looking back at a hill
Casio QV30 photo
I ate my last 2 doughnuts and a banana for breakfast. The small
animals had gotten my bread and apples off my bike. As I arrived at the
campground yesterday, the rangers advised me of bears in the area (including
an albino cub), so I was afraid to put my food in the tent and didn't want
to bother with tying it up in a tree in the woods, so I left it on my bicycle.
That turned out to be a big mistake. Most of my fresh or perishable food
was destroyed by the small animals. I don't know what sort of animals they
were, but there were droppings everywhere and some holes in the panniers.
I had hoped to get out early enough to avoid the wind. According to my campground
neighbor Ron, dawn was to arrive at 3:30 AM, so I got up then, but it seemed
awfully dark to me, so I went back to sleep. I finally got out around 5:15
AM.
As usual, I climbed out of a riverbed. This time though, I hit construction
right at the base of a 7% hill (mile 2.3). I stopped to take a photo of
a rainbow (the picture didn't turn out), then I started up the hill. It
was cold (40's) and started raining (that's why there was a rainbow). I
stopped quickly to don my raincoat, then later to don my rain pants, then
again to put on my thermal shirt (I was getting chilled clear through to
my underwear).
The construction was real bad. There were lots of loose rocks,
soft sand, waffle marks and bumps. Worst were the uphill climbs where there
was no traction. Like on the Alaska Highway, the highway contractor used
those awful "wafflemakers" to rough up the road.
I was increasingly demoralized. I resisted (for hours) sticking
out my thumb for a ride to Grande Cache: "Damnit, I can do it!"
At a portion marked "caution-fresh oil," I refused to proceed
(not wanting oil all over my bike, clothes and panniers). I flagged down
some highway workers and demanded a pilot car ride. After about an hour
of waiting and talking to several construction folks who had two-way radios,
they finally came to get me with a pickup truck. When they acceded to my
demand for transport, I was hoping that I could get through the construction,
but they took me only about 1 km to the end of the oil, then I was back
on the unpaved road. The road was composed either of loose sand and gravel
or compacted soil that was broken up with the "wafflemaker." It
was real slow going. Altogether there was about 24 km of unpaved roadway.
Eventually reaching pavement, I came upon a really weird vehicle. I guess
it is what they call a "Rollogon." It is designed to minimize
the impact on vegetation while driving across the vegetation. For a break,
I stopped and talked to the people. Two men and a boy were transferring
pine saplings into the truck from a Hertz van for use in reseeding a clear-cut
logged area. I was impressed; the logging industry was finally treating
the forest as a truly renewable resource by replanting it.
The headwinds were back to 20+ again and I'm sure I climbed another
3-4,000'. It was about 58 miles from the Kakwa River to Grande Cache. I
made it about 38 miles and was sitting by myself thoroughly exhausted and
chilled at a picnic table in a rest area, when a couple with mountain bikes
in the back of their pickup truck came into the rest area and up to me.
After we talked for a few minutes, they offered me a ride to Grande Cache
or Hinton. I mulled it over for a couple of minutes. I was truly exhausted
(dangerously so), I had little food, I was wet and cold, and they told me
there was a really awful hill just below Grande Cache, so I accepted; going
only so far as Grande Cache (to go any farther than necessary would feel
like cheating).
I'm glad I did. We saw a black bear in the road just a short way from where
I had stopped. I wouldn't have wanted a confrontation with a bear as tired
as I was. There were incredible downhills (along with a few climbs) and
one BIG 5 mile, 8% climb (like Cleary Summit near Fairbanks). It was real
windy and in the 40's (F) at Grande Cache. I don't think I would have made
it on my own.
38 miles (of 58).
 Alberta Page |
  |
 Tailwinds Home Page |
© Ed Noonan 1996, 1997