 The final group photo Kodak DC50 photo (by Nelson Kibler) |
 Departure Casio QV30 photo |
The group journey ended today with the departure of the rest
of the group. Nelson took a bus to Jasper. Everybody else, but me, rode
in the van to Edmonton, Alberta. Tom and Carol drove on to Wyoming (they
depart for the Alps on July 4). Everybody else flew home from Edmonton.
It was a tough goodbye.
| The final group photo Kodak DC50 photo (by Nelson Kibler) |
Departure Casio QV30 photo |
A friend suggested that I write more about civilization and take more pictures of people. Many days on this trip we went from breakfast to dinner without seeing anybody but each other. The distances we traveled were dictated primarily by the fact that there were no facilities of any kind any closer. So, we WERE the only civilization; we were the only people. Though I was now continuing on, our family was breaking up and heading their separate ways. Now that we've reached the end of our common adventure, it seemed particularly fitting to look around at each other. What sorts of folks would do an adventure like this?
 Ritt Kodak DC50 photo (by Nelson Kibler) |
Ritt is a retired physical education teacher who lives alone in Tucson, Arizona. At 67, Ritt is the most experienced at bicycle touring, having ridden everywhere (including the 1976 Ride Across America), almost every Adventure Cycling route, New Zealand, Australia, Israel, Lebanon and more. Ritt is a juggler. He rides his bicycle to juggling conventions around the country. Ritt likes to watch birds and talk. |
  Mike & Judy Kodak DC50 photos (by Nelson Kibler) |
Mike and Judy are from Juneau, Alaska. Judy is an auditor with the State of Alaska and Mike is a retired State auditor. They were the quietest folks in the group. Judy is second only to Bob in shear racing power. Mike just had surgery, so has been taking it easy. They are both strong bicyclists and pleasant traveling companions. |
 Tim Kodak DC50 photo (by Nelson Kibler) |
"The Timinator" is an independent life insurance agent from Singapore. It is difficult training for a 1,500 mile bicycle journey in a country only 40 miles in circumference. Tim did a credible job, despite constantly "freezing" in the cold of Alaska and Canada. Tim is active in the Macintosh users group in Singapore and enjoyed helping me with the website. |
 Bill & Karen Kodak DC50 photo (by Nelson Kibler) |
Bill and Kåren (pronounced "carn"; I couldn't figure out how to make ".." above the "a") are from Downers Grove, Illinois. They are very strong riders with considerable touring experience. At something like 6'5", Bill is the biggest boy in the group--real easy to draft behind, and also has the sharpest wit in the group. Bill and Kåren were nice enough to agree to take all my excess gear with them as baggage, saving me a monumental shipping effort, but they threatened to sell all my stuff at a garage sale when they got back to Chicago, so I can't be mean in my comments about them. |
 Fast Food Bob Kodak DC50 photo (by Nelson Kibler) |
Bob moves so fast on his bicycle that the bears call him "Fast Food Bob." His is a serious bicycle racer. I expect Bob "averaged" more than 20 mph for the trip, hills, headwinds and all, despite slowing down to talk to the rest of us. When he took off, he just flew like nobody else I've ever seen. Bob is an experienced bicycle racer, college professor/librarian from San Jose, California. You can tell he's from California; who but a Californian would wear such goofy glasses? |
 Nelson and his Kodak DC50 camera Casio QV30 photo |
Nelson is an electrical engineer from Rochester, New York who works for Eastman Kodak. Nelson carries 3 cameras with him on his bicycle and stops at all the museums and points of interest to take pictures with all three. Nelson tends to like taking pictures of roads, rivers, mountains and woods rather than people, but, at my urging he took these of us (except his own -- which I took). |
 Tom Da Boss Kodak DC50 photo (by Nelson Kibler) |
Tom, from Jackson, Wyoming, is the boss (owner/CEO) of Cyclevents. Tom runs a really great show. He is a fabulous (not just good or tolerable, but fabulous) cook. His parents worked for the UN and he traveled to exotic places where he learned to cook. When the rest of us are too exhausted to get up or stay up, Tom is always there working to feed us. Tom has bicycled "everywhere," hosting tours similar to this in the Alps, Thailand, New Zealand, Wyoming, etc. And, showing his artistic talents, Tom has spun up a pretty darn good website for Cyclevents. |
 Carol Kodak DC50 photo (by Nelson Kibler) |
Carol is a professional fashion model from Portland, Oregon who is always naturally gorgeous, a strong rider (on her Klein), the best sweep ever, and nothing short of the life of the party--an essential part of the Cyclevents experience. [Carol separated from Cyclevents and now has her own bicycle tour company. Stay tuned for information on her website] |
Going through such a grueling adventure together for the last
25 days has bound us all together forever. These folks are now part of my
family. I truly miss them all. I think we all came to the brink of tears
as we parted.
The good news is that we are already planning something together for the
summer of '97.
At this point in my journey, I felt the need to take a few days
off from bicycling to rest up and update the website. I was thoroughly exhausted.
A month of hard bicycling had worn me out physically and mentally. I couldn't
ride right then if my life depended on it.
From Dawson Creek, I was heading down to Jasper, Banff and Lake Louise.
I'd been looking at an alternative to the Prince George Route, by which
I would save more than 300 km and climb fewer hills. Highway 40 runs south
from Grand Prairie to Jasper, but all the maps showed it to be unpaved.
Several Dawson Creek locals had told me it was recently mostly paved, with
10 to 140 km unpaved, depending on who I talked to. I sought more information
before proceeding. RCMP referred me to the Highway Dept. in Grand Prairie.
I made some calls, but never got a definitive answer, but nevertheless decided
to try the new route.
Note 1/97: Along with Nelson at Dawson
Creek went the Kodak DC50 digital camera he had borrowed from Kodak. We
took an equal number of photos each day, but you can see I used far more
Kodak DC50 photos than Casio QV30 photos on the website. The 640 x 480 pixel
resolution (144 dots per inch) of the Kodak allowed more editing than the
320 x 240 resolution (72 dpi) of the Casio. As time went on, I became more
proficient with the Casio and Photoshop editing process, so the pictures
were acceptable, but, higher resolution (at least 640 x 480) is really essential.
The new Casios (QV-100 & QV-300) do have 640 x 480 resolution, so should
work better.
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© Ed Noonan 1996, 1997