Whitehorse..

After being stuck in Beaver Creek for the fourth day I finally got a confirmation that I would be able to put all my gear on the tiny bus watch the scenery roll by for the next 400 kilometers.I still had to wait though as the bus was held up by the roadworks between Beaver Creek and Whitehorse and it wasn't until around 7:45pm that it had made the trip into Alaska and return to pick myself and two local girls up for the rip to the big city.The two young girls couldn't have been older than sixteen and and they were just so excited to be heading out of town and were dressed like they were off to a  nightclub in Sydney.It was pretty funny watching practically every truck driver stop and do a double take checking out these two glamour girls as they filled up their trucks or wandered in for Friday night drinks at the motel where were waiting to be picked up.Small town girls are just plain dangreous!!

  The bus did finally arrive and we were soon rocking and rolling down the worst road I have ever been on in my life.Holy crap,there was no way I was going to be able to survive that ride on my skinny tyres and the pilot truck had three touring bikes piled on the back as he led us through the worst and longest stretch of dirt.The asphalt wasn't much better and the heaves(caused by the permafrost buckling the highway) were insane.I could only describe some of that trip as being similar to flying through a massive storm in a light aircraft.I swear,some of the dips in the road had us airbourne as the bus driver tried to make up time.I do not know how we didn't break and axle or ruin his suspention.

 It was a very pretty trip though and I enjoyed the views immensely.The terrain had changed from the endlessly dull black spruce forests and rolling hills to spectacular lakes and huge,snow-capped mountain ranges.I was pretty bummed not to have ridden it and for the first time wished I had one of my other bikes with me so I could have experienced it at a more sedate pace.There is definately something different about experiencing the world from a bike and I guess experiencing is the right word.You are doing more than just passing through when you are on a bicycle,you are becoming part of the countryside and for a brief moment,part of each place through which you ride.

With the sun "almost" setting just before 2am we rolled into Whitehorse and four of us were dropped off at the local campground  on the river a short distance from the city.I had started to talk to a 20 year old German backpacker during our rest stop in Destruction Bay earlier on our crazy ride and way decided to share a camping spot to cut down on some costs.Clealry at 2am the office was closed so we wandered around the large campground looking for a vacant spot.It was dark enough at last for me to finally turn on the six flashing glowsticks that I have mounted to my trailer and bike ( anyone who ran the night trail runs in Penticton or was down in Mexico at the Ultra-triathlon festival will know which ones I mean).I had been dying to turn them on and got all kinds of cheers from the few, still partying campers that we passed.I can be such a kid sometimes!!

  Anyway  Andreas and I found a vacant spot and set about pitching our tents and starting a fire which ended up providing welcome relief from the early morning chills that were creeping into my clothes.I swear I was really starting to get sick of constantly being cold on this trip.I had ridden each day with three layers on (at least) and was yet to ride any of it without tights and gloves.All I wanted at this stage was to get to British Columbia and warm the hell up.I read every day of how warm it was in Penticton and craved a day when sweating on and uphill didn't bring with it the pain of freezing down the other side.I was still as white a a ghost as well,so the image of a tanned and weathered traveller was one that beared no resemblance to the pasty white guy in my photos. We chatted around the fire for the longest time and it wasn't until around 5:30 am that I finally crawled into my tent and tried to get some sleep.It had been a long day and I was looking forward to checking out downtown Whitehorse as well as tending to some chorse that I had been waiting to do for a week or so.

My sleep only lasted about three hours and was just too cold to try anymore so up I got and revived the dying embers still flickering in the bottom of out fire pit.The office had opened by that stage and so I went over,bought a huge coffee and spent a little time chatting to the half-asleep hippy-chick working the campground desk.I entertained her enough that she charged me half the price that she was supposed to for our two night stay and didn't change us at all for the $5/per day campfire fee.The internet fee,she wouldn't be able to budge on and so decided to wait until I got to town to connect with the rest of the planet.With that I went back to our camp-site and unloaded everything I wanted to keep for  the rest of my trip and sat  by the fire figuring out which stuff I was going to post to Penticton to help lighten my load.

   Half an hour or so later I was off on the short ride to town and firmly planted in a comfy chair in Starbucks but frustrated as hell because their internet connection wouldn't work.Holy hell,if a tiny little motel in friggin,middle of nowhere Beaver Creek could have great internet coverage why couldn't Starbucks in the provincial capital has some.Bloody silly if you ask me!If drank my coffee,went to the post office and mailed 4 kilos of stuff south to Penticton and then finished my days chores off with buying a new bike pump from the local outdoor store and doing some shopping in Shoppers Drug Mart.Exiting the store I noticed that it had started to drizzle and yet again the temperature dropped as a result,great!

    While I was trying to figure out what to do next I spied a couple of bikes totally laden with gear parked on the sidewalk a block or so away and I figured I'd go check them out.Turns out that there were three bikes there and they were parked outside a funky coffee shop that,due to the amount of laptops I could see in action,they clearly had the whole internet connection thing worked out.In I went and was soon chatting away with a young German couple and an English guy who were,like me, on their way south to destinations way fruther south than mine.The English guy,Brian, was actually on his way to Ushuaia,Argentina and had also met up with Itallian Michelle and had shared horror stories with her about his ride from Prudoe Bay down to Fairbanks,the road that she would have to take to finish off her epic ride.He had also met Jack the overweight old guy and we laughed as he recounted the same ramblings to me that I had heard some 600 kilometers earlier.Jack was supposed to be in town but I never did see him.

    The four of us braved the inceasing rain and wandered over to the Abriginal Cultural Festival that was being held in the downtown area that day.It was awesome and apart from the great entertainment provided and the awesome artwork that was on display,the food was free and we travellers just love it when we find free food on offer.Don't really care what it is.This stuff was great with all kinds of stews,breads and pastries that more than did the trick of filling up four hungry,cheap-ass,cyclo-tourists.I check out some more of the downtown activities but not before saying my goodbyes to the Germans,who were camping in someones back-yard,and inviting Brian to join us at our campsite.After that it was back to the campground for me and as I was starting to get tired after only three hours sleep,a well earned nap.

   The rest of the day and evening was left up to clothes washing and socialising around our campfire. Brian came to join us and I set about collecting enough wood for the evenings fire.The rain had stopped and the sun appeared which was a blessing as it allowed us to dry all our gear out.Between Brians and my bike touring stories and Andreas'stories of his time as a boy scout guide in Germany,the conversation was never dull and flowed freely until around 10pm when I finally called a halt to my campfire yarns and turned in.I had some riding to do the next morning and wanted to be as fresh as possible for an early morning start.