In addition to the standard cycling outfit, I am wearing a woolen jersey and warm pants. As usual, I have extra clothes, food, tools, parts and emergency stuff in my panniers plus three large bottles of liquid on the bike. Once I am past the suburbs and bike paths I turn south on highway 59. I am trying to take things easy. The shoulder is all of 10 cm.
Traffic is light and well-behaved, as always.
Fields all ready for the growing season, and people are tidying their gardens. I soon trace the familiar hills and curves of this road, then turn off the road, hit Toivakka, a sleepy little town, where I turn southeast on road 442. This is a real cycling road through the woods. I make slow progress up the hill, winching in my lowest gear. I wind past a military depot and a dump site, then stop for a lunch of fruit.