| Two days north of Watson Lake my ride almost came to an end as I got a very severe prostate infection and could hardly ride the bike. Got to the point were I couldn't even stop the bike in time to pee, finally I got to the point where I would just pee my pants and keep going. Glad I had several pair of bike shorts! Watson Lake is a big town with a hospital and I was in hopes of getting some antibiotics or else I would have to find some way to get home. I camped about 10 miles short of town and that evening a pickup with camper came into the slot next to me and this fellow and I got to yaking and I told him my problem and he said he could fix me up. Seems he was an EMT in Michigan, and his sister was a nurse there and the back of his camper was a vertual drug store. Don't know how he got all this stuff across the border but I was glad he did. I got cleared up in about 48 hours and never had anymore trouble the rest of the trip. Difficult time now finding cyber places to send email so I'm calling Trina every 2 or 3 days and she is in touch with Carolyn. Got to Haines Junction on the 11th of June and now the climbing really starts. Eight big mountain passes to go over in the next 120 miles. Did 60 miles the first day and camped next to Million Dollar Falls that night couldn't sleep for all the noise. Next day was nasty! Storm front coming in from the coast with bad head winds and getting very cold. One section I only made 9 miles in 3 hours of very hard riding. I got to the last pass, very tired, and with about 15 miles still to the top I had to stop. I was in a pull out, way above snow line, freezing my butt off and not a tree or blade of grass to get behind to get out of the cold wind. I finally laid my bike on the ground and was getting into my sleeping bag to try and get warm when this 70 year old couple from Eugene, OR pulled up and offered to let me get into their car to get warm. Thirty minutes after they left the wife made her husband turn around and come back as she was very worried about me. They said the wind was about 60 mph at the top and the snow was blowing and it was very cold. They were in a little Subaru Outback and it was totally full of camping stuff and while I was setting in the car getting warm I started to servey out every inch of that vechicle and I said to the lady that I bet if we took the headrests out of the back seat and moved a couple of things I could get my stuff into the car and they could take me just over the pass to the border check point where it was just 50 miles down hill into Haines. After all the hard work I had been through that day I wasn't about to give up that downhill. The husband said no way would it all go in the car so I said give me 10 minutes and if I can't get it in you guys can go on and I will go back to a camping area and wait out the storm. I had it all broke down and in the car in 8 minutes. After the top of the pass we headed down into the forest again and to the border station and I was wind protected so the down hill was a blast and by the time I got to Haines it wasn't blowing at all. Great Halibut dinner in Haines at the Pioneer Club, stayed in the Portage Cove Campgrounds right on the bay, the host there was from Wildwood, FL which is only about 15 minutes from my house. Small world. I picked up my first resupply package from Trina then got on the ferry to Skagway. Next day climbed out over White Pass and was then on my way south again. It was about a 15 mile backtrack to Whitehorse so I decided to by pass it up as there was a lot of road construction going on in the area. My wife is on Vacation in CA now and I'm having a hard time locating her so the email is suffering somewhat. All is very mountainous now and the next few days take me over many climbs thru Muncho and Summet Lakes, with towering snow capped mountains everywhere. Have had tailwinds all the way since Skagway I am now about 2 days ahead of my schedule. Have talked to several riders heading north and they are all complaining about the headwinds. Rain all around every afternoon but so far I've only had to put on my rain suit once and that was only for a couple of hours. I seem to just miss it all. I'm not complaining!! Met another rider today name of Joc. He's from England, started in Seattle and headed for Skagway then return via the inside passage on the ferry. I had 19 miles of road today, slightly down hill, and with a strong wind behind me I averaged 27.2 mph for the distance. What a blast. Still no bears. Today is 6/18 just completed my first 1000 miles in twelve days of riding. Lost my journal somewhere in the Summet Lake area, it has a return address on it I hope it gets mailed to Trina and she can get it back to me. I will have to find something to take notes on. While doing a loop up through Fernie, Canada (so I can enter Jasper from the East side) about 100 meters in front of me a big cow moose comes out of the forest,crossed the road, then disappeard again into the woods and just as I get to the spot where she crossed a big cougar came across right in front of me and I don't know who was the more startled of the two of us. I figured she must have had a calf somewhere and the cat was looking for an easy meal. I won't be able to recall all dates now so I will just hit the high points of the next few weeks. I made it on south, still with the wind, passing through several small towns, stopped for the night in Ft. St. John where an old bike rider has a bike shop and has opened a small hostel for us peddle pushers. Going thru this area I had one 3 mile down hill of 10% + with about 25mph of wind at my back I finally saw a chance to beat my top speed of 52.7 mph. As I came around a long curve doing at least 50 there in front of me about 200 meters away were 2 RV's stopped in the middle of the road, all occupants out with there camaras, taking photos of a heard of mountain sheep that were blocking the road. I thought I was never going to get stopped in time. The rims got so hot I thought for sure the tires gum sidewalls had melted and glued themselves to the rims. Nothing like having to ruin a good tire by cutting it off if you have a flat. So far good luck here as I haven't had a flat yet. Ended up never having beat my top speed, tied it once but that was it. Finally got to Dawson Creek. Check out the photo of me setting on the "0" mile marker and you can see by the flags what kind of tailwinds I'm still having. Next few days find me weaving in and out of BC and Alberta, had a 2 day ride that is every cyclists dream. 1st day a 30 gusting to 40 mph wind straight up my aaaaaaaa bike rack and the 2nd day 20 to 25 mph winds still keeping the rear end cool. On the 1st day I rode 207 miles and it only seemed like I turned the pedals to get my legs in a different position, when a gust would hit I had to grab the bars as the bike would accelerate so fast. Day 2 I rode 187 miles and then called my wife and told here if I had of had a Canadian map I might have been tempted to ride that front all the way to the East coast. In 2 days I was only 6 miles short of a 400 mile run. Now I'm somewhere near to 2 weeks ahead of my schedule and I run into 2 other bike riders who were heading to AK, I stopped to talk to them and the words coming out of their mouths were really something. I think I remember learning some of those words when I was a wee tot in Sunday School, they ask about the winds and I told them I had had tailwinds all the way from AK and they really looked dissapointed. Leaving Grand Prairie I headed south on old 40, which is now fully paved for the whole 140 miles. I finally had a chance to use the lowest gear on my bike and it wasn't low enough!! Going into Grand Cache I had to climb a 15% grade for 3 1/2 miles and it took almost an hour. Camped there that night and met 2 RV's full of German folks who were touring the Pacific Northwest and Canada. They invited me to have a German breakfast with them in the morining and WOW was all that stuff good. They even poured me coffee before asking if I wanted any and I hate coffee. I didn't want to offend them so I thought I would just fake it and drink it anyway. Man, really good stuff. European coffee of some sort, I even had a 2nd cup. I must have looked like an owl all day I don't even remember blinking. Heading on down towards Canada hwy 16 I finally hit my first major rain storm. For 5 hours it poured down and nowhere to hide. I really got wet, the rain suit did nothing to help me. It finally quit about an hour before I made camp for the night and I dried out. The next day I headed west on 16 and entered the Jasper Nat Pk east entrance. A beautiful ride on a perfect day lots of wildlife along the roadway. As I got into town I found the hostel was full and so I rented a room in some Italians home for 2 days and got a good rest as I new the ride through the Park down to Lake Louise was going to be a tough one. Just as I got my room and had unpacked my bike the perfect day came to an end with a wild thunderstorm hitting with hail, snow and rain that lasted the rest of the evening. When I got ready to leave Jasper I met up with 5 other riders who were going my way. One fellow was from Holland and was heading for Vancouver and the other 4 were (2women and 2 men) professors at the University in Larime, WY. At last I'm not alone anylonger. Click here to go to next page |