Day 16

Friday July 19        Cycling Day 14

       Twin Lakes (Y) to Whitehorse (Y)

Distance:  (Km). 129

Time:  6:10

Average Speed: (Km/ hr). 20.95

Ascent:  (m). 795

Heart Rate: (beats / min). 114

Cumulative Distance:   (km). 1467

Cumulative Ascent :  (m). 11,610

Punctures so far : 0

Another long day but a hotel room and a Rest Day as reward at the end.Cycled solo again today ( likely to continue that way as both of us are happy thus) and the day started out so calm at 10 deg. Not a ripple on the lakes and ponds I passed during those early kms.

For the first 32 km there was an ever so small gradient and it seemed to go on forever. And a very slight headwind forced me to cycle in a lower gear than I felt I should be using. In fact I was yearning for a decent hill, reckoning that there would be a corresponding descent. Passing Braeburn Airstrip (a grass runway parallel to the road for emergencies) I was still struggling, and still another 100 km to go.The hills did come but nothing too daunting. By 40 km life seemed to revert to normal, I was using the gear that my eyes told me I should be using. For the rest of the day it was alternatively up and down but nothing exceeding 5%. And scenery is still improving with the high ground   consistently on our left.

We were not following the course of any particular river but water was ever-present. The major body of water was Fox Lake which accompanied us for miles. In places the sand at the bottom shone as an aqua-marine. Our lunch stop at 72 km was just at the end of Fox Lake.

Coming near 90 km (I.e almost 1400 km since Tuk, I spotted what you could refer to as a field, just a small one but a little later a large cultivation area appeared growing turfs for ‘instant grassification’ according to themselves. That grass grows quickly here with the long hours of daylight.

As I moved nearer and nearer to Whitehorse dwellings appeared by the roadside and the presence of side-roads.

But at 90 km things took a downturn. First a fresh headwind blew up and I faced onto a 12-15 km straight...straight and flat and no shelter from that wind. It was a matter of down on the drops and pedal on blindly. There was a respectable margin with good surface along here but it seemed never-ending. Heartbreak. 

But patience and persistence paid off and in due course I came to the end of the Klondike Highway. At a T junction it met the Alaska Highway at right angles. I turned left as my route notes indicated. The Alaska Highway (originally called the Alaska Military Highway was built rapidly by the Americans during World War 2 in order to stall any incursions by Russia or Japan across he Bering Straits. It was completed in just over 8 months (2673km) but not utilized much for its original purpose.

From here I knew I was entering a city with roadside hoardings and machinery yards. The wide shoulder became wider and safer. Further in the city there was a full lane for cyclists and vehicles that are turning must yield to bicycles. Proper order! Helmets must be worn at all times and one cannot have headphones in both ears.

And then Whitehorse appeared as I crested a hill with the Yukon River flowing at the far side by the gravel ridge. Whitehorse is the capital of the Yukon Territory but only has a population of about 30,000. So it’s more of a town than a city.

 Our route notes guided me perfectly to our base in Days Inn.

Glad to be at destination at 2:30 with the heat at around 28deg. Glad to hike both the daily and permanent bags up to room 320 and head for the shower. Amazing the uplifting effect that has.

This is the end of Arctic Spirit, the first section of the North American Epic . Four cyclists will be leaving us here and I expect we’ll have a few new arrivals for the next section on Sunday morning. So at breakfast we all wished the four all the best for their last day riding in our company. L to R. Clement Lam (Union City CA, the couple Donna and Steve from Toronto and Benedicte from Quebec. We’ll miss them.

So after the shower it was laundry and a bit of shopping for necessities. I just had to drop into the hardware store to see what was on offer.

And then I dropped my sense of adventure and just resorted to KFC for sustenance. Mind you the food provided in camp for breakfast and dinner is excellent (had cinnamon porridge for breakfast this morning) and the roadside lunches have really nourished.

So tomorrow is a down day, so I’ll see what Whitehorse has to offer. Won’t have to travel far.

Thank God for the health and thank God for the energy.