R1 Sjaak Polar Ice Ride (Official Thread)

Not sure what size his tires are, they look a little smaller than we stock here in Whitehorse. If he shows up, we can phone around town for him.
Jon, Yukon Honda.

Well, he arrived in Whitehorse and no tires to be found. He did manage to get some tubes for the little tires, so looks like he is heading south tomorrow AM.

No result on my search for 5 inch tires in Whitehorse. I did find a tube so I can use the ‘winter tire’ again, as long as it lasts. That’s why my sister will send 2 new ones from www.kdpracing.nl to Canada. To spare the ones I’m using right now, I decided to decrease the weight in the trailer. I will leave the spare rear tire (20kilos) of the bike -which I carry for any steep snow-covered slopes t...o come- behind at Yukon Honda owner, Jon. He follows my adventure on the Advrider forum and when necessary he’ll give it to a local bus driver who will take it along.
From Whitehorse to Watson Lake the road will be partly clear of snow.

Between Whitehorse and Watson Lake the road-surface would be partly covered with ice of flattened snow. I only came across slush. A few days ago I saw slush too... and thought the temperature had risen above zero. But the strong sunlight melts the snow at a temperature still well below zero. Therefor the rotating parts get iced up at once, creating this beautiful sight.

Today was a trouble-free day! The friendly hotel receptionist in Watson Lake gave me room # 13 ;-)

update from Sjaak's website


1 April 2013
"I’m in a tiny town called Beaverlodge, Alberta, Canada.
Today I passed through Dawson Creek
where the Alaska Highway starts and for me ended!
On to the Rocky Mountains…"

WooHoo!!

I am in Grande Prairie, I'df any assistance is needed, also driving to Edmonton tomorrow if help is required.

OldMedic

some updates from Sjaak's website

2 April 2013
"No picture today and little to tell, except that I have a flat trailer tire again and the R1 isn’t running smoothly. It feels like a typical spark problem. This sounds more dramatic than it is, just put in new sparks and the spare tube in the tubeless and I’m on the road again.
I’m in Hinton, about 43mi / 70km north of Jasper.
Via Banff I will head for Calgary."

<HR>
3 April 2013
"Somewhere on the road between Jasper and Lake Louise, Alberta, Canada."



4 April 2013
"Today was a ‘day of rest’…
Because the R1 was still running bad I put back the original jets which I replaced in Barrow because of the cold. I also visited Lake Louise which attracts over 10.000 tourists a day in summer with its emerald colour and clear water."

Just off phone with Sjaak. He reports things are going well and has managed to get back on schedule as he gets ready to cross into Montana from the Coos Bay area. Next up is the Black Hills and then onto KC. We plan on some down time here that will include speaking at the Heart of America Motorcycle Enthusiasts monthly meeting on Wed the 10th. If you are in KC, the Polar R1, sled and Sjaak with be there for a talk with I'm sure some Q&A.

http://hoame.com/

Heading over to the shop.

The Polar Ice Ride Trailer (formerly sled) gets its proper christening.

Sjaak and yours truly talk about the adventure with all the hard stuff behind him.

Sjaak made it to the Moonshine Lunch Run awards dinner and to the Moonshine Store for the Lunch. I've heard nothing but positive reviews and lots of talk about his ride. I sure hope that he might be able to visit again.

Video with my still shots and Sjaak's speech at the awards dinner is here: http://youtu.be/LC-vttzkMS4

The Saturday lunch served over 2000 burgers! It was 60 shy of the record but with the cold temps, that was a great turn out. Not bad for a town with a population of 2 people!

I'm already looking forward to next year

He stoppped by over at RTWDougs place.

Sjaak completed his ride down to Key West from Point Barrow, AK on Saturday. He arrived at our house in Homestead, FL on Sunday afternoon. Over the next few days he will be going through the process of tearing down and fitting the bike into the sled/trailer and then making it ready to ship back home!!!

What an accomplishment!!!!!!

Why is it that he decided to go with gokart wheels as his trailer/sledges rear wheels? The front wheel appears to be from some sort of scooter. Would not a couple of ATV tires or TW200 rear tire been more appropriate for the conditions?

I Understand the need for a large surface area for those rear tires, to best distribute the overweight sledge, but I think it was a poorly planned decision.


That being said, he made it! Most excellent!

Nice going Sjaak!!! Quite an accomplishment indeed. What a way to set a goal and get after it!!!

What I did not see in this report are videos or pictures from the three days at the polar ice. Not one. Why? Sjaak was accompanied by a man on a snowmobile. Not a single picture of him or the snowmobile. The snowmobile pulled the sledge. But where are the pictures? Sjaak would sleep in the sledge. Well did he? And where slept his guide? I would like to see some pictures of the sleeping circumstances. Also it would be nice to publish the gpx tracks of these days.

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Well he will not have slept in that lake I think.

He wrote [FONT=&quot]N70.53.078 W153.35.345 but that is not a valid notation.
It will have been [/FONT][FONT=&quot]N70 53.078 W153 35.345[/FONT] which is here on the coast

Pretty sure the lake was a bit frozen.......

Are you suggesting that he really slept there?