Ride 500km to the North West Territories...in February

[Surlyguy]

Mid winter itch has officially set in. What to do what to do? Then I get the call. “Hey Blair, are you in for the Ride North of 60 this year?” 2 day ride on a winter ice road over rivers and lakes? Temperatures guaranteed to be somewhere between –5 to –35 deg c? Oh yeah… that’s just the ticket.


Here's a teaser photo to keep you interested.


I was first invited on this ride 2 years ago when I was working in Fort McMurray Northern Alberta. This place is also known as Fort McMoney and has been hitting the news a lot these days due to it’s proven oil reserves being second only to Saudi Arabia (and there’s some doubt as to how much the Saudi’s actually have). That year Suzuki and The Speed Channel got involved. Alberta Suzuki dealers gave us the use of 10 brand new Suzuki DRZ400’s and a couple of DR650’s. Mike Noon spent days studding tires and worked extremely hard to pull the ride together. Suzuki also helped get some of there racers involved so Steve Crevier and Clint Mcbain from the Canadian and sometime AMA road racing scene came along.

From the 2004 event on DRZ's


Here are some GPS plots





The main goal of the event was to raise money for the Fort Chipwyan school. Fort Chip is a little hamlet that is the half way point on the way north. They have a good school but are in desperate need of supplies. The community also has a very high drop out rate so Mike organized a stay in school program that this event helps to fund.

This year was a bit lower key. No big sponsorship deals and we had to supply our own bikes. So I agreed right away to the idea and then started pestering my friend Gord to come along with his KLR. He has done the ride 2 years in a row and wasn’t thinking about going since he is keeping his KLR in top shape for a trip to Argentina. After I explained that we would hit all the big nightlife spots in Fort Chip (the one Hotel) and it would be Friday night in Fort Smith he couldn’t refuse. “Sure, lets go back to that scary little hug & slug with the black lights, the guys left us alone and the girls only beat on each other. Besides we’re both decent runners.” Perfect, team spirit is alive and well.



Mike had tires ready from the previous year and also a pile of Skidoo helmets with heated visors. My Dad gave me a set of heated foot beds from his skidoo days. So in addition to these items I also had a heated vest and grips. And in a last minute stroke of luck, Mike came up with Weider heated gloves! Every time you stop it’s like unplugging yourself from life support. Actually that’s not far off when the temperature with wind-chill is somewhere in the –50 to –65 deg C range. Installed the obligatory handle bar muffs, stripped off some unnecessary crash bars and skid plates to shed a little weight and the bikes good to go.



Next task is to figure out what to wear. Last time I wore a survival suit. These are very warm but are as breathable as a plastic bag and about as flexible in the cold. When you stop and start to sweat it gets kinda damp. This time I packed my North Face double X parka. Add a huge array of fleece and synthetic layers. Baffin boots rated to –100 deg c so I can’t feel the brake or gear levers. And a healthy supply of “Hot Shots” to sprinkle around the body in whatever way turns your crank. Daytona bike week it isn’t but hey, we are heading for the 60th parallel in winter. It’s not like we can stop at Starbucks to warm up.



Equipped it was time to load up and trailer the 800km north to Fort Mac. I think it’s acceptable to have a trailer queen in February. But I could be getting a little soft here.
We met on Wednesday night in Fort Mac at a Minute Muffler so we could finish last minute prep work and have a warm place to store the bikes. The temp was dropping!

Typical Fort Mac Traffic.


Thursday Morning weather was gusty with a few snow flurries. Temperature wasn’t too bad though. -10 deg c. We first had to trailer the bikes 80km North of Fort McMurray to the start of the winter road. This is the first chance we get to see how the bikes handle in the snow. So much power sliding and general goofing around ensues. A reporter from the news channel CTV showed to up watch us act like children.




Once everyone is zipped up, plugged in, and all gaps duct taped up, we’re off. -5 deg by the start but that 100 km/hr headwind is a little chilly at -30 or so. Anything above 80 and the Dakar starts to shimmy around 6” back and forth. Weird at first but you get used to it. If you’ve seen the Paris-Dakar coverage of the bikes moving around on the high speed sand you get the picture.



The snow started within 20 minutes of the start and continued to get worse. It was really wild to be riding and seeing these big walls of snow heading for you.




So after 80km of riding, Gord’s bike dies. I pull up behind and can see the oil leaking out the bottom. No drain plug. After he replaced the doohickey it looks like the drain plug didn’t get tightened enough. Bummer. We searched all over the other bikes for a “not so important” bolt but no luck. So into a support truck with it.

Buckwheat (Mike’s son) was cold already and gave Gord his WR250 to ride. One of the support drivers says he knows where an old abandoned trike is just up the road. As unlikely as this seems, Ken (driver) stops his truck and says down there. And sure enough in the gully lies a red honda 3 wheeler. They take some tools down and remove the drain bolt and try to get a few other bolts. Only the drain bolt fits. An wonder of wonders, an 85 honda trike drainplug is the same size as a KLR! We still have no oil so it stays in the trailer.

The last 50km or so is across the Athabasca river delta. The temperature was dropping and the wind was way stronger in the open. We stopped at the end of the trees to do a little Canadian tradition, bumper surfing.


The long sweepers on the delta were scary at first. Solid ice at slightly more than the recommended speed limit. Once you turn off your brain it gets better.




Note the trough that the Dakar dug on the left. The dirt bikes made it through no problem.


Fort Chipewyan is a village of about 1200 people. It only has road access for 2-3 months a year while the ice road stays frozen. Other than one grocery store and a gas station, there’s not a lot of services. So the school teachers were very happy to get the donuts we brought them.



We picked up some oil for Gord’s bike. It started nicely but had an unhealthy noise in the motor. So that looks like the engine has to come apart for an inspection. Bummer. Buckwheat’s WR250 spun the tube badly in the tire. It wasn’t completely flat and was a b1tch to get out. Mike’s WR450 spun all the studs out of the center of the rear tire. He was trying an alternate stud technique that failed. Back to normal studs.

We brought up some food and we cooked a big supper at the school and ate with the teachers. They are a great group of people who make the most of where they live and work. After dinner we were put up in two unused school houses. A hot shower and 4 too many beers and then off to bed.

The next morning the school made breakfast for us and then we had an assembly. Our illustrious leader presented the school with all the swag and money he raised to help keep the kids in school. This school has an 80% drop out rate. It’s a tough job to convince some of these kids of the importance of an education. There are few role models for them. A native drummer was visiting from Saskatchewan and held a drum circle dance for us.





After the assembly the kids came out to have a look at the bikes.



We then suited up for the next 200km to Fort Smith. After 10km of open delta we entered Wood Buffalo National Park and the twisty section. Lots of corners, soft patches, trees, and big chunks of ice at the edges. I didn’t get too many pictures due to my camera batteries suffering in the cold. I had to take my camera pack off, get out the camera, fish out the batteries from my shirt pocket and insert for every photo. If you took more than a minute, the camera died.



As other riders of heavy bikes know, going slow in soft stuff doesn’t work. So it was 3rd gear into the corners and 4th gear straights. At the end of the 40k twisty section I couldn’t decide if that was fun or terrifying Buckwheat went down early when he lost the front in a 3rd gear corner. Being young he shook it off and continued. The young still bounce well. Myself and Aaron on the XR400 both saw God on the same corner. I saw this big front wheel plow mark in a soft corner just as I dropped into 3rd. %^$ me ! WFO and pray for the best. Once again gas saves the day. Hard to make your brain forget that and gas it into the next corner.



Once out of the trees it’s 140 km’s to Fort Smith. The road is semi maintained all season road. It had snowed heavily the week before then warmed up and rained. The result was 140km’s of perfectly iced road. You couldn’t crack the throttle in any gear without getting the rear wheel spinning. Pretty funny to be wound out in 5th and have the back wheel drifting.

This section is where the XR650 packed it in. Unknown problem but it shut off a couple of times and then refused to start. Too late to try and fix it, into the truck. Since the WR250 was in a truck for the last section we were down to 3 bikes. Only the XR400, the WR450 of Mike, and my Dakar remained.

When we pulled into Fort Smith and the 60th parallel, I celebrated with a nice 2nd gear power slide into the parking lot. This would have been very pretty if it didn’t end up with a highside in front of a crowd. Oh well, everyone loves a dumba$$.

The trip back to Fort McMurray was by truck. No one had the energy to ride. I was beat from Hippo wrestling the day before and had enough. Gord managed to take out a grouse or two on the way back.

We still managed to have some fun on the way back.

For larger pictures go to http://www.prosti-tech.com/coppermin...lbum=20&page=1 and click on a thumbnail. When that photo comes up, click again for a larger photo.

and a few random pics.

Mangy wolf on the way back


And some locals out for a ride.

Blair

[StmbtDave]

Very impressive. Definately hard-core. My co-workers think I'm nuts riding the 2 miles to work when it's 0F degrees and the roads are snowy. There's no way I would even consider an adventure like yours. Again, I'm impressed.

Dave

[levity]

Great story and "cool" photos!

Nice to combine fun and a good cause!



After reading that I have to return to the desert just to warm back up.

[arroyoshark]

Wow! I have no other words for this.

[Marbleless]

Okay, who's up for riding to Tuk?

[toothy]

Had to keep the batteries in your shirt pocket so they'd work for only a minute in the cold. Man.

Great write up.

[Baldy]

You have GOT to be kidding me!!

[Esteban]

I have always wanted to ride to Tuk on the frozen MacKenzie in the winter, but its too cold. Impressive riding guys !

Esteban

[[Red]]

great ride, great report & a great cause helping those kids!

[K2ride]

This definitely qualifies as ''Adventure Riding''...

AWSOME ''Adventure Riding'', I should add!

[dugmar]

You know it is cold when the completely block the radiator off in the truck. Nice report, thanks!

[Colemanfu]

Looks a bit too cold for me but a great adventure. Fantastic cause as well. Wonder how many kids will become riders.........you gave them meories for life!

[Gadget Boy]

Those Crazy Canucks!!

[gothamAlp]

wow. all i can say is

[Banshee]

wow, you guys are nuts! very cool and way to support the school