Let me start by explaining the bug situation here. It’s minimal so far, every 2 minutes or so you have a bug come at you during the day, and in the Wolf Creek Campground I am staying in, they come in swarms for a few minutes and then let you be. The mosquitoes are good enough to bite through the fabric of your shirt, as proven by the blood stains showing in various parts. Gross. However, my dear readers the worst is yet to come. It’s going to get worse and worse as the days get longer and longer and I get off the beaten path. They’re still eating through my mesh pants that I picked up from MEC – so I may just have to accept the fact I’m going to be covered in bumps and sores shortly.
I, or should I say we didn’t make it to far off the beaten path whatsoever today, Monday May 30th. I’m now travelling with 4 other cyclists, 2 who have never toured before, who are here to film the riding, peoples reactions, and interview people on sustainable transportation in the north to be eventually turned into a documentary, hoping for the end of the year as a release date. The other two, have toured a few times, one of them the author of a few touring books. The other, is only along for the ride until Fort Nelson, BC where the ride is going to get really bizarre, with a 4-5 day stretch of no services whatsoever. We’ve got a few weeks ahead of us to start convincing her to go for the full route. For now I’m travelling Highway 1 – The Alaskan Highway that spans over 2,450 kilometres from end to end. The “Alcan Project” was a response by the American Army to the perceived threat of Japan during the Second World War. It provided an overland supply link between Alaska and the lower 48 states. Nothing more than a rough trail at one time when it was built in an astonishing 8 months and 12 days, it’s fully paved and is the busiest route in the territory. 18 wheelers are RVs are the majority.
I took the time to cycle around Whitehorse on the weekend, quickly going from end to end of the not so busy downtown area a few times and back, before meeting up with these cyclists for the first time. I’m not sure how 30 days is going to fare with me, but I’ve got the opportunity of moving forward, riding on my own if I decide I need some personal space, and potentially meet up later. I’ve been laughing, I’ve got so much free time up here – gone are the time constraints of having to get to this location by this time to catch this vessel or meet this person. It’s a downtime for me and I’m looking forward to letting my creative juices bubble and output many projects as I go through the not so travelled route of Whitehorse, YT to Yellowknife, NWT. Filming the documentary will be exciting, and so far we have meshed well.
Watching for 4 on their First Day Fumbles has been interesting. It was 54 days or so ago that I went through similar problems, struggling with meeting time deadlines, making sure I had a good place to sleep, ingesting the proper food. These guys have experienced way more mechanical problems in one day than I have in all my tour. 2 flats on one road bike, before even starting the ride due to a spoke poking into the tube, and two separate derailleur incidents with the hanger wrapping itself into the rear wheel, one breaking a bunch of spokes in the process. I convinced the pair of filmmakers to hitch back to Whitehorse and get it fixed, and meet us at a campsite not far from where we were, only 15km out of the city, and well within the limits still. Hoping that since this day occurred all mechanical problems will disappear from this point forward and we’ll be able to do what we all came here to do. I’ll just re state that I am glad I chose a rock solid bike such as the Surly Long Haul Trucker. It’s gotten me into and out of some pretty hairy situations with only minor scratches. I seem to be the only one riding with a touring bike which may say something to the problems that others may experience on the way.
Whitehorse Legislative Building was a mediocre experience. Built in 1976 it doesn’t contain the same charm that the B.C. one offered. There were a few art pieces, and I managed to get into the room where they have their meetings – snapping a few photos in the process. Highlight was the stained glass mural covering the entire length of the building. I passed on heading to the cafeteria for lunch.
I did notice that Whitehorse has many cyclists. Bike lanes are scattered here and there around the funky downtown corridors, getting people from A to B. I’m not entirely sure how many people bike in the winter, but judging by the spare tire selection at the local store ‘Icycles’ there are obviously some people nuts enough to do it. It was truly bizarre at 11pm watching people skateboard, barbeque, play Frisbee, and cycle through the parks – Sunsets just after 11 so far, and rises a bit before 5, leaving a whole lot of light for people who wish to be outside. I can see how sleep deprivation can sneak up on you. I retreated to my tent at 9pm tonight knowing that I will have to force myself to sleep, using the Zorro mask, and earplugs. I wonder how the bears go to sleep, and when they awake, as I’d like to be out of my bush camping spot as I try to save the $12 camping fee per tent. 4 bears are known to be in the area, I’m not worried – and have taken precautions by placing my food in the backs of the garbage cans including my toothpaste and other toiletries. There is some fear among the newcomers about bears, and I’ve been doing my best to try to make them not be worried about it. Some are carrying flares, bear bangers, and spray. I have nothing.
I’m very lucky to not suffer from any allergies – Pollen is everywhere, covering steps, tables, cars, bikes, laptops in a matter of seconds. I’m wondering if I can collect it and use it for a purpose of energy, If I had internet access I’d look – but no, Rogers/Fido does not offer any service here. 1 month of silence from me!
Whitehorse offers a look at its history of trade routes via steam ships. Proudly on display in the east end of town is the S.S. Klondike– It’s been restored to 1940 conditions. Apparently when they were dragging it down the road, they used 8 tonnes of soap to help it slide easier before restoration. Crazy Klondike’s! Also the Visitors centre offers an impressive look at the Yukon’s many rocks and minerals that can be found with little effort. There must have been 5 dozen different types, of varying size, colours, and textures. With a population of 25,636 it is an important area for people travelling in every direction, with routes heading to Alaska, British Columbia, and to the top of the World, in the Northwest Territories via the Dempster Highway. It certainly is the most populated area, with the next biggest cities population being 1,900.
Expect a bit more writing than usual, due to the new found time. I left the Nintendo DS in Cranbrook, laughing today that now I’d finally use it. Figures. I’ll use that time fiddling with the new components I have access to, a Zoom H2, a Zoom H4, both audio recorders, a GoPro HD video camera, something I’ve been eyeing for a while, and a Canon D 7D Camera/Video Camera. I’ll also be learning a lot about filming scenes, lighting, and having fun.
A callout to the gear heads reading this – I’m on the hunt for some Schwalbe Marathon XR 26×2.00” tires. I have been looking for them for a while, and finally found a folding edition recently, but only one. I’d much rather prefer the Wire wound type, but am not picky – considering these tires are now out of production, with the replacements ‘Dureme’ brand not field tested with enough data for me to drop $200 on a set.
I’m a big fan of free. A few months back I posted about how to get Free World Routing Maps for your Garmin GPS Device, using alternative data from the Open Street Map project. Not satisfied with the data is was issuing for elevation charts (hills are starting to become my nemesis) I hopped upon a Canadian who is making free Topographical Maps that are able to be utilized on your GPS, Mapsource, or Garmin Basecamp.
These maps are created by Dale Atkin who resides in Alberta. He’s using the latest government databases for most of his data so the actual topographic data and some of the road data (depending on province) is much more up to date than Garmin’s own Topo Canada maps (Currently at V4). If you have ever used 1:50,000 federal or provincial topographic maps you’ll be immediately familiar with what you see in these maps.
To get access to these things, you simply have to download the .torrent file that he has prepared. I recommend using a client such as uTorrent to download it.
It’s a big file, 3GB worth! So make sure you have enough space, and a proper internet connection. Once complete you’ll need to install the maps.
It’s a simple process – Burn the .ISO file to a DVD (most burning software can do this, or extract the .ISO file with WinRAR, or another archive management program). You could also mount it with Daemon-Tools or Pismo File Audit Pacakge if you wished.
Simply run the setup file, and it will automatically install it into your system, ready to be viewed by your Mapping software. It’s smart enough to detect if you’ve got a 64bit operating system, so two thumbs up for that, some maps require a bit hacking I have found in the past. Select “Ibycus Topo” from the drop down list in the top left hand corner and you are ready to use the prepared maps.
Dale’s even created a 3part Youtube series for those who wish to follow along on video:
One thing to note, the Ibycus Topo mapping is NOT currently routable. Nor does it have an address database or a general POI database (topographical POIs only). If you need any of these features, you’ll still need Garmin City Navigator or equivalent mapping. At the very least, the Ibycus Topo mapping is great for viewing on a computer and for using as an additional mapping layer on a Garmin GPS device.
You might also want to check out the WikiProject Canada who is in the process of merging both OSM and Topo maps together into a nice downloadable package. They also have a wealth of other information for those interested in going across Canada with a GPS on trails should you not hand over a bunch of money to Garmin for maps.
I didn’t think I was actually going to make it here with any gear due to some of the hoops that I had to jump through, but I am safe and sound in Whitehorse, Yukon – yup – way up there in the North. I arrived late Saturday night at 2am and fully intended on sleeping in the airport until security tried to kick me out. I politely told them I wasn’t leaving until my bike was put back together, and eventually one of the guards came back to apologize to me for his actions. I rode across the street and camped in the bush, getting 6 hours of sleep before knowing that today’s day has a lot of boxes to check off on the to-do list. But first, let me write while I load up on coffee.
After the ferry, we didn’t make it much farther than a picnic bench. A friend of Tim’s who lived in a nearby village, Riondel, came to pick us up and we relaxed on the beach, and enjoyed many hours of good conversation and downtime. A few friends were travelling across the country to the Sasquatch festival, and were to have met up with me by this time, however suffered car troubles in Calgary, and didn’t end up leaving until 5pm of that night. With my legendary cellular service that appeared randomly for 2 minutes every half an hour, I frantically sent text messages with directions on where to go. They arrived at 1:47am, however I was sound asleep. I got the message at 4am and walked around the village hoping to find them. They weren’t there, and were at the ferry terminal – so we had a chance to half a far too short visit the next morning with them before Tim and I finished our last day of riding together.
It was an incredibly fun ride, weaving and winding through mountains, even though there were minimal shoulders on either side, riding the 95km into Creston, BC. I left motivators on the side of the road for Tim to pick up while riding, and he looked definitely wiped when we finally made it into the town. Not bad for a first timer, 300km in 4 days – hoping this memory will stay with him and encourage him to tour again, perhaps meeting me somewhere in another country! We both slept hard, but awoke early to part ways, but not before visiting the Columbia Brewery across the street from the campsite.
The Columbia Brewery has been in operation for almost 60 years, with a few upgrades here and there along the way. It merged many smaller breweries in the area, and now produces an impressive amount of beer on a daily basis (17,500 dozen beers numbers were being tossed around freely). They took us to where Wort was mixed, the carbonation centres, and the packaging/quality assurance section. It looked very automated, and polished. Apparently Canada has a 98% return rate on bottles, and they touched a few times on how they reuse their materials, glass for further bottling, Co2 for further usage, Hops eventually turning into farm feed. The best part was the end when they showed us a few commercials from the 80′s, 90s and sampled some of their beer. I was wobbly at 11am when I left, catching a few photos with the Sasquatch, hugging Tim goodbye, making my way to my terminus point before a 4 day rest period, Cranbrook.
I had another “should I hitchhike” moment, during my 110km ride northeast on Highway 3/95 because I was under time constraints, wanting to get to my Warmshowers host before it got dark. I arrived 4 hours later than expected due to my speed dropping to 7km/h in some spots due to serious head winds. I stuck with it, rewarding myself with 2 Pepperoni Pizzas that I wolfed down before stopping for the night. Glad I had a few days off, I stayed up late at my hosts house transferring data from my old laptop to a newer one that the host offered to accept as a maildrop for me. I’ve done migrations many times before, and this was easy. However a few days later I realized I am missing some video footage. Nuts.
My Warmshowers hosts in Cranbrook really rolled out he carpet for me, arranging for bicycle maintenance appointments to be performed at the local Bike Shop, accepting mail, and letting me leave some of my gear in their place while I headed off the Yukon. Still, after I left they continue to help out with making sure I am able to complete this leg on the tour, more on that shortly.
Amazingly, my bicycle made it through the tune up with minimal parts replacement. I had packed an extra chain with me since Prince George, knowing it would have to go on eventually so it got the swap treatment. Because of the worn chain it also added extra wear to one of my sprockets, causing slippage with the new chain installed, so a new one I had worn out one of the sprockets of my rear cassette so had to put a new one on, but otherwise I still ride with all original components on my bike (brake pads, the tires that I swapped out for rugged Marathons, and saddle doesn’t count). I wonder if I will have an all out breakdown eventually sort of similar to a used car, with all parts breaking at once. I also had the chance to get my wheel bearings packed to make rolling smooth.
The workers at the bike store, Fun Hawgs treated me fairly with reasonable shop fees and low replacement parts prices. They buy/sell/trade all sorts of sports equipment, and should have what you are looking for in the Cranbrook area, make sure you tell them I sent you over there! Bonus points to them letting me bring my bike down again the next day to pack it in one of their boxes, and use some of their tools to accomplish this feat. The owner even helped me get it to the airport! I’m sure it would have been a lot easier if I didn’t have my extra stem, speaker holders, front rack, and fenders on the bike, as most bikes come ‘naked’ like this from the factory. Eventually I got it in, taped it up nicely before all hell broke loose.
I had some spare time while resting, and wanted to fix up some of the issues on this website before I left as finding internet access in remote areas will be difficult. Specifically, the website loads very slowly, and serves packages in a not so optimized manner. I use the WordPress blogging platform, and while it works wonderfully, it taxes the server by calling many queries to a database, and performs reads on many files for layout and templates. I started utilizing techniques to merge these files together, and cache frequently looked up information in an attempt to make this snappier. It worked! Until I did something to take down the whole website. That’s right, no blog postings, no photo gallery – just an error message spelling doom and gloom. Not the news I wanted before leaving on a trip.
I tried frantically to fix it, and managed to get a copy of the raw database, and frustratingly attempted restoring from old backups before finally making it work when I had arrived in Vancouver. Losing the website would have sucked, this is the memory of my trip, and I started thinking of other ways to mirror/replicate the data – I simply don’t have time nor the patience to go through what I did this weekend with the site again. Measures are in place now, they’ve been tested and I also had an opportunity to add some new features to the site – new header images, a different menu structure, and a cleanup of old junk. There are a few layout issues remaining with how videos and photos look, but those can wait. I also need to get my Statistics page working, as I’ve got 53 days of stats that I want to share with you. Maybe July now? If you find anything broken please share it with me in the comments section below or contact page. It’s always a work in progress, I’m not sure what I’ll do when I’m happy with it and there are no more bugs!
With the stress of a broken online presence weighing upon me, the airport didn’t make me feel any better. Searching my bicycle box, they managed to destroy my careful packing job, taking away my EMPTY fuel canisters, and my MSR Dragonfly Stove. Airport security played the “it’s the airlines call” while the airline said “it’s the security’s call’ and sent me on a loop. I gave up, leaving it at the airport, with my Cranbrook Warmshowers host picking up the confiscated parts, giving them a piece of his mind, and then throwing them on a bus to Watson Lake. I need coffee in the morning, and have a feeling I won’t be traveling past bistros and cafes in the north here, as I did in Southern California the last time my stove ceased to work. I am considering making a penny alcohol stove out of a few pop cans. Security was an incredible waste of my time, taking away these essential components, yet when they found my first aid kid with a scalpel, scissors, and syringe inside, they waved it through without issue – where is the logic with that!? My spork obviously isn’t a threat, but a canister with no lid on it is. I flew into Vancouver frazzled, hungry, and upset. Welcome home, I guess.
Stress levels diminished when I fixed my website, had a few beers, and had a chance to see my cat! He recognized my voice and stayed with me most of the night, while I chilled out at a friend’s place. Vancouver was serving up its legendary rain so I opted to stay indoors most of the time, tying up loose ends, visiting with few people (not enough people at that), and prepping for my trip. I returned to MEC my sunglasses and lenses I no longer needed after trading for them with an RCMP officer in Houston, BC – my failed laptop to Costco, and received a 100% refund from Taiga Works on my rain pants which did a wonderful job of keeping rain _in_ my pants. I met with the manager, who was very concerned as to how the problem was occurring, and echoed that the owner of the company wanted to make sure that I was happy with my purchase, and that they stand behind all their products. A friend and I both own other Taiga Works gear (sleeping bags, stuff sacks, gaiters) which all perform above and beyond my expectations, so I assume there is a defect somewhere in the zippers on these pants and this gesture made me feel looked after. I picked up another pair of pants (cheaper) from another store and some mesh pants, shirt, and hat cover to prepare for the army of mosquitos and black flies ready to snack on my blood up here in the north. We’ll see how the budget pants fare when it rains – of course Murphy’s Law says it will be a dry summer and I won’t have to use them for 3-4 months.
Airport Security in Vancouver this time took away my 3/4 empty bottle of toothpaste because the container itself was over 100ml (120). I wasn’t going to argue with the paper pushers this time around. Airline travel is extremely frustrating with all the ‘safety’ precautions. If you want safety, don’t even let us on the plane! My cigarette lighter can be used to light things up (why aren’t these banned anyways? oh yeah, cigarette companies making a stink), shoelaces (Choking Devices!), rings (brass knuckles!), T-Shirt (slogans supporting free thinking! if they are really concerned about security. They rooted through all my bags, again didn’t blink at the first aid kits, and I walked onto the plane with a blade screwdriver in my pocket. Again, absurdity. I’ll just find alternate means to ship my components when I’m ready to come back down to the south rather than waste 30 minutes of my time watching these people touch and fiddle with my possessions. I was happy that I managed to evade paying twice for transporting my bicycle however, as this trip seems to have its expenses climbing at a much faster pace than expected.
Somewhere along the line I lost a few screws to my fenders, so will need to acquire these before heading across the Yukon over to Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. It’s a 1800km ride through two routes, one offering a hard pack gravel road, and one offering a paved alternative. I’m not sure which one I want to take yet. I do look forward to that end point after having a conversation with a cyclist a week before telling me of various places to see in the city of Yellowknife.. Coincidentally a few days later I ran into a man who knew this cyclist – he was visiting from Yellowknife with his father on a bit of a Kootenay Loop driving vacation. Small world, or just small community – your call. The plan from here on in is to trail blaze a route across the North, with a crew of cyclists who are here to film a documentary on sustainable travel. I’ve yet to run into them, and hope they don’t want to leave before the intended June 1 departure, as I need a bit of a rest and want to check out what Whitehorse has to offer. Certainly I must visit the legislative building. As it looks right now, it has the amenities of a bigger town, box stores, a historical area of old buildings, and community farmers markets. No cellular service whatsoever up here, so I’m on my own it seems, looking for open wireless connections. Photos will appear randomly and I’ll attempt to post as things move forward. I’m not done with BC yet, just for now.
It’s hot, there is no bugs so far from what I can tell, and has some windy. This is all uncharted territory for me, and I’m walking around, and pedaling around with a big grin on my face.
The weather network states that its 5 degrees outside, and I state that something is wrong with the calibration of their devices – its downright chilly outside! It’s the first night I’m in my tent in my sleeping bag with my clothes on. I’m writing this at present in my tent in Nelson BC. I never once expected to be in this town, but, a few wrong turns will take you anywhere in life. It’s been a vibrant few days to say the least.
After my rough patch that I spoke about in an earlier post, I never looked back and continued forward on my journeys. Still being a little bit quirky and neurotic, I chewed off some of my finger nails, well, that was after I manically tried to file them down. Can’t figure out what my trigger was, but I’m going to start all over again and continue to beat that filthy habit. Cycle Recycled. I remind myself its stupid when I get mud or grit in the ends and they start stinging.
My foot, each day getting better, I’ve trained my body to not put weight on the toes and only seem to have trouble on stairs, which is far and few between. The sausage swelling is going down, and the colour is 90% back to normal. It’ll be a few weeks before I walk away laughing about that incident, but I’m glad I was able to come out so good from the situation, however I did it, total freak accident. I’ve still not once opened my first aid kit, and I wonder if that’s a good thing or a bad thing – meaning that I’ve got the itch to strip it down and dump some of it out. Of course the day I do that an anvil will fall from the sky and strike me, so I’ll just let it sit in the bottom of the front pannier as it is.
I’m preparing a purge of equipment, grouped into two dumpings, one for when I travel to the Yukon next week, and one to dump when I return the following month. I just have far too much gear. On the list is one of my pots, some stuff sacks, and lots of clothes. I’d say 80% of the clothes can go – Useless. I’ve worn maybe 3 shirts, 2 pairs of pants, and 2 pairs of socks out of the entire pannier. It will cut down a lot of weight, which is starting to become cumbersome now. Maybe it’s the hills, or maybe I’ve had a chance to understand what is used and what’s not.
It also likely has something to do with my energy levels. I’m burning out in different ways. Pains are starting to creep up in areas, then rapidly disappear, weight is being lost, and I struggle to do certain tasks. It’s all part of the journey, but certainly interesting to note each difference on a daily basis. The one that has been making me smirk tonight is I have contemplated sticking my thumb out on the side of the road to get to my destination. I never did, but the fact that it crossed my mind is fairly funny. I should probably preface it with the fact that the two situations involved meeting up with someone and being horribly late – with one involving a gut wrenching climb for 34km to 1240 metres, and the other one involving a 100km detour away from the intended destination.
Trying to remember all the details that have occurred is becoming a struggle. I’ve lost a bit of interest of maintaining a presence online, spending my time researching on ideas and slowly wading through the backlog of emails. I go through them in bursts, but seem to be behind by about a week with any spare time typically spent with my nose in the mapping programs. I’ve discovered another free piece of software by Garmin named Basecamp, which makes planning routes a heck of a lot easier, being able to view elevation charts, and a cool feature that synchronizes your camera with your GPS unit to make all your photos Geotagged by location taken! However, really it just boils down to the fact that I have been socializing and visiting with people, whether they being my hosts for staying the night, or random strangers that I meet along the way, and it seems much more reasonable to speak with my tongue rather than my fingers. Everything is cyclical, so as situations change, we may see a different pattern emerge.
I’ve met a bunch of new people that hold some significance, two cousins (well ok, I met one before they had all their teeth!) were introduced to me while staying at an Uncle’s house in the Okanagan area, a family that I met through the Warmshowers service, and a couple that is roughing it on top of a mountain overlooking the mighty Columbia River. Add to that another nurse practitioner who rides a Surly and the assortment of random stranger conversations and it has been pretty busy.
I had the opportunity to see my Grandfather in Kelowna, he was being let out early by a day, whether that be a good thing or a bad thing – due to the loss of frequent rehabilitation appointments or just being happy in your comfortable spot at home. He’d been in the hospital for 69 days, so I’m sure it was starting to feel like home a bit. He was very jovial, laughing at some of the experiences there, and was nice to connect with that side of the family, as based on our calculations it had been 15 years since I had seen some of them! Time flies. Going to make a point to keep in better contact however with family, as it holds some importance to me.
I rode around Kelowna for a bit searching for the Ogopogo statue wanting to get the obligatory me with bike and just bike alone photos to add to the gallery, before heading to the Greyhound station to send a box back to Vancouver. On the way I witnessed a pretty horriffic car crash, which totalled one of the cars – a younger man was driving and…. TALKING ON HIS CELL PHONE. The rims were even pushed off the front of the car. I didn’t hang around for the 2nd wave of paramedics, and went on my way, traveling the very busy Highway 97 back into the Vernon area. Blustery winds paired with Sunshine continued to add colour to my body without any realization, and I took a break overlooking the Armstrong Valley before catching a youth expo at the Convention Centre. There were a bunch of kids riding skateboards at the park with a radio station, and the announcer obviously thought he was funny when he announced that I should ride my bike over it all panniers and all. I’m having enough problems holding onto my gear thanks!
I had a place to stay just outside of Vernon and showed up right at the time when the host had to run a few errands – and the next thing I knew, I was in an elementary school dance, acting as a pseudo-chaperone, because you know kids in Grade 3 really know how to pull out the real crazy stuff. The punch was spared from spiking and nobody started doing the YMCA so I would call my chaperoning a success. I stayed with a family who lived on a farm, the father, who had actually grown up on the very location returning after heading out to school when he was younger, the mother who is an artist, and two children, a few years apart. The adults stayed up for a while talking about various things, biking, health, thoughts and I slept hard throughout the night. Body starting to ache over the past few days, I have to say sleeping on a couch has been the most comfortable sleep of the whole trip. Its funny, when I was living in a house, I frequently had sleep issues, yet when I migrated over to the couch, I was sound asleep within minutes, why is that?
I loaded up on caffeine in the morning before saying goodbye to the hosts and made my way east, getting a brief cellular signal so that I could text message a friend who was going to meet up with me. I estimated I was about 80km away and said I’d be there for 4. Less than an hour later, I replied, and made it 6 – and this is where the fun starts. I made a calculation error in my mapping program where the elevation chart didn’t appear correctly, and it was a day of hills. EPIC hills. I pedaled until 2pm before stopping at a recently opened cafe ‘Moms Diner’ and had one of their Sasquatch Burgers. I was hungry, but not hungry enough as I couldn’t finish the stuffed meat burger along with its fried egg, bacon, mushrooms, and cheese in between the bun. I should have took a picture of this 8″ work of art. I did need the carbs, as my 3pm departure went straight into a climb for 30 some odd kilometres, grades of 8-12%. There were moments where I wanted to lean over the side of the bike and throw up, and times where I contemplated hitching. Finally, my brain got into the mode and I pedaled. Cars passed me on the very narrow shoulder, mostly RV’s as it was the start of a long weekend. A bit nerve racking. I made it to the top of the summit, took a photo, and pedaled the next 30k on rolling hills stopping to put my coat on, it was downright freezing!
Spirits running high by the many people stuffing their thumbs out the window at me, grinning while I pushed and pushed to get to my destination, with the last 20km being a descent. I grabbed a great video of it cruising at speeds of 65km/h down the windy path. The last 3 km was a 12% grade and I flew at high speeds down the slope, having to use my feet as brakes to stop just inches from the gate for the ferry I was to take from Needles to Fauquier. It was just being loaded and they let me on as the last passenger. It was a short 10 minute ride, and I caught my breath while coincidentally meeting my riding partner’s sister, and answering questions from other people in vehicles curious as to who would be crazy enough to climb the Monashee pass. Forever will go down in my books as one of the toughest days I’ve ever had, but some of the most memorable. Perseverance goes along way, and extreme focus.
My 6pm arrival turned out to be 8:45pm, and my friend was waiting, in good spirits, taking me over to his friends place just up the hill. The hosts had a 40 acre plot of land, with a pure free flowing water source, and one of the nicest views I’ve seen in my life. They lived rustically, with no electricity, well, not true, no lights – but were able to operate the essentials like Satellite TV, laptops, and stereos via the solar panels mounted on the porch, and roof with the sun’s energy stored in batteries for backup. An open air Outhouse, and a Garden completed the way of living, with hopes of living off the land year round. This has definitely kept my mind running, interested in the concept and seeing a future in living in a secluded area, not knowing my neighbours. One of them was a representative for a few outdoor product companies, and we gabbed regarding my choices in equipment, and some thoughts on how things have worked out for me along the way.
Tim, my riding partner for the weekend lives in Rossland, about 400km away woke up the next morning with a bit of nervousness. He has never toured before but has lots of experience riding bikes. He borrowed a trailer from a friend and was very organized. He left behind the stove and cookware as it was redundant for both of us to carry it (or was it looking back now?) and abstained on bringing the frisbee – a lofty idea to go running after a spinning disc after sitting in the saddle all day long. He knows this area very well, so it was nice to have certain spots pointed out, not to mention company for conversation. He made it through a 105km day without too many major issues, other than the fact I heard him squealing with joy when flying down the hills after suffering up the other sides of them. We managed to find a campground in New Denver, which had the added bonus of offering a Pancake breakfast the next morning.
Along the way we met Jen, a nurse practitioner who has travelled the world, and is heading up to Yellowknife about the same time that I am. She gave me all sorts of helpful advice for my upcoming journey, and I tried to convince her to come along for a bit of Africa’s journey, after she spent 15 minutes explaining some of the perils she experienced when travelling through that continent by car. She wanted to come ride along with us for the first part of our day, with the goal being Kaslo. Tim was preparing for the morning climb, and seemed a bit worried about it. We made our way out and I stopped for a conversation with a pair of ladies on a hike not really that far away from I started, fully expecting to catch up to the two.
I pedaled for 2 hours, got honked at by an RCMP officer, stopped by a woman who wanted me to turn around and go look at a bear (I went, pedaled 5km uphill and didn’t find it, oh well), and grabbed some photo opportunities at some vista points. It wasn’t until my odometer registered 60km that I started to figure out that I was not going the right direction. Kaslo being only 52km was a short climb similar to the one I went through, and then mostly flat and downhill. I had taken a wrong turn and was on the other side of a mountain pass!
I laughed, but worried about my friends wondering if something was wrong and quickly found free wi-fi from the farmhouses near by and sent a few text messages via the web, as my cellular was yup – you guessed it – No Service again. Boo to Rogers/Fido for their meager wireless offerings. I added a good 100km onto my route if I wanted to meet up with Tim at the hotsprings, which I would have appreciated to soak my tired bones in. We finally made two way contact, and I had only made it to Nelson, BC – with the hotsprings still 50km away. I found a community campground that offered free showers (ya!), free wi-fi (double ya!), all the power I could use (triple ya!), at a reasonable price (win). I zipped down to the grocery store and ate the equivalent of breakfast lunch and dinner and a few beers before starting to write this post, sorting photos, and going through the strings of emails flying in.
I was relieved coming online to find out that my friends cat had been found, I guess technically I’m the dad of it, and the poor guy went for a little journey on his own one day in the middle of busy Vancouver. I made a few calls to a teary eyed girl who wished that her cat was back, and she even explained that my cat (technically she’s the mom of this one, who shes taking care of while I’m gone) was even crying, scratching at the floor wanting the little guy back. I tried not to fear the worst, gave a few suggestions and it sounded like one of them worked. Whew!
I get to fly into Vancouver for a night before heading into the Yukon so looking forward to seeing the mom and the two boys and some shopping. Taigaworks has agreed to fix my pants, claiming a technical issue, and I want to return some things to MEC, a broken laptop, get some medications for the trip, and finally enjoy a beer with friends before heading off less than 17 hours later after arrival. Far too busy for my liking but I am lucky I can close up some of these loose ends.
I’ve found a few gems on the road lately, some Canadian flags! One has worked out very well, as it has quite the mast connected to it. I’ve placed it flat on my trunk bag, with the flag on the left side of the bike. When traffic gets a bit too close for comfort, I simply extend the flag out towards the cars a bit more. It’s helped keep me out of trouble from trucks and cars, as this is something different that will catch their eyes and ensure that I don’t lose a limb from drivers with stickers on their 18 wheeler stating “King of the Road”. Eventually I’ll hang the flag properly off the bike but for now it looks great!
I’m continuously finding ladies jewelery on the sides of the road, wondering if you all are throwing it out the window or something? Or maybe men don’t wear bracelets, at least most. I don’t know. Still the road junk is everywhere, dispersed between plastic bottles of pee tossed out of windows high speed by truckers. Hubcaps, broken cellular phones, Mp3 Players, cassette tapes are some of the common finds along the busy routes, but mostly just beer cans. Budweiser mostly as well – I wonder if there is any correlation to that as well..
I, or should I say we didn’t make it to far off the beaten path whatsoever today, Monday May 30th. I’m now travelling with 4 other cyclists, 2 who have never toured before, who are here to film the riding, peoples reactions, and interview people on sustainable transportation in the north to be eventually turned into a documentary, hoping for the end of the year as a release date. The other two, have toured a few times, one of them the author of a few touring books. The other, is only along for the ride until Fort Nelson, BC where the ride is going to get really bizarre, with a 4-5 day stretch of no services whatsoever. We’ve got a few weeks ahead of us to start convincing her to go for the full route. For now I’m travelling Highway 1 – The Alaskan Highway that spans over 2,450 kilometres from end to end. The “Alcan Project” was a response by the American Army to the perceived threat of Japan during the Second World War. It provided an overland supply link between Alaska and the lower 48 states. Nothing more than a rough trail at one time when it was built in an astonishing 8 months and 12 days, it’s fully paved and is the busiest route in the territory. 18 wheelers are RVs are the majority.
I took the time to cycle around Whitehorse on the weekend, quickly going from end to end of the not so busy downtown area a few times and back, before meeting up with these cyclists for the first time. I’m not sure how 30 days is going to fare with me, but I’ve got the opportunity of moving forward, riding on my own if I decide I need some personal space, and potentially meet up later. I’ve been laughing, I’ve got so much free time up here – gone are the time constraints of having to get to this location by this time to catch this vessel or meet this person. It’s a downtime for me and I’m looking forward to letting my creative juices bubble and output many projects as I go through the not so travelled route of Whitehorse, YT to Yellowknife, NWT. Filming the documentary will be exciting, and so far we have meshed well.
Whitehorse Legislative Building was a mediocre experience. Built in 1976 it doesn’t contain the same charm that the B.C. one offered. There were a few art pieces, and I managed to get into the room where they have their meetings – snapping a few photos in the process. Highlight was the stained glass mural covering the entire length of the building. I passed on heading to the cafeteria for lunch.
I’m very lucky to not suffer from any allergies – Pollen is everywhere, covering steps, tables, cars, bikes, laptops in a matter of seconds. I’m wondering if I can collect it and use it for a purpose of energy, If I had internet access I’d look – but no, Rogers/Fido does not offer any service here. 1 month of silence from me!
Expect a bit more writing than usual, due to the new found time. I left the Nintendo DS in Cranbrook, laughing today that now I’d finally use it. Figures. I’ll use that time fiddling with the new components I have access to, a Zoom H2, a Zoom H4, both audio recorders, a GoPro HD video camera, something I’ve been eyeing for a while, and a Canon D 7D Camera/Video Camera. I’ll also be learning a lot about filming scenes, lighting, and having fun.
