Hilde Skaret

offroadfinnmark's administrative manager Conny Graumann asked me to share my offroadfinnmark experience, hoping to motivate other women to get on their bikes and into the wilderness. Hopefully my story will make it apparent to other female riders that this race is an awesome challenge regardless of gender.

My affiliation with offroadfinnmark began in 2009. My partner and I volunteered for the race. After having spent those days at the Skoganvarre community house, we were absolutely mesmerized with the race, the people, the riders and the concept. The experiences and stories told by the riders made a huge impact on us, leading to the decision of signing up for the 2010 race. It was fascinating to listen to Esben from Denmark telling us about the deep marshes he thought he'd never find his way out of. It was equally interesting to welcome Beitmyren to the checkpoint who simply looked so fit for fight it was ridiculous. He came strolling in, made a sandwich, and waited patiently while the Proteinfabrikken team got their support. He thanked us politely for the coffee and went on his way.

Having our applications accepted by J. Greibrokk demanded a lot from us. Greibrokk wasn't in any way convinced that we could finish the of700. We had absolutely no merits to back up our claim. My racing career had started in an untimely fashion the previous year. My driver's license was revoked due to high speeds somewhere in the middle of nowhere. Suddenly I had no choice but to get on my bike. The first weeks riding felt like proper old fashioned corporal punishment. After awhile it turned into the highlight of my day, to the point where I signed up for a MTB riding course for women hosted by Bjørn Michaelsen. The two other female riders who participated in of300 that year were also taking the same course. The course sealed the deal on my part - mtb racing is fun! My partner Jørgen didn't need a course though, several years of racing motorized terrain bikes and good genes had already given him the maneuvering skills needed to finish the race.

In the fall of 2009 we completed several of the checkpoint stages of the of700. With every stage we completed, we were even more anxious to participate. During our training to achieve the skill level needed to finish the of700, it was decided to create the of300 race. J. Greibrokk strongly advised us to sign up for the of300 rather than the of700. We do have some sense of self perception, so Saturday July 17th 2010 we were on the start line of the offroadfinnmark 300 race downtown Alta.

Start
Bright sunlight and a huge audience created the perfect setting for the start of the race. The of700 mass pursuit start went without a glitch, and then it was time for the of300 to get underway. My sons aged 10 and 13 gave me a piece of advice, not to use the front brakes when riding downhill. The butterflies in my tummy died down a little when the ATV that was supposed to drive ahead of us to the Gakori elementary school broke down. It was quickly replaced and we were finally off. 23 teams participated in the of300. 20 men's teams and 3 mixed teams.

Alta-Gargia
This stage is easy and fun, the tractor road to the Tangen Bridge and a couple of miles of asphalt got us warmed up and ready for the challenges ahead.

Gargia - Suolovuoubmi
The climb from Gargia mountain cabin towards Holgajavri is on dirt roads, and with eager spectators cheering us on, we reached Holgajavri quite fast. The field was finally beginning to break apart; the fastest teams were already out of sight. Before the race, Jørgen and I had decided on a tactical plan.
1) To choose a speed that was optimal for us regardless of the other teams
2) Yours truly was not supposed to stay and chat with the volunteers for very long at the checkpoints
The first part was clearly the easiest to follow. The second part was much more difficult, at every checkpoint there were so many nice and interesting volunteers! At Suolovuobmi we hosed down our bikes and were served fresh cinnamon rolls before we headed onwards to Masi.

Suolovuobmi - Masi

The old dirt road towards Masi makes it possible to ride quite fast. We saw some teams ahead of us, and the competition was on. We passed them, and there were suddenly quite a few teams behind us. We were having fun, the chase was on, and we went at it, full throttle. On the way down to Masi I got a flat tire thanks to a sharp rock. I had to run the last few hundred meters down to the checkpoint. We took them by surprise, according to our GPS tracker, we were still in Suolovuobmi! The technical support car helped me out, they pumped the tire full of air and the stans solution resealed it. They offered to refit the tire with a new tube, but we declined. In hindsight this was a horrid tactical decision, at the end it cost us more than 40 minutes. The Masi checkpoint was governed by the ladies from Nordlysbyen sykkelklubb: Lena, Merete, Linn and Hege. They served hot meals and coca-cola. I can't stand coca-cola, but during the race it was the best thing I could get. I drank loads with every meal and it tasted divine. In Masi I changed to the Nordlysbyen bicycle shorts which were surprisingly well padded. I wore seamless wool boxer shorts underneath. Staying warm was crucial, and it also prevented saddle sores.

Masi - Suossjavri
According to J. Greibrokk, this is where the offroad race really begins, and I totally agree. This stretch is a lot of fun because it contains a little bit of everything. First, there's a steep climb, the track consists of stretches of terrain with no paths at all, and we cross rivers, marshes and creeks. In the middle of it all, we pass through Raggis, a well-preserved farm square. It's an exotic element in between the mosquitoes, cloudberry marshes and midges.
Having traversed the climb from Masi, we faced the consequences of the bad decision made back at the Masi checkpoint. My rear tire was flat again. I needed a tube, and Jørgen fixed it swiftly and neatly. Still, the minutes passed by, and so did the competing teams. When we started inflating the tire, the vent broke and we had to do the whole thing all over again. There was only one thing we could do, get back on our bikes and chase the competing teams down again. For quite some time we competed with another mixed team. It was fun, we were going quite fast and most of us fell once or twice, the terrain can be quite treacherous in that area. No one got hurt, so we just kept pressing on. Every now and then there were some intense rain showers. It wasn't cold, but the rain stirred up incredible amounts of midges and mosquitoes. Towards Raggis the air was at times so full of midge it was simply pitch black. Swallowing large amounts of midge taught me to stop talking for awhile and shut my mouth. Taking a break to stop and pee was out of the question, baring your bum in the middle of that mosquito cloud would have been downright stupid. On our way down from Raggis we finally caught up with the other mixed team, we could ride faster again and the chase was on once again. This decent was my favorite by far.
Arriving safely at Suossjavri we were greeted by a tall, dark, handsome man offering to hose down our bikes. Wonderful! The food tasted fantastic and the coca-cola equally so. There were loads of nice people to talk to; the checkpoint manager Janne was just loveable. We hit the sauna and finished off with a cold shower. The two hour mandatory break was over before we knew it! We spent a bit of extra time getting out of there, but it was fine, it just gave us some backs to chase way up in front. We left Suossjavri at 2am in bright midnight sun, and the temperature was so low the mosquitoes left us alone.

Suossjavri - Mollisjok - Jotka ved vei

We rode to lower Mollisjok quite swiftly. We were greeted by nice ladies serving us coffee and cookies, quite a treat before we headed back out. We knew we were on the longest stretch between checkpoints. Along the east side of Iesjavri we were able to maintain a fast pace on good trails and paths. This stretch of the track truly shows off some of the most breathtaking scenery to be experienced. However, when we get closer to Bojobæski we were suddenly right back on rough and rocky trails. Here we also started closing in on the other teams ahead of us. Up on the hillside we saw a long line of colorful shirts. On the top of Bojobæski the distance between us and the colorful shirt clad people had diminished. From here to the Jotka ved vei checkpoint it's mostly a downhill decent. My knee had been bugging me since Raggis and finally got a bit of rest; we lowered our seats and let our bikes do the job. My sons would have been proud if they had seen me coming down from Bojobæski, I didn't use the front brake at all! We were finally gaining ground on the boys from the south. Leaving the Jotka ved vei checkpoint as team #10 felt fantastic.

Jotka ved vei - Jotka
The fantastic feeling didn't stick, though. My knee ache was getting worse. Pretending the pain wasn't there didn't help anymore. The climb from the Jotka ved vei checkpoint was tough thanks to being unable to bend my knee. The decent to the Jotka mountain cabin was a lot more fun than the ascent; we came in fast with the guys on 29" bikes. We had alternated on being in the lead the last stretch. At the Jotka mountain cabin the Røkenes mixed team gave me some anti inflammatory cream. They were our toughest competition and at the same time our closest allies against all the men teams. Laughs were had around the table in the mountain cabin, and several of the southern teams admitted that this was the toughest race they had ever participated in. They were jokingly saying that the MTB sport was being tainted by having women riding alongside the men. Not only were there women competing, they were going fast as heck too! They asked if Bente (Røkenes) and I had been riding professionally. We had to admit we hadn't been, but we did get to speak warmly about Bjørn Michalsen's wonderful offroad class for women.

Jotka - Sorrisniva
We left Jotka in pouring rain. Spirits were high, but my knee was just about completely stiff by now. The first 10km after Jotka were in tough headwind before we turned north and headed for Bollo camping. The track was fine all the way to Bollo. My partner had to push and pull to help get me across long stretches. On the mountain plateau the Team Sport1 Alta passed us. This of course sparked the competitive streak in me, but it only took me so far. My knee was busted and was increasingly becoming more difficult to force to cooperate. I was becoming rather desperate for downhill stretches and when we reached them, I hardly touched the brakes at all. It was at times a hazardous decent to the Bollo cabin village. My partner Jørgen was putting in a serious effort, "push and pull" became our new slogan. From the top of Detsika and all the way down to Sorrisniva the track is a bit of a jumble, but it's downhill and that was a welcome change for both Jørgen and me.

Sorrisniva - Alta
At the Sorrisniva checkpoint the tall, dark and handsome man was waiting for us, offering to hose down our bikes again. Fantastic service! Unfortunately, we had to decline. We refilled our water bottles and we were told our main competitors, the Spenst mixed team, passed there an hour ago. We had lost that battle and my knee has stiffened completely. I was beginning to worry it was severely injured, but I refused to even consider not finishing the race. I told Jørgen we were getting close to the finish line, which turned out to be less than true. The stretch was supposed to take about 90 minutes to complete, but we spent 4hrs traversing it. When we reached the riverbed I called Greibrokk admitting to being in too much pain to keep on riding. "Roll the bike to the finish line so you at least get to finalize the race! Daniel Broberg had to do the same thing during the of700 last year" he told me. We kept pressing on, and wherever possible, Jørgen would push or pull me. We really wished we had brought a rope those last 70km-80km.

It was almost midnight by the time we got to Alta. We were convinced we'd be able to just quietly cross the finish line and go home, however, a greeting comity was waiting for us in the intersection by the college. It was so nice, and I was so happy to see them. I slowed down and started talking to them. That's when my better half turned around and said "shut up, let go of the brakes and let the bike roll to the finish line!!" Apparently, he was tired of towing me... Crossing the finish line felt fantastic, people were cheering and I could finally rest my knee. There was no champagne to be had, but Greibrokk had something much better for me, a box of ibuprofen.

Before we hit the sack, we went to the race management office, signing up for next year's of700. The desire to participate again was only heightened when the race doctor; Dr. Skille, told me the reason my knee had stiffened completely was an inflammation, nothing worse. Ibuprofen and a month of rest healed it completely, and I was able to complete Birkebeinerrittet without a glitch.
Jørgen and I didn't have any technical problems with our bikes. We both used full suspension bikes by the brand "Specialized."

To summarize...
offroadfinnmark is definitely for women as well as men! An adventure race such as this requires stamina, technique and physical strength, but also about mental strength. I don't claim that women are as strong as men, but that women can be equally tough and resilient. When it comes to coping with pain, some say women are able to handle it better. I'm not going to claim that to be true, but I do believe we're just as good at handling pain as the men are. Maybe we're too good at it... Either way, I have learned that the next time something begins to ache, I'll let the medic know and get some help. Clenching my jaw and hoping it will pass just doesn't make things better at all. My main advice to anyone thinking about signing up for offroadfinnmark is to remember that a team is never stronger than its weakest link. Oh, and remember... No tall, dark and handsome volunteer is better looking than your own partner!