2009 Alaska Motorcycle Trip

Posts Tagged ‘Day 09’

We have a late dinner in Coldfoot we walk in and are asked restaurant or saloon so we eat in the saloon later to find out it is the farthest northern saloon in north America if you need a bar farther north you have to go to Russia (probably have to ship bikes for that ride). Early the next moring we pack up and head in to Deahorse  as you climb the mountain get more spectacular at every corner and taking pictures becomes more of a chore as the road gets worse. Remember 98 percent of the pictures are taken on the fly and as the gravel gets deeper the pictures get harder to take. I still managed to take 1.75 gig of pictures of the three day event. That will all be available on DVD for those of you making all those great posts(we do in joy reading them at the end of the day). At about 150 miles short of Deadhore we pass a grader then a truck as I go passed the truck I hit a hole so deep I wasn’t sure I would make it out well I did make it out only to lose all power on the bike ( oh f***) not again . This time I new it was probably under the seat. I pull the bag off the back take you seat off see the my powercomander had moved from ware I had remounted it and it was totaled out so I pulled it out (now remember the grader I past is coming) I get it almost done JV is waching the grader. The grader driver fly’s up next to me stops and asks if we need a hand told us there camp was a mile away and would pull me over if we needed. I told him I had it almost fixed and he turned around and graded back the other way (wow I thought he might just bury us there).  From there on in had no more drama but the road did go from  ok to good to great then to sh** in a hurry but we were warned my our master to expect this and the last 60 miles after little sleep and riding all day really took  a toll on you but we arived safe and made our goal. After checking in I when to find gas and to see about getting the hole in my fender covered the gas station was very interesting to big tanks with a hose coming out (sorry no pics. Forgot camera). He called his maintains guy who met me the I followed him to his shop and he fixed me up with an old mud flap. Nice hole plugged and ready to go. By the way JV is a little under the weather after our square dancing and quilting party no really I think it was the bus ride from hell out of 30 on the bus 20 of them seem to be sick and it got him so we’ve slowed a bit but still on the move .

3:30 PM:  The SPOT shows them next to the Deadhorse Airport.  They made it!!

4:47 PM: JimmyV just called. That 1-hour stop was Steve’s bike coming to a stop again. All the mud and sludge from the Atigan Pass mucked up the Power Commander and shorted it out.   They had to remover the main connection in the harness to get the electronics back to stock.

JimmyV reports it 45 degrees F with a 15 mph wind. Very, very cold ride in and the last 60 miles was treacherous. He said his accessories went out which included the heated grips but with the Hippo Hands the cold was not a problem.

If you’re watching the SPOT “Track” you can see JimmyV & Big Steve went out to the Arctic Ocean.  Don’t know if they are official member’s of the Blue Ball’s Association.

10:15 AM: JimmmyV and BIg Steve are on the Atigun Pass!!

The SPOT shows massive snow and the road is indiscernible. That visual is the Google Map taken months/years ago.   It’s 31 degrees F in Deadhorse now and will warm up to a high of 35.

There may be some snow on the pass road today.  It will be muddy and slick.

From the top of the pass, it’s 169 miles to Deadhorse!!  All down hill.

8:24 PM:  I just got a SPOT “OK/Check-In” sent at 8:05 AM in the Coldfoot Camp.   If you zoom in you will see the camp covered with snow.  There should be no show now.

I thought there might be a SPOT “OK/Check-In” or “Track” problem.  Last night the last “Track” ping that I received was made ~30 miles from Coldfoot at 10:11 PM.  I did not get a SPOT “OK/Check-In” at the Coldfoot Camp.

When I talked to JimmyV & Big Steve last night at the Coldfoot Camp, Steve said they did send a SPOT “OK/Check-In” at the Coldfoot Camp.  He was going to resend but I did not receive a final end-of-day “OK/Check-In”.

All seems good now.  JimmyV and BIg Steve on on their final push to Deadhorse!

The first big challenge is the Atigun Pass, 60 miles away.  This is the crossing of the Brooks Range and the Continental Divide and the highest pass in Alaska.  The elevation is 4,800 feet and the grade is a whopping 12-13%.  Typically the pass is perpetually in snow or rain.  The road is dirt/gravel which results in a very mucky, sloppy, mud surface.  There are Avalanche warning signs all the way up and down the other side.   This is where the Continental TKC 80 Twinduro knobby tires pay for themselves!

The north decent side is also 12-13% grade.  I thought the down side was scarier than the up side.  As they descend on the other side there are several stretches of chip-seal.  The landscape is tundra.  First rolling hills the plain flat marshy, tundra.

The last 60 miles can the most dangerous.  There have been more recorded motorcycle crashes 60 miles out of Deadhorse.  Riders get antsy and start pushing to the finish.  Kinda like a plow horse heading for the barn.  They just want to finish the ride ASAP and get surprised by the chip-seal ending and entering deep gravel/dirt/mud faster than they can handle.

SPOT “Track” is good at 8:20 AM.  They’re on the road!!