The Catskill Chronicle

Sunday, August 16, 2009

7:12pm. Haines Junction @ the Kluane Park Inn. $69.95 for a double room. They have a bar and restaurant. My room is at ground level which made me very happy. Always get self-conscious about staying at hotels on this trip. After you check in, get everything off the bike….the day ALWAYS seems to open up. The rain stops, the winds die down, and the sun comes out. Every single time.

Today was hard riding! Was only 50 miles out from Johnson’s Crossing to Whitehorse…had a tail wind…it was awesome. Even stopped at a Tim Hortons for lunch because I’d been tipped the chili combo was a good bargain (turned out to be true). It was an awesome morning ride. Chilly, but just cruisin’ enjoying the sights and the overcast, but not raining, sky.

Gas, and back on the road. About 10 miles out of town, the engine starts thumping pretty hard. I know what that means by this point. Quick look at the ‘trees’ and grass confirms it. Head wind.

About 30 seconds later, I cross a small pass, and am BLASTED by a cross wind that that knocked me off the road into the pullout!( thank god it was there, as there aren’t many). The wind the turns full bast 180 degrees from my earlier tail wind into a crazy-ass head wind/cross wind.

After about 30 miles of the most difficult riding of the trip, I pulled over into a scenic rest area. I know what this wind is. It’s called a Valley Breeze. We’d learned about it in Paragliding school back in Grenoble, [France]. It’s the hot air in the valley which travels to the highest point. Everyday. The same direction, extreme weather excluding. I knew the wind would die down…eventually….maybe only when the sun started to set….but I simply could not ride, and just had to wait it out.

Everybody who stopped asked me if I was alright, if I’d fallen or gotten hurt by the wind, which kept getting stronger and stronger. An awesome couple in an RV took extreme pity on me. They were Brooklyn, also. Invited me into the camper and fed me bagels and lox. They had cured the lox themselves from salmon they’d caught several days before! How cool is that?!?

About 6 hours later, the wind was still not calmed down enough to ride in my opinion…but I saw another motorcyclist rolling along, and I got brave. Also I was bored, and the thought of risking my life to get to Haines Junction seemed acceptable.

It was reckless and stupid. It was all I could do to keep that bike upright against the gusts of wind. It was exhausting, and physically demanding. Sometimes the gusts were so hard that I barely had the strength to counter steer against it. It was the hardest riding I’ve yet attempted….I promised myself that I would NEVER do that again. If I had only waited two more hours, everything would have been calm!

Tonight I’m going to dump some weight to try and stretch the back tire. Books, 1/2 the gas (when I need it), the extra fuel…anything. I don’t know if the tire will make it. There is still about 600 miles left to ride. These roads have, in 2200 miles, nearly ridden my back tire bald.

Still have the other half of the Kluane Valley to ride tomorrow, so I need to be past it before noon, when the wind will stop me again.