May 4th
Loaded up the bike again today and headed out to Tagish to test everything out.
Probably picked one of the worst possible days to so it, as the wind was right in my face all the way to Carcross. As I came up on Emerald Lake, the wind really started howling off Bennett and at times I swear it was gusting to 60 km/hr (later confirmed by CBC) Even after doing some cycling in Manitoba, that's a strong frickin wind.
Going nose into the wind for five hours was pretty shitty, and at times also very scary when the wind shifted and caught my panniers broadside. But once I got to Carcross, the sun poked out and I was able to take a solid coffee break.
Luckily, the wind was much nicer on the way into Tagish and I almost had the road to myself.
Top speed for the day: 47 km/hr
Low speed for the day: 9 km/hr
Loaded up the bike again today and headed out to Tagish to test everything out.
Probably picked one of the worst possible days to so it, as the wind was right in my face all the way to Carcross. As I came up on Emerald Lake, the wind really started howling off Bennett and at times I swear it was gusting to 60 km/hr (later confirmed by CBC) Even after doing some cycling in Manitoba, that's a strong frickin wind.
Going nose into the wind for five hours was pretty shitty, and at times also very scary when the wind shifted and caught my panniers broadside. But once I got to Carcross, the sun poked out and I was able to take a solid coffee break.
Luckily, the wind was much nicer on the way into Tagish and I almost had the road to myself.
Top speed for the day: 47 km/hr
Low speed for the day: 9 km/hr
May 5th
Today started out not so radical.
Set out from Tagish intending to use the 20 km to the Alaska Highway as a nice little warm up. Unfortunately, the wind was back up to 60 km/hr again, so my nice little warm up was actually an hour and a half slog through rain showers and crumbling chipseal.
The wind finally caught me on the back when I turned north though, and I just frickin jetted back to Whitehorse with few stops to stretch, eat, and talk to members of the local cycling club (shout-out to Trena Irving for the free Cliff Bar)
Still a few spooky moments when I caught a crosswind at high speed, but I more or less have the balance down for bike touring.
Set out from Tagish intending to use the 20 km to the Alaska Highway as a nice little warm up. Unfortunately, the wind was back up to 60 km/hr again, so my nice little warm up was actually an hour and a half slog through rain showers and crumbling chipseal.
The wind finally caught me on the back when I turned north though, and I just frickin jetted back to Whitehorse with few stops to stretch, eat, and talk to members of the local cycling club (shout-out to Trena Irving for the free Cliff Bar)
Still a few spooky moments when I caught a crosswind at high speed, but I more or less have the balance down for bike touring.
Total distance: 235km
Total time on the bike: 12 hours
Average speed: 19.6 km/hr
All in all, probably the worst two days I could have picked to do the test run (because of wind), but I am not totally turned off bike touring, so I think its still on.
Lmao, look how low my handlebars are
The coffee break that saved my life after 5 hours in the wind
No comments:
Post a Comment