Sunday, August 16th 2009
7:12pm. Haines Junction @ the Kluane Vally 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 concious 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 50mi out from Johnson's crossing(corner?) 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 bargin(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 10miles 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 sec 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 arn't many). the wind the turns full bast 180 from my earlier tail wind into a crazy ass head wind/cross wind.
About 3o miles of the most difficult riding of the trip, I pulled over into a senic rest area. I know what this wind is. It's called a Vally Breeze. We'd learned about it in Paragliding school back in Grenoble. It's the hot air in the valley which travels to the highest point. Everyday. The same direction, extream weather excluding. I knew the wind would die down...eventually....maybe only when the sun started to set....but I simpily could not ride, and just had to wait it out.
Everybody who stoped 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 extream pitty 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 6hours later, the wind was still not calmed down enough to ride in my opoinion...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 aceptable.
It was wreckless and stupid. It was all I could do to keep that bike upright against the gusts of wind. It was exausting, and phyically demanding. Some times the gusts were so hard that I bearly had the strength to counter steer against it. It was the hardest riding I've yet attempted....I promissed 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 600miles 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.
