Exert from my Alaskan bike trip journal
June 25th 2009
Distance 117 km
Time 8 h 45min
Weather- generally epic
The first day is done and we have made it to the town of Mayerthorpe. It has been a bit of a hard go. The highways proved to be quite hilly and we encountered a strong head wind for most of the day. Without the strong wind we traveled at a respectable 22 km/hr but the wind could slow us down to 15 km/hour and as low as 8 km/hour on the hills.
Steven was rather enthusiastic in the morning and managed to push me beyond my means. We improved, however, by noon and started a 2 km rotation pattern for wind breaking. Thankfully, Steven tired out by the by mid afternoon.
We are staying at the Mayerthorpe golf and country club campground (15$ for the both of us). Its nice enough. I admit I had a laugh when Steven tried to convince a golfer that we cycled all the way out here with golf clubs and claimed we were planning on swinging a few rounds at every golf course we passed on the way up north.
I will be trying my hammock shortly, hopefully it will not be too cold, I have not had the opportunity to sleep in it yet. Tomorrow we will need to stop in Whitecourt for more food. (Steven is amazed at how much he is now eating).
[The rest of the page contains a drawing of our camping permit and a note wishing us luck that was scribbled in, the night before, by Maija's sister. I've also noticed that I marked the date as July when it is clearly June at this point]
June 25th 2009
Distance 117 km
Time 8 h 45min
Weather- generally epic
The first day is done and we have made it to the town of Mayerthorpe. It has been a bit of a hard go. The highways proved to be quite hilly and we encountered a strong head wind for most of the day. Without the strong wind we traveled at a respectable 22 km/hr but the wind could slow us down to 15 km/hour and as low as 8 km/hour on the hills.
Steven was rather enthusiastic in the morning and managed to push me beyond my means. We improved, however, by noon and started a 2 km rotation pattern for wind breaking. Thankfully, Steven tired out by the by mid afternoon.
We are staying at the Mayerthorpe golf and country club campground (15$ for the both of us). Its nice enough. I admit I had a laugh when Steven tried to convince a golfer that we cycled all the way out here with golf clubs and claimed we were planning on swinging a few rounds at every golf course we passed on the way up north.
I will be trying my hammock shortly, hopefully it will not be too cold, I have not had the opportunity to sleep in it yet. Tomorrow we will need to stop in Whitecourt for more food. (Steven is amazed at how much he is now eating).
[The rest of the page contains a drawing of our camping permit and a note wishing us luck that was scribbled in, the night before, by Maija's sister. I've also noticed that I marked the date as July when it is clearly June at this point]