Day 57-61

Day 57

Today we rode from Upper Liard to Swift River, YT. I dedicated my ride today to the mother of the owner of the RV park we stayed at last night. I woke up before the wakeup call this morning and had the opportunity to catch up on some blogging. After breakfast, the sun was shining and the temperature felt warmer than it had in days. One mile into the ride I stopped to put on my arm warmers, and it just got colder from there! I started today with my legs feeling a little off and it got worse by the 40 mile rest stop. I pushed my pace up the hill into the rest stop, but by the time I left it, I felt terrible. The next 30 miles were really slow and mentally really difficult. A mile or two before the campsite we had a hill to climb. It seemed to take forever, and I was getting cold as I was riding. I finally arrived at our campsite and climbed into the tent. I laid there for 15 or 20 minutes flat on my back before I finally got up to take a shower. I learned later that other people were sweating bullets going up that hill…so something was evidently not right while I was riding. I grabbed some dinner and joined the girls for ice cream up at the shop before turning in for the night. I was exhausted.

Day 58

The ride today was from Swift River to Teslin, YT. I dedicated my ride to Darlene, one of the cooks at the restaurant at the RV park we stayed at last night. By 40 miles into the ride today, I knew it was going to be another very long day. I arrived at the rest stop quite a bit behind our slowest rider. Dane and Pete, our drivers for the day, had treated us to grilled cheese at the rest stop, but I didn’t have an appetite. I tried to keep up with some of the other girls the rest of the afternoon. MJ and I started riding together from the next to last rest stop. We came over a hill into Teslin, started to cross a long metal bridge (the kind with holes in the road so you can look down and see the water moving beneath you) and I felt my tire go flat. We pulled over on the other side of the river so I could change my flat, and as I was changing it, one of our guys walked out of the nearby restaurant to get our attention. Meanwhile, four of the other girls caught up to us. MJ, Kasaundra, Katherine, Geeta, Stella and I decided to just stop at the restaurant and have dinner. So we did. We finished and then hopped back on our bikes for the last eight or so miles of the ride. We rolled into the campsite at 9:05p, the latest we have ever arrived anywhere. After a shower and checking out the lake, everyone headed to their tents. While some people might say they fell asleep at this point, most of us talked between tents for a bit, but even when that quieted down, we were woken several times by a very hyper dog wandering around the campground. Its never a dull night!

Day 59

Today we rode to Whitehorse! It was our last day of riding as the Rockies team only. I dedicated my ride to the friends of our hosts at the RV park in Swift River. I should have known the day would be interested when before 10a someone informed me that both of our propane tanks were empty. Great. Fortunately, the restaurant at the campground had an all-you-can-eat breakfast buffet. We all got up and headed up to the restaurant for some homecooking. We finally got on the road around 11a or so. Our first rest stop was relatively uneventful. MJ, Amy and I took off and continued on our way. As we were riding, we suddenly heard screaming and turned to see two vans full of Sierra riders driving past us! They were all leaning out the cars cheering. We pulled into the 40 mile rest stop and were greeted by our long lost teammates. Unfortunately, the reunion had to be cut short though because we still had 60 miles of riding to go before we could call it a day. We got back on the road and booked it to the next rest stop. I have to say, fresh baked bread at rest stops is one of the greatest things. We were feeling pretty good though, and didn’t stay at the rest stop for long. Our next 20 miles, we did in an hour. Considering how my legs had been feeling the last couple days, I was pretty happy about this. Eventually, we finished our ride—105 miles. MJ and I rode together all day, which was the first time I think either of us had ridden that long with one person on this trip, and we were definitely booking it all day. It was pretty neat to reflect on that as we rode those last few miles. At the church, we cleaned up and then piled into the vans to go find dinner. After dinner we returned to the church and Ben and the Bassketeers treated us to a performance. We have some very talented musicians on the Texas 4000 2008 teams, I must say. I sat around with the other team for the rest of the evening talking and sharing stories with everyone.

Day 60

Rest day in Whitehorse, YT! I didn’t sleep in very much this morning. Todd and I headed straight to the stores to get food for the team and take care of the propane tanks. We raided Walmart and then headed back to the church for a break and to find food. We made some pancakes and then hung out chatting with people for a little bit. I headed to the tea house next door for a quick cup of tea and was treated to a delicious chai. Mid-afternoon found Evan, Todd, Alberto, Javier and I out running more errands—oil changes for the vans, laundry and the like. We again swung back to the church to pick up a couple people and then headed to an Indian restaurant for dinner. After dinner we went to the bookstore, Starbucks and another grocery store. We are definitely stocked up on food at this point! When we got back from the store, we were only at the church for a few minutes before one of the 15 passenger vans rolled up and most of the Rockies team piled out…including Julio! He came back and is itching to ride. We are all really excited to see him. Much time was again spent this evening hanging out and catching up with people. All-in-all it has been a pretty relaxing day of rest.

Day 61

Today we rode from Whitehorse to Haines Junction, YT. It was our first day as a whole team in 60 days. I dedicated my ride to Mrs. Casey, Mike’s grandmother. After the ride dedication, each team did their chant so we could all see what the other team had been up to for the last couple months. It was pretty crazy riding with everyone this morning. Julio was on the road, and a lot of the Rockies riders surrounded him as he rode. I got to talk to so many people on the bike today, which was awesome. Rest stops today were a lot of fun because there were twice as many people as normal…which roughly translates to twice the potential for general silliness. I think everyone on both teams is ready to be done with the ride, and I think the extra company on the roads right now does a lot to make the time on the bike pass quickly. At one point today, Rocky, Geoff and Troves (?) passed Alaina and I making gremlin sounds, but before we had a chance to fully understand what was happening Dan passed singing the Superman theme song while being laid out in Superman flight position on his bike. We tried not fall off our bikes laughing. We arrived in Haines Junction around 6p, and have been hanging out, eating and catching up on email. I’m really looking forward to the next week or so of riding with these guys!