Going Golden

Week 10: May 11-May 17

Bike: 451 km
Run: 6 km
Swim: 1500 m

Week 11: May 18-May 24

Bike: 440 km
Run: 8 km
Swim: 2000 m

Golden Triangle

Whitehorse to Skagway: 180 km
Haines to Haines Junction: 240 km
Haines Junction to Whitehorse: 160 km

The long weekend of May is usually reserved for gardening and hammocking - two of my favorite summer activities. This year, with the Kluane Chilkat looming over my head, Tony and I decided to use the long weekend to do a local bike trip. The Golden Triangle (or Golden Circle depending on how strict of a geometrist you are) is a ride that takes you through the White Pass and Haines Pass, with a fun little ferry ride stuck in the middle.

Right up to Saturday morning, I wasn't sure that this trip was actually going to happen. The wind in Whitehorse has been brutal this summer and the gusts from earlier in the week had me convinced that riding a bike was a very bad idea. To get ready for the bike trip, I had ridden to my work retreat at the Sundog retreat, one day it took me 2 hours to make the 35 km back to Whitehorse thanks to the awful south wind. On Saturday morning it was calm, but rainy, so we headed to Skagway.

By the time we reached Carcross 70 km and more than 2 hours later, I was frozen like a popsicle. The cold rain had managed to soak through my clothes and my feet felt like blocks of ice. I was tempted to head back to Whitehorse and resign myself to a week-end in the sauna. Tony gave me permission to go, but said he would go on the trip without me. Refusing to be out-biked by my husband, I ate two pieces of pie and carried on.

We climbed through the White Pass to Log Cabin and sat down to enjoy a nice lunch. We had a 4:30 pm ferry to catch in Skagway, but we had made fairly good time and we figured we were only 15 km from the summit and our long descent into Skagway, so a cheese and bread stop was in order. The stop was lovely, but 500 meters out of Log Cabin we realized why it was called the White Pass. In what seemed like a split second we went from planet Earth to Dagoba (Yoda's hometown). The fog was as thick, and I couldn't keep my eyes focused on Tony, who was only a couple feet ahead. At this point I decided to embrace the fog and be as miserable as humanely possible.

After what seemed like forever (but could have been 200 meters for all I know), we reached the summit and were ready to head down. This was supposed to be the "fun" part of the day. Unfortunately, the fog had not lifted, ice rain was following, and the lovely Holland America bus fleet was heading back to town. Not only did my speedometer not climb over 30 km/h, by the time we reached US Customs I was so cold that I was shaking violently on my bike. I dumped my bike against the side of Customs, ran inside and started stripping off my wet clothes in front of the 8X10 framed photos of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney. I replaced all my wet clothes with the only slightly less wet clothes from my panniers and sat in the building chattering and shaking. In the end, I finally understood why the body shakes to warm up, I was convulsing in an almost epileptic state, but I was definitely warming up.

I finally decided that if I didn't get back on my bike, we weren't going to make it to the ferry, and I crawled back on the icycle and quickly moved from winter into Skagway summer where the leaves were fully out and the flowers were in bloom. Tony had to stop at the bike store to find a spoke and I hurried to the coffee shop for a hot drink and 2 cheesecake brownies. Then it was onto the ferry and off to Haines, Alaska.

We got to Haines at around 5:00 pm and went straight for fish and chips. The food was barely in our stomachs before we headed back to the bed and breakfast, and more specifically in the bed. Our Haines to Haines Junction trip started bright and early at 6:00 am Alaska time. The early start was so that we could make our dinner reservation at the Raven's restaurant where the last sitting was at 8:00 pm. Thanks to the time change, this would give us 13 hours to complete the 240 km into Haines Junction.

To say that I was not happy at the start of our trip is an understatement. After riding the Kluane Chilkat for 3 years with a brutal headwind into Haines, Alaska, I had high aspirations of a wicked tailwind blowing me right up to the summit. When this didn't happen I threatened to turn around and hitch back to Whitehorse. Tony called my bluff and got me to Mile 33 for a deliciously satisfying breakfast and several cups of coffee. The intake of food was enough to lift me from my depression just in time to start the 1010 meter climb to the top of the Haines Summit. This is a climb that I knew well because I had flown down it several times on legs 6 and 7 of the Kluane Chilkat road relay. It's funny how hills don't seem nearly as long or steep when you are going down instead of up.

Once we hit the top of the Summit it was smooth riding through the hilly path and towards Haines Junction. The biggest problem we encountered was the lack of available water. Looking for fresh water on the Haines Road is a challenged, especially when the creeks are named things like: Goat Creek, Chuck Creek and Buffalo Creek. I kept my eyes peeled for Evian Creek, or Purity Creek, but eventually settled for whatever slow flowing water was closest to the road. For the next hundred kilometers I just imagined I was drinking lemon-lime-grass-mud flavored gatorade. by the time we hit Dezadeash Lake (80 km from Haines Junction) we had run out of water. You would think we would have ridden to the lake to refill, but the long hours had affected our brain cells and we were well on our way to Kathleen before we got desperate for some water. With only 20 or so kilometers left, we came to the Kathleen Lake Lodge, a newly opened lodge between Kathleen Lake campground and Kathleen River. Thankfully the lovely owners had water...and pie. Two pieces of pie, a Pepsi and a big bottle of water later, we were ready to tackle the final kilometers back into Haines Junction.

We arrived in Haines Junction with enough time to enjoy a hot shower before our Raven's reservation. After warming up and cleaning up, we had a fabulous meal at the Raven capped off with Tiramisu and Creme Brulee for dessert. If you are in Haines Junction and eager for an amazing meal, I strongly recommend the Raven's gourmet menu. Post-dinner we crashed in our lovely Raven's Room and enjoyed a well-deserved sleep.

The last day of riding was nice because our only time goal was to get to Whitehorse before Gossip Girl. This meant we had enough time to sleep in and enjoy a very big breakfast before hitting the road. Being a Monday of the long weekend, we decided to try to get as many kilometers in as possible before all of Whitehorse decided to drive home. We managed well and got to Kusawa before the RVs really started to zoom by. When the traffic got heavy, we decided to pull in for some calories. By day 3 I realized that I couldn't physically eat the amount of calories that I wanted to consume and was wanting to eat something every 15 minutes. At the pull out we met a lovely woman from Anchorage that should have never been allowed behind the wheel of a vehicle. We tried desperately to get her on the road in front of us, but unfortunately she insisted on hanging out at the rest stop and we spent the next 30 minutes fearing for our lives. Thankfully she managed to pass us without inadvertently running as over.

We pulled into Whitehorse and came home to find a very happy Starbuck. My calorie deficit was significant and I ended up eating a box of Kraft Dinner, a cheeseburger, 2 tins of tuna and a mini tub of ice cream as my post-bike dinner. I would have had onion rings, but somehow the Whitehorse A&W can't seem to keep them in stock. The next day I realized a couple important lessons about long bike trips: hotels/bed and breakfasts are the way to go, riding with your husband/wife is always a good idea because you have to forgive them even when they are a fatigue-induced jerk, and saddle sore is a noun as well as a verb...ouch!

Sierra posted this on Jun 03, 2008 from the outside | | permanent link