| STATS | DAY | MILES | CLIMBING | CALORIES |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DAY | 10 | 70.51 | 2618 | 3704 |
| TOTALS | 483.22 | 23,904 | 28,572 |
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Today was to be our first century from Liard hot springs to Iron Creek Lodge and RV park. Unfortunately, Iron Creek has closed and there is no camping option. So Tom changed the itinerary a bit, and it went over well with the gang. Instead of 96 miles today followed by 37 miles tomorrow into Watson Lake, Tom had us do 71 miles today, then he transported us back to Liard and tomorrow, he will transport us to where we ended today and we will do a 62 mile ride to Watson Lake. Yippee, a second night soaking in the hot waters of the grand Minitonka!
We got on the road at about 9AM this morning. It was slightly overcast with evidence of blue skies ahead. The lead out run was dead flat. In the first five miles, we only climbed about 7 feet. Tom said it was a relatively flat ride today so we were feeling good. We saw a couple of black bears within the first hour.
The first sign we encountered was another typically Canadian information sign to inform and educate:
I would love to have this sign hanging in my wood shop but it would not fit in my jersey pocket so I left it.
Blue skies, nice temps, and extreme dust? Something doesn’t add up here.
A few miles later we spy something ahead that makes our heads and ears perk up like you see the heards of gazelles on the Serengeti do when they take a keen interest in a potential friend or foe. Our interest approaches and our dreams are relized. We have encountered another cyclist!
You guys look like roadies, were's all your stuff?
At this point I am going to paint the picture as best I can. You know what dogs do when they greet another dog that they have not met before? Well, unknown to us, it turns out that this not just a dog thing, it is also found in all sorts of different species, including cyclists. The instinct takes over and, no matter how rational you consider yourself to be, the instinct wins.
There will not be any pictures of this!
So meet Hugo. Hugo is from Austria and he started his ride from Whitehorse and his destination is Florida. He is a little more ambitious than the three of us, but then again, he is from Austria. We have a nice road side chit-chat and improve US-Canadian-Austrian relations and then bid each other a safe ride.
Hugo had warned us that we would meet up with his traveling companion Ashieka who is from Japan. Austrians, being and honest people, did not let us down.
Joes communicates with Ashieka while Mike circles around to fulfill the instinct to…, wait, I said there will be no pictures!!!!!!
After furthering US-Canadian-Austrian-Japanese relations, we bid Ashieka a safe ride and we continued on our way.
The scenery was not as spectacular today as in the past few days, but was beautiful non-the less. The road was relatively flat with a few rollers. Then at about 45 miles, things turned a bit ugly, and by ugly, I mean UP. We encountered a huge hill that we were not expecting. This is on top of a ride that has had a constant and unrelenting head wind. Temps were warm and we just powered up the hill. Funny thing, I summited first! Mike started the climb ahead me and I caught him about 2/3 of the way up, passed him, a kept in front to the top. Those who ride with me know that this victory, while small, is a big deal for me. I also know that Mike will kill himself preventing this from ever happening again.
Back to the extreme dusty conditions. We did encounter some extreme dust and it was not fun. If you remember the chip seal picture from a few days back, well, they were repairing sections of the road where they spray oil, then dump a truck load of this chip seal which is made up of everything from dust to boulders. They leave it be for a few days to let the trucks hammer it home, then they come along with a sweeper and clean the loose stuff off. We were in the hammering it home window and every time a truck ran over a section, it can best be described as “extreme dusty conditions”. The Canadian information/education cartel was firing on all cylinders today.
After the above big hill we were tired, hot, well dusted, and head wind weary and we still had about 20 miles to ride. We came around a bend and there was nice view of the highway ahead and I decided to stop to take a picture. I stop, un-clip and begin to dig my camera out when a movement catches my eye and I turn to see a big bull buffalo about 75 feet from me standing up from his dust wallow and looking right at me. I don’t know about you, but when I am in my hammock, I get real grumpy when something disturbs me, so I figured this guy was not too happy with me being there and I better leave. Trust me, it would have made a nice picture.
The end today was at the Allen lookout. We had to wait few minutes for Tom to arrive. Here is the view from the lookout.
From the land of clear blue waters.....
Just beautiful, it made all the hurt all but disappear.
The drive back to the hot springs took about an hour. I dozed for a bit of it. Tom took us back down a narrow dirt road a few km’s to the see the Smith River falls.
Harry Helmet Hair is Happy
By the time we got to the end of the days ride at 71 miles, we were all beat senseless. We felt like we were on a road to nowhere. After getting back to camp, the three of us walked down and soaked in the hot springs while Tom cooked up dinner of Pork Medallions in a spicy mesquite marinate, Pasta, lima beans, and ceasar salad. All of which, including a couple of brews, brought our senses back
Another great day (no matter how much it hurt)
Tale of the tape
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