Congratulations Adam and Rachael!

Congratulations are in order.  Today, Azure and I missed the wedding of a very close friend of mine.  Adam was the grizzly adam’s looking guy who was angry rowing in the picture I posted from our drift of the Kenai River earlier in the trip.  Like all of my friends and myself he somehow managed to find and hold on to a woman who is way out of his league. 

Their wedding was in Cooper Landing and unfortunately as a result of the ride and timelines (winter weather) we were unable to make it.  I am sure that it was a grand affair and I am sorry that we were unable to attend.  If anyone who was there (J.P.) has any pictures send them to me and I will post them on the site.

We wish you both many, many years of happiness and hope to see you soon!

As for the ride today, it was another grueling day in the hills, I would actually put today in my top 5 of climbing days so far.  Pretty amazing considering I was told that it was going to be flat.  Despite the terrain, I still managed to put down a pretty good number.

Dawson Creek is on the horizon and I am planning on trying to put down a little over 100 miles tomorrow to get there.

8-2 Stats

81.6 miles

13.8 mph average

45.3 mph max

5:53:16 ride time

Alas the weather has broken.

Great ride today.  The weather was perfect, 60’s and sunny, I couldn’t have asked for a better day.  We got a late start to the day today.  The first 60 miles out of Fort Nelson was the best pavement I have seen yet.  I was however, lied to.  I was told that as soon as I hit Fort Nelson I was done with the hills until after Dawson Creek (mile 0 of the Alaskan Highway) this was not the case.  I quickly realized that it wasn’t flat at all and I would be in the hills for the entire day.  There was a slight wind at my back or cross for most of the ride, but not in my face, which made for a much more enjoyable day.  I plowed through the hills, it was the best I have climbed the entire trip.  Not a really exciting day nothing much happened, except for finally catching a real break on the weather and winds.

8-1 Stats

102.65 miles

16.9 mph average

43.4 mph max

6:02:16 ride time

July 29th & 30th

Well I neglected to write posts yesterday and the day before so here is a little recap.

Friday morning we awoke to a spectacular morning on Muncho Lake in Northern British Columbia.  It was hands down the best weather we have seen, perfect for riding.  I’ve got be honest, I was pretty damn happy.  The ride around the lake was at this point, my favorite part of the trip. 

To bad when I rode to the end of the lake and turned up the valley, I was smacked in the face with a rather large head wind.  Not exactly something new and different.  The wind just won’t stop, so I decided that I wasn’t going to let it ruin such a beautiful day.  I began the long climb to the base of Summit Pass at 4,300 feet, I tallied it up and I climbed grades of 7-8% for over 28 miles of the day.  So, it was a hard day on the bike today.

During one of these climbs, I don’t know why this always happens on climbs, I heard some big branches breaking in the woods off to my right.  A big brown flash of fur through the trees, my heart sunk, in an instant the overwhelming feeling of “shit” envelopes your entire being.  A split second later three reindeer burst out of the woods and ran across the highway, and disappeared into the woods on the other side of the road.  Something that I am continually amazed by on a daily basis up here is the fact that such large animals can disappear into grasses and woods.  The other day I watched a large black bear walk across the road and into the high grass, he was gone, I knew he was right there but I couldn’t see him.  I don’t know, its just impressive to see an animal that large vanish before you.

I made it to Summit lake, it was a pretty sketchy climb, shear rock walls on my left, and cliffs on my right, oh and no guardrail.  I saw a bunch of Stone’s Sheep on the way up.  They just look at me and never even moved. I rode past them at maybe a distance of two feet.

The following day, I woke up with another big day ahead of me.  Fort Nelson was in my sights but I knew it would be another day of big climbs.  Nothing worth noting happened on the ride just battled, guess what, a head wind and hills.  When we arrived in Fort Nelson we decided to treat ourselves to a hotel room.  It was definitely a good call.  It had been almost a month since we last stayed in a hotel.  So it was time.  Jackie agreed. 

 

Took a rest day on Saturday and will be heading out this morning as soon as I put this post up.  It is going to be interesting the next few weeks. Southern B.C. currently has over 240 different forest fires raging.   So hopefully we won’t face any road closures due to those. More later. 

7-29 stats

68.84 miles

12.3mph average

38.9 mph max

5:29:20 ride time

7-30 stats

74.28 miles

13.6mph average

44.2mph max

5:11:23 ride time

Northern British Columbia

I didn’t write again last night because we were up talking with the Phil and Joan who were camping in the site next to ours.  The ride yesterday by all accounts should have been a breeze.  Only a few big climbs and I took most of those on early in the day.  Instead it was a grind fest; I had a huge headwind all afternoon.  With a wind like that you can’t do anything but put your head down and pedal.  It felt like I was riding in glue.  What made it worse is that this area is very heavy on the wildlife; I saw two black bear and about thirty Woodland bison.  If I had to choose between the bears or the bison, I’ll take the bear.  A bear for the most part totally ignores your presence unless you surprise them or if you run across a sow with cubs.  Bison however, stare you down, with those huge dark eyes and even bigger horns.  “Totally unpredictable” one local told me, in reference to their demeanor.  I am positive that a bison can charge faster than I can ride into a headwind.  I also have no defense against them.  I can’t use bear spray on a bison, I am guessing that it would only make an already angry animal even more of a problem, I have no desire to be in the vicinity of a blind pissed off bison.  Add to that the fact that the horse flies have been circling me non-stop for the last three days, only actually biting me every once in awhile, but they circle like sharks on a wounded seal, I could never tell which one was going to strike, and when.  So needless to say, I was ready to relax in the Liard River hot springs. 

Azure made an unbelievably good pasta with meat sauce last night.  So after woofing down two plates of that we headed to the springs.  It was a little hot out but they were still amazing.  We sat and relaxed and I stretched in the warm mineral water, it is amazing how that stuff can make you feel after a long day on a bike. 

Our camp neighbors invited us over for a few beers and some bannock (a fried bread that the natives eat) never ones to turn down free beer and food, we happily agreed.  Bannock is awesome!!!! We had tried some a few days prior at a roadside stand and it wasn’t very good, the stuff that Joan made however, was amazing.  Imagine a pancake, donut, and biscuit fried and served with peach preserves.  Pretty good stuff.  

It turns out that Joan is a counselor here in Canada, so we discussed the struggles that she faces in dealing with government bureaucracies as well as what they have found to work in some of the small communities up here.  It was a great evening, but we had to turn in rather early, in order to rest up for the ride today.

7-27 stats

58.38 miles

13.1mph average

49.8mph max

4:25:21 ride time

The hot springs were great for me but the ride yesterday had taken so much out of my legs that today was a really tough day on the bike.  The strange thing is that I was climbing like a champ today but really struggling on relatively flat terrain.  So after three huge climbs (all about 3 miles long) a thunderstorm started to close in on me from the north.  Being that I was struggling, we decided that it would be best to stop for the day.  So obviously, the storm that was closing fast with lightning everywhere didn’t ever hit.  I am just going to take it as a sign that I need the rest. Today was a short day, but I have some of the toughest climbs of the trip coming my way tomorrow. So hopefully, I will wake up well rested and with strong legs.

7-28 stats

35.97 miles

12.4mph average

40.9mph max

2:52:42 ride time

Goodbye to the Yukon

I neglected to write yesterday, I was tired.  Nothing much happened on the ride.  I am back in the mountains.  So hill after hill is pretty much how the day went.  I did see another Grizzly however, this time it was a good distance away.  I was high on the hillside and the bear was down by the river, doing whatever it is that bears do.  It didn’t look like he was fishing or foraging, just walking up the river moseying along.

I made it to Watson Lake, “the gateway to the Yukon” or in my case, the exit.  We spent some time visiting the signpost forest.  I am sure that you can look it up on the Internet; it is a really amazing place. 

It began when a homesick soldier working on the Alaskan Highway (during its construction), placed a sign with the distance to his hometown (Danville, IL) on the signpost in town.  Little did he know what he was starting; today there are over 68,000 signs that people from all over the world have placed there.  Some individuals actually make the trek to Watson Lake with the sole intention of placing a sign there.  Like most of the places we have been this also falls under the category, best experienced in person.  I would have loved to spend more time here just sitting and looking, it is a strangely peaceful place. Kind of amazing to think of all the individuals that put their mark on this place, it’s funny how a seemingly insignificant act would turn into something like this.  It is truly unique; there are over 68,000 people from all over the world who all share this place and have each made their individual mark on it.  We neglected to bring a sign; I was pretty busy worrying about the ride logistics.  However, we have agreed to return to Watson Lake in the future and bring a sign with us, not sure what the sign will be but we have some time to work on that.

 

Leaving Watson and the Yukon.

I awoke relatively early this morning, threw some pancakes down my throat and jumped on the bike.  I knew that I had a long day of hills ahead of me.  About twenty minutes outside of town I crossed the line from the Yukon into British Columbia.  It felt good to have Alaska and the Yukon behind me, but B.C. isn’t going to be easy.  Interesting fact that I learned about the Yukon, there are approximately 17,000 bears living in the Yukon and 33,000 people; in other words there is one bear for every two people that live up here.  That is a pretty amazing statistic.  More people live in B.C. but I am pretty sure that they have a hell of a lot of bears too.  The weather has finally turned and I have had great weather the past two days.  Today was actually pretty hot, I can’t seem to get a day in the middle, it’s either so cold that I can barely hold on to the handle bars or so hot I can’t get enough fluids down.  I drank 7.5 liters of various fluids (Gatorade, Accelerade, water, juice) today and I am still dehydrated.  So I am laying here in the van still trying to re-hydrate in preparation for tomorrow, which is going to be another hot day in the hills. 

Tomorrow though we are going to make it to Liard Hot Springs, which regardless of the temp outside is going to feel great on my muscles. 

7-25 Stats

76.28 miles

16.8mph average

40.2mph max

4:31:22 ride time

(tailwind for a good portion of the day)

7-26 Stats

70.07 miles

13.9mph average

43.8mph max

5:01:37 ride time