Beautiful Days and More Friendly Generous People

After taking way more time than anticipated to get to Prince George, we didn’t have time to take a rest day and explore the town.  So after a quick breakfast, I headed out on the bike and Azure headed into town to get dog food and groceries.  There was a good amount of construction heading out of town, which made for a pretty sketchy climb out of the valley.  It also caused us a bit of a problem as far as my water stops were concerned.  It was a very hot day and we had figured that I had enough water on me to last about an hour and a half.  Usually more than enough time for Azure to run any and all of her errands and still catch me before I need to refill.  However, on this day neither of us knew about the construction on the other end of town.  Once she had finished shopping, she headed out of town only to get stuck by the construction.  Long story short it was almost three hours before she caught up to me, by which time I had stopped sweating (big time red flag), so I took a break and got in the van to re-hydrate. 

I continued on my way and rode into Quesnel, a really cool town along the Fraser River.  On our drive up I had remarked that I wanted to take a rest day here, but after the debacle in pine pass we didn’t have the time.

Tired and weary we pulled into a campsite later than usual.  As I was headed to the shower the family across from our site invited us over for dinner.  Craig and Darlene welcomed us with open arms and a feast the likes of which we have not seen since well before we departed Virginia.  Fresh salmon, burgers, potatoes, salad and then some, they had an already packed house full of family and friends, yet they welcomed us in as if we were expected.  The food was excellent and the people and conversation didn’t disappoint either.  After dinner Azure and I were talking, we have been in Canada for a long time and I think we are both going to be sad to leave.  It will be nice to be back in the States, but at the same time I will truly miss the people.  I don’t really know how to accurately describe the people we have met along the way.  Genuine is the word that comes to mind, and that’s not something that can be said for a lot of the people in the States.  So to Craig and family, as well as all of the other people we have met along the way, Thank You.  From the bottom of our hearts you have added memories to our trip that will stick with us for a lifetime.

 

(as we left in the morning Craig and family were preparing for a 75th surprise birthday party for Darlene's mother)

8-10

85.33 miles

14.3 mph average

36.2 mph max

6:04:40 ride time

Three days to Prince George, I mean Five days to Prince George

Well it has been an interesting few days.  I have been bad about writing so I will try to recap. 

After taking another unplanned rest day in Chetwynd due to illness, I awoke on Saturday morning feeling about the same as I had the day before.  Knowing that I had already sat out a day that I should have been riding, I had no choice but to try and ride.  The kicker is that the wind was the worst that I have seen yet, the weather service reported the winds at 40 kilometers per hour gusting to 90 kilometers per hour (about 25mph gusting to 55mph) and it was directly in my face. 

Needless to say I was not looking forward to the day’s ride.  About ten minutes into the ride I was throwing up over my shoulder and just trying to keep the bike rubber side down.  When I hear some branches break followed by a bark.  Another branch and more barking, as I turn towards the noise, I see a large German Shepard busting through the woods at me.  I pulled out the bear spray and began to pedal as hard as I could.  Funny thing is, as I was focused on the dog giving chase, I failed to notice the black bear standing in the middle of the road.  Good thing for me I think the bear was as scared by the dog, as I was and took off running into the forest.  I managed to out run the dog without having to use the bear spray, but the sprint took its toll on my already weary body. 

Virginia Beach is a very windy place; at no time during my training did I ever ride in a wind this heavy.  If I had to guess I would say that the weather service was way off in their report, it felt like I was trying to ride through a hurricane.  To make matters worse this section of the ride was on tight winding mountain roads, it didn’t have a white line, much less a shoulder.  Head down and pedal that’s all you can do, I kept telling myself, until a gust of wind knocks you off the road and into the ditch.  When that happens you have a second option, call it quits for the day and hope for better conditions in the morning.  Which is exactly what I did.  With all the RV’s and trucks as well as the many cliffs and steep drop offs Azure and I decided that I got lucky escaping injury after getting blown off the road so we bagged it until the morning. 

The following morning conditions were even worse, the wind was the same and now there was rain accompanying it.  I road as long as I could but again, for a second day, I didn’t get very far.   The shame of it was that this wasn’t very challenging terrain.  It was very flat considering the fact that I was in the mountains.  I should have plowed through this ride in two short days, instead it was a three day grind fest.

I awoke the third morning knowing that I had no option; I had to make it to Prince George regardless of how long it would take.  The wind was relentless again (however not quite as bad as the previous days) and after three flat tires, four rain storms, and what seemed like an eternity on the bike I was on the outskirts of town.

 Prince George is largely a farming community, so it came as no surprise when I saw four Great Pyrenees running around their farm.  What did come as a surprise was when the four of them took notice of me and made a b-line right for me.  A moment of panic set in, this seems to be a regular occurrence on this trip, and then I noticed the barbwire fence surrounding their property.  I relaxed and thought to myself, it’s a damn good thing there is that fence there because I don’t know if my legs had it in them to out run those dogs (at this point in the day my legs felt like wet noodles).  Then a funny thing happened three of the four dogs hurtled the aforementioned barbwire fence and sprinted right for me.  I’m not sure how but I found spare energy and strength that I didn’t know I had and managed to out run them.  I am a dog person and I wouldn’t have wanted to, but if it had come down to it I would have emptied my entire can of bear spray on those three, without a second thought.  They were big, muscular, and fast, really fast.  These were not the loaf around the house Great Pyrenees pets that you see in the States, they were working dogs and I apparently looked like a threat to them or perhaps prey.  If I were a sheep or cow on that farm I would feel pretty secure at night.

Ride Stats

8-7

24.3 miles

12.7 mph average

27 mph max (German Shepard induced speed burst)

1:54:27 ride time

8-8

48.66 miles

14.5 mph average

39.3 mph max

3:20:46 ride time

8-9

89.18 miles

14.1 mph average

32.5 mph max

6:19:11 ride time

 

smokey days

Azure and I spent the day in Chetwynd, B.C. today, I was feeling pretty under the weather this morning and decided to rest for the day.  I was really dizzy for some reason and had a smashing headache, with some big climbs and narrow roads ahead; we decided that, to err on the side of caution was best.  I think that part of my problem was that I spent the entire day yesterday riding in very smoky conditions.  Last I heard there are over 450 forest fires burning in southern B.C. and the farther south I get the more apparent that is.  The smoke was so bad yesterday that I could barely make out the outlines of the surrounding mountains.  There is a big fire burning near Prince George (about two days away) I am hoping that air quality will improve after I get past there.  It will likely all depend on which way the wind is blowing. 

Chetwynd is a small town nestled in the mountains of central B.C. It is a quaint place that hosts an international chainsaw-carving contest every year.  Needless to say, there are unbelievable wooden sculptures all over town.  Like everything on this trip the pictures don’t really do them justice, but you get the idea. 

 

8-5 stats

67.42 miles

15.9 mph average

39.6 mph max

4:12:32 ride time

Mile 0 of the Alaskan Highway and a Baby Garman

Early this morning, I received a text that two dear friends just welcomed their first child into the world.  Owen James Garman was born this morning and weighed in at 6 lbs 12 oz, and if he is anything like his dad I’m guessing he has a huge noggin.  Both Jill and Owen are doing well.  Congratulations guys, I can’t wait to meet the little guy!

Well after yesterday’s issues, I jumped on the bike with no other intention than to try to get to mile 0 as fast as possible.  We had a lot of stuff to do so, I wanted to give us enough time.  Considering the terrain I rode it very fast.  Not much of anything happed, just head down and hard pedaling. 

 

8-4 stats

29.4 miles

17.5 mph average

35.4 mph max

1:38:12 ride time

Dawson Creek bound, sort off.

Well I started the day intending to make it to Dawson Creek (mile 0 of the Alaska Highway) things were going pretty well.  My legs were tired, but I had the strength in them to make it there.  I was on the outside of Taylor and had just finished a 4 mile 10% climb (ya that sounds like something I would describe as flat) and blew out a spoke.  A rock jumped up off of a passing semi, I watched as it bounced across the road and with no where to go, I attempted to avoid it but it hit the wheel and took out one of the spokes.  The bike started to wobble pretty badly, but I was able to get it stopped without incident.

As far as this trip goes it couldn’t have happened at a better time though.  We were only about 10 miles outside of Ft. St. John, which has one of the few bike shops in B.C.  (Vancouver excluded)

I couldn’t locate the extra spokes that I have with me and quite frankly after such an impact I wanted to get the wheel looked at so, I marked my spot, and Azure drove me back into town.  The bike shop was closing in ten minutes so they couldn’t fix it until the morning. We were stuck in Ft. St. John for the night.  We grabbed a bit to eat and headed to find a campground.

The weather has been fantastic the past few days and is supposed to continue for sometime. I have been trying to take advantage of that and ride as far as I can on the good days.  I have to admit that I was pretty pissed.  I had planned on finishing the Alaska Highway today and I feel like I had the legs left to do it, but it wasn’t to be.  It looks like my rest day tomorrow will consist of me riding 30 miles and a bunch of errands.  Oh well, thems is the breaks sometimes.

8-3 Stats

73.86 miles

15.4 mph average

44.1 mph max

4:46:43 ride time