The Demspter Hwy is a road without equal: not only because it’s the only highway in Canadian territory that dares to cross the Arctic Circle, but also because it combines a diversity of landscapes that few roads offer. Built arduously on the “permafrost” (always frosted-ground), it’s a great engineering piece that requires constant attention to allow vehicle circulation all year-around. The final destination is Inuvik, the most important town in these high latitudes, with a bit more of 3000 inhabitants and a great cultural wealth given by its original people, the Gwich’in and Inuits.

There were 9 days of riding that had a bit of everything… so it’s better to check day by day. What do you think?

Day 1: The first 40 km from Dawson City were on pavement and level, just a mere warming up to what was waiting ahead. After a coffee with free refill in the crossroad kiosk, I entered the mythical Dempster Hwy…

The gravel turned out to be a well compacted-dirt surface and easy to ride on. What a nice start!!! The climb was soft (up, of course) and little by little I was gaining altitude. I was surrounded by abundant green vegetation that was cocking me with the heat reflected from the sun.

After riding about 20 Km I found the first maintenance work on the road. It was all right, with the exception of the trucks that were sprinkling water to facilitate the bulldozers work. Everything turned heavier because with the softened surface, the bicycle “grabbed” the road and was demanding more effort on my part to move it.

I slowly entered the North Fork River valley, which spectacularly showed itself from the top of the road, before I got to the thick of the forest.

I crossed several creeks, tempting enough to stop there to camp or to take a nap, but the plan was to get to the Tombstone Campground, with at least some place to put the food away from the bears. One never knows...right?

On the other hand, the mosquitoes started to appear in increasing numbers, making every stop on the road a self-flagellation being devoured by those bugs…

The added kilometers (more than 100) and the constant climb consumed all my day and energy. I arrived to the campsite at 7 pm and after 7h40m of pedaling. The imposing mountain range of the Tombstone National Park justified all the effort. The show of the sun setting in the afternoon was delightful from the well maintained campsite, in the heart of those elevations.

The managers of the campground not only let me stay for free because I was traveling by bike, but also let me use for the night the cooking shelter, the only place without mosquitoes in the area. That had a great value on itself!!

Day 2: A new dawn with sunshine, or better, a night with almost a continue sunshine!!! I started early because it was going to be a longer day than the previous one: 125 km with two important climbs. The first one was waiting for me just at the start.

I faced the gradual climb to cross the North Fork Pass, the highest point on the Dempster Hwy. at 1340 msnm. But I couldn’t go any more than a few meters without stopping to take a picture. The views of the Tombstone Mountains were taking my breath away and the more I climbed, the more I stopped to observe the captive landscape.

During those stops, I happened to coincide with a van full of scientists from The University of Ottawa, who were studying the permafrost and its food chain. They stopped so much taking samples and pictures that we crossed our paths thousands of times. Not only that, but they also have my same destination, Engineer Creek Campground, where I would arrive before them!!! They were really nice to me and in every encounter I got something else to add to my insatiable food storage.

Once I surpassed the pass, a new landscape opened up to me, totally different and also spectacular. The road dived into a wide valley of short vegetation, like tundra, with green mountain ranges and rounded summits that channeled the course. And they extended to the infinitum!! I knew that I had many kilometers to go. Would all of them be like these?

Once again, the stars of the show were the voracious and exaggeratedly abundant mosquitoes. Unless I had some wind, it was unthinkable to stop without feeling their stingers everywhere. The simple task of peeing required the entire world’s attention to avoid being perforated by this horde of salvages that didn’t recognize any ethic rules or social behavior…. Pse!!

The bug spray wasn’t very efficacious. I don’t know if it was due to the abundant perspiration on the bike, but even when using dangerously toxic amounts of DEET on my skin, these bastards kept draining my blood system like there’s no tomorrow… Agh!!

Little by little some clouds started to gather on the surrounding mountains. From gray they turned into black and when I realized it, the rain was pouring in the distance. Like in cartoons, the cloud full of rain started to follow me along the road (and I wasn’t delirious), discharging its freezing content over me every time it reached me. Could it be possible, che?

The road started to get confined in a narrower valley, again with higher vegetation and the menacing rain. The more complicated aspect was the road because I didn’t want to ride in wet conditions.

Right after a bend I ended up in front of an impressive black cloud, in which I could easily see lightning nearby. A wall of wind stopped me and the freezing drops started to fall on me. After 80 Km of riding, it was time for a pause. I covered myself with the tarp and took advantage of the time eating while waiting the storm to end.

As soon as it started, it ended. The sun came out, the wind got calm (with the return of my dear mosquitoes) and, yeah, it was perfect to take a nap wrapped by the recently arrived warmth.

The Windy Pass made honor of its name, with a continued and short climb that finished draining my legs while the wind was blowing on my face. Will it be ever on my back?

From there on, I had another 50 Km with a nice descent along rocky and blackish mountains that took me into the reddish Engineer River Valley that wound in the narrow space, very close to the road. I was in the Oglivie Mountains territory…

The last part was a pleasure with a soft slope in my favor, enjoying the sun and on a moist but well compacted road forms the last storm. I arrived to the campground around 8 pm and I went directly to the cooking shelter and noooo, they were painting it. So, the have taken the doors off and the screens that made up the windows. It wasn’t fair!!!

I had no choice but to set up the tent in the middle of a cloud of mosquitoes. It seemed from a science fiction movie. Thankfully I had the head net because it was impossible to stand for two seconds without the mosquitoes getting into everywhere to suck my blood!! In the 5 minutes that took me to put my stuff in the tent, around 50 of them got inside too, so I had to kill one by one before I could go to sleep. Grrrr!!!

Thankfully, Brad and Oksana, from Seattle, invited me to have dinner in their very cool yellow van, free of these annoying companions of habitat, and the refueled my “gas tank” with a yummy Tai Chicken! Mmmmmm….

I also spent some time outdoors with my scientific colleagues once they arrived to the campground. I then understood the utility of their mosquito netting equipment. It’s not very fashionable but very practical!!

Day 3: The day started spectacularly once more. Nevertheless the campground manager forecasted rain for the afternoon…. “Noooo, rain, where??? It’s a very nice day” I said. I would be a victim of my own words…

The riding part of the day should’ve been a bit easier, with the first 50 km with a soft gradient in my favor following the Oglivie River, traversing its narrow valley. The views were enchanting, especially with the comfortable ride on the bike. The road conditions were still nice, with a compact and firm ground.

Before climbing into the Eagle plains, I stopped along the river to eat something and get some water, because I wouldn’t have access to the precious liquid until reaching the Eagle Plains Lodge, more than 120 km into the distance and after passing through an uneven terrain. I had to get at least enough water for a day and a half…

With the extra weight I started the climb that lasted for 15 km. The gradient was big so the move forward was slow and heavy. Liters of sweat fell over my skin, I felt my pulse go up, the legs muscles tense up, the tendons started to suffer and the landscape was passing by veeeery slowly.

It was so slow once again, that the mosquitoes, alerted of my presence (who knows with what kind of communication system. Very efficient indeed), had a blast with me.  They bit me on every centimeter of exposed skin and also through the pants!! In one moment I felt a pain on my sheen and  I could see ten, yes, ten mosquitoes biting me at the same time on my leg and without caring about the carousel movement they were exposed to. Definitively some SOB!!

Meanwhile, the river where I was splashing into a few hours before could be seen a few hundred meters bellow and I could see it wandering along the valley that turned and disappeared to my right: A cloudy valley where the rain could be seen in the distance, but advancing inexorably towards me.

I arrived exhausted to the panoramic point at Km 259. I stayed there recuperating and eating a few cereal bars while contemplating out of breath that imposing landscape that extended in front of me. Did I climb from there???? Crazy!!!

I still had 13 km to go. A piece of cake… or not. Once in the top, the wind picked up and against me. Far from being plain, the Eagles Plains turned out to be a succession of climbs and descents to the style of the Top of the World Hwy. I could see the antenna array that was my destination, but far from getting closer, it seemed that it was getting smaller.

With only two Km to arrive the worst fear became reality: the storm finally reached me and lifted a wall of wind and water that took me 10 minutes to climb the last 1000 m. I needed shelter immediately but I could only see rocks. I took the road that went to the antenna. I was drenched and shaking from the cold. A few more minutes like that and hypothermia would set in…

When I arrived, I noticed a wire fence around the antenna. Suddenly the rain stopped and the sun came out.  Just in time. I saw a hole in the door to the ground, big enough for my body, and I didn’t think twice: I put my gear thorough, left the bike outside and set up the tent. That way I didn’t have to worry about bears, right?

When I had everything spread out, another black clod arrived and it started pouring. I took shelter in the tent and that would be for quite some time, meanwhile I spend the time killing the insolent mosquitoes that already settled in my tent as if it was theirs…

Day 4: It rained all night. The wind kept blowing violently. When I heard the alarm at 6 am, I peeked outside and I couldn’t see anything. Nothing. I was in the middle of a cloud. Visibility was zero!! What to do? The rain that followed soon thereafter defined things for me: better to stay and sleep because with those conditions it wasn’t worth it. Also I didn’t even want to think about the road conditions. Nice and firm when dried, with this nasty rain it must have been a mud pit. Let’s wait to see what happens!!!

I slept some 14 h!!! I think I needed it, but 14? The rest of the day was spent on tasks reserved for this kind of occasions: fixing small things, reading, writing, listening to music, eat… Nevertheless I had to be cautious with the provisions because even though everything was wet I didn’t have any water. And the food wasn’t abundant either…

Every once in a while it seemed to clear, but the mountains started to appear in the distance when the clouds would cover everything back again and it kept raining. .

Day 5:  I got up at 4 am. It wasn’t raining but I was still inside the cloud. What to do? I couldn’t wait any longer without food, so I decided to get going anyway. A road with 100 km of climbs and descents was waiting for me and they could take me the entire day to complete if the road was in the conditions that I expected.

While I was having some tea, I heard the noise from a generator down the road. May be an RV had stopped to spend the night!!! Could I get some more water??? Without thinking, I put on the mosquito netting and got onto the spongy soil getting my feet wet until I reached a truck parked in the middle of the fog. I knocked on the door…. Nothing. I insisted… A few moments later I heard movement and grunts… Only then I realized it was only 5 am… Of course, I was more than awake. The truck driver turned out to be a huge, smelly and covered with tattoos guy, something in contrast with his beard and locks which in other context would’ve made him pass easily and an orthodox Jew!!   I explained to him my situation, perhaps too fast… when I asked for some water he just said “No” and went back to bed. Ok… thanks!!

I climbed back laughing alone about how ridiculous the situation was. Of course, instead of saying “bicycle” I just said “bike” which is usually confused with motor bikers… May be he thought I was disorientated with insomnia…

I tacked the road past 6 am. Bah, road was just a matter of speaking: the mud was impressive and the fog thick enough that it was impossible to see beyond 10 m. Maira seemed stuck to the ground. Everything was so soft that every once in a while I would look to see if I had a flat tire. Very heavy!!! Even though I was descending, it looked like I was climbing due to the additional effort. I couldn’t distinguish what was in front of my nose and even considering its size!!

I could only see an impenetrable whiteness that surrounded me and the close vegetation that was appearing while I advanced.


I didn’t have any other option than riding on the main tread of the road, the more used one, because even tough it has lost of loose mud, it was still the firmer part of the road. That left me very exposed to the traffic because it was very difficult to see in that dense fog. I was tense, alert to the slight engine noise, checking what was waiting for me on the road meter by meter. I had its enchantment anyway….

It took me 1 hour to advance a bit more than 5 km. If things would continue that way, my plan of getting to Eagle Plains in one day was a utopia. Suddenly I saw lights in front of me. Yes, the first life signs. An RV was slowly advancing towards me. I moved to the side to let them see me and the passed slowly… without stopping.  What a dumb!! The next one I won’t let it pass….

What was said was done. To the next RV that passed, I made so many gestures that if they didn’t stop they were very insensitive!!! They gave me some water and reassured me that things were getting better just a few kilometers ahead. Could it be???

A bit later another RV confirmed that the fog was lifting a few kilometers ahead and the road wasn’t so muddy. At the same time they gave me a nice provision of food and water for the rest of the day… A biker never says no to food!!!!

When I was getting out of the mess, a pickup truck passed me and stopped a bit later. It was Olav, owner of the Arctic Chalet, a B&B in Inuvik, who had already rode that road on a bicycle. With the solidarity of those that lived these things, he gave me more food and water and invited me to stay with him and his wife at the B&B when I get to my final destination. What a guy…

The conditions got better and I passed the rest of the day climbing and descending, observing how the road got lost in the green mountain tops to, once on the highest point, start descending and climbing again.

If I thought that mosquitoes were abundant until this moment, after the rain I can’t tell you. Hordes, gangs I’d say, of wild bugs geared up for anything to get a milliliter of my blood. While I was suffering their charges I was thinking: why not implementing a system of toads as pets for tourists? A few domesticated animals that could be carried on the shoulder (like a parrot) and that would basically eat any mosquito that would get close. Of course, they would get very fat immediately!! But everyone would buy or rent one. It would be a gold mine!!!

Or better yet, one could generate a genetic mixture with a polar bear so the could resist the crude winters of this latitude and this terrible bugs come out they would eat them at once.

Useful would also be a portable fan system, generating a convective current around one’s body, pushing the bugs away. And at the same time it would give us the sensation of going with the wind.  A great psychological help…

Let’s see if science and technology come together to end with this plague. And at the same time, can anybody tell me why do we need so many mosquitoes in the ecosystem?

How great was my desperation when the bug spray almost became part of my diet. I thought that eating DEET, I would sweat the toxic product and would repel them. Not even the “Jungle Juice”, a viscous liquid that is 99% DEET (vs. the usual 30%), lasted more than 10 minutes.

The have told me before leaving: “don’t carry cosmetic products nor deodorants because the attract mosquitoes” Well, I have empirically demonstrated that it’s not true. Even when one stinks like a mule after riding so many consecutive days without a shower, that the “smell” (mixed with all the smells generated by the body) resulted almost like an aphrodisiac for them!! Damn bugs!!!

I even thought that with the combination of the radiation from camping under the antenna with the liter of DEET that I ingested through my skin I could develop some kind of superpowers to ride faster… Well, it wasn’t like that. I was ‘normal’ as usual…

Lastly let’s not get into details about how torturing and desperate could be to go to answer nature’s call in the middle of such an aggressive environment for a human being. Like a coveted price, the exposed buttocks rapidly became a delicious and tempting bite. I can testify with the multiple bites I had left!!!

After traversing this infested lands (I told you there were mosquitoes, right?) I finally arrived to Eagle Plains after almost 100 km of forced march. I has a few gratifications: the wind that blew on that empty plain making life outdoors just that: life, my encounter with the box of food that I sent to myself from Dawson City though the Dempster Hwy Visitor’s Center, and a 10 min shower for 25 cents!!! What a pleasure!! The little details of life on the road!!!

Finally I met a wonderful couple from Montreal, Rejcane and Michel that invited to share dinner with them. Salut!!!

Day 6: Just to change my morning diet, I took the option of having breakfast in the Lodge. Even though it was early, it took me a while, not only because the service was slow, but because everything was so abundant (and it wasn’t a matter of wasting anything) that it took me almost an hour to finish it up. When I came out, a generous soul had left me a cereal bar on top of the bike’s front bag…

This time it was cloudy and the wind was blowing hard…. Against me, of course. At least this time the mosquitoes were…gone!!!  I charged the road on a frozen and vertiginous descent to the Eagle River. It was too bad that I could also see the climb of the same name on the other side….

It was a long and heavy climb with a full stomach… On the top I found a barren terrain, with new climbs and descents as far as I could see. It was great anyhow. The anxiously waited crossing of the Artic Circle was approaching.

I arrived a bit after 1 pm. What an emotion to be in such a particular place like this. On this latitude, 66 33 N the day lasts 24 h during the summer solstice. But further north, this is prolonged to a few days, like in Inuvik, with 55 days without a night during the boreal summer.

This landscape was a bit different to the one I saw in Antarctica when I crossed the Antarctic Circle on the other side of the hemisphere. There, it was only ice. Here, green reigned until lost among the rounded and undulating mountains of the Richardson Range.

I spent a good couple of hours enjoying the recently reappearing sun, taking pictures, eating and talking to people that was passing by and added me to the tourist attraction that was the showy sign.

But I had to continue.  I had another 40 km in front of me, theoretically with a mild descent until getting to the Rock River Campground, also known as “bug city” due to its bad reputation with mosquitoes and black flies. Well, it’ll be a mater of going to the cooking shelter, right?

The last km, other than keep a few energetic climbs, were very scenic while bordering the Richardson Mountains and with panoramic views of the road getting into the tundra. Flowers white as cotton (therefore their name “cotton grass”) bathed huge extensions of terrain, giving the impression that the snow was still present in the summer.

While I was taking  some pictures riding (a big logistic process when I’m alone), a car passed me by but immediately stopped and backed up to where I was standing. I though it was another person that believed I was in trouble because I was standing.  What a surprise when I saw Frank, a German that I met in the Dawson City Hostel, getting off the car and who I celebrated his birthday with in the Diamond Tooth Gertys, the town saloon-casino.

He was with two girls and a guy that got together to travel the Dempster Hwy to Inuvik and were thinking of camping in the same place as me. I don’t have to tell you that we ended up all together, dinning by the fire, with an English couple and enjoying the roasted sugar-coated peanuts that Frank bought me as a present when he saw the pleasure I had eating them in Dawson City. A genius!!!

Day 7: To start with, I had a 20 km climb to surpass the Wright Pass, the border between the Yukon and Northwestern Territories. The sun was bright but I had a big surprise because the Richardson Mountains were covered by thick white clouds that darkened their slopes, auguring nothing good.

“Will the road end up just there?”, I thought. While I was slowly advancing I was a mixed sensation: The pleasure of admiring such a panoramic beauty to which I could add the cotton grass painting the ground with white strokes, and the fear of having to endure a nice storm up there.

The wind was blowing hard and it was a bit chilly… What was I waiting for me? An early truck cleared any doubts: the trail of dirt that it was lifting showed me the path and I could see it turning to the left and cutting through the mountains, a bit further ahead than the storm on the close by mountain tops. I relaxed, took a few pictures, shifted gears and started to climb slowly.

A few kilometers before the summit, the wind turned horrible. It was a hurricane that thwarted my move forward. I was freezing (the temperature fell 6 C) and it was hard to keep the balance. Later on I would learn that the road in that area is known as “hurricane valley”… What else to say, don’t you think?

However, little by little I kept going and finally, the longed for finish! It took me all morning to do the climb and I “only” had 80 km left!!!

Again, the panoramic views were outstanding. The road pierced precipitously into the vast terrain that extended to the horizon; entering a narrow valley and gaining way towards the Peel River, far in the distance.

There were some spectacular descents along with a few climbs too.  As I was told, the road conditions were not the same. The gravel had more potholes and some buried rocks, making it necessary to pay more attention to the path taken. But it wasn’t too drastic.

I started to feel hungry and, after 3 pm, I stopped to eat a snack at a fork on the road that went to a campground for road-work crews. To my surprise, I found a tour or senior citizens that were doing exactly the same thing and Tony, their guide, invited me to join them. It was delicious!!! I must have looked like a savage eating every kind of food that I saw, and mostly because they were things that I didn’t have for a long time. Thanks!!!

The day kept going slowly. Another 7 km followed with climbs, descents and a bit of cross-country in an area where there was some road construction and the road was in bad shape. And with 35 km left, another interesting climb, long and that went as far as the infinitum. The wind and the long ride were draining my strength but I wanted to get to Nitanlii Campground. Theoretically the road was supposed to descend soon… or not!!!

It cost me a lot. With the time change (I lost an hour on the road when I crossed the border at the Wright Pass), I arrived at past 9 pm and there was nobody at the reception. I went straight to the cooking shelter to escape the again abundant and carnivorous mosquitoes and I saw a pair of bicycles to the side. Yes, more cyclists!!!

They turned out to belong to Maude and Davis, a couple from Montreal that was riding from Inuvik to Vancouver, taking advantage of their vacation time as teachers. We settled into the small room, where the mosquito density was smaller (500 per cm2 instead of 10000!!!) and we stayed up late talking and comparing notes. I just finished the worse with respect to climbs and they were just about to start!!!

Day 8: After a brief breakfast and saying goodbye to my new friends, I organized my gear and went to the office to get my stamp of the place. There, I found an spectacular human being, Roberto Alexie, a 73 years old native Gwich’in with whom I had a conversation for almost two hours. He told me about the traditions of his culture, how things were changing with time, with a youth less interested in the values and traditions of their tribe. We even debated for a long time about the climate changes that also worry him because they affect the resources for his people. He has a man that showed me a side of his culture, in harmony with nature, that always gave them shelter and food to survive with.

I made a short stop in Fort McPherson to see the famous tomb of the missing patrol, an unfortunate group of officers of the mounted police that got lost in the winter of 1910-1911 while going from the town to Dawson City. And they were only 36 km away from the town!!!

While I was taking a few pictures I heard in a perfect Argentinean Spanish “don’t tell me you are Argentinean”!!! It was Roberto, a compatriot that lives in Whitehorse and was there occasionally because of his job as a civil engineer. It was a real pleasure to chat for a while using all of our typical idioms. And it was a sure thing that I would see him again in his town in a few more days. It was crazy: Two Argentineans at the same time in Fort McPherson!!!


In any case, I still had to ride the rest of the day. With all the talking it was almost 2 pm and I only had ridden about 12 km. But what I had ahead wasn’t too hard: 60 km of practically flat terrain where the main challenge were the lose rocks that accompanied me for almost 40 km, making the going tough and unstable. It was a matter of looking for the best lane, without caring where in the road it was and trying to avoid getting run over by passing cars.

I was riding very concentrated on the road because the landscape was very monotonous and without interesting views. Just shrubs, short trees and a few ponds at the side of the road.

I was almost getting to my 2000 km on the bike when a trucker stopped to my side and told me: “what out because at a 100 m from here, to your left, there’s a grizzly at the side of the road” Suddenly I remembered that these little beasts are in the area…

I opted for taking the commemorative picture for the 200 km (may be the last one?) and after waiting for some vehicles to go by (to make noise), carefully I started riding.

Slowly, I looked carefully, but I could only see vegetation. Until when, to my right (not my left), I saw a bear. It was about 20 m away, in a puddle of water, like he was eating something. I stopped without making noise and I stood there for a moment. What to do!! Should I get the bear spray or the camera? Instinctively I grabbed the camera. I took a couple of pictures and suddenly I realized my helpless state, on my bike, in the middle of nowhere. The wind was blowing in.

Good. That way he wouldn’t smell me.  I took another couple of pictures. And now? If I kept riding I was going to get too close. He was a relatively small bear, so he could be a grizzly cub or a black bear. And if he was a cub and the mother was at the left side of the road? Cold swear run thought my back. I looked back and nothing. I hanged the camera around my neck and I was about to start riding when the bear looked up and saw me. I remembered everything that I was told and I had read about the subject in microseconds. Indeed, it was bad to bother them while they are eating!!

I saw him, he saw me. I was tense as a rock. In theory I had to make noises, look bigger, frighten him, but if instead of running away the bear charged me defending his prey? Shyly my unconscious made me ring my bike bell. Once. Almost without wanting. It sounded ridiculous. The seconds were endless. Suddenly, the bear turned around and dived into the vegetation disappearing from my sight! Uffff. Like gelatin, I climbed the bike and I think I broke the speed record on gravel on the last 10 km that I had left to get to the ferry crossing of the McKenzie River.

I don’t have to add that I discarded the idea of keeping going and camp at the side of the river and I stayed just there, at the campground of the ferry employees, protected by the noisy generator that would surely shoo away any bear that could be around!!!!!!

Day 9: It would be a more than long day, with 130 km of road, with the first 80 km as a monotony of landscapes in the eternal shrubby vegetation and the lack of curves. Basically a flat terrain, where the most difficult things were the areas  of loose gravel, the crazy local traffic, which unlike the tourists, they drove at 1000 kph, passing me very close by and lifting little stones, the heat and the thirst with so much dirt in the air.

After a rest stop at the Caribou Creek Campground, the topography turned more irregular, with soft but tiring climbs, now that the wind started to blow again, of course, against me.

The last 50 kilometers were to beg for. They look endless!!! But I was almost there!!! Almost to the northernmost point of this adventure, I couldn’t give up. When I went pass the airport and the pavement returned, I couldn’t believe it!!! What a soft ride!! The sun was glowing on the McKenzie River delta and I could see the town. What a joy!!

It was past 10 pm when I arrived to the emotional welcome sign to Inuvik. I took my time to take some pictures, and with an immense happiness and fatigue, I went to the Arctic Chalet, where Olav and Judi welcomed me like an old family friend and lent me a cabin where I could rest. The first time on a bed with sheets since the beginning of the trip!!!

This was definitively a “small” detour from the traditional route, but it was worth every drop of sweat, every meter ridden…

From now on I won’t have to explain that I’m going to Argentina and that no, I didn’t take the wrong direction: From no on, my north is the south!!!

Good trail

Damián

A little add

Many of you know (and the others now have no excuse), that the next July 18th is my Birthday. If everything goes well I’ll leave my 33’s without being crucified (knock on wood). I’m sure that the emotional date (at least to me), will arrive somewhere towards or while riding through the Alaskan rain forest in the Tongass National Park, a variant on my original route.

I imagine that many of you are anxious and wish to give me some presents for such a special occasion (you only get 34 once in a lifetime), I got a postal address where you can send me anything you want. Just remember that I’m riding on a bicycle and I can’t take much more with me. So, let’s forget the 42” plasma TV’s and the Audio Home Theater equipment until I get back and let’s be practical!! Whatever is not transportable or edible will be re-mailed again. And that’s not the idea, is it?

I will anxiously wait to receive some surprises from you via the old ways, without so much technology in between and that way feeling a bit closer…

Here’s the address, where I’ll be sometime by the end of August (so you have plenty of time!!)

Bon Van Handerberg (Att. Damián López)
Institute of Ocean Sciences
Dept. of Fisheries & Oceans
9860 West Saanich Road
Sidney, BC
CANADA
V8L 4B2

Many thanks in advance!!!

Acknowledgements…

To the countless Germans arriving from Whitehorse to Dawson City by canoe that gave me plenty of food from their trip leftovers.

To Heidi, from the Visitor Center at the Dempster Hwy, for organizing the shipping logistics on my supplies along the road, the computer for writing and the good vibes.

To Dennis and Lyn Lehoux, from Saskatchewan, for taking my supplies boxes to Eagle Plains and Inuvik.

To Sylvie Boudreau, from the Dawson City Visitor Center, for letting me use the phone for my interview with Radio Canada.

To the people of the Tombstone Campground, for letting me use the cooking shelter for free to cook and sleep away from the mosquitoes… and also for the brownies!

To Brad and Oksana, for the exquisite Tai Chicken on their cool yellow van, again away from the infamous mosquitoes.

To Ian, Ilya, Nick, Angelina, Melanie and Marielle, from University of Ottawa, that kept re-supplying me along the many stops in the road and the interesting chats with a more scientific tone.

To Rejcanne and Michel, from Montreal, for the exquisite fajitas and for refreshing a bit my Québécois.

To Denis Hewson, a magician (!) from Vancouver, who gave me a sticker with the Canadian Flag and I now have on the bike.

To Frank, Susan, Anita, Brad, Janet and John, for the great evening in the Rock River Campground and for the sugar roasted peanuts (garrapiñadas)!!

To Mary Whitley, from Whitehorse, that followed me with her car a few kilometers just o give me some of her leftover food, in the middle of the hurricane-like winds of Wright Pass.

To Dennis Witner, Rachel and Tom, for the good vibe, the juice and the chocolates!

To Tony Greenfield, who along his group of senior citizens, they gave me an unforgettable lunch when I least expected it.

To Maude y David, for their great camaraderie, typical between cyclists and for sharing the cooking shelter at the Nitanlaii Campground. Good trails!!

To Robert Alexie, manager of the Nitanlaii Campground, for the life lessons.

To Arie, a youthful 65 years old Dutch, who was my first relief after my encounter with the bear and who I encounter again in Inuvik. Thanks for all the food you gave me in out reencounter!!

To Olav and Judi Falsnes, from the Arctic Chalet, Inuvik, that received me as an old family friend, letting me stay at their spectacular B&B without cost, with access to a computer and internet to send you all these lines. Thanks!!!
 
And to Maira, that behaved impeccably in spite of all the tortures I put her under on these roads… 

Some Statistics

Days on  the road: 32

Days riding: 24

Kilometers done: 2144 km (1020 on gravel)

Hours on the bike: 138h05m (5d18h05m)

Average Speed: 15,53 km/h

Maximum Speed: 69 km/h, descending to  Chicken (21-June-2007)

Meters climbed: 19.127 m

Maximum height: 1352 msnm, Top of the World Hwy (22-June-2007)

Bears seen: This is it!!! With one so close is more than enough, isn’t it?

Liters of DEET absorbed by my skin in a vain attempt to stop the mosquitoes: Too many!!!