In preparation for a bike event in the alps, I tried my best to find a suitable terrain to test my fitness on uphills. Not an easy task in a place like Helsinki… In addition to the Velskola hills in Espoo (part of the annual Tour de Helsinki), the only place I could think of are the rolling hills of Immersby in Sipoo, a rough 15km from Itäkeskus.
Frankly, these are not much of a terrain to train for an alpine workout, but it was a beautiful evening and at least reassured me of decent fitness that may well be enought to tackle the second highest paved mountain pass in the Alps a week later.
And riding the hills twice – returning the same route – I at least got almost 350m of climbing out of that evening.