Day 62-64

Day 62

My last drive day! Today the group rode from Haines Junction to Burwash Landing, YT. I dedicated my day to Katherine's mom. Cooking for 40 people with three pots, several non-stick pans which have recently become stick pans and one stove is tough. Trent, Daniel, Ben V. and I were driving together and we just couldn't get food ready fast enough. I know there are growing pains in having the two routes back together, but hopefully we learn quickly! Last night, a couple people met a lady who ran a flight touring operation in town, and she offered a few free flights for people. So this morning, all those interested put their names into a hat to figure out who would get to go. After ride dedication, when everyone else headed out on the ride, the lucky eight headed to the airport. I was the support vehicle for this group, so I headed up to the first rest stop with everyone else, but then waited for the eight when they came through later. It was actually really relaxing to wait for them. I heard quiet for the first time in awhile, which was weird. By the last rest stop though they had caught up to the rest of the group. At the last rest stop, Dan, Troves and a couple others came in very excited about a few animals they'd seen on the road...grizzly bears. There was a mama and two cubs to be exact. Fortunately they'd caught them on video, so the rest of us got to see as well. At this point, Daniel informed us that he was the only person to have not yet seen a bear. Most of the Rockies riders that heard this were shocked because we'd been seeing four or five bears a day for a bit. Before we left that last rest stop though, someone came running from our front van to announce that a grizzly had just wandered across the road not to far away, and Daniel got to see it! Shortly thereafter we arrived in Burwash Landing and immediately started to get dinner going. We didn't want another repeat of this morning. Dinner went off without a hitch and people said they were full which is always a good sign. Afterwards I joined some people in the restaurant for dessert and general hanging out before turning in for the evening. I joined a new tent tonight. Its known as the 'geriatric tent' because everyone in it is over 24. I had a good evening of laughter.

Day 63

I dedicated my ride today to MJ's dad and brother Kyle. I have been trying to dedicate my rides recently to the people for whom my teammates are riding. We rode from Burwash Landing to Lake Creek Campground, YT. We though the ride would be 70 miles but it turned out to be a little less than 60 because the campground recommended to us was actually beyond Lake Creek but had three resident bears: two grizzlies and a black bear. The roads are not in the best condition lately which is really hard on our bodies. The rattling around just really starts to get to you. I rode most of the first leg today by myself, but as the group was pretty spaced out, I was passing people pretty regularly. By the first rest stop the sun had started to peak out which was nice and made it slightly warmer. I got to ride with Todd for a little bit enroute to the second rest stop and that was the first time I'd ridden with him since Lampasas! My legs started feeling pretty tired again, which at this point I've just learned to accept. By the second rest stop it was getting cold again. Apparently while Texas is having one of the hottest summers on record, Alaska is having one of its coldest. Great. I got back on the road and caught up to Kacie and Amy L. and made it to the campground with them. We didn't all head directly to the campground though, we actually just sat in the vans on the road in front of it while some of the drivers drove ahead to figure out if we should go to the farther campsite. Once news of the bears arrived and a mounty told us it was better to stay there, we got back on our bikes and headed down the road to camp. There was a pavilion we were able to cook in which had a wood burning stove in the center. Once a fire got going in that the whole place warmed up which was a nice change of pace, and we all stayed nearby for the rest of the evening.

Day 64

Today we rode from Lake Creek Campground to Beaver Creek, YT. I dedicated my ride to Brooke's dad. Today was only supposed to be a 34 mile day...so I was actually going to run the whole thing instead of bike. I didn't get to do it in the end though because our campsite last night was 15 miles from where we had planned to camp. Bummer. It was really cold when we got up this morning. I ended up with three layers (at least) of clothing on all day. Some people were still wearing shorts, but yours truly has very little tolerance for cold. Because the ride was only 50 miles, we only had one rest stop. I rode with Brooke, Katherine and Kasaundra the first half of the ride and part of the second. Then Geoff, MJ, Stella, Troves and I picked up the pace for no particular reason. Its hard to be on the bike right now. We're so close to being done, but not yet there. I thought things would sort of settle down once the teams joined up again but both personal and team issues have just kept going strong. I looked in the mirror and saw bags under my eyes like I have only rarely seen. I'm exhausted. I'm supposed to be driving the cars back, and it has definitely occurred to me in the last couple days that maybe I should just buy a plane ticket so I don't have to deal with all the combinations of people who "can't" drive together (insert roll of the eyes here). Back to the day though, we got in to camp around 3:30p, set up tents, showered and then hung out in the laundromat drinking hot cocoa, tea and coffee and waiting for our clothes. Afterwards, Brooke, David, Javier and I went out to dinner. After dinner, a bunch of us headed back to the laundromat (which is also a store and had a bunch of chairs) to hang out in the warmth. It started raining at some point, and after helping put the rain tarp on the geriatric tent, a few others and I start putting all the group stuff into the trailers and vans as quickly as we could. With cold, raw weather, most of us headed to our tents shortly thereafter, not necessarily to bed, but just to talk. A lot of people are excited about tomorrow and the border race to Alaska. Yes, that's right. We head back into the US tomorrow. Only six days left to go.