2006 Alcan 5000 Route
I have worked up a simple representation of the 2006 Alcan 500 route. It does not show any of the "optional sections" such as the South or North Canol roads, etc.
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I have worked up a simple representation of the 2006 Alcan 500 route. It does not show any of the "optional sections" such as the South or North Canol roads, etc.
This may come as a shock, but I sold my trusty KTM. Not sure exactly why, and I do have some pangs of regret. I guess I just really wanted to try something different. Part of this decision had to do with the differences in the riding area around where we moved.
In Massachusetts, there are lots of great offroad areas that are within a few hours ride. Here in the triangle area, those areas are for the most part farther. The closest is Uwharrie State park. I rode out there last spring, but all I found were 4x4 trails that were carved out by over use into lots and lots of whoops, in hard clay and occasional sand. Not my idea of fun.
There is also a lack of gravel roads here - I really was surprised to find this, and perhaps I just need to find out where they are. Up north I was 1.5 hours away from Vermont, with lots of great unpaved roads, and even closer to some roads in New Hampshire. I guess I was after something a bit more road oriented, and a up on power. And affordable.
So I bought a bike that I have owned before, the bike that I got when I got back into riding around 1997 - a Ducati E900 Elefant. My old one was a 1995 in blue:
and the "New One":
, this one is a 1994 in maroon. I found a very nice example, with lots of work done, in Kansas, City. Back in April, I flew out and rode it back. The previous two owners both took exceptional care of the bike, including fairly detailed records of maintenance - crucial to me as the bike had just under 30,000 miles. Of course, this is not something "different", as I owned one previously. When I got my first E900, I was just getting back into riding - after a 10 year hiatus. I did not have any off-raod experience, and, well, I figured out very quickly that I was not going to get any good offroad experieces on a 900 cc, 420lb ducati-engined adventure bike.
Will I ride this in the 2006 Alcan?? I think so, but there are some things that I need to fix before I feel confident that it would work well for the task. The mechanicals themselves are exceptionally good - It was well taken care of. Most of the electrical system, a known problem on these bikes, were upgraded before I took ownership. Since then, I have replaced the regulator, and put in performance coils, wires and plugs. The bike runs wonderfully, with none of the snatchiness and hesitation I remember from the previous bike.
What I need to rectify is ergonomics and comfort. The previous owner switched the handlebars to Renthal fat bars, which while very nice, are 2-3 inched further forward, being a fairly flat bend. I cannot get my body nearly as close as I could with the KTM, something I think really helped with control and confidence when the surface turned rough.
The seat is another thing that needs to be changed, but that is a easy fix, abit expensive. I am less thatn thrilled about the wheels, the first owner chaged the rims to the same width as a BMW GS, much wider than stock. Great for riding with street tires, he did it so that he could have access to a larger street tire selection. I long for a 21' front and 18' read, instead of the 19'/17' combo now on the bike. I am gong to try and get used to them, but a rim change might be in order.
Finally, the rear shock is an Ohlins, but with none of the plushness I am used to. I need to spend some "quality time" working on the settings, and perhaps getting it rebuit to my weight and needs.
Whistler
We made it too Whistler today. It was a short 125 mile ride from Clinton, BC. Yesterday was a long one, 500 miles including 130 miles of forest and logging roads. Much of it was tight twisty narrow roads, but it opened up for the last 40 miles for some high speed fun.
I will fill in the blanks for days 6-8, and other details, when I get home. Tomorrow I need to get back to Seattle to get the bike packed up, and a flight early Saturday morning.
Sorry that there has not been updates, time and energy has been short for the last two days.
Yesterday started with a TSD section out of Skagway, Alaska. We then rode to Dease Lake, B.C. Covering ~450 miles, much of it on the Cassier Highway.
Once in Dease lake, we had a choice. A DIY TSD needed to be done on the road toward Telegraph Creek. Telegraph Creek is 75 miles from Dease Lake, dirt and gravel, with from 1200 to 300 feet across a river valley with 20% grades. At the end, we were promised a wild salmon dinner.
Most of us made the trip, for a unbelievable dinner, and a long ride home, in the setting sun, then darkness, and a 14 hour day.
If you look at a map, the road from Whitehorse to Skagway is about 100 miles. We took a longer route, after the morning TSD, by going up into the hills around Whitehorse for a great 45 mile off-road excursion.
This was most of the ride we did on 2002, but with 14 riders, double the amount, things got a bit protracted. Michael O'Keefe hit a large rock with his foot at some speed on the trail, and did number on his foot. He rode the bike out, something I find amazing, for five hours before the doctor in Skagway pronounced that he had broken a bone, one of the bones leading to the second toe. He is going to get a ride back to Whitehorse tomorrow and fly home to get orthopedic attention.
We also had two bike fail during the ride, luckly, neither was a participants. Michael Stram was riding a rented KLR and it would not start after a stream crossing. And then Jamie Gleason on his 400 KLX, who was guiding us, cracked an engine case. Instead of towing the bike out with another, Jeff Brisendine pushed Jamie out by putting his foot on the passenger beg of the smaller bike, while he rode his big KTM 950. They did this for about 1.5 miles on sandy trails, luckly mostly flat. I have a great pciture, but I cannot post as I am using a public computer at the hotel.
Well, It is 10:40 pm, and we have a long day tomorrow, so that is it for tonight. I realize that I will need to really fill in the story when I get home, there is som much to tell!
Kelly Shane on his BMW riding the Canol Road.
The Canol Road sign at the southern end.
The Yukon River in Whitehorse, right at the start of this mornings TSD.
We left Watson Lake, after 12 hours of cold, wet riding, for Ross River, at 7:00am. I think I speak for everyone that a few more hours sleep would have been welcome, but we had another long day ahead, 450 miles , almost exclusively unpaved. After the morning TSD in Watson Lake, it was dirt up to Ross River, the halfway point of the day. It rained on and off, which helped to keep the dust down. This section was a dirt highway, and most were able to keep speeds in the 70s over much of the miles.
Jamie Gleason, Who runs Artic Motorcycle tours out for Whitehorse, met us with a hot lunch up at a campground just outside or Ross River, which from the looks of the town is very sparsely populated. We then headed south to Whitehorse via the Canol Road. This twists and turns its way for over 300km, through some of the most unbelievable country yet seen. It did make for a ong day, and since the rain ha stopped, a dusty one as it is entirely unpaved. Great fun though! Another 100 miles of highway led us to Whitehorse, The Capitol of the Yukon.
I had a disastrous TSD in the second day, racked up over 50 points, and have made several mistakes since then to compound things. The standings as of the end of yesterday are as follows:
Gary Orr, 42pts; Jim Robertson, 73pts; Jeff Brisendine, 112pts, Chris Witzgall, 135pts, Michael O'Keefe, 233pts.
#5, Michael Stram on the other KTM 640Adv R, broke down just after he exited the Canol Road. After taking it to the local shop, a burnt valve or broken cam chain is the likely culprit, so his bike is out. He was able to rent a KLR from Jamie, so he rode the tsd this morning, and will be able to ride the Enduro into the mountains this afternoon.
Everyone is in fairly good spirits despite yesterday's rainy, cold day. It was in the low 50's - quite a contrast to the first day's 90 degree tempatures. We lost one rider due to a bike break down, a BMW F650. Ned is now riding in a truck. I was second on Thursday - not sure where I stand now.
I saw my first bear on Thursday. Yesterday we were forced to stop and wait for the bison crossing.
My KTM is acting goofy at or over 75 mph. I am suspect of the fuel although I did change a spark plug last night - we will see today if it continues to miss at high speeds.
We go on to Whitehorse today. It will be mostly gravel. The halfway point will be the Ross River.
I believe Gary Orr is in first place at the moment on his BMW.
This message was posted by Gretchen - Chris called this morning without web capability at the hotel. Any details that are incongruent I apologize for. We had both just woken up.
Day 1
Got into Quesnel at about 8:00pm. We had two TSD sections today. On through farmland not too far from the boarder crossing in the US. Amazingly, it was cold riding out of Seattle - the mountains were encased in fog. By the time we were at the boarder crossing it had become oppressingly hot - and it stayed that way for most of the day.
Here is a shot taken while riding on the first "Extreme control", a section that is not timed, and is optional, but you get 10 points for skipping t (points are bad). It was the old road along a deep river basin, followed by a twisty gravel road up an down a ridge of some sort.
The last TSD of the day, "Soda Creek", was over the same course as used in 2002. This time I managed to avoid missing the first turn; it is an easy road to see, does not sneak up on you, but the sign referenced is not readable as you approach the road. Others missed it this time, so I don't feel so bad about when I did.
Well I went down to see Chris off and wish him well, and catch up with other Alcan friends from the winter event in February.
"In case of water landing, you should inflate your life vest by blowing in the tube..."
Chris is apparently going to be doing some work while he is riding his bike, and has a full electronic office set up:
Here he is about to turn out of the hotel parking lot, and begin of a long journey... I think he is busy typing his blog entry for tonight. Note the other riders watching with (?) envy.
Good luck Chris, and may the Force be with you!!
It is 6:12am, Pacific time, and the start of the Alcan 5000 is in less then two hours. I have spent the last four days running around, both physically and mentally, getting various things done to get ready.
Some bad news, Skip Faulkner, who also ran the 2002 event and was to be my transit partner, had a last minute job commitment and could not made it. Skip, if you are reading this, we will miss you.
What you are looking at above is the LXE-Wallace Rally computer. It is the first of it's kind to be used on a motorcycle. The hardware is a MX3-CE rugged industrial computer made by LXE. It usually finds itself on a forklift or such equipment. I chose it because of it's extreme ruggedness, big screen, water resistance rating (IP-67) and it's operating system, Windows CE. The software is written by Seattle area car rallyist Glenn Wallace.
Glenn and I have been exchanging emails for about a year and half, and I started messing with his software about that time. I had found the LXE and as busy getting he software ready to run on it. Glenn, in the meantime, had announced that he was going to run the winer 2004 Alcan 5000 with Greg Hightower. I convinced him to take a look at the computer, and long story short, they use it to win the difficult Thunderbird Rally this past january, and place fourth in the winter Alcan event. They made some great improvements to the software to better take advantage of the MX3-CE, so I feel very lucky to have this amazing rally computer on the bike. Thanks so much Glenn for writing this software, and working with me to get it ready for the bike!
That is all for now, I need to fuel up, sync my clock to the rally computer, etc. Next stop, Quinsel, BC!
Yesterday I rode the bike to the Forwardair terminal in Morrisville, about 10 miles from home. there they had a metal shipping container ready for me.
I had specified the medium sized container, they have a small and large size as well. Because the KTM is so tall, I started to prep the bike by removing the fairing, a simple six bolt operation. The Touratech dash that I recently installed is taller then the stock one, so I had to unbolt that so it would lay flat.
Then, it was time to empty the gas tank. It is a simple matter, jujst disconnect the fuel line and drain the gas into a gas can. Trouble is, I forgot to put the cann into the back of the truck my wife drove over to pick me up, so I was left with draining it a bit at a time into a couple of empty waterbottles, and emptying those into the gas tank of the truck. Repeatedly. So if you do this, bring an empty gas can.
Once that was accomplished, it was a simple task of rolling the bike into the container, tying it down (There were six tiedown points) shutting the doors and putting my own padlocks on the doors.
Oh, I also put a bag of equipment and five tires in there, you can use the excess space to transport gear.
The bike will arrive in Seattle on Tuesday, plenty of time to spare if there is a delivery hiccup.
Well, it is crunch time. I am shipping the bike tomorrow. And wouldn't you know it, problems always creep up when you have little time to take care of them.
My rally computer, which I will detail in a few days, uses a GPS sensor to measure distance. The GPS was working wonderfully on Sunday, I was out doing some test runs. Tuesday morning I rode into work, and the dam think was not working. So I spent much time troubleshooting last night, with zero results. This is using a OEM sensor from Garmin, so I ordered a new unit, hopefully it will come in tomorrow and I can test it out before the afternoon when I have to ship.
The good news is that since I am shipping with Forwardair this time, I just have to show up with the bike, tie downs and two locks, they take care of the crate. I'll take some pics to show how it goes. Much better then the hassle I went through last time, modding a BMW GS crate, screwing it all together, and then getting it up on the lading dock at work just so they could load it onto the truck. I saved a couple of $$, but it was a big PITA.
I have been spending some time getting everything ready for the start of the Alcan 5000. The good news is that I think that I learned a few things last time around, mostly about what to bring, what not to bring, and what works on the bike when riding it long distances. As an example, I bought the bike in the early spring, and I had an electric jacket liner, made by Gerbings, that I had worn while riding my F650. Worked fine. So I attached a wiring pigtail on the KTM, connected it to the jacket, everything checked out. Right until I stood up for the first time while riding, and the jacket promptly disconnected - I had made the cable on the bike too short!
This is the kind of oversight that happens when you don't shake things down.
Another change I am making is in the volume of stuff I am bringing - like less clothing. In 2002I brought my laptop This time,I am taking it to Kirkland, but I will leave it behind and use a PDA instead. I am using this right now to write and post this.
On the bike, I have replaced the dash and indicator lights with slick replacements from Touratech. In place of the routebook holder, a waterproof metal box that displays the route instructions on a scroll, I have a computer, designed to show instructions, GPS mapping, and keep me on time with special software. I will be showcasing that in a special post soon!
Here is the Archive of the 2002 Alcan 5000:
