Table of Contents

(Click to take you directly to the desired day)

Day 0 - Travel Day
Day 1 - What do you mean, no shorts, no ride?
Day 2 - Share the road and the exchange rate
Day 3 - An apology, Frost on the Pumkin, and a Gift.
Day 4 – A bear of a day
Day 5 - Saved by Vanna White
Day 6 - Did I get Toque? (Two-k')
Day 7 - Awesome Dude!
Day 8 - A Muncho needed rest day
Day 9 - Buffalo gals won't you come out tonight
Day 10 - We're on the road to nowhere
Day 11 - Pilot to Bombadier
Day 12 - Hail Hail the Gangs all here (and we're famous)
Day 13 - The Wisdom of Mike
Day 14 - Chicken Soup and Gunalcheesh
Day 15 - Sweet Banality for the Halibut
Day 16 - Pardon me boy is that the Chattanooga choo choo
Day 17 - Centurians Unite!
Day 18 - Best day yet
Day 19 - It's my birthday and I'll lie if I want to
Day 20 - I told you to stay off my property
Day 21 - On to Alaska
Day 22 - One Tok over the line sweet Jesus
Day 23 - Well, it didn't go quite as planned
It wasn't about the ride, it was about the journey

It wasn't about the ride, it was about the journey

Thought I would do a bit of a wrap up.  Writting a daily blog was a lot harder than I thought it would be.  I easily spent 2-3 hours on each one.  This final one was probably the hardest, and I started it a week ago to organize my thoughts.

This will be my last posting in the blog.

 Blog Central - Where it all happened

After a short reconnection with my family on the west coast, I will return home the New Jersey and resume the daily stresses, pressures, and constant fear of job security that American corporate life have become.  I will leave the blog online and will leave it open for comments for about another week or so.  Feel free to post comments.  I will also post pictures online in a while.  Look for Picasa user "tivoman1".

The past 3+ weeks have been an amazing experience for me.  I have seen things and done things I never thought I would.  I have met all sorts of people of all ages from around the world.  

To most people, I was going on a bike ride up the Alcan Highway.  For me, it wasn’t about the ride, it was about the journey.

The journey started late last year when I needed to start planning my sabbatical (a rare benefit these days). I wanted to do something different, something I would not normally do, something few have done, something that challenged me physically, and something that meant something (to me).  I have always wanted to do a long bike ride, so I spent many hours surfing and searching for unique, long, and challenging rides.   I found this ride and investigated.  I called Tom and spoke with him about the ride and asked that he put me in contact with someone who has done the ride before.  Tom put me in contact with a guy named Bill (I will not use anyone’s last names to respect their privacy).  Bill spent about 45 minutes on the phone talking about his experiences, Tom, the ride, and offered a ton of advice.  We also shared several emails along the way.  It was what I needed to make the commitment to pursue this.  Thank you Bill.

Next I had about 6 months to prepare.  This meant endurance training for the distances, losing a fair amount of weight (a challenge I have had all my life), deciding what I needed to bring, acquiring what I needed, and spending the money, oh the money….  I have a great group of riding buddies, however, to get the miles and distances I needed, I rode well over a thousand miles alone.  Long rides, early in the season.  I went to spin class early, and stayed late.  I changed  my eating habits.  I was focused on this one event.

I spent a considerable amount of time planning, buying equipment, trying out things, talking to folks, asking for advice.

However, it wasn’t just me, it was everyone I interacted with that made it possible for me.  I couldn’t have done it alone.  For the last 6 months, just about everyone I know or interact with has heard me drone on and on about this ride.

There are many folks to thank.  All my cohorts in spin class at the 24-7 Club in Bethlehem PA:  Lizette, Sarah, Deb, Jim, Jim, Trish, Jennifer, Carrie, Rich, Kurt, Gene,  Joanie, Diane, Diana, Tammy, Rob, Robin, Craig, John, Doc, Sharon, Jeff, Dan, Ann (aka Sue or was it Sueann?), Ellen,  Rene, and of course the instructors Fred, Gwen, Diane, Chris, Karen, Jen, Bonnie.  Who all would ask and chat about the ride with me as well as encourage and work out with.  There is Tomias and Marty from Genesis Cycles who helped outfit me with many items, and John at Cyclefitters who expertly fit my bike properly and eliminated a nagging back pain issue I had. 

Of course there is the core group of riders that I am proud to call my friends:   Keith, Sue, Abdel, Thor, Greg, Terry (not to mention Pat, Doug, Karine, Maureen, Lorraine, and Jennifer - all truly the better halves), along with Rod, Art, and the great gals of the Pharma Flyers:  Cathy, Kathy, Ariel, Denise, Joanne, Rose.  My colleagues at work who picked up for me in my absence (I am sure there will be some surprises waiting for me when I return) and my employer for providing me the means and opportunity to take the time off needed.  I couldn’t have done it without all your questions, interest, encouragement, advice, and that glassy eyed smile when I talked about the ride for the umpteenth time.  I hope I didn’t miss anyone or misspell your name.  Thank you all.

I have to also thank my best friend Mike, who I dish a lot of abuse to and know to get him to cave.  A trip like this would be about 500 items below the last thing on earth Mike would sign up to do.  I did not pressure or guilt Mike into coming.  He chose to join out of love and friendship and words can’t describe how much it means to me that he came.  He really pushed his comfort zone, much more than me, on this.  I love you man.

There are, however, three people that deserve special thanks.

First is my lovely, and ever suffering wife Sue

Sue stood by me on this from the start.  I knew that she was worried about the scope and potential risks of such a trip, not to mention the separation.  In the 29 years we have been together, this has been the longest time we have been apart.  I know that she did not want me to go, however, she was right there helping me plan, shopping with and for me, sitting home alone on her days off while I was out riding, and picking up all my homeside duties while I was out.  I couldn’t have done it without you Honey.  I love you.

Final thanks go to my parents.

To my Mom who always cheered me on and told me I could achieve anything I wanted.  My Mom is suffering with Alzheimer's and I am truly excited that I will be able to hug her and thank her in person in a couple of days.

Which come down to the real reason behind the journey for me: to fulfill a dream of my fathers.  My Dad bought his first travel trailer in 1967, and owed travel trailers and motorhomes up until about year before his passing in 2009.  Starting in 1976, he and my Mom traveled full time from one end of this nation to the other and ducked into Canada and Mexico a few times.  My Dad often talked about taking a trip up the Alcan highway.  There would be articles in the trailer magazines that he would read and talk about to my Mom.  I can remember asking him "What trips are you planning for the upcoming year?"  and one of his responses was "I would like to travel the AlCan highway."  

Back in the 60’s and 70’s the highway still had a lot of it’s rough character and bringing a travel trailer on the highway was an arduous undertaking.  You would have to wrap the whole front end of your trailer with plywood to protect the front.  You would be expected to go through a few sets of tires, broken windshields, dents, breakdowns and dust.  He talked about it, he kept the articles around, he would perk up with there was something on the TV about the Alcan.  He never did get to make the trip.  On the day he passed away I took a small lock of his hair and I carried it with me on this journey. 

So Dad, thank you for everything.  Thanks from coming along and watching over me and keeping me safe.  I hope the spirit of the journey was all that you dreamed it would be.  I love you and I miss you.

Peace.

Day 23 - Well, it didn't go quite as planned

STATS	DAY	MILES	CLIMBING	CALORIES
DAY	23	107.38	1401	2870
TOTALS		1319.72	54,912	70,889

BLOG INFO PLEASE READ:

• You can view previous days blogs by selecting the one you want from the ARCHIVE list on the right side of the page down a bit.
• You can post a comment to the Blog itself, but not everyone will see it.  I set up the Facebook Group to allow all to post comments and share in the fun.
• You can see a bigger version of a picture by clicking on it.

I had a little trouble falling asleep last night.  I think it was jitters about it being the last day of riding and distance of 112 miles.  I did finally get to sleep and awoke about about 2:30 to find that it was raining quite heavily.  The weather forecast was for a 50% chance of showers, but there was no percentage given for heavy rain.  I eventually fell back to sleep only to wake again at about 6, then again at about 7:30 to find that it was still raining.

We got up and looked at each other and agreed that this was the last day, if we weren't going to ride for ourselves, we should at least ride for all those unsupported riders we met.  We suited up, had another great breakfast of pancakes and bacon (perfect century food), broke camp, and headed out into the rain.

(Side note:  You see and meet all kinds of folks on the roads and in campgrounds.  This morning, while I was taking care of business so to speak, someone entered the stall next to me.  Encounters such as these usually only involve a visual of the persons shoes.  Fortunately, that was the case here.  The strange thing was this guy was wearing wooden shoes!  Honest to God those wooden shoes from Holland with little tulips painted on them, and they were well worn.  As near as I could figure, he was expecting more rain than we were and he was going to be prepared.  I was going to take a picture, but then I thought that it may result in me getting to know this person more than I wanted, so I passed.  Honest to God, wooden shoes! )

We get on the road and Mike takes off like a man possessed.  He was, afterall, packed up and suited up with helmet on a good 45 minutes than the rest of us.  Joe gives chase, I keep Joe in range with and eye on PTR (Preserve The Reserves).  I eventually catch up with Joe and say that we should keep a reasonable pace, and that Mike is on a mission to get the ride over and get into thearapy.  We stopped for picture to give a flare for what were riding in.

 The rain drops are not visible here, but they are pelting us and that is the Alaska Mountain Range

We get to the first break at around 15 miles and Tom says that Mike is about 3 minutes ahead and wanted to keep moving to keep warm.  We take our break and move on.  There was a lot of small car traffic today with much less RV and trucks.  It started raining a little harder and we were counting the miles.  At the lunch stop at around 30 miles, Tom said Mike as about 5 minutes ahead.  We had a nice lunch with hot chocolate, and moved on.

Shortly after lunch we crossed the Richardson River and there was a lot of ice still present.  I snapped a few pictures.  It was quite pretty, though the pictures do not do justice due to the lighting.

 I bet Banal wishes he was headed this way.

Speaking of Banal, I checked his facebook page last night and he is down past Rancheria on the stretch we got caught in the hailstorm.  His is making about 35 miles a day.  Peace be with you my friend.

As we progressed it started raining even harder, and was in fact pouring.  By around 45 miles, a head wind had come up that was easily gusting to over 30 mph.  It was slowing us down to sub 10 mph and we still had 65 miles to go.  Joe said "I don't like riding in this."  I said that Tom should have another break for us any minute and at 47.5 miles, here is the van in the pulloff.  As we ride up, soaked to the marrow, Tom gets out and says:  "Mike has thrown in the towel".  That was enough for us.  The head winds were so strong that we were easily looking at another 6-8 hours on the bike in the rain.  So two more towels were added to the pile.

We loaded up the bikes and got in the van.  Mike was not smiling.  Tom turned up the heat and we proceeded towards the end of the highway.

We got to the visitors center at the end of the highway in Delta Junction and got out for pictures.  We discussed getting the bikes out, but decided no.  Within a minute of being outside, the three of us were shivering uncontrollably.  It was unconfortable.  We went into the gift shop at the end and it was not warm enought, so we went out and took pictures and piled back into the van.

 We made it!  Wet, cold, shivering, and a little assisted, but we made it.

It was a little anti-climatic, but hey, we just rode almost 1300 miles in the past 3 weeks and easily rode over 95% of the way, and a 95 is an "A" on most curves, so we took it and felt good about it.

We made it!  And we were cold!

Joe and I did stop for about 10 seconds to get pictures of each other with the famous mosquitos.  Hopefully this will be my last mosquito bite of the trip.

 I haven't said much about the bugs this trip, but these guys were on the small side.

Actually, the bugs were not too bad.  There were some bad days and others not so bad.  On the bad days, Tom put up bug nets around the canopies, and that kept it comfortable.  The last week or so were were in horsefly territory, and these things were voracious.  We would be riding along at 20 mph in a group and there would be a dozen or so horsefly's flying along with us landing on the bikes and us as if we were standing still.  You would look down at your shadow on the road and see them buzzing behind you.  We all lost some skin and blood to the horsefly's.  (An info board said that during the height of the insect season a Moose could loose a pint of blood a day.)


After getting back into the warm van we decided that we would go to Fairbanks and hotel it rather than camp in the rain in Delta Junction.  Along the way, we stopped at a old road house that is turned into a state park.  Very interesting how travellers rested back in the day.  They did not have an on site restaurant back then, but Mike found it and they had hot soup.

I don't care how long this crab bisque has been in the crock pot at this deserted state park gift shop.  It is hot and I am eating it.

This is the first time today Mike smiled.  (I had the same soup and it did help)

We got back on the road and saw the Alaska pipeline

There's oil in them there pipes, our nations lifeblood

The hotel we are staying in for the last night was booked tonight, so we found another place that was a little more pricey, but turned out to be very nice.  We are in essentially a 1 bedroom apartment.  We immediately set up the tents to dry out in our living room.

Just like in college, but without all the accoutriments

I don't think the manager would be too pleased with us, but we'll put it all back together before we leave.

I am meeting my sister in Fairbanks and she is here on business and was free tonight, so she came and picked the four of us up and we went out for a very very nice meal at the Pump House

Good eats here, but bring your credit card.

So the day didn't turn out as we planned, but it was a great day with a 50 mile ride in the rain. 

WE MADE IT!!!!

Tale of the tape

Day 22 - One Tok over the line sweet Jesus

STATS	DAY	MILES	CLIMBING	CALORIES
DAY	22	57.68	5512	3231
TOTALS		1212.34	53,511	68,019

BLOG INFO PLEASE READ:

• You can view previous days blogs by selecting the one you want from the ARCHIVE list on the right side of the page down a bit.
• You can post a comment to the Blog itself, but not everyone will see it.  I set up the Facebook Group to allow all to post comments and share in the fun.
• You can see a bigger version of a picture by clicking on it.

Just before I turned in last night (day) the sun was low and was casting some nice shawdows on the Wrangells so I tried the telephoto on my camera and got a pretty good shot.

Drama  on the Wrangells

Another short day today (about 58 miles).  With the time change, coffee and breakfast is a hour later  (Tom runs by the clock).  I woke up a few times during the night and it was broad daylight.  Very strange.  I could hear birds singing and the ducks splashing around in the lake.

As were were getting ready to leave, Mike discovers that the reason his rear wheel is out of true is because the rim is cracked.  Fortunately, he brought a spare wheel. I have to diminish the wisdom of Mike a bit here.  You see, the wheel he trashed cost about $500, the spare wheel he brought was an identical one.  Now, he brought a spare wheel and needed it, I brought spare spokes and needed them.  Joe, on the other hand, brought nothing and needed nothing, making Joe the smartest man on the planet.

Speaking of Joe, there are a couple of more things about Joe and his family I want to mention.  First, Joe loves to tell stories, and he is good at it.  He has kept us entertained and enlightened by all kinds of stories he has told.  I could not do any justice to the mans talent by repeating any of them, but let me describe it this way.  Joe could take a lone encounter with a credit card pay at the pump gas tank fill and weave it into a story that would keep you spell bound for 15 minutes, and at the end, you would be glad he told you about it.  He is that good.

Also, many of Joe's family have been following the blog, include his Mom, Grandma Esther, who just got into computers at the young age of 92.  Hi Esther, I hope you are enjoying the blogs and I hope I can meet you some day.  Joe was a little nervous about telling you that he got his first Tattoo, so I thought I would break the ice for him and reveal it to the world for the first time.

Joe sez:  Hope Mom won't make me have my new tattoo removed

Back to Mike,  I think he is getting a little stir crazy.

Mike is going to need therapy.

We arrived in Tok Alaska today.  We got to the campground and I went in to see if they had something cold to drink and I scored the best thing on the planet, and it was only 50 cents

Nothing better after a hard fast ride on a warm day than an orange Popsicle to match my jersey

 After showers we rode back into town to fufill some Tee-shirt obligations we have.

For those of you getting Tee shirsts from me - Nothing but the finest

Tomorrow is the last day of riding, from Tok to Delta Junction.  Should be around 110 miles.

Tale of the tape

Day 21 - On to Alaska

STATS	DAY	MILES	CLIMBING	CALORIES
DAY	21	54.32	2005	2961
TOTALS		1154.66	47,999	64,788

BLOG INFO PLEASE READ:

• You can view previous days blogs by selecting the one you want from the ARCHIVE list on the right side of the page down a bit.
• You can post a comment to the Blog itself, but not everyone will see it.  I set up the Facebook Group to allow all to post comments and share in the fun.
• You can see a bigger version of a picture by clicking on it.

I learned a little more about the roller coasters.  The stretch of road yesterday, and a good portion of todays route were built on perma frost. When the road was originally built, they scraped off the insulative layer and built the road right on the permafrost.  What they learned was once the insulative layer was removed, the permafrost melted and the end result was mud.  The answer back then was a method called corduroying where they laid logs side by side then covered them with sub base, then built the road on top of that.  A good portion of the road today still has the underlying corduroy in place.  It seems to fail quite regularly.  When it fails there are large and deep ruts that form from the freeze thaw cycles.  These ruts can be upwards of almost a foot deep and you can’t see them until you are right on top of them.  To a car, truck, motorhome, they are nasty.  To a bike, you can navigate around them.  To repair the road they come in and tear up the old chip seal, grade it, then desposit additional gravel on the road and let the cars and trucks run over it and pack it down for several weeks.  After it is good and packed down, they grade it again for a second round of packing, then they grade it a third time, lay down a thick layer of oil and deposit a layer of chips that they smush flat with a roller, then leave it for several weeks and come back and sweep off the loose stuff.  In other words, once they start working on it, it is pretty much a challenge to ride a bike on until it is done and seasoned.

Another nice night of slumber in the Beaver Creek Westmark Hotel.  Mike and I were all snug in our beds after a dinner that easily exceeded 10,000 calories.

We only have 54 miles to do today and no showers tonight so again we opted for a leisurely start.  We decided to meet for breakfast at the hotel at 9AM.  Mike, was up and out of the room by 7.  At 8:40 he came in the room and said “Brad, if you want breakfast, you better get up, they close at 9.

The hotel was somewhat dated and had a tub that was only 4 feet long, but, as you can see, it was homey

 Just like Grandma used to make.

We got on the road about 10AM and started a slight downhill spin towards Alaska.  Immediately there was a breakaway.  Lets go to Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwin with the call.

Thank you Andrian.  It certainly was a dramatic start today.  Phil, what are your thoughts?

Well Paul¸ It appears that the lead man of the breakaway has stopped for a natural break before the border and it looks like the peloton has decided not to wait and press forward.  The Sprinters are going to be angry.

It is about 20 miles to the US border.    Finally we arrive!

We made it to the border, but our bikes did not, and in case you are wondering, we CAN'T see Russia, but strangely, we can see Canada.

Tom said “You will get out of the chip seal today.  The roads in Alaska are so much better.”  We get to the border and he was not kidding.

Just like driving from Illinois into Wisconsin.

Right on the border the road goes from rough chip seal, which we have been riding on for almost 1000 miles, to smooth as silk asphalt.  I learned this trip that the US pays 90% of the cost of maintaining the highway in the Yukon.  Joe rode up, looked at the transition and said “Well ain’t that a slap in the face”.

After pictures of all kinds around the Alaska sign and boundary markers, the next stop was US Customs.  The agent was very nice and his first question was “Where did you guys pick up this Canadian?”.  Mike answered “Dawson Creek and we haven’t been able to shake him since!”.  They took our papers and ran background checks on all of us, and apparently all those judgments and warrants we have against us have not made it this far north, so they let us in.

 Lets see, if it is noon in Alaska it is 1AM in the Yukon.  How many kilometers is that?

About 5 miles up the road we come to the first commercial establishment on “the silk highway” and we decide to stop for coffee.  The first thing I noticed was a gas price sign that made sense.

Glad to be back in the land of the greenback and good old gallon.

I really have no idea if this is good price or way high since I have been off the grid (gas wise) for several weeks, but I did some quick math to see how it compared to Canadian gas prices.  The typical price we saw along the highway was $1.78 (Canadian) per liter.  At ~3.5 liters/gallon, that calcs out to about $6.23 (Canadian) per US gallon. At an exchange rate of about $0.90 us/Canadian, that all nets out to an equivalent cost per gallon of $6.92.  So I now understand the sign I saw on a gas pump earlier in the trip:

Enjoy your cheap gas US, it could be like this. (Can anyone guess where this was?)

We are riding today in the Tetlin National Wildlife Refuge.  We stopped in the visitor center, and, like all US government tourist facilities, there is a gift shop.  This one, however, was more of a bookstore of practical guides to survival in these parts.

I almost bought this for Greg and Lorraine, but the domain name "letstanmoosehidetonight.com" was already taken.

Tonight we are camped on the shores of Lake Jager

Those are the Wrangell range in the distance. 

This lake is the local float plane port of entry into the US.  If you cross from Canada into the Alaska by float plane (in this area) you are required to land here and wait for US Customs to pay you a visit.  So far, no planes.

The surrounding land is a peat bog and the resident tree is the Black Spruce.  These trees are very small and a 100 year old tree may only have trunk of 2” diameter.

The Great Pumpkin is ready for me tonight.  Tom says we are far enough from the mountains that the sun will not go below the horizon tonight.  We’ll see how slumber goes tonight and coffee will be an hour later due to the time change.

 Brad seems to know just where to stick me

We only have 2 more days of riding left.  Tomorrow is about 64 miles and Tuesday is 112.  Hard to believe that the ride is almost over.

Tale of the tape.

Day 20 - I told you to stay off my property

STATS	DAY	MILES	CLIMBING	CALORIES
DAY	20	49.38	1306	2112
TOTALS		1100.34	45,994	61,827

BLOG INFO PLEASE READ:

• You can view previous days blogs by selecting the one you want from the ARCHIVE list on the right side of the page down a bit.
• You can post a comment to the Blog itself, but not everyone will see it.  I set up the Facebook Group to allow all to post comments and share in the fun.
• You can see a bigger version of a picture by clicking on it.

No shower after yesterdays 83 mile ride, Dinner was a combination of stir fry's.  Tom is a master chef, no doubt about it.  After a few brews, some chit chat and visit from a dutch guy looking for directions and to fill his water bottles, I crawled into the tent and not 2 minutes later it started raining.  It took at least 2 minutes for me to be in the land of nod.  What a great way to fall asleep.

For todays ride, we only needed to ride 50 miles so we opted for a leisurely start.  Breakfast was bacon and eggs.  I have said a lot about Tom’s cooking, but not much about his kitchen.  Tom cut his teeth managing kitchens at Yellowstone so he knows how to cook, manage the logistics of a kitchen, and how to keep the ravenous demanding customers in line.  His method of choice is to require his clients bring their own dishes and we have to wash them after each meal in camp.  I was a little unsure about this, but he has a fool proof, easy, and downright brilliant way of doing it:

Wishy wishy washy rinsey rinsey rinsey

The pan on the left is for scrubbing, the middle for rinsing, the right for sanitizing.  Badda-bing badda-bang badda-boom and the dishes are done.  Very efficient.

Several of you have asked to see more of Mike, well, here you go.

 Man buffet for the mosquitoe's

Glad you asked???

Another sunny day and the prospect of a tail wind.  We know that we will be leaving the St. Elias range today so I make sure I get a few more shots.

 Looking south over Pickhandle Lake

Today we are to ride through the Beaver Creek roller coasters.  This is a notorious section of road that is very bad, lots of frost heaves, ruts, holes, gravel, and generally not at all conducive to bikes.  The good news is that they are repairing this stretch.  The bad news is that the road is even more unridable.

 Hole, Gravel, Bump, Gravel, Hole, Bump, Gravel, Hole, Gravel, ....

There was section after section that went from unridable to totally unridable. 

At the first break, we asked Tom if there was a spot we could stop and get a cup of coffee, he said there is the the White River Crossing RV Park, but the guy there is kinda grouchy, he will decide if you get a cup or not.

Well a few miles up the road here is the White River Crossing RV Park and we decide to stop for coffee.  They have an outside display of old military vehicles so Joe and I decide to snap a few pictures first before coffee.  We ride in and start to ride towards the display and we hear "Hey!, HEY!, HEYYYY!!!!!"  We stop and this guy says "what are you doing?"  I say we are going to take some pictures of the vehicles and he says, and I quote "F*** You, this is private property, get the hell out of here."  We turn around around and start riding out and he is still yelling at us.  As I road by I just politely said "have a nice day", and we left.  

We couldn't believe it.  This was a place of business with a "OPEN" sign and we were there to spend money.  This guy should be reported to the Canadian Chamber of Commerce.

If you find yourself on this stretch of road  

DO NOT STOP AT THE WHITE RIVER CROSSING RV PARK!!!!

Even if your life depended on it, don't stop, this guy needs to be out of the business of dealing with paying customers.  This is unfortunate that people are greeted this way.  Very sad indeed.  All Tom could say was "I told you".  So we did not get our coffee (and the White River Crossing RV Park did not get our money).

Oh well, another story to add to the fabric of the trip.

Just before the lunch stop (you can see the van in the background), we met this guy.  Only chatted for few moments, he is from Sweden and seemed to be in a hurry.  You see, he has only been touring for 3 years.  He has done Europe, Asia, Australia, and this year is doing North and South America, and next year Africa. 

 I got to get me one of those helmets, Not only does it look cool, it should fix my hair.

Tom said this would be the last good view of the St Elias range, so I took this picture

Great shot for the new brochure Tom!

Mike's and my families have vacationed together for many years.  Mike and I have a tradition of taking a picture of each other taking a picture of each other.  Mike called the shot this time and history was made

OK, Ready, 1 - 2 - 3 Click

At about 15 miles to go, the roads were unridable, so we all voted to have Tom portage us to Beaver Creek.  We got in early, took the most heavenly shower, walked around a bit until the lounge opened.  I have seen many catholic churches and many of them are made from old quanset huts.  There was one here in Beaver creek.

Finally, the lounge opened and we polished off several pitchers of beer, 2 rounds or appetizers, and full on gut busting meals.

 I wonder what they have for dessert?  (Baked Alaska, but there was no room on the table for it.)

We only rode about 35 miles today, but we ate as though we just completed the DC to DC 200 miler.

Tomorrow, we leave Canada and head into Alaska!

Tail of the tape.

Day 19 - It's my birthday and I'll lie if I want to

STATS	DAY	MILES	CLIMBING	CALORIES
DAY	19	83.63	2323	4574
TOTALS		1050.96	44,688	59,715

BLOG INFO PLEASE READ:

• You can view previous days blogs by selecting the one you want from the ARCHIVE list on the right side of the page down a bit.
• You can post a comment to the Blog itself, but not everyone will see it.  I set up the Facebook Group to allow all to post comments and share in the fun.
• You can see a bigger version of a picture by clicking on it.

I got up at sunrise today (for personal reasons) and caught the sun just as it came above the mountains.

 OOOOHHH - AAAAWW!

The sun does set and raise, however, all it does and traverse just below the horizon and it doesn’t get any darker that it does about 10 minutes after sunset for the rest of us.  Slumber last night was nice.  The wind picked up a little bit and I could hear the water of the lake lapping against the shore.

If you recall the his and her “facilities” at Skitanni River, the “facilities” here could best be decribed as exceptional.

 5-star crapper (And trust me, that is important!)

Today's ride was stated as a 74 mile ride along the remainder of Kluane Lake, then follow the Kluane River, then cross a small ridge to the Donjek River valley and follow that river to a Provential Parc (read: 0-star crappers and no showers). 

Today was another day of absolutely Awesome scenary.  About 10 miles out, we meet Juan who put everyone else we have met to shame. 

Hey guys, where is your stuff???

Juan was from Spain.  He rode from Spain, through Europe, into Asia, and to Japan.  Then he flew to Prudhoe Bay and was riding from there down to Argentina.  He looked fit, swarthy, and in need of a bath, but he was smiling.

A short time later we were in Destruction bay.    Destruction Bay got it's name from the Army who had a supply camp and telegraph relay station here.  Several buildings and loads of materials were destroyed by a freak storm.  Today is Tom’s birthday so we stopped to see if we could get cup cake, or something, to celebrate.  While there, I checked cell service which WAS available!  Funny thing, I could not make a voice call, but I could send and receive texts and had data service and could surf the web.  I guess they haven’t figured out how to require payment to do that.  I used the opportunity to send a text to my hometown bike riding friends Keith, Thor, and Sue to wish them good luck.  They are doing the DC-DC ride this coming weekend.  A one day 200 mile ride.  Now you would have to be crazy to do something like that on a bike.  The three of them are very competitive when they are together.  Take any combination of  two them, and you have a good time.  Put the three together, and they have 7 testicles between them (I think Juan has more).

Good Luck guys, I look forward to hearing the tails.  Have you considered bloging during the ride?

Next stop was lunch at Burwash Crossing.  They have neat museum here, however, it was closed for remodeling.  Only two buildings in town, and one of them is being remodeled during the height of the revenue season.

Burwash's other attraction is a left over from the gold rush days.

Pan a half ton of gravel and win a million dollars.

Where else on the planet would you find the worlds largest gold pan?

The head winds were hellacious today (the route surveyors got it right in this section).  At the second food stop, I posed for a picture in my new jersey

Hey, Harry Helmet Hair from New Jersey has a new jersey and still has helmet hair.

I tried combing my hair the other day, it would not cooperate.  I think I am permanently helmet headed.

After crossing the ridge, we come into the Donjek River valley

That classic Glacial bowl shape.

The cue board today said the campground was at 74 miles.  Well at a little over 75 we come around a corner and here is Toms van and trailer just sitting on the side of the road with Tom standing with his head down.  We rode up and he said “a million apologies, I miscalculated the distance, you still have 9 miles to go” (what he really said was that it was his birthday and he was entitled to lie this one day a year).  When you ride regularly, you learn how to meter out the energy so you leave it all on the road.  We were expecting the end and cold beer, and had another 9 miles.  Oh well, it was an awesomely beautiful day and we enjoyed the ride.

We get to camp and immediately set up.  The horsefly's and mosquito's were ravenous.  Rain was predicted so I asked Joe if I could use his extra tent fly to give the great pumpkin a better lid so it wouldn’t leak.  It all goes as plan, the oz. of prevention will insure that it will not rain.

 The Great Pumpkin (L) sports his new Toque.

  We shall see (post note - I did rain!).  Oh ya, no showers tonight.  We are little gamey, but still just as sweet.  WE CROSSED THE 1000 MILE MARK FOR US TODAY!

So today was Tom’s birthday.  We couldn’t find a cup cake, so we bought 4 kit-kat bars and were going to stick a match in it and surprise Tom.  Well, Tom surprised us with a cheesecake in celebration of his birthday.

Here is the video of the serenade.

The Three Crooners - We should tour professionally.

Another great day.  I think Mike is getting anxious for the ride to end.  He is counting the miles, lining up the cabin options, and saying things like “As god is my witness, I will never camp again!”

Tale of the tape

Day 18 - Best day yet

STATS	DAY	MILES	CLIMBING	CALORIES
DAY	18	51.60	2621	3414
TOTALS		967.33	42,365	55,141

BLOG INFO PLEASE READ:

• You can view previous days blogs by selecting the one you want from the ARCHIVE list on the right side of the page down a bit.
• You can post a comment to the Blog itself, but not everyone will see it.  I set up the Facebook Group to allow all to post comments and share in the fun.
• You can see a bigger version of a picture by clicking on it.

Last night was the best night yet in the tent.  After the almost a century the day before and a great dinner of a variety of tortellini, the setting for a night out in the fresh air was ideal.

The Great Pumpkin has the best spot in the forest

Today we only had a short ride of 50 miles.  After so many longer days, you get to thinking that a 50 mile ride will be over too quick, so we opted to take it a little slower today.  11:00 was target kick off time.  Mike, was ready by 9

Brad, so help me if you don't get ready to ride right now I am going to go postal on your ass, Alaska style!

Not sure what that means but Mike his rocking his new Alaska jersey.  I didn't know they spelled Alaska with two "S's"

So  we roll out and the first stop is at 0.62 miles at the village bakery and deli for a second cup of coffee and a home baked delight.    When we walked in, we discovered some of the local delights.

Apparently they use everything from the bison.

Before you say it, I know what your thinking:  Who knew that they made bison cheese and what type of wine goes with it?  Though, I imagine that there are few you wondering:  How do they collect the bison milk and do the cows cooperate?

After we finished our mid morning treat, we started out to hit the road when another cyclist rode in.  This guy left Arlington Texas in April and was headed to Fairbanks.  From there, he was going to fly up to Prudhoe Bay so he could claim he was north of the Arctic circle, then he was going to make his way down to San Francisco.  His first question to us was:  “Are you guys just doing a day trip?”  I am thinking that the next time I do something like this, I will outfit my bike with full front and rear panniers (saddle bags) and will just fill them with packing peanuts so I look serious.

Finally, we are on the road and were greeted with a 1300 foot climb up to Bear summit.  I had my third mechanical today, the lock-ring on the rear cassette came loose.  Tom said that the vibration from the chip sealed roads shakes just about anything loose.

The weather today was another sunny warm delight.  The views were spectacular.

 Looks good enough to go swimming.

When we met Joe at the beginning of the ride, the first morning he said “You guys look fast, don’t worry about me”.  We told him that we would all stick together.  The first week, Joe struggled a little to keep up and cried “uncle” a couple of times.  Mike said “Joe, by the last week you will be kicking our asses”.  Well, per the wisdom of Mike, he was right.  Today Joe was kicking ass and taking names.  Joe screamed up the climb and neither of us could keep up.  After the summit, Mike, still reeling from the time I beat him up the killer climb on the road to nowhere, was not going to let Joe be in the lead.  They took off like bats out of hell.  I, being the wise old guy I am, decided that I would take a leisurely spin and soak in the sun and scenery.

I caught up with them at the lunch stop.  They were sitting in the camp chairs eating a sandwich.  What was funny was they were surrounded by 360 degree magnificent views, and they were sitting in chairs and facing the side of the support trailer.  I took my chair and moved it a better spot and it took about 3 minutes for Joe to get up and move over, then Mike came along too.

Mike sez: These Bike Fridays are real neat.  They convert from a high end bike to camp chair at the flick of a knob.

After lunch, the terrain turned hilly again.

 A little something something to get the heart going.

After a few climbs, we descend to towards the southern end of Kluane Lake.

 This picture speaks for itself

Kluane Lake is the largest lake in the Yukon.  The lake drained from the south end into the Gulf of Alaska.  In the last glacial period, about 14,000 years ago, the lake was covered by a glacier that was over a mile thick.  The glacier melted on both the north and southern ends.  When the glacier retreated, only 400 years ago, the channel that drained from the north was lower than the normal drain from the south, so the lake now drains  into the Bering Sea.

The ride along the lake shore was a sight to experience:

 Optical properties in action

Joe and I stopped and hiked about ¾ of a mile up along to old highway to Solders summit where they held the official opening of the highway in November 1942.  There were several info plaques on the way up and a monument at the spot.  Very well done and a must do if you find yourself here.

Tom reserved the perfect campsite and we pitched our tents.

 A room with a view

Then, Mike and I took the traditional dip in the lake.

If it looks like we are numb from the waist down and our teeth are chattering, it’s true.

This was coldest water I have ever experienced, it was painful, but totally worth it.

Finally, Tom topped his game again with a dinner of bison burgers and smokey links. 

 If you must know, Mike got the extra link

For a short day mileage wise, it was a full, and great day.

Tail of tape.