A quick tour of the local weather compass.
For most of this trip Ive had really hot dry weather. This generally comes from Easterly winds bringing the hot dry inland air.
But then while I was in Kenai, the weather was cold cloudy and wet, which is mostly from Southerly and Westerly winds bringing the cool moist air from off the ocean.
But, now I am getting Northerlies. I believe the meteorologists call it an "Arctic Outflow"...
I dont know about the "outflow" part but I can definitely attest to its "Arctic" aspect!!
Its cold and snowy but I ride North anyway :)
The road is not too bad as I start out. The snow has melted on the dirt road surface but not much traffic yet so its still quite firm. I go carefully and slowly increase the speed. I can get to 80Kmh in most places... Thats good. Ive got another 370Km to go today (To Inuvik)... Thats about a four to five hour ride at this speed :)
But the road surface gets softer as I go and pretty soon I can only manage 60Kmh and Im pushing it at that. This is not so good... Im in for an eight or nine hour riding day at this pace.
But it gets softer still, and the bike is really starting to get "swimmy" on me. I am working hard to keep her under control. Its sort of a constant "shimmy to the left, slither to the right" game and Im right on the edge of losing it a few times. Im down to 20Kmh and have to suddenly jab a leg out for balance occasionally. Then Im down to crawling pace in first gear in lanes of 5-10 cm of sticky mud... At this rate Im in for an eighteen hour day!! Bummer.
My bike is 300Kg and Im 70Kg (I rode over a weigh scale for trucks the other day for fun, so I know those numbers are right) Trying to delicately maneuver a 300Kg bike through lanes of slimy mud with no grip and no footing will tire anyone out :)))
My usual technique is to try to stay in the tyre rut of a previous vehicle. If its a car then I have about a 10-15cm channel of wet muddy dirt road to ride in that has most of the mud squeezed off it (If Im lucky and its a truck, the lane is a couple of cm wider). The down side is that if I wobble out of this narrow lane, then I am immediately in extra deep lanes of mud where the tyre of the other vehicle pushed the mud from my riding lane... and that rapidly becomes, well, "a bad experience". You end up exploring all the sides and ruts and lanes of the road looking for a good spot and it changes constantly as you go along... Even when the going is good, your eyes are constantly scanning the surface of the road ahead for any "new and exciting road surface conditions that could appear at any moment :)
But things improve a bit after about 10-20 Km or so, and Im back up to 60Kmh and now Im all smiles about it... only an eight or nine hour drive again :)
... aint it funny how your perspective on an issue can change so quickly :))))
Things stay like that for quite a while. The wind stays cold and the sky is grey and "snizzling" on me... Invented that word - Combination of snowing and drizzling :)
I cross a couple of rivers by ferry boat and stop to have a pee by the road side twice, but no stops for food or water... just riding North.
Views are not exciting... Its treed country again... If you can call a three or four meter high spruce twig a tree that is.
The road gets worse again, but this time its with pot holes and corrugations. Now the dance has become "skitter to the left and scuttle to the right". Same level of effort required but even though its really uncomfortable, Ill take the potholes and corrugations over the loose mud or sand any day! At least with the former you have a hard surface under you and you have control of the bike!
Either way, I get all cramped up in the shoulders and wrists from hanging on hard. Good technical riders can "relax" through this stuff, but I swear that those same riders have dirt bikes with 21inch diameter front wheels... It makes all the difference over the 19inch wheel I have...The gyroscopic forces stabilize the bike and it actually wants to stay standing up...Seriously!
For most of this trip Ive had really hot dry weather. This generally comes from Easterly winds bringing the hot dry inland air.
But then while I was in Kenai, the weather was cold cloudy and wet, which is mostly from Southerly and Westerly winds bringing the cool moist air from off the ocean.
But, now I am getting Northerlies. I believe the meteorologists call it an "Arctic Outflow"...
I dont know about the "outflow" part but I can definitely attest to its "Arctic" aspect!!
Its cold and snowy but I ride North anyway :)
The road is not too bad as I start out. The snow has melted on the dirt road surface but not much traffic yet so its still quite firm. I go carefully and slowly increase the speed. I can get to 80Kmh in most places... Thats good. Ive got another 370Km to go today (To Inuvik)... Thats about a four to five hour ride at this speed :)
But the road surface gets softer as I go and pretty soon I can only manage 60Kmh and Im pushing it at that. This is not so good... Im in for an eight or nine hour riding day at this pace.
But it gets softer still, and the bike is really starting to get "swimmy" on me. I am working hard to keep her under control. Its sort of a constant "shimmy to the left, slither to the right" game and Im right on the edge of losing it a few times. Im down to 20Kmh and have to suddenly jab a leg out for balance occasionally. Then Im down to crawling pace in first gear in lanes of 5-10 cm of sticky mud... At this rate Im in for an eighteen hour day!! Bummer.
My bike is 300Kg and Im 70Kg (I rode over a weigh scale for trucks the other day for fun, so I know those numbers are right) Trying to delicately maneuver a 300Kg bike through lanes of slimy mud with no grip and no footing will tire anyone out :)))
My usual technique is to try to stay in the tyre rut of a previous vehicle. If its a car then I have about a 10-15cm channel of wet muddy dirt road to ride in that has most of the mud squeezed off it (If Im lucky and its a truck, the lane is a couple of cm wider). The down side is that if I wobble out of this narrow lane, then I am immediately in extra deep lanes of mud where the tyre of the other vehicle pushed the mud from my riding lane... and that rapidly becomes, well, "a bad experience". You end up exploring all the sides and ruts and lanes of the road looking for a good spot and it changes constantly as you go along... Even when the going is good, your eyes are constantly scanning the surface of the road ahead for any "new and exciting road surface conditions that could appear at any moment :)
But things improve a bit after about 10-20 Km or so, and Im back up to 60Kmh and now Im all smiles about it... only an eight or nine hour drive again :)
... aint it funny how your perspective on an issue can change so quickly :))))
Things stay like that for quite a while. The wind stays cold and the sky is grey and "snizzling" on me... Invented that word - Combination of snowing and drizzling :)
I cross a couple of rivers by ferry boat and stop to have a pee by the road side twice, but no stops for food or water... just riding North.
Views are not exciting... Its treed country again... If you can call a three or four meter high spruce twig a tree that is.
The road gets worse again, but this time its with pot holes and corrugations. Now the dance has become "skitter to the left and scuttle to the right". Same level of effort required but even though its really uncomfortable, Ill take the potholes and corrugations over the loose mud or sand any day! At least with the former you have a hard surface under you and you have control of the bike!
Either way, I get all cramped up in the shoulders and wrists from hanging on hard. Good technical riders can "relax" through this stuff, but I swear that those same riders have dirt bikes with 21inch diameter front wheels... It makes all the difference over the 19inch wheel I have...The gyroscopic forces stabilize the bike and it actually wants to stay standing up...Seriously!
I relax as much and as often as possible, but pretty soon I find I am fully tensed up again... Going slower helps in some cases but it makes the day longer too. And as anyone who rides a bike can tell you, its actually easier to balance when you go faster.
About the only other thing I would do to my bike if I could would be to find a 21inch wheel I could use on it!
Anyway, I suck it up and press on and finally make it to Inuvik in the far North of Canada's North West Territory (yep, crossed a boarder from Yukon today... as well as the Arctic Circle...again!). It took me nine hours to go 370Km... average of about 40Kmh!
Needless to say, there was not a lot of looking at the scenery today.
But,even though I was really working hard and Im stiff and sore, and the weather was lousy, and Im covered in mud... I was actually having a great time :)
A real blast!
An "Arctic Blast" you might say. :))))
About the only other thing I would do to my bike if I could would be to find a 21inch wheel I could use on it!
Anyway, I suck it up and press on and finally make it to Inuvik in the far North of Canada's North West Territory (yep, crossed a boarder from Yukon today... as well as the Arctic Circle...again!). It took me nine hours to go 370Km... average of about 40Kmh!
Needless to say, there was not a lot of looking at the scenery today.
But,even though I was really working hard and Im stiff and sore, and the weather was lousy, and Im covered in mud... I was actually having a great time :)
A real blast!
An "Arctic Blast" you might say. :))))
