Indigo Ride

Riding Day 30     June 30  Fairbanks, AK Ride Mileage :  0            Weather condition: a bit smoky   Total Mileage :  6330 No ride today just resting and planning the next move. The Sven’s basecamp is the perfect place in Fairbanks for relaxing and meet a bunch of riders. Today I just went in the morning to the grocery store to buy some food and just relax the entire afternoon planning the next move. My shoulder still hurt a bit and I’m pretty much sure that I got an AC separation, same thing I had a couple years ago when I felt on the New Mexico BDR. It will  take some time to heel but in a year it will get back to normal. No big deal and I know I can ride the bike, just take it a bit more slowly. As far as next steps, I will probably go for a day ride to the Dalton Hwy. After all, the main purpose of this trip was to do the Dalton, so being so close and not being able to do it is somewhat very frustrating. I just can’t...

Riding Day 29     June 28 and 29  Tok, AK To Fairbanks, AK Ride Mileage :  218            Weather condition: very foggy because of wild fire smoke  Total Mileage :  6330 No motorcycle trip goes without some level of risk, and yesterday on my way to Fairbanks, I went through one of these improbable events that can at best ruins your trip or just kill you if you’re a bit unlucky. About 40 miles from Fairbanks, on the Alaska highway, an oversized truck transporting a tall house hit a power line that was running above the highway to a transformer pole. The power line got disconnected from the pole and was laying down across the highway. I saw this truck coming in the opposite direction but didn’t see what happened earlier. Two minutes later, I ran over the cable that I couldn’t see at a cruising speed of 60 mph. The rear wheel got entangled with the cable and locked, then I started sliding from the rear. At that point I still didn’...

Riding Day 28     June 27      Dawson city, YT To Tok, AK Ride Mileage :  200            Weather condition: Perfect  Total Mileage :  6112 When the dream becomes reality … What an awesome day! The weather was just perfect to do the Top of the World Hwy (TOW). It was not a long ride from a mileage standpoint but because it’s mostly gravel it takes a while and anyway you don’t want to rush it because it’s absolutely beautiful.  I had first to cross the Yukon river, there is a 24/7 ferry that handles the crossing. I had to wait a bit because the ferry just left when I arrived. While checking my video camera, I realized that the battery was dead and it would not recharge, so no more videos for now… Not long after starting the TOW, I spotted a black bear in the middle of the road. I stopped on the side of the road just to give him time to disappear in the bushes but he didn’t want to move and was watching me. I didn’...

Riding Day 27     June 26      Whitehorse, YT to Dawson city, YT Ride Mileage :  345            Weather condition: chilly in the morning to warm Total Mileage :  5912 I had a very nice evening yesterday, this motorcycle park, although still in construction is a great concept and the tent that they are building are very comfortable. There is a restaurant and bar in this facility and I had a beer with a UK guy riding an old BMW from the 80s.  John, with whom I have been riding for the last couple of days, took a motel downtown Whitehorse and wanted to leave early to Dawson.  So today I was back on a solo ride. Long day over 340 miles, I left quite early before 7am and arrived in Dawson in the afternoon around 3pm. Almost non stop except for a really good breakfast 70 miles out of Whitehorse. I was a bit pissed off this morning because I couldn’t find my gas bottle to heat up some water for coffee. Starting a ride w...