24 Hours of Light

To celebrate the Summer Solstice I participated in a mountain biking relay. Whitehorse has a phenomenal mountain biking trail system. Pretty much anywhere you are in the city and within a 20 mile radius you are less than half a mile from well maintained and marked trails. 

One in particular is the 24 Hours of Light Trail, that the Contagious Mountain Biking Club of Whitehorse uses to host an annual relay event. Teams can consist of 1-8 people and you try to get as many laps on the trail as you can in a 24 hour time period. 

Our team from Sockeye Cycle lapped the trail 24 times in 24 hours and placed 3rd out of 10 8 man teams. One man, Carl, did 21 laps all on his own! 

The trail was great for everyone. It started out with a lot of uphill climbing then a few rocky sections, then a section over a ledge with a great view of the neighboring valley, then a winding tree section, then the last 2 kilometers was about as fast as you wanted to go down a dirt service road and a small down hill to finish your lap. 

Our team after being awake for the 24 hours a little sleepy, but we had a great time. 

Carcross, Yukon

Last summer I really began to enjoy downhill mountain biking. At Winter Park in Colorado you load your bike on the lift and then ride it down the ski runs. However, in Alaska downhilling is a little different. There are no lifts to take your bike up the mountain so you have to ride or push it up your self. Just about 1.5hrs from Skagway is a great little town called Carcross. It is in the Yukon and a great place to visit if Skagway is rainy and foggy. Carcross always seems to have some sunshine. Just to the south is Montana Mountain or a downhillers paradise. At Montane Mt a man named Wayne has dedicated the last 15 years of his life creating and maintain some excellent single track mountain biking trails. There are runs with jumps, mellow blues and greens and some really difficult steep runs or some with lots of rocks for the more technical rider. The best part about the mountain is you can find a run for everyone you go with. The down side is you have to ride your bike up the hill, no lifts. But it's worth it!

This is lake Titshi just past the Yukon boarder on your way to Carcross.

And we saw a bear this Sunday!

 Liz and Mike riding up the service road to our first rune.

 Coming down the trail!

Me, Mike and Liz all skipping the jump. We all jumped it the next time through.

Going over a "skinny" or wooden feature.

Skagway the town

There are very few sunny days and most of the time the weather is rainy, cloudy and windy. Skagway the name comes from the native Tlingit word Skaguay which means "home of the north wind." And most days it lives up to that name. However, we have had some beautiful days, so I took advantage of one and took some pictures around town.

This is the back alley of the shop with our row of vans we take on tour.

This is the front of the shop on 5th street.

Just a cool picture of the mountains coming directly out of the sea. They are about 4,000-5,000 feet high and extend about 1,600 feet into the sea.

This is from the end of the pier looking back at Skagway. The valley is the White Pass and one of the major routes to the Yukon during the gold rush. It is the only way in and out of Skagway by car.