Sierra stove & Gatorade container cup
Casio QV30 photos
I used my Sierra
Stove (courtesy of sponsor, Cartwright
& Danewell, Grayling, Michigan) with some wood chips to cook some
hot chocolate which I drank for breakfast along with some doughnuts and
a banana. I love this stove. The Sierra stove uses an AA battery to power
a small fan that super-heats wood chips or any other combustible material
for an efficient cookstove without having to carry any fuel. It starts easily
due to the fan and doesn't need any special starter concoction. [On
the trip, I used wood chips, charcoal from the bottom of a wood stove, commercial
charcoal found by a barbeque pit, pine cones and cardboard as fuel for the
Sierra.]
Sierra stove & Gatorade container cup
Casio QV30 photos
This is a new road -- the Big Horn Highway (Alberta #40) between
Grande Prairie and Jasper/Hinton. It was just an unpaved natural gas well
and pipeline access road only last year, but was being paved as I rode it.
I may have been the first bicyclist on the newly-paved road. Because this
segment of the Big Horn is a new road, there are NO services at all; no
stores, no gas stations AT ALL for 182 km.
I asked all sorts of folks about the road. Nobody ever mentioned the hills.
You probably wouldn't notice them in a car or truck, but I sure did on my
bicycle. This was my first experience pedaling by myself through the wild.
Off on my own, I was unduly, but I suppose understandably, concerned about
water supplies, camping options, bears, drivers, etc.
This was a really tough day right from the start. I climbed out a steep
hill from the river valley by the park and immediately hit 15-20 mph headwinds
at the top. From the top, I tried calling home with my Motorola cellular
phone, but couldn't connect with a cell long enough to make the call. Several
tries resulted in failure. I must have been right on the far edge of the
Grande Prairie cell.
Once I climbed out from the river valley, the terrain was initially unremarkable--mostly
wetlands and woods.
Wetland on the Big Horn Highway
Casio QV30 photo
Grande Prairie is the timber capital of Canada. This being a
Canadian holiday weekend though, I didn't have to contend with logging trucks
and saw few commercial vehicles of any kind. Traffic was real light.
As the day wore on, hills started becoming the norm--long 5-6% grades. The
downhills were mostly worthless due to the headwinds, except for the last
one before the campground. On that last hill, I managed to reach 42 mph--my
record speed to that point. That was quite a feat with panniers and a 130+
lb bicycle. I felt like the bike would flex itself to death, but the aluminum
Cannondale frame was tough.
The headwinds stayed with me ALL DAY. It took me 2.5 hours to
go the first 19.33 miles. An hour later, at 3.5 hours I'd only traveled
25.37 miles and I'd climbed about 2,000' vertical. Over the whole day, I
estimate my vertical climb at 4,000-5,000 feet. Speeds of 3.5-3.7 mph were
not unusual. It was a real struggle.
Rolling hills along the Big Horn
Casio QV30 photo
I suffered severely today from my sleep disorder. I was actually
afraid I'd fall asleep and crash while pedaling the bicycle. At one point
I was so tired that I stopped the bike and didn't manage to make it off
the road. I lay down on the gravel shoulder, where I instantly fell sound
asleep for at least 1/2 hour. I never even loosened the strap on my helmet.
I never removed my gloves or any other clothing; I just passed out. I'm
surprised a motorist didn't stop to take my pulse. Maybe none passed. Or
maybe they DID stop and take my pulse; I was so "zonked out" I
wouldn't have noticed. At least my wallet was still there when I awakened.
I had major trouble with headache pain today too, apparently as a result
of oxygen depletion and carbon-monoxide buildup in my blood following a
night of poor sleep.
At the campground, there were pit toilets, a hand pump and no showers, but
by dinner time the wind had subsided and it had gotten sunny and warm (around
80 degrees). I was filthy, so I decided to take a shower. I came up with
what I think was an innovation. I took a plastic grocery bag and filled
it with cold water from the hand pump, stripped naked (my nearest neighbor
was about 100 m. away and their camper faced the other way), punched a hole
in the side of the bag with my finger, and had a shower from the plastic
bag, refilling it several times. It was cold, but felt great. Now wouldn't
that have been a good photo? Sorry.
There was one other camper (5th wheel trailer) in the campground, a couple
living in Grande Prairie now, who had lived at Inuvik in the Northwest Territories
of Canada for 20+ years: Ron & Betty.
Ron
Casio QV30 photo
They offered me a pop and we talked. Ron had worked closely with
Alaska International Air at Inuvik (I was a Vice President of AIA). They
invited me to dinner. It was great.
The toughest 56 mile day I can ever remember. 56
miles.
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© Ed Noonan 1996, 1997
