12 miles of climbing was a great way to start my day. I'm not complaining, as the terrain was actually interesting, rather than just having nice scenery. Generally good unsealed roads turned into excellent sealed roads around 10 miles from the border, still tough riding though, as there was a lot of altitude gain.
I'd never met any unfriendly cyclists, but when I came across two Canadian guys I was extremely happy they were heading the opposite direction. The big thing is they seemed to really resent being in the US.
My first land border crossing since I was a kid went fine. They probably figured I probably wasn't smuggling booze or cigarettes, although they did ask about any personal protection I had, which didn't include the bear spray. After loading up on water I headed off, and immediately got rained on. Thanks Canada.
Adam and Alice were a much better representation of the Canadians I'd meet along my trip. While chatting I got a massive shock when I looked at the time, I calmed down when I figured out the GPS had switched automatically.
It's interesting how cyclists and cars view road conditions very differently. Loose gravel is great for cars, especially if its just been graded, but is shocking for cyclists, whereas I don't mind potholes so much, up until it becomes a minefield of course. Its because of this that you almost expect the opposite of whatever a driver tells you.
This trip I've done a lot more of going on until I feel like stopping, so when I reached a point where I'd heard a decent camp could be found I decided to push on. Soon after I started hitting the slightly muddy surface, not bad enough to affect riding, but it did give myself and my bike a nice paint job.
The perfect end to a big day of climbing was with a 15km descent down to Dawson City. I went looking for Dave and Greg, found their bikes in town. From their account I looked a bit shell shocked, not surprisingly as I'd broken my record for time, distance and climbing whilst touring, and came in like that was the case. After using their shower I felt much better, there was definitely a satisfying amount of dirty water.
After 12 days of riding I needed a rest. My bike got a bit of a polish, and the day only went downhill from there. My phone was not working and I wasted far too long trying to fix it with tech support. Whilst shopping Sam came up to me and we got chatting, he was a local who'd done a bunch of bikepacking. It actually took most of a beer before we realized we hadn't introduced ourselves.
For anyone who is deciding between the Alcan, or the Top of the World hwy, I would say this. If you don't really like climbing, give the Top of the World a miss, as whilst you'll enjoy that section, you'll probably find its not worth the following 500km to Whitehorse. Of course I can't definitely say the Alcan is more enjoyable, but from others accounts its pretty good. If you do like climbing though I'd say go for it, as otherwise you're unlikely to find anything in Alaska that is challenging, unless you do more side trips.
It took me 5 days to get to Whitehorse, 3 of those were with headwinds. Chipseal was there in case you hadn't had enough already. The first 2 hours were fun, riding with Dennis from Belgium, sharing the effort. Later I met Stuart and Dan, a father and son from Wales.
It's easy to lose a lot of time chatting, although I won't say wasting, so when Dave at the Stuart Crossing info hut offered me coffee I was quite happy to stop and chat. That night I stayed in Pelly Crossing, could have been rather unpleasant but I got chatting with Alan and Jim, out on a bit of a trip. Some steak and drinks and company made the night great.
Another bear encounter had me reaching for the bearspray, but only because I got bored of trying to scare the bear away and decided to ride passed it. Barely a reaction from it. I had my first bad pass of the trip, deciding pass when the only oncoming vehicle in 5 mins was approaching. Not too shabby for 2 weeks actually.
I decided to skip a shower at camp, as my smell didn't bother me enough to pay an extra $3 on top of the $17.50 I'd already payed.
Its normal to meet cyclists heading the opposite direction, so I wasn't surprised when I met Laura from Switzerland. She was planning on heading up the Dempster. She did mention that there was a French couple a few hours ahead, and I made an educated guess that I might catch them in camp. After grabbing a massive cinnamon bun I headed to Fox Lakes campground, where sure enough I found other cyclists, but there were 3 of them. Nick was an Alaskan just out on a short trip, and Matthew and Florence were the French couple, who were definitely not on a short trip, going all the way to Argentina.
I had another Warmshowers host lined up in Whitehorse, Philipe. If you had something go wrong with your bike, chances are he'd be able to fix it. He could probably cobble together a fleet a touring bikes if he wanted with what he had in his backyard.
A not so restful day was spent running errands, although it wasn't so bad. One of the housemates fed me freshly caught fish, and he also had a rabbit for our dinner.
A late start and lethargic mood had me looking for nice options, the Jakes Corner diner settled it, I was already drawing about my 2nd breakfast. I took a punt and went 6km off the hwy to a rest area on a lake. This turned out to be a spectacular spot. Some Germans even drove in later, gave me a beer and a 2nd dinner as they'd cooked enough for a family of hungry cyclists.
The roll to breakfast was all uphill, but a big plate of french toast, eggs and bacon sorted me out, they even chucked in an extra slice of french toast! I few too many impatient drivers made the day a bit less enjoyable, but I was feeling great after already doing a good distance. Continuing on was a big mistake, as my day got really shitty in a hurry.
With 25km to go it started raining, getting reasonably heavy at one point. I was riding along and heard music blaring from down the bank. Turned out to be a fatal car crash. Chances are no-one would have noticed for a long time if I hadn't been around. An hour of hanging around in the rain waiting to give a statement to the police and I was off, very wet, but only a short distance from my planned camp.
I picked a great spot though, as an Aussie couple had tarps setup and a fire going, which got me feeling much better.
Another late start, this time due to rain. Occasionally it would clear up, but I did spend quite a while taking shelter in a toilet.
Later in the day I noticed my jockey wheel was squeaking. I didn't think much of it, until it seized up. I now have another item to check before a long tour! Clearing out the bearings and other debris actually made it surprising smooth, so I continued on, to my first continental divide crossing! It looked like the elevation sign had been nicked, so I had to settle for a rather less impressive info board.
Camping that night at the Continental Divide lodge was quite pleasant, even though I did have to wait for the hot water heaters to start working.
I was stubborn, and managed to ride another 27km, now with greased packed jockey wheel before I realized it was a silly idea and started trying to hitch a ride. Within 20 mins and RV stopped, their daughter had done similar trips so they had a soft spot. That got me back to Teslin, with an amusing stop at the lodge. Two mins after getting on the roadside in Teslin and I had another lift, all the way to the exit to downtown Whitehorse. I rocked up to Philipes, and no-one was home. House was unlocked so I made myself at home, with one of the housemates turning up a little later.
The next morning I did another shop, got my bike fixed and started hitching again. Its significantly harder to hitch away from a major town with a bike, as people don't feel as sorry for you. Three rides later, including one with a few beers, a pot smoker and a ride in the back of pickup and I was in Teslin. I was just about to give up and camp for the night when I saw a guy with a MTB on his roof getting gas. Ross turned out to be great and we managed to strap my bike to his bike and made our way up the road.
Just before the lodge we saw another cyclist heading the same direction, so we stopped and mentioned I was going to camp just a bit further. When I got there I met Isobel and Curtis, both Canadians doing a similar trip, and Tom from Sydney rocked up a little later. Turns out we are all heading down the Cassiar!
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