Allroad Tour began on Saturday, 17th of June. The majority of the riders had arrived at the start place Suomussalmi already on Friday and slept the night in the premises to the near ski resort, which has been rented for this purpose. In the morning there was a chance to have breakfast and time for the last maintenance of bike and gear at the Teboil garage Turjanhovi at Suomussalmi. Many riders were seen to change coarser tyres, probably because of the rumour about the soft routes waiting ahead.

The length of the first day’s route towards Hossa was 137 kilometres. With this relatively short initial stage we wanted to take contact to gravel roads bit by bit and “run-in” patrol riding. This method was not really tried in practice before. In one patrol there were 6-7 bikes and each patrol was lead by a member of Allroad Tour Team. The leader was responsible for the navigation and for the communication to the leaders of other patrols. In the morning the start of patrols was timed at intervals of 20-30 minutes.

Riding in patrol, either there are three or thirty bikes, is based on some basic rules. The most important is to ensure that the one riding behind you sees which way you turn at the crossings. If a distance between the bikes stretches long you must wait until you are sure the following man sees you and the new direction. In the case of punctures or in droppings the queue breaks. Normally all the riders do not notice this at the same time. But after 10 minutes waiting in the crossing without seeing anybody, you can be sure that something went wrong behind you. Now you got two possibilities. Either you wait in place until the riders ahead come to search you or you turn back to search the riders behind you. If you decide to turn back, it is strongly recommended to ride really carefully with high beam on (if you ask why, it might be better just to stay at home). Sooner or later the patrol is happily together again.

At the end of the first day there was a special off-road section arranged at Lintumutka for those who wanted to test their mud-riding skills. Landowner Mr. Hannu Manninen had marked a one-kilometre long challenging route in his forest. Without the landowner's permission off-road riding is forbidden in Finland. Only a few of the lighter bikes and of the most experienced riders could pass the route without help. One of the most insane riders passed it with his BMW R1100GS.

The first place for overnight was Karhunkainalo camping site in Hossa, where three large tents were set up for accommodation. After dinner in Karhunkainalo's restaurant there was also a possibility to go to the sauna. Allroad Tour camp calmed down around midnight.