What a day! 113miles!! That’s over one hundred miles!!! It seemed like a good idea at the time, but this morning I’m knackered. And there has been chaffing. I knew I should have bought the silk cycling shorts. It all started off well; overcast but with a strong tailwind. I was making good miles. Then the wind slowed, stopped and then the heavens opened. Alaska rain is heavy rain. And in a few seconds I was soaked despite the rain gear. The two things about waterproof shoes is that 1) they’re not, and 2)once they’ve filled up they don’t drain out. Mmm, nice and squelchy!
There’s not a lot between Tok and Beaver Creek ( yes, JP, I’m in the legendary BC. Not much beaver) apart from lots of hills. And I still haven’t seen a bear. Or beaver. Not that many creeks, to be honest either. I bumped into another cyclist coming the other way. He was coming up from Seattle to Fairbanks (fool, everyone knows it’s all up hill that way!). Nice bloke by the name of Jef. He’d got a bit of a bulge in his front tyre (Oo er, missus!) which he’d already put a ‘boot’ on (a sleeve on the inside made of plastic to stop the tyre blowing out) and he wanted to know if I had a spare tyre. If only he’d caught me the day before. I had posted to New Zealand my extra spare and it was even the same type as his. Doh! How we laughed! Nice chap with an upbeat outlook on life and it was nice to just stop and shoot the breeze for a bit.
It occurred to me whilst cycling through the tundra that this sort of terrain encircles most of the northern hemisphere. With no one living in it. I mean, I can see why. Who wants to live in freezing, snowbound conditions for most of the year then get bitten to death by mosquitoes and bears the remaining few months. Still, cheap real estate. And with global warming, this sort of country could be the boom of the century. Get on board now. this elevator’s going up!
I’m writing this in the lobby of the hotel I’m staying at – no wifi – hence no pictures. I’m going to have a rest day here and try and sort out some cash – the ATM’s don’t seem to like my cards. There’s nothing to do here, but I need to rest and let my chaffing recover!
Guys and Gals, thanks for all the comments. I read them all avidly, even if I don’t get the time to respond to them all. Please keep them coming.
Hope it’s all going well with you.
Love
Pete
Patagonia Pete 
Staying in a hotel! Now you´re talking my language. Just ditch the bike and hire a medium sized car with air conditioning, and I´ll join you!
V hot here, in pool most of the day. (Fiesta de Corpus Cristi, but of course you knew that).
Hope the chaffing gets better soon.
love Bin
Aw, c’mon! It was late, I was damp and there was chafing. Did I mention the chafing? Too late have I realized that it would have been a more unusual challenge to drive the Lotus to South America. Loads of people have cycled, but I don’t know of anyone who’s Lotussed the Americas. Ah well.
Tell Helen – still no bears. They could be a myth made up by the Alaskan tourist board. Although with all the rain they could be in doors eating honey. I refer you to the great naturalist and bear expert, AA Milne, on this matter.
Mum,Marja and Tom here, raining in Engeland most of the time, summer has been and gone! so your not misssing much. Sam still in south of France. Now about this chaffing, when I used to work in a resthome I used to tell the old dears to put some cream on ,so from now on make sure you apply regularly twice a day! Although it might attract the bears…..or beavers……And by the way dear don’t over do it, think of your age………It starts with chaffing and ends……..No joking aside; we’re thinking of you! Hope you are ok, keep the messages coming!
All our love!
Well if I knew you wanted to Lotus and hotel it all the way I definitely would have joined you! No chafing in small sports cars either. x
regarding the attractive real estate proposal i would like to draw your attention to the following :
The airstrip at Snag, 25 kilometres (16 mi) east of Beaver Creek, experienced the lowest ever temperature measured in North America (excluding Greenland), −63.0 °C (−81.4 °F) on February 3, 1947.
Apparently your are in the easternmost settlement in Canada and surrounded by the White River First Nation…..Indians pete!!!! Hope you circled the bike and set up guards. Forget the bears this could get nasty. Told you that you should have bought a big gun.
Have you seen any mounties?
Woah there, hold on a minute. You posted your tyre to New Zealand?
Is this the real challenge you are undertaking? To see how much of your bike you can post abroad whilst continuing to cycle around Alaska? Madness. (Cue ‘Three wheels on my wagon’ by the New Christy Minstrels for background music.) Next, you’ll be telling me you’ve couriered the horn to NZ too. You have to do everything the hard way don’t you? If you insist on persevering with this Post-your-bike-to New-Zealand-while-still-using-it-athon’ the only advice I can offer is when it comes down to a choice betwen the wheels and the saddle, post the wheels first. You may be forced to just ‘exist’ at the side of the road, going nowhere, but at least you’ll be comfortable with limited chaffing. Pip, pip.
Not sure there are enough rover k-series engines in the USA to make the lotus trip possible…stick to the bike!
On you’re great list of place to see, you can now Tick Tok (here ’til Friday, I thank you).
(only came up with this after you’d left – I’ll have a think about Beaver !)
Only -63!! I remember the cold snap of 2010 that was cold like you couldn’t imagin. Fulham was like a ghost town