbike. Only two candidates had chances to grasp the total cup victory that would bring 1000 Euros in prize money. Yet, more than a handful of tough kickers arrived in town besides the local favourites Hannu and Alpo.
The sprint race of Friday night was transferred on short notice from Tattarisuo to Merisatama harbour. The carneval place of Helsinki-Tallinna sailing race provided good opportunities to present scootering to the common public.
Start positions were distributed in F1-style manner according to result of a short time-trial, in which Hannu took the pole position with a champion's gest.
Hannu (left) loses his balance.
The race itself showed that it is not so easy to master a Kickbike while attempting peak performance. In a chicane curve Hannu's concentration was distracted for a millisecond and his vehicle slipped beyond control. Alpo kicked away easily, making Saturday's marathon the grande finale of Eurocup.
The stars of street sprint shone bright in the dusk.
Helsinki City Scooter Marathon started half an hour after the running event. The main part of the course was a 2 km loop in the Olympic park, same as in 1998.
The leading pack remained together in the first miles (photo Väiski).
While the others were left panting in the mighty 17 m vertical climb of each loop, Hannu and Alpo continued playing cat and mouse kicking away from each another on several occasions. Somewhat against the predictions of kick experts, Hannu could gain the decisive gap to his opponent already before the final sprint.
Alpo and Hannu fought an entertaining duel.
Jan and Tomas struggled for the third place.
Petr Pesta could not catch the pack in downhills.
Quite remarkable was the fact, that Hannu beat Alpo in uphills. Hitherto Alpo had been virtually invincible in hills. Had Alpo recovered enough from his Alp tour in July ? Furthermore, kicking from Trelleborg to Stockholm, 680 km in 40 hours only a couple of weeks before the race was perhaps not optimal preparation. Or was the reason simply that the old champion did once more reach a new level of fitness ?
Anne-Maria complemented the day for the Vierikko family.
Anne-Maria took victories on both days before Czech Marketa Stejrova in the ladies' category. Unfortunately there were not too many female participants in the marathon. Maybe they had made a secret agreement to concentrate on the Ladies' Roll on Sunday.
Marketa Stejrova became second in both races.
Ladies' Roll was an pleasant journey for all participants. Cheering crowds gave wings for graceful kicks. No painful grimaces could be seen, quite on the contrary to the fierce competitions during the previous days. One could let the kickbike roll easily along the seaside streets of Helsinki.
Track was full of lightfooted kickers.
While the gals were enjoying their tour, Kepo guys took care of a well visited promo point. Also representatives of press did notice Kickbikes very well.
Final sprint could reveal no tired legs.
Weather favoured kickers as always in HCM, heavy rain ceased in Friday afternoon a couple of hours before the sprint event and started again on Sunday evening. We have ordered sunshine also for next year, Helsinki City Marathon takes place 18-Aug-2001.
There was no sight of the ice plains of winter, when a bunch of Kickbikers resolved their rank in the small kicksled town of Multia in the end of July. Jan finished strong beating Alpo, who had just returned from his Grand Continetal Tour. Anne Muiniekka was the queen of the nice summer afternoon. Kepo team was the king of the sprint relay, too, although the local opponents knew better how to attack the curves and did not give up until the final leg.
The renewed route for the 15 km race gathered small flocks public at its perimeters. The gentle but strenuous uphill slopes and cooling headwinds shall hopefully gather more participants next year.
There was a nice and cozy athmosphere in Multia.
Where does the trademark Kickbike come from ? It is not a word in English language. Hannu Vierikko invented the name to depict his evolutionary scooter in early 1990's.
In Swedish Kickbike can be translated literally as "sparkcykel", meaning scooter. The corresponding literal translation of Kickbike in Finnish is "potkupyörä", which has also other meanings. This has lead into many misnomers in the small and bilingual (Finnish/Swedish) home country of Kickbike.
People from all walks of life, ranging from elite athletes and journalists to marketing people and legislators, have been confused and confusing while calling Kickbike "potkupyörä". Recently even some foreigners have been tempted to believe that this word is the origin of Kickbike. To alleviate this misconception, Keposti presents two other meanings of this ambiguous noun.
The most common contemporary meaning for "potkupyörä" is an improved version of a wheel kicksled. This kind of four-wheeled scooter is used mainly by pensioned folks as a walking companion and support.
Four-wheeled ESLA scooter is popular among elderly people.
The original meaning of "potkupyörä", however, is the predecessor of bicycle, the early velocipede without pedals. This kind of vehicle reached quite some popularity in Europe and North America around year 1820.
Baron Karl Drais von Sauerbronn ( 1785 – 1851 ) from Germany was an ingenuous but slightly eccentric inventor, who left his name in the history of railways. In 1813 von Drais had constructed a four-wheeled wooden vehicle, which was propelled by kicking and shoving with poles. Later, when railways became more common, his cart was moved on rails. The successors of his vehicle are called Draisine in German and French, dressin in Swedish, resiina in Finnish. In the anglophile world, however, Karl von Drais seems to be a forgotten figure, in England a vehicle of the kind is called an inspection trolley and in America a handcar.
Besides the forefather of the handcar, Karl von Drais invented another vehicle called Draisine by his contemporaries. Before 1816 the wheels of a two-wheeled carts and carriages had always been positioned parallel to each another. Von Drais threatened the laws of nature by positioning them behind the other and inventing a steering system for turning the front wheel. He compared his "Laufmaschine" to skating: "In truth, it runs a considerable distance while the rider is inactive, and with the same rapidity as when his feet are in motion."
Draisine enabled gentlemen to walk swifter.
Due to the diversity of European patenting systems and the philantropic views of the inventor the idea of Draisine became known and imitated in different countries. In England, coachmaker Denis Johnson obtained a patent for an improved version of Draisine. Commonly called "hobby horse" it became a vogue in spring 1819. Several other names were used for it, for instance, "pedestrian curricle" and "swiftwalker".
The novelty and remarkability of the hobby horse appealed especially to fashionable and exquisite young gentlemen. Hence, the hobby soon earned a controversial honour to be associated with these dandies, the yuppies of the era, so that it got several nicknames after them: "dandy horse", "dandy hobby" or "dandy charger". The price of a patent pedestrian machine was around 10 pounds, which implied that only the reasonably well off could afford such an extravagance. However, in some big cities riding schools and rental agencies were established, and many more took to the road on hired machines.
Caricature (1819), in which dandy contestants are proposed to participate in modern Olympics.
There were also minuscule races. Wagers were decided based either on the rank of the contestants or on fulfillment of a seemingly remarkable feat claimed possible by a rider. Quite conspicuous bets were made, up to several times the price of a hobby horse. Press and public could arrive from relatively remote locations to witness these most exciting events. Velocities were perilous indeed, average speed might be more than 10 mph. Downhills proved to be hazardous to the health of many a hobby horse rider.
There is something familiar in the frame of a ladies' hobby horse.
The ladies' version of hobby horse deserves another glance due to its construction. The frame was close to the ground in order to prevent skirts rising indecently up to the beam. Nowadays there prevails only one sample that is property of British Science Museum. The shape of the frame is quite interesting; by dismounting the arm rest and saddle it would be quite a perfect precedessor for some modern scooter models. A scooter enthusiast would like to imagine that this actually happened and all the others were kicked into oblivion. Unfortunately there is no proof for such a hypothesis.
Ladies of gentry could promenade on hobby horses.
Hobby horses didn't become a life-time hobby for the general public, on the contrary, they vanished from the headlines rather hastily. In England their glory lasted merely six months in 1819, on the European continent a bit longer. There is no notion of push scooters from that time, on the other hand, the pedalled bicycle was not invented before 1850's. What caused the sudden eclipse of such a fashionable gadget ? Was it the dandy reputation, muddy roads or sweaty journeys ?
The most prominent reason seems to have been the mischievous consequences for health. One could ride comfortably only on level parkways. In many towns pedestrian pavements would have been best surfaces for riding, but there was a plenty of collisions and disconsent. Soon diverse bans were issued restricting the use of hobby horses. Accidents and injuries caused by hobby horses were widely depicted in the press.
From this safety viewpoint one might ponder, whether one can draw any parallels between the heyday of hobby horses and the currently fashionable small-wheeled scooters.
Bicyclopedia
Exploratorium
Regency
Trans Canada Trail
Canberra Bike Museum
MS Encarta
Bicycle Culture Center
Hobby horse article in Finnish
Bike history in Swedish
Extraordinary news have been cabled from the Wild West. A bold desperado Jim Delzer has started kicking from Los Angeles. His aspiration is to eventually reach the waves of the Atlantic Ocean by keeping a demanding pace of 100 miles per day. Will Jim arrive at his destination before he knows the name of the new President ?
During this autumn season I have concentrated on developing my kick speed and skill. In practice, this means various neural workouts such as running and kicking sprints. In the Slickedder's diary I shall describe the daily routines.
Typical for speed training is improvement during one single training session as the neural system in muscles adapts to the workout. For instance, while running sprints on 11th November my seventh 100 m dash was the fastest one. This does by no means apply to all athletes, on the contrary, it is typical for endurance types.
Endurance improves in rest and recovery while training is straining. In speed training, however, the muscular-neural system improves during the workout itself. However, also speed training stresses the body, especially the neural system, thus one has to allow recovery also from sprint training.
Unlike previous years, I have tried to do my speed training in the beginning of my training session when still fresh, but yet well enough warmed up. According to research studies a good warm-up helps to increase the contraction speed of muscles up to 20 % faster than without warm-up. You'd better keep this in mind when preparing yourself for the sprint races in Multia. In winter conditions the essence of warm-up is even more crucial.
I have not forgotten the good old speed sections in the end of a tiring endurance workout. Kicksledding is mainly an edurance sport after all and sprinting at the end of a long race is one of my strengths even though it can be improved a lot, too. For instance, I have never been able to beat Hannu in a sprint finish although several times I have been quite close. In pure speed training, however, you have to remember to quit the session when the dash times begin to deteriorate.
Quotes from book Optimal training, Jurgen Weineck.
Osolin (1970) sees one primary cause for development of a speed hinder. If you don't set new more demanding requirements for an athlete's body, physical characteristics and will power, then muscle speed will eventually stagnate. Using same drills, methods and workloads over a long period of time leads to adaptation. Movements of the athlete become stereotyped, which impedes development of speed and might even make it impossible.
Grosser (1976) suggests that each repetition of a step (or kick) induces a small change in the transmission path of a stimulus in the central nervous system, which finally leads in selective adaptation favouring movements that are important in running (or kicking). The movement becomes automatic and dynamically stereotyped.
Tschiene (1976) believes that a speed hinder arises primarily from too early specialization and later on from too much basic condition training "problem of e.g. Slickedder". If you already have obtained a speed hinder for one reason or another, then you should use such methods, which help you not only to exceed you maximum speed (facilitated circumstances), but also to sustain it during multiple repetitions at this new level.
As a summary of speed hinder one can state, that avoiding dynamic stereotyping is possible with diverse and sport-specific workouts and their versatile combinations as well as by facilitating and retarding circumstances.
Speed training should be organised in the following order:
You ought to recall, that world class track sprinters use very little (once a week) maximum workload. The emphasis is on speed strength sessions: special workouts, workouts with extra weights, multiple jumps, running with relatively low tempo concentrating on relaxed form.
I have tried to explore new gravel roads and other routes that I never before have kicked, biked or driven by car. I have found amazingly many such roads in the neigbour counties when not fearing to turn away from the paved roads to idyllic unpaved country roads.
It is interesting and exciting to kick along "new" routes, especially if you don't have a map with you. You don't always know whether you arrive at a dead end or will the road lead you to another one.
The colourful autumn country landscape caresses the mind and makes the kicking tour more enjoyable even in tough terrain. Kicking on a sand road is always somewhat slower than on a paved one.
"Kepo-Hepo" circumstances cannot be easily achieved by KB; yet you can simulate terrain kicksledding to a certain extent by using slow, soft routes. A soft sawdust-covered jogging track is a good example of a slow surface. On soft surface not even the shoe grip is as optimal as on asphalt, just as kicking in terrain in winter.
Autumn 2000 - commencing a new career
18.8. Warm-up and sprint time trials in Merisatama Harbour near Kaivopuisto Park. My fastest trial 12.17. Difference to Hannu less than one second. Sixth start square in the 2.3 km tough sprint race. Five rest days after the full distance triathlon Finnish championships on the previous weekend was not optimal preparation for this race. Sprint went anyway quite all right. 30 sec to Alpo and a honourable sixth place.
19.8. First kilometer hanging on the heels of the leading pack and then the gap began to expand. In the finish the time difference was 12 minutes, which was about my guess before the race. I became seventh, which was also Hannu's foresight after the FC-triathlon "on City Maraton then same rank as in Punkaharju". In both events the leaders scooted fast enough.
20.8. A leisurely event indeed was the Ladies' Roll. It was a pleasure to be watching. My legs were under total reconstruction after the marathon. My anterior thigh muscles were almost in the same shape as after Punkaharju. The delights of cumulating strain and insufficient recovery.
24.8. Actual preparation to the forthcoming winter and summer seasons started. 1.05 h KB, Koivelo-sprint 2.09, TB-hill 2.14, felt fluent only in the end, legs still bit reviving + 15 min jogging with the dog.
25.8. 50 min run + 30 min circuit training empahsizing arms and torso + kick rubber
26.8. 2h KB to Loviisa and back, Kuckubacken 3.20 rec. TB 2.08.
27.8. 2.15h KB Kimonkylä-Artjärvi-Porlammi-Kotio Koivalo 2.00, TB 2.07 Rec!!!
28.8. 30min run, incl 5 x 100 m (14.9-14.4) + 40min strength session + 14.8 + 5 min cooldown. The sprints on cinder track in thick-soled jogging shoes in order to save my heels.
30.8. 2.05h KB Kuckubacken 3.17 Rec!!! TB 2.06 Rec!!! Posterior thigh muscles quite jammed.
31.8. 1h KB incl. test track 10 km on Loviisa road 21.28!!! 40 sec better than my record one year ago. Return part 10.43! Kuckubacken segment 3.20. Good feeling.
1.9. 10 min run, 5 x 15-jump + 5 x 100 m 14,4-14,3 + 20 min kepo circuit on the lawn within the track + 5 min run + 1h KB swinging feet, except Koivalo 2.00 and TB rec 2.05 !!!!!! = 1.45h
2.9. Pernaja church and back, Kuckubacken 3.14 Rec!!!
4.9. 1.55h KB, maximum endurance/speed sprints, Koivalo hill 2.22, back x 4 (2.04-2.02), 20 min warmup, 2 x 2100 m / 7 min start intervals (4.38 + 4.34) + TB 2.11 in headwind.
5.9. 5min warmup + 55min strngth session + 30-jump uphill x 5 ja 5 x downhill sprint running on the sawdust jogging track (14.8-13.4) + 5 min run + 30 min KB including maximum sprints with rotating kick = 1.45 h
6.9. 2.50h easy KB to Pernaja chuch & back
7.9. 1.40h KB, test track 10 km 21.18 Rec!!! Return 10.28! Kuckubacken 3.26, coming back home bit sticky.
8.9. 1.05h J, somehow tank feeling + stair training 5 x run 8.6-7.9 hop 13.7-12.5 + circuit 30 min
10.9. 2.15h KB, Kuckubacken 3.14, TB 2.01 REC.
12.9. Uneven-paced 10 km at Kuusijärvi, drafting to a fourth place 21.02, to Hande 10 sec. Got new Millennium KB.
Kepo 10 km race aroused intense vehicle speculation.
15.9. 2.10h KB on gravel roads + 30 min run
17.9. Watching Lasse's (Viren) Jog in fine autumn weather. The host of the event, quadruple Olympic champion, mentioned while running that I am on a wrong vehicle in traffic. It was easy to follow the race on KB, when you could move from one palce to another swiftly.
18.9. Tuning KB, footboard & mudguards off + Spinergy to the front, then timing 10 km on Loviisa road 20.50, return 10.22, Kuckubacken back record pace 3.14. 17 min kicking recovery + second attempt 20.59, return 10.24. Summer weather +17 C, legs felt quite trimmed due to massage on Friday.
19.9. day off from school, 3.50h KB Myrskylä-Kreivilä-Liljendal-Loviisa-Home
20.9. 10min warm-up, 6 x 100 m run 14,4-14,0 during intervals multijumps 16+18+20+22+24+30 + 1h strength training + 10 min cooldown
21.9. 2h KB Artjärvi and back surging uphills.
22.9. Hard hill-interval Kuckubacken x 7 (3.30-3.17) in headwind + cooldown = 1.40t KB + 15 min jog
23.9. 32min sauna jog. Alpo came from Helsinki kicking in 3.19.
24.9. 3.30h KB to Pernaja following the King's Road. Beginning felt tardy, but after small sprinting muscles opened up and it felt slightly better. Alpo continued to Helsinki, I turned back in Gammelby.
25.9. 30 min brisk run + stairs (12,9-12,3) (8,2-7,6) + circuit 30 min = 1.10h
26.9. 0.20 verr. 10 km 20.56, somewhat sticky, halfway 10.01!!! return headwind + cooldown = 1.20t
The distance was too short in Anniversary Race (photo Anne-Maria)
30.9. Slickedders anniversary race. Uphill time trial HV 1.52,6 AK 1.54,2 VV 2.01,7 + 1.58,6. 29 km AK 58.57 HV 1.02.21 VV 1.03.53. The top duo escaped too far already when accelerating from the start. Alpo's first lap was amazingly fast 19.37. My back felt feeble and had to wait until the last lap even for a slight freshening. Best personal gain was going under 2 minutes in TB hill. Repeating my effort was worthwhile. By modifying my technique sparser and stronger I could snatch 3 seconds from my record. Local press was there and made fine stories with colour pictures.
1.10. EX TEMPORE feat. 3 h nice kicks with Alpo to the banks of Kymijoki River to follow Multisport-FC solo race. Somppi won the 5 h paddling&running&mountainbiking race before Forsman. My KB was in traffic klo 11-19.30, 140 touring kilometers.
4.10. 2.10 h KB in misty rain, my wibter church road test segment 5.5 km in 13.30 on soft sand road. My winter kicksled record is only 50sec slower 14.20. On way back home short horse kick sprints in tailwind with strong feeling. My feet felt again trimmed and a race would have been ok.
5.10. 1.02 brisk run 15 km
7.10. 3t KB on sand roads in Liljendal in new fantastic countryside cultural landscapes. Rutumi-Eskilom-Malmgård-Labbom-Kreivilä-Pilvilinnantie-Vistbacka- + 20min run
8.10. 2.55t KB like yesterday, again in Liljendal. New roads: Garpom, Heikantbacken, Analandet, Backas ja Svidisvägen. Evening circuit training + stairs (8.1-7.5) (12.9-12.2) = 40 min
10.10. Mr President passed by on his kicksled marketing tour and I got training company. 2.20h KB on open sandy roads in headwind over open fields. In the end we kicked around the tough and soft sawdust jogging track in Svenskby.
11.10. Speed/strength day; 10 min warmup run 8 x 100 m (15.0-13.7!) the last 5 dashes in spike shoes. During intervals 5 x multijumps across the football field + 1 h tough strength training.
12.10. 1.50h with fast KB to Loviisa. The beginning went briskly and well. I tried to push hard the second 5 km of my test route but noticed that yesterday's sprints and weights still felt in my legs, only 11.02.
15.10. 92 km, 4 h Loviisa-Pernaja kk-Koskenk.-Myrskylä. At the end Koivalo 1.56 rec 2100m 4.34
16.10. 20min warmup + 10 km 21.20 (halfway 10.20) a bit sticky, yesterday felt heavy.
19.10. 1.45h KB training with Alpo and Hannu, including tough sprints in which I couldn't always keep up.
23.10. 0.50 h run on road & terrain + 9.22 hard run on my short test route (rec) + 1h terrain KB to Mysmalm and back.
24.10. 45 min KB incl. 6 x sprint in slight downhill (19.4-18.3) swapping my foot after each sprint + 5 x downhill run (14.1-12.9) + 1h good strength session.
25.10. 3h KB in Porlammi, terrain felt tough in the end.
28.10. In Tampere after Saturday's Winter Expo day 50 min running with Hannu and Alpo in hilly terrain. In the beginning surges uphill. I had to give up when it started to feel like racing. My quality workouts during the week felt heavy.
Alpo sprinted the uphills in genuine Alaskan style with jacket unbuttoned and pushing his KB like a moose. When looking from back you couldn't know if he is running or kicking because his speed also running was like kicking. Laughter tended to take my running strength altogether.
1.11. 2.20h KB incl 10 times hard intervals on my new quite flat 2 km test loop. in Ingerman Village. The first third of the lap was quite muddy sand road and the rest fast asphalt. 5.36, .30, .27, .32, .35, .36, .38, .40, .42, .19, start interval 8min. Good place for quality workouts because of artificial lighting.
2.11. 1.30h KB incl 2 x 1.9 km on extremely soft sawdust jogging track, running the steepest uphills 7.15 + 6.51 / 3 min recovery + stair jump running 8.7-6.2 + 3 x hop right (15.6-14.2) left (16.3-14.2) and circuit 40 min. The staris showed signs of fatigue, speed was not quite ok.
4.11. All Saints' Day, honoured Victor Balck by making 4.45 h expedition via Lijendal to Pernaja again to completely new landscapes. Last 5 km tired on terrain KB 11.37. I managed to get home before it started raining cats and dogs.
The biggest newspaper in Scandinavia, Helsingin Sanomat, published a cartoon that reveals why scooters are so rapidly scooting into popularity.
Early season events arranged according to kicksled weather.
First Ice Marathon, Helsinki
Night of Ketkupolkka, Helsinki
Kepohepo Marathon, Lapinjärvi
5.1. Night Safari, Asikkala
Kepo Championshops, Helsinki
29.1.-2.2. Kicksled days, Weissensee, Austria
10.2. Finlandia-kicksledding, Lahti
18.2. Vikingarännet, Uppsala, Sweden
25.2. Victor Balck 100 km, Kuopio
2.3. 10 km record trial, Jyväskylä
3.3. Vihavuosi XC 10 km, Hauho
9.-11.3. Ladies' kicksled safari, Lieksa
17.-18.3. Ice track WC, Multia
14.-15.7. Puruvesipyörähdys
28.7.-5.8. Tour de Suisse
18.8. Helsinki City Marathon
Wath out for changes in calendar at www.kickbike.fi
In Helsinki 26th Nov 2000 the weather is dull and misty, no signs of ice nor snow. When shall we be able to enjoy winter kicksledding during this winter season ?