View from the top:
It seemed like a hard week for the whole team, but luckily we got some inspiration from 6 of our fellow riders. The Dease Lake Challenge is a Rockies tradition that started several years back. This year, six team members (Jack, Dyar, Andrew, Brett, John and Whitney) took on the challenge of riding 210 miles in one day, combining all three days of our ride to Dease Lake into one day. The other part of the challenge is to do the ride completely unsupported. For safety reasons, one of our support vehicles went along with them, driven by Kelsey and Allie. The riders refused to use their assistance, packing 30+ PowerBars on their bikes and filling up water along the way, which sometimes meant refilling their bottles with stream water. Around mile 100, two riders were sick from the water but determined to keep riding. After starting around 5:45 am, they finally made it to Dease Lake around 12:30 am. They didn't stop to rest more than four times over the entire day and they consumed around 35 PowerBars per person. After witnessing this incredible feat, Allie and Kelsey came back to the team with a new level of energy. We have less than 5 days left of being just Rockies- soon we will be meeting up with our other half, the Sierra team, in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory. Reuniting with the Dease Lake riders on our rest day was exciting and the team seems completely re-energized and ready to make the most out of our last two weeks.
Our time in Dease Lake has been very different than any other rest days we have had. We are staying with Mama Z at her restaurant. The riders who came ahead have been here for three days now working in her kitchen and waiting tables. She has provided all of our meals, but with the expectation that we do our part in helping with the work around the restaurant. We've helped cook meals, wash dishes, water the flowers, and talked with several of the tourists who come in to eat at Mama Z's.
Following another Rockies tradition, last night we had a "second chance Prom". We got very creative with our dresses and suits, drove up to a scenic overlook and played dance music from the speakers of the van. Costumes included everything from dresses made of PowerBars and Pure Sport, leggings of spare tubes, an evening gown made from a hammock, several wigs, trash bag dresses, and lots and lots of spandex. We even voted on "Most Likelys", such as "Most likely to survive in the wilderness if left alone"(John Fitch), "Best facial hair"(Brett Bowlin), and "Most likely to flood our email inboxes after the trip is over" (Shilen Patel).
This morning, we woke up to some surprising news that I doubt has ever happened in the history of T4K. I am able to write this blog right now because we were forced to spend one more day in Dease Lake due to a forest fire ahead that is currently spread over 60,000 acres. The fire is between here and the Alaskan Highway junction (Hwy 37 and Hwy 1) and towns further north are facing evacuation orders. It is possible that even Dease Lake will be evacuated if the direction of the wind blows the smoke south. Tomorrow we are planning to ride to Jade City, but we are now one day behind so we will most likely be making the mileage up by driving through the "most dangerous" or smokiest area. Our biggest concern at this point is just that the highway is open at all tomorrow because it has been closed all day today.
I was hoping to upload more pictures but the internet is going incredibly slow. Hopefully I can add photos soon and will try to keep you updated with the road conditions!
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