| STATS | DAY | MILES | CLIMBING | CALORIES |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DAY | 12 | 74.63 | 3461 | 4058 |
| TOTALS | 617.38 | 30,246 | 35,476 |
- 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.
Today is the first of a four day leg from Watson Lake to Whitehorse YT. We stayed in the lovely Big Horn Motel
If you ever wondered where that dark stained pine furniture with humongous drawers and a bazillion shelfs in the head board from the 1970's went, I can tell you.
Where they have a lucrative business collecting pets. I am not sure how the business model works, but I did not see any lose kids running around.
Need I say more?
We ate breakfast at Kathy’s Kitchen and all had the “Bubba Breakfast” – 3 eggs, 3 sausage, 3 bacon and 3 pancakes. We substituted 3 slices of toast for the 3 pancakes. Bubba won. It was delicious. When Kathy came out to ask how it was, we told him it was great.
We got underway and at the north end of town was the famous signpost forest.
You could hang me up for sign and I would fit right in
This was started by an army worker on the original highway back in 1942 and has been copied many times (remember M*A*S*H?), however, this is the true original.
Now which way is it to Alaska?
There are thousands of signs (most of them obviously stolen) and it went on forever. You are allowed to add a sign so I decided to try and add the flip side of the Alaska or Bust sign I made, however, they would not accept cardboard.
Those of you that ride know the wisdom of this sign. For the rest of you, the clue is in the last word.
After taking a close up picture of each and every sign (to be shown at a Brad and Sue party later this summer), we headed out of town on a 75 mile stretch of the legs to Rancheria campground on the Rancheria River. The weather was beautiful, sunny, warm, and a tail wind!! In 10 days of riding we have had 2 tail winds and 10 head winds, so this was special. We were making good time. The terrain was modest with climbs of several miles followed by descents of several miles.
Then, out of the middle of know where, we met our second group of cyclists
Greg, I know what you are thinking, so just stop it now!
He was from England and his wife was from Holland. We didn’t get their names, so for this story we will call them Clive and Gretchen. Clive and Gretchen were riding from Eugene Oregon to Anchorage. When we rode up, Clive said “are you guys just out for a day ride?” What is it about us that everyone thinks we are not serious?
They flew into Eugene and picked up their custom Bike Fridays (the trailer is the carrying case for the bike). Notice too the fenders and new Brooks saddle. Very cool
They were making their way doing about 40-50 miles a day and just camping off the road. Clive was doing some work on the drivetrain. They didn’t think they would make it to Rancheria, however, I told them that if they did, there would be a cold beer waiting for them at our camp. I haven’t seen them so far.
We bid them a safe ride and moved on.
Hey a decimetricentury. A thousand clicks down.
Next was lunch, which was nice and we headed out in the sunshine and tail wind to stamp out the remainig 40 miles of the day. As we crested the next climb, the sky went from blue with wispy clouds to a shade that suggested that there was something a foot
Where did Mr. Sun go?
We were prepared for nice weather today and it looked like it was going to rain. We needed our rain gear which was in the van somewhere behind us. We knew Tom would be passing sometime soon and we constantly watched our rearview mirrors. Tom is very organized and runs the show with precision and grace. He says: “if I pass you and need something, hold your left arm out with your thumb down long enough for me to see it.” As Tom passed, all arms out, thumbs down, Tom pulls over, we descend on the van and the trailer, gear up, and on our way. A professional Nascar pit crew would have been proud.
As we are riding along the sound or thunder is echoing all around us. We didn’t see any lightning, however, the thunder was all around. Then it started to rain. We stopped and make some quick adjustments to the rain gear (like putting it on) and we continued. It started raining harder, and then harder and then harder.
I sure hope that is Mike back there and not a buffalo charging at light speed.
Then it started to hail, and hail hurts, it found its way through the slots in the helmet, owe!, the arms, owe!, the legs, owe!, the bike, ping! We were riding and couldn’t see a thing. Mike was just ahead of me and said “what do you want to do?” As if I was going to answer: “Hey, lets go out for an ice cream”. Just then I heard a horn honk right behind me and I looked back and it was Tom and Joe in the Van. Joe opened the door and yelled “get in”. We leaned our bikes against trailer and jumped in. Here is what it sounded like
Tom Terrific to the rescue!
Tom said “sit tight, I’ll load the bikes in the trailer and we’ll mosey down the road until it clears and you guys can ride.
About 3 miles down the road, the storm has passed, we hop out, slosh onto our bikes and complete the ride.
75 mile, a little tired, but happy. Dinner was teriyaki chicken, rice, green beans, and salad. Then we walked over the the campground restarant and had apple pie alamode.
HEY WE ARE FAMOUS!!!!
Remember day 1, and my story of being interviewed by the local press? Well we are in the current edition, interview, picture, and borrowed shorts. Check it before next Tuesday. Point your browser to
Click on the current edition on the left side, then click on the front page to expand and you will find us on page 4. You can see that I am still grimacing from the shorts.
Time for slumber – 83 miles on the docket for tomorrow.
Tale of the tape.
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