Coming home
After I arrived back in Finland I went to see the hand surgeon, who told the hand had to be operated and recouperation would take about five weeks. This was naturally disappointing news, but I knew it could´ve been worse. The operation went smoothly and the ligament from my thumb was reattached with a wire and a small anchor to the bone. Luckily there was very little pain and the cast was removed after two weeks and I got a brace instead, that I would wear for another three weeks.
The rest of the race I mainly followed over the internet, focusing on my team mates the Berglund Brothers, Chris Cork, the turkish fellows and Thomas Berglund who was aiming to win the Malles Moto (riding without support)-class. Finishers were the Berglund brothers, about half of the Turkish guys and Thomas, I felt really overjoyed for all of them, knowing how hard it can be. Thomas actually won the Malles Moto-class, and I feel happy I was able to give him my rain suit to help him in his race.
After the race I visited a national morning show on TV (see above, in Finnish) as well as gave a couple of interviews for newspapers and motorcycle magazines. I also visited the MP15 motorcycle fair in Helsinki to help my friends at the KTM-MotoJysky stand, where I mostly shared my Dakar experiences. It was a funny reality check as I´ve gotten used to the rockstar status in Argentina, when after telling a youngster that I was in the 2015 Dakar and offered him my poster, replied bluntly: Is that like a proper race?
I also visited KTM Nordic to share my experiences, but more on that maybe in my next post.
Now I will (finally) get to feel my wings and soar towards spring!