Arctic project (Epic Arctic Ride)

Enjoy the hockey game, it is getting lots of advertising in the region.

Oh and

Thanks, Paul, great information indeed! I'll have to stud up a tire with the Aerostich studs for next winter.

--mark

Loving this post guys, keep up the great ride reports.
Leo

We got to Peace river Thursday at about 2 PM. I rode by myself because like I said Joe had a flat on his bike. Friday morning we removed the front wheel from his bike and tok it to the local Honda shop in Peace River. Nice guys. If you ever are round these parts (Winter or not) stop there if you need any thing. These guys are great
Peace Country Honda Div Of Rentco Equipment Ltd
7913 100 Ave, Peace River, AB T8S 1M5
780-624-4646


After taking the tire off the tech came in and asked Joe to come in the shop and see this. The guy said he has never seen anything like this. The tube was actually put in twisted. Completely twisted, and eventually the friction of the twisted rubber punctured a hole. Like the tech said, and I agree. This is and can only be caused by one thing and one thing only. Sheer incompetence. So please if anyone ever stop at Moto International to get tire repaired, make sure you ask the service writer to put a mechanic on the job and not a clown from the circus Barnum and Bailey.
The mechanic out in a liner and an HD tube in the tire. At first we thought that a stud might have gone through the carcass, but were relieved to see that it was Bozo that had screwed up.
After the repair we went to the Alberta Pond Hokey Championship. 84 teams and 24 rinks on lake. The weather was a balmy -32 C. This event is quite something to see.
http://albertapondhockey.com/
The best part of it is that they also have the world's biggest pond rink and have a game where 350 player battle with 10 pucks. The rink must be 350 feet long by 150 wide. This is nuts. I will post pictures of the tournament soon. Here is one


While i was there I was lucky enough to experienced something I was told I should try. well-actually two things.
1) I tried a "Rink Burger" This thing if we can call it a burger is the only thing I have ever paid almost $6 for and that tasted like NOTHING. The patty was some kind of concoction that was frozen for most likely 10 years and was made with products that have name destined to be pronounced in the best of Star Trek episodes. No taste whatsoever. Even the cheese wa tasteless. Has anyone ever had cheese that has no taste? Even bad cheese tastes something. Then, maybe it was not cheese. This is oil country after all. Where people live, breathe and dream oil. Maybe it is some kind of experiment. they get a cow to eat oil sand fed grass and the result is this plastic sheet called cheese. As for the "Beef Patty"? I would rather not know what it was. But one thing for sure! They were selling shit loads of them.
Glad I tried. Most players were eating them. And looking at them, these players playing pond hockey all week end at -30 something are not the type of guys I would say they are stupid to eat this in their faces. I could myself end up "IN" these patties.
Then we went to St-Isidore where we attended the "Carnival" Let me think here?

_
-30C
Place filled with French Canadian people
French Canadian food
French Canadian folk music
French Canadian Joie de vivre.
maple toffee made with real Quebec Maple Syrup (Yes! It deserves capital letters) and NO not the west coast telephone pole juice they call maple syrup......Blasphemy!
Sugar pies and tourtieres (The real thing)


Hell Yeah!! That was cool

After this we went to the hotel and called it a night early. We still have not processed all the pictures so I will post them as I get them.
We woke up this morning to a cool -30C. They had forecasted -8 to -12.
The only thing less accurate then a meteorologist's forecast is a lawyer telling he will speak truthfully. Well! the weather guys at least might be honest sometimes. the lawyer??? Not a chance. 8)
As we made our way across the valley outside Peace River, the temp dipped to -39C and the wind kicked in. That is when the display on the 800 GS stopped working. they were side winds and sucked the heat out of the hippo hands. My fingers were frozen solid.. We stopped on the side of the road to take some sunrise shots





It is about 300 km to Slave Lake and could not do it in one shot. DUH!!!

we wanted to stop at High Prairie but had an issue with Joe's 800. The engine warning light came on and then the oil light. I figured the oil was getting too cold and was not circulating enough, plus the head winds we were dealing with by that point were cooling the coolant too much. After letting idle for about 5 minutes the light went away. So we kept it at about 90 km/h and made it to High Prairie.
Shots below are for us going to Peace River.. Sorry for the wrong order. My brain is thawing out:huh:huh


We stopped at the Subway were we warmed up over breakfast and hooked IV's on us dripping coffee in our veins. While we were warming up, Jesse and Flora got a ride with a Local (Thanks Gregg) to the local auto parts shop where they got us 4 quarts of oil. they were low a bit.

I also built shields for the radiators out of Subway boxes, knowing that keeping the close to -40C air from the engine would help. Sure enough! We made it to Slave Lake without any further problem. Another thing I am pissed off about with MI in Montreal.. Why didn't they put 0w40 oil in them? it is beyond me. I know we will be OK now with the shields.
Tomorrow we are going to Atabasca for a Snowmobile race/rally event. George our Great Host here in Slave Lake is trying to get us some sleds to ride. But he s not sure yet.

We will see. We are leaving here on Monday to Fort McMurray to go ride the Ice Road.. I am so looking forward to this..

Stay tuned!

Iceman out

I will post updated pictures tonight.

Awesome, keep it coming....

Now it gets serious,those who shine their scoots,and zip to snap pics at the nearest thermometer are outta their league from here on out.

Fantastic write up and pictures. What an adventure in such extreme conditions.

I have to remind my self to never be drinking coffee or anything when I read your posts. Your sense of humour is excellent.

Shining up my bike, and getting out of the cold -10C garage!!!

Safe journey

Wow, most incredible ride! So, I might of missed this but are you using any heated gear such as vests or jackets under your outer gear? Seems your able to ride with only a light under layer. I noticed the heated shields. Really enjoying the report, thanks for taking us along.

I just wanted to post this one. This is my favourite so far. it captures the essence and beauty of this trip..

Joe, Paul and the rest of the crew,

Amazing RR, can't wait to see the video clips. I feel your pain of the cold I live in Fort Saskatchewan (near Edmonton) the temperature these days brutally cold. Too bad about the twisted tube in Joe's bike, doesn't matter how good the brand is when you get sloppy work it sucks. As a mechanic it pisses me off to see this type of work, some people don't care. I wonder if he would like to break down in the middle of nowhere at -40???

I have seen all of Joe's and Flora's video clips and was amazed at the quality of the work, thanks for taking the time to document your adventure.

Thank/Merci


Garry

A picture's worth a thousand words,this pic sez it all!

Enjoying your report Paul. Keep up the good work.

David

HEY good buddy, long time! Good to see you're at it again.

As usual, looks and sounds like you're having a great time of it all.

And as always, thank you so much for taking the time to share it all with us.

Like many, I do so enjoy reading your stuff. Oh yeah, might you happen to remember where your ex-FB friend got the "lifetime deal on leopard pattern underwear?"

You're the best, Paul. Keep it up. Warmest regards from your Alaskan friend, Mark H.

Great ride

Hey Buddy! How the heck are you? It is nice to hear from you. You know that you are in many ways part of all my trips. We will have to cross paths at one point. No way out of that one.
Thanks for the kudos..

I also extend the kudos to everyone else who took the time to write in here and follow me/us on this wild one.. Life is short and I love to share this stuff with those as passionate as I am.. In all honesty?? Sharing it and having fun with others is big part of the whole thing. What good is life is you do not share with others??

Paul , you are entertaining so many of us that really wish we could be with you in body as in spirit, KEEP UP THE AWESOME RR.

Squonker is back driving ice truck out of Yellowknife, if you see him give him a wave and may those of us here reading and watching wish all of you a safe and wonderful trip.

gale

Sweet!
Another epic adventure from the Iceman. You have good company with Joe & Flora, I really enjoyed the video web series from there cross Canada tour.
Best of luck & have a safe trip!

As always, I'm thoroughly enjoying your daily photo sets and updates, Paul.

And as Tom Waits would say..."Hang on St. Christopher, on the passenger side!"

I've been lurking on here for a while now but your report has me wanting to finally make a post.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o>
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Incredible report, I’ll be reading along as you post. <o></o>
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Thank you.