Bicyling the Yukon

Where better to spend summer solstice weekend then the Canadian Yukon? Last Saturday was the annual Kluane Bicycle Relay. It's a 150 mile event that starts in beautiful Haines Junction (Canadian Yukon) and heads south, over the Chilkat Pass and down to the seaside town of Haines (Alaska). The highway between the two cities, the Haines Highway, was built in 1943 by the Army Corps of Engineers. It connected Haines, a U.S. military base, to the Alaska-Canadian (AL-CAN) Highway which had been built a year earlier. The AL-CAN connects the contiguous U.S. to Alaska via Canada and was a military supply route during World War II. The Haines fort was decommissioned in 1947. The military jeeps are long gone and at least every June, they are replaced by hoards of bicyclists.

Bikers in the Kluane relay have the option of riding solo, double, or on four person or eight person teams. Generally, I'm on a four person team, but this year I rode double with a friend of mine who is recovering from a paragliding accident last summer. After multiple surgeries, her recovery goal was to complete the second half of the Kluane bike relay. It took us over twelve hours but we did it! I rode the first 70 miles and with my ultra-marathon goal in mind, I stopped and ate and went for "time on my seat". It was a gorgeous sunny day. The first half of my ride was pure enjoyment. But, as I was beginning a series of climbs towards the pass, the notorious Chilkat winds kicked in and my luxurious ride through the stunning mountains rapidly morphed into a demanding physical grind.

Here is the elevation chart for the entire ride. The first rider does the climbing. The second rider takes over about 10 miles short of the Chilkat pass and then has a thrilling downhill spin through U.S. customs and finishes with about 30 miles along the rapidly flowing Chilkat River and generally faces a nasty headwind.
This year the wind subsided below the pass and my friend had a lovely ride into Haines. On Sunday morning, we boarded the ferry back to Juneau. It sounds odd after riding 70 miles, but my legs felt rested Sunday afternoon when I ran up to the local tram. I've heard that running and biking require using different leg muscles, and I guess that's true. This weekend I'm running lower mileage and early July brings my two hardest training weekends. Will I wish I was back on the bike?

8 Hours on Old Mining Trails

After two weeks of gorgeous weather, rain has returned to the Tongass Rainforest. Fortunately, I was almost done with my 25 mile run on Friday when the storm started. I ran Perseverance Trail, including the wooden "Flume" section, three times. During my run I saw a bear, a chubby marmot, mountain goats, and as I rounded a curve, a small black animal that scampered into the bushes, shrieking at me. We have mink on the shores here, so maybe it was a mink. I was at about 500 feet of elevation. My partner and a friend of ours ran the third out-and-back with me.

Perseverance Trail is stunning rain or shine. It begins in the mountains, less than half a mile from my office in Juneau and climbs several miles to the turn-around point at Ebner Falls. Perseverance Trail is over 100 years old and originally led to five large gold mines, one of which in the early part of last century was the largest gold mine in the U.S. Here's a picture of miners heading up the trail to start their day:


The gold mines are gone but there remains over 150 miles of tunnel in the mountains that surround Juneau.

Saturday my partner and I stayed on Douglas Island and ran the Treadwell Ditch. The Ditch was an ingenious waterway crafted in the early 1900's to carry water from Cropley Lake that sits above what is now Juneau's ski area down and around the mountains to the Treadwell mine at sea level; a slow and steady drop of over 2000 feet. The waterway is still visible and the trail that runs alongside is still runnable IF you don't mind forging several rushing streams above waterfalls and climbing over 10 or so downed trees. The trail is VERY technical, but a good place to run on a rainy, windy day because you're in the forest the entire 11 miles. Here's a picture near the end showing one of the better sections of trail next to the water ditch:


Here's a photo showing why the Treadwell Ditch is not a weekly run and why we each turned our ankle a couple of times:


On the trail, after we passed the spur trail to Bonnie Brae, we came upon lots of bear scat but luckily no bears. Our dog, Lars, did run (literally) into an angry momma Ptarmigan. She hissed and chased him and then led him down the trail away from her 3" chick.


But, that was the only real excitement during the trek. Really, it was a splendid run considering that we were protected from the rain and 25 mph gusts raging down the channel. The trail skirts three or four alpine meadows, and the wildflowers are in full bloom. We saw Monkshood, Chocolate Lillie's, Dogwood, Columbine, and Lupine. Oh yes, and I fell into a mud hole surrounded by Devil's Club, and its prickles are still in my left palm. According to local lore, Devil's Club is used by Native Alaskans as a tonic in tea to prevent cancer. It has other medicinal purposes, including helping to stabilize blood sugar and when its root is pounded, its applied as a salve to stings and wounds. But, it is nasty looking, don't you think?


Completely wet and our legs covered in mud, we finished the run after 3+ hours. We were surprised to turn around during the last fifty feet and find another soggy runner bearing down on us. Who else would be running the Ditch in this weather? It turned out to be local trail-running legend, Geoff Roes, in the midst of his final training run for the Western States 100 that takes place in Squaw Valley, California the last week in June. Geoff's blog is inspirational for anyone thinking about running an ultra: http://akrunning.blogspot.com/

Here are the Garmin stats for our run (once there click on Satellite to see the Google Earth version): Untitled by anne.johnson1 at Garmin Connect - Details

Back at the house, Lars raced to his bed and sacked out for the remainder of the rainy day.


Aaahhh...the life of a Juneau dog.

Running a Marathon as Training

Wow! I forgot how hot and sticky Minnesota is in the summer compared to Juneau, but a few miles into the Stillwater Marathon on Sunday, I remembered. Why did I run a marathon in the midst of my training? Well, a website I stumbled on recommended running a marathon or a 50 km event as part of one's ultra training because of the value of the water-stops. For a change, I followed the instructions which here advised not cutting back for the run but just adding it into the schedule. Since I'm an expert at defying tapering rules, I gave it a try.

It was a mass start of 4 races (marathon, half, 20 miler, and 12k). My partner ran the first two miles with me and then she split off for an impressive 12k finish. During the remaining 24.2 miles, I practiced holding at 10 minute miles, walking frequently, eating more, and rebuilding my store of Vitamin D after a rainy Juneau winter. Despite the heat I finished smiling, but the sprinkler at the end was the absolute best part!

Here are the Garmin stats and Satellite map: Untitled by anne.johnson1 at Garmin Connect - Details

The most challenging aspect of the weekend was getting up at dawn the next morning and running another 12 miles (a mini-sandwich). Generally, the day (or often days)after a marathon, I indulge myself by sleeping in and rising late for a large, guilt-free brunch. But no, this post-marathon morning I found myself trudging around the Minneapolis lakes laden with lactic acid. The last 6 miles were sheer drudgery and involved my stopping every 100 yards to stretch. I guess that's the point of the weekend 'sandwich'; a taste of the disabling pain that I'll feel in the last dozen or more miles of the ultra. Have I mentioned that I haven't registered yet?