Not a bad place to have a lay over.

Well for those of you who follow the current location section of my site, you probably noticed that we didn’t go anywhere.  No, Allesi didn’t fall asleep at the switch; I wish he had so that we could all berate his irresponsible ways.  That wasn’t the case though, after the short day Thursday, we woke up early to hit the road.  Only we awoke to frigid temps and guess what, pouring rain, also a very heavy wind that would have been in my face.  I say would have been because we discussed it over breakfast, but seeing as last time I tried to ride in weather half as bad as what we were seeing, I only made it 26 miles.  Knowing that the next closest campground with a warm shower was over 70 miles away I opted to sit it out.

Dawson Peaks resort and campground is a wonderful place, they have a beautiful spot on Teslin Lake and a great view of the mountains (covered in clouds for the time being).  The inside of the restaurant has the most unique decor we have seen yet as well as the best food that we have had since we left Virginia.  So we really didn’t mind being hanging out there an extra day.  I tried to take a picture of their back wall it didn’t really turn out, but it’s better than nothing I guess. 

While reluctant to leave after some breakfast in the restaurant this morning, I jumped on the bike and headed out.  It was very cold this morning and very overcast.  The clouds where high enough that you could see all of the surrounding mountains, it was another beautiful ride.  I have to be honest; I was and still am in a great mood for some reason but my body felt terrible on the bike today.  I think that it may have just been the cold because I actually rode pretty fast and covered some ground.  It did help that the wind was at my back for a majority of the day.  That’s a first for the trip.  I am back in the hills and getting ever closer to the several hundred miles of serious mountains that lay in my very near future. It was still a day of climbing but I would rather climb with the wind at my back than in my face, as it has been.  I am not going to worry about the weather eating up riding days.  All I can do is ride when possible and try to make up ground on the days that the weather cooperates.

Today’s Stats

81.86 miles

15.5mph average speed

40mph max speed

5:14:31 ride time

Generosity & The People of the Yukon

Tuesday night we were taking Jackie for a walk around the campgrounds and ran into another couple that was also in the midst of exercising their dog.  We let the dogs run around and play… the more they ran the less we had to walk.  The conversation turned, as it often does up here, what brings you up to the Yukon?  The majority of people up here (we are often find ourselves staying in RV campgrounds… they have showers) are retirees in their RV’s, so we kind of stand out.   I explained the ride and reasons behind it.  Turns out that Jayson’s mother had tried to commit suicide years back.  So as Rose and Azure threw the Frisbee for the dogs, Jayson and I had a few beers and talked.  I am sure that during our conversation it didn’t occur to him that it could end up on this blog for everyone to read.  So I won’t elaborate on what we discussed. 

I have learned something on this ride, through talking with so many different people.  Despite the fact that it was right in front of me I never though of mental illness as being unique.  But it truly is.  If you take two individuals with depression or schizophrenia or addictions, each case would be unique, each person would experience their illness in a totally distinctive way.  That same thing can be said for those who have been touch by friends, or family members with mental illnesses two family members may view their Bi-polar relative in two totally different ways.  In the same way that two friends may view the loss of a mutual friend very differently.  I don’t really know what I am getting at with this other than I find it interesting.

Rolling hills were on the menu yesterday and a serious head wind for the first three and a half hours.  I didn’t have a choice, wind or no wind after an unplanned rest day I had to ride and try to cover some ground.  Nothing worth noting, I am starting to get tired of this constant head wind though. 

I made it to Johnson’s Crossing last night, thirty miles short of Teslin where I had originally intended to stop.  Battling that head wind for so long had really taken a toll on my legs and knowing that I am headed into the northern Canadian Rockies I didn’t want to totally fry them.  Its funny how things work out though.  While registering for our campsite, the conversation turned, as it often does up here, what brings you to the Yukon?  Azure explained what we were doing, as I was drooling over the fresh pastries in the display case.  Turns out Johnson Crossing is a campground/restaurant/bakery/gas station/future mental health rehabilitation facility.  Leslie, one of the new owners, explained their vision.  Her partner used to work in the mental health field and they decided to buy this place and use it as a facility to help rehabilitate individuals with mental health/addiction issues.  Using the facility to help teach them life skills for their eventual return to the city.   She said that the majority of their clients would come to them after being released from jail.  They are currently trying to navigate the government red tape, while at the same time keep the place running at full speed (this is the peak season for any business up here).  As Leslie said, “we really had to jump right in and hit the ground running” in order to keep the business viable. She hopes to have more time this winter to dot the i’s and cross the t’s for all of the government approvals that they need.  Kind of like us, she says that they have a vision and they intend to stick to it.  I wish you, the best of luck.  I don’t really think they will need it though, their bakery was awesome!!!!!  We had some of their “world famous cinnamon buns” and I would say that’s a pretty accurate description.  In addition to giving us a free campsite for the night she also gave us the cinnamon buns and a bag full of turn-overs.  That was after she offered to supply us with food and ice.  It isn’t every day that you meet such a genuine and generous person.  If you are ever in this part of the world Johnson’s Crossing is a stop that should be on your list.

Today’s ride didn’t exactly go as planned.  The hills are getting bigger and bigger, I’ll be back in the mountains tomorrow.  I had wanted to ride to the base of the mountains today but fell short after Azure and I spent a bit longer than expected in Teslin.  Some interesting people and museums held our attention for a few hours.  I want to get to bed early so that I can get up an out first thing so I stopped riding early in the evening.  I didn’t cover as much ground as I wanted, in fact today’s ride was so easy that it could be considered a rest day.  At least I should be well rested to tackle the mountains and the continental divide in the morning.

Yesterday’s stats

81.16 miles

14.9mph average speed

34.1mph max speed

5:24:32 ride time

Today’s ride

40.27 miles

14.4mph average speed

32.5mph max speed

2:46:50 ride time

Why you should listen to your wife.

Yesterday while in town, we were trying to find an Italian place to grab some take out, no luck.  However, we did find a Chinese place not far from where the Italian place should have been.  Azure didn’t think it was a good idea and I should have listened.  I hate it when she is right, I will spare you the details, lets just say that I woke up this morning feeling under the weather, so we were forced to take another rest day here in Whitehorse.  I am feeling a bit better now and hopefully we will be able to hit the road first thing tomorrow morning.  We still have a lot of ground to cover and I don’t like burning rest days that are not on the schedule but when something such as this happens what can you do. 

Next time I will simply say “yes dear”

Whitehorse,Yukon

Well I made it to Whitehorse, YT yesterday.  Nothing of importance on the ride from Otter Falls cut off to the capital of the Yukon.  It was another very beautiful ride, Azure got a good picture of what is called the man in the mountain, for obvious reasons.

I was making the best time of any ride thus far averaging about 19mph despite the rolling hills and then about 15 miles outside of Whitehorse a huge head wind picked up.  Suddenly, I went from riding at about 22mph to struggling to ride 9mph.  Needless to say the last leg of the ride sucked and significantly reduced my daily average.

  Azure and I spent the evening relaxing, for real this time.  It was the first time we have had coverage in awhile so we made our perspective phone calls and checked email.  I need to share the ridiculous phone call that I had with my Grandmother.  For those of you who don’t know Marie, I will say that she is a tough one to describe.  Kind of like the Dalton Highway descriptions really aren’t sufficient, she is best experienced first hand.

“Hello”

“Hey Grandma”

“WHO IS THIS?  PATRICK?”

“Yup, how’s it going?”

“I’m glad you called, I have been thinking about you guys.”

“Oh, yeah well we have had you on our minds as well.”

“No, no, no, I have been thinking, what is the situation with the sheets on your bed?”

“What?”

“Your sheets, what are you doing about keeping them clean? You know you need to keep the sheets clean on that bed!”

“Grandma, I have just ridden over 1100 miles of some of the most remote and most dangerous terrain in the country and your first question is how are you keeping the sheets clean?”

A very long pause, which was good… at least I knew she was giving it some thought.

“Yes, you know Patrick clean sheets are important, so how have you been keeping them clean?”

“Well, at the end of the day I am pretty dirty, so we really aren’t.  Every time we get somewhere that has laundry facilities. Azure does all the laundry but other than that there isn’t a whole lot we can do about it.”

“Well I don’t know what you can do, but you need to figure out some way to keep those sheets clean.”

“OK grandma, I’ll see what I can do, how are things in Virginia?”

“Pretty good, ok well I have to get ready for bed”

“Ok I love you, I’ll call you next time we get a chance”

“That would be nice.”

That was pretty much the entire conversation, and I guarantee you that as I sit here and type this she is sitting in her recliner trying to come up with a plan to keep our sheets clean on the bed.

We spent the day today tooling around Whitehorse, getting bike supplies and my rear wheel fixed.  Several museums other historical spots later we called it a day. We will be heading out tomorrow morning early and will be off the grid for a while but I will post again as soon as we get to somewhere that has internet.

Yesterday’s ride stats

77.2 miles

16.7mph average

37.5mph max

4:36:04 Ride Time

The Wild Yukon

I didn’t write a blog post yesterday, mainly because I was too cold to think much less type.  I plugged over 100 miles on Thursday and made it from Beaver Creek to Burwash Landing. We awoke the next morning to guess what high 30’s low 40’s and lots of rain.  We tried to wait it out, so we headed to the museum in Burwash which was pretty cool but small so we weren’t able to spend much time there.  After awhile the rain let up a bit and I got on the bike.  I actually felt surprisingly good considering the amount of miles and terrain that I had covered the previous day.  Then about twenty minutes into the ride the rain started up again, it sounded like a freshly poured bowl of Rice Crispies snapping and popping off of my jacket, I was instantly cold… really cold. Yes, I know that seems to be a common theme of this trip so far.   I can deal with cold temps, I actually prefer to ride in cold weather, but the cold rain is something all together different.  I tried to gut through it, but after two hours into a head wind and pouring rain, I was numb from head to toe.  I had a permanent brain freeze from the cold rain and wind on my head.  As we were about to pass the last RV park for the next 70 miles, I decided to call it and opted for the hot shower that I knew was waiting for me at the bottom of the hill. 

After getting only about 26 miles yesterday, before I called it quits due to weather, I awoke a cold but beautiful morning.  It started out in the high 30’s and warmed up to 65 or so as the day went on. This is what I imagined the weather would be like on this trip, but hey if you don’t have to deal with the nasty stuff you don’t appreciate the good weather as much.

 There was a pretty stiff head wind all morning but I really didn’t mind, it died down after I got around Kluane Lake. 

I stopped to talk with Azure at the bottom of the first climb of the day.  Little did I know what lay ahead of me. 

It was bound to happen sooner or later.   I have been riding past Grizzly scat the size of small infants for the last three days.  As I crested the top of the hill, a very large Grizzly was walking in my general direction.  He wasn’t coming after me, just headed that way when I appeared over the hill.  He stopped, I stopped, my balls suddenly jumped to my throat.  A wild Griz at 25 yards is way too close for comfort in my book.  I stood there debating the best course of action.  The bear raised his head and sniffed at the air took one step in my direction.  I slowly turned the bike around trying not to make any sudden movements, all the while keeping my eyes on the bear, trying to avoid direct eye contact.  Slowly at first I rolled away, he turned towards the woods at which point I took off down the hill I had just come up. 

Azure was a bit confused at my arrival.  “Didn’t you just ride up that hill, what the hell are you doing?”  “I decided I wanted black cherry gel, not vanilla so I came back” “what are you serious?” “No, there was a big ass grizzly at the top of the hill so I am going to give him some time to get to where ever it is he is going” 

It is a surreal experience to be so close to something that could kill you with so little effort.  This animal has spent thousands of years of evolution becoming the apex predator that it is, and me, well, I’m used to picking my food out of a case in the grocery store.  I have been staring at the computer screen for quite some time, how can I most accurately describe this encounter.  I have come to the conclusion that I can’t.  It was scary, exciting, humbling, and all around pretty (insert your favorite expletive) sweet!  That being said it isn’t necessarily something that I want a repeat of.  Although, the deeper I get into the Yukon and Northern B.C. I am sure there will be more encounters.  Let’s just hope that they all end as well as this one did.

That was pretty much it today, mostly just road through some of the prettiest country in the world.  It is beautiful up here, and yes that is an understatement. 

(that little yellow dot in the distance is me)

 

Yesterday’s Stats

26.5 miles

13.7mph average speed

26mph max speed

1:55:11 ride time

Today’s Stats

70 miles

14.8mph average speed

37mph max speed

4:43:48 ride time