Day 3

5/25/09

First day out. Woke up at 5am, and immediately began to work to put trailers together and then pack all the baggage. Drank hotel coffee and jammed on that. Done by 9am. Then off to mail back bike bags and all the unused gear bags and packs. We pulled the boxes up to a mall, inside the mall and hit the counter. Ended up with 70lbs of shit between two bike boxes. Cost $176. Well worth getting that done and out of here.

Then we had to buy bungie cords and a fuel bottle, lighter and some grub for breakfast. Done. Next, back to hotel and get all the shit down to street level. I knew these bad boys were going to have some weight, but damn, when we carried those yaks down the two flights – a knew this was the big time with weight – probably 75lbs apiece. Ouch.

Checked out, and by this time the drizzle we had on our little morining mission, had turned to a full out rain. What a great way to start. Hell, we’re here, and it’s time to blow this pop stand. We started out on those fully loaded gigs – and what a shock. Wow. I damned near took out Ryan on the first K, veering to the right and nearly clipping him. He had to stop on a hill climb out of town. Shit, were those things heavy.

         We road in the rain, and I was definitely under clothed. I had shorts, and long sleeved jersey with light weight underarmor beneath. My knee caps were on fire they were so cold. Hands – numb! The temps had fallen considerbly since the last day, and the headwind and rain only helped to make things miserable to a huge scale. I finally had to stop and put on all my gortex stuff and gloves and over gloves. I was chilled to the bone on this first day of riding.

         Took me 45 min to warm up, but the rain stopped and I finally felt like I was getting the core temp back up. We had agreed that we would make it a mellow day and just ride to Port McNeil – just 20 miles from Port Hardy. We made it in 2 hrs, and the weather had cleared a bit – enough for me to throw it out to Ryan to go for it and see if we could do Woss in the ensuing 4 hrs – 40+ miles away. He was game. He just had to “microwave is soaking wet socks, and get a cup of coco.

We were off again, trying to make up some time with getting such a late start – 11:30am. Had good weather for a bit, and did a shit load of climbing – especially that 30-miler that never ended. Did in the big ring the whole way, but used the pie plate numerous times in the back. We make good time and averaged 10-12 mph the whole climb. It looked way worse in the bus trip down that it actually was on the bike.

         By the time we really started to get tired, it had started to rain again, a nice stead drizzle to a steady rain. We needed 10 more miles to hit Woss, and the rain was in the picture again. We were both getting pretty beat when we came to a little Rest Area. Just next to it was a pipe coming out of the side of the mountain. We rolled on, but came across another Rest Area just 200 meters further – bed time ! We rolled in, and found a great camp spot at the very end of the area – plenty of room to pitch tents. Pitched them in the rain, and then I did a water mission to the pipe to fill the 6 liter bag.

         Got situated in the Hilleberg and then went to get dinner ready – Ramen Noodles of course. Couldn’t get stove started for the longest time, and I was almost resolved to have PBJ’s for dinner. Then I turned a valve at the end of the stove and it started to let gas to to the burner. Halellujia

Gorged on Ramen in a light Drizzle and then off to bed. Too tired to even use the computer or do anything. Conked out at 9pm and slept ok, though a bit of turning over and over on the pad with a small pillow. It rained all freaking night, with absolutely no breaks. I had the feeling that tomorrow would be pure hell.