Bike race, fishing and Dawson City Music

While Dan was in Italy, I explored the state of Alaska and the Yukon Territory of Canada. I am rather shonky at keeping up-to-date with this blog thing, hence three entries in one. Moreover, I will seek to put more pictures than words, since this may propel me into writing more often!

I signed up to race the Fireweed 400 with two friends, Stacia and Heike. The race took place in early July in south central Alaska, and saw each of us riding around 135 miles (or 215km) through glacier filled scenery and over a mountain pass. Spectacular! We were first in our category, taking 27 hours,...which wasn't hard given that we're the first all-female team to enter the event! See New Zealand Endurance Sport Magazine in mid-September for an article by me, and some photos of the event.

Heike and I at a speedy transition!


My cheery self riding my first 65 km


Our rides with funky mist covered mountains in the background.


Road cycling at its best, with views like this

To carry on the theme of summer sleep deprivation I headed to the Chitina River with friends Pat and Heike to dipnet for salmon through the night. My dad was rather appalled that instead of rod and reeling for fish, we would stick a GINORMOUS net into the water and pull out salmon! It's very un-classy and more like grocery shopping than sport fishing. Still, I manage to have some "skill" (or luck) and caught around 15 salmon and a big king! Between the three of us we landed around 36 salmon, and now our freezers are filled with these tasty delights. This is rather quintessentially Alaskan, and the next stop on the semi-subsistence food trail is berry picking, then moose hunting. Guess which one of those two I'm up for? (They're sweet and their capture involves no blood).

That's me with the white hat and big net at 3am trying to call the fishies!

This is my King Salmon! The delirious look is a mix of pleasure and sleep deprivation

Me and my creek on the drive to Fairbanks

I headed to the Dawson City Music Festival at the end of July with a group of ten friends. It was an *amazing* trip involving a scenic eight-hour drive through Alaska and across the border to Canada. I saw a running herd of caribou, passed through the town of Chicken, Alaska, and saw fireweed covered hills.

The festival itself was fantastic, with a vast array of contemporary Canadian music played in an old church, a palace like the one in the Muppet Show (with those big fancy archways all the important people sit in on the third floor) and a biergarten. The midnight sun has everyone energised, so we spent our mornings at running races and training, and the evenings in late night dancing and drinking cider. This is a trend I have to continue, given my fifth place in the race!

Ed and I taking some time out from dancing to pose

This is the view we earned from our 7.5km uphill running race. In the foreground you can see our friend Dan's dog Sky, Dawson City below, and the clear waters of the Klondike river merging with the mighty Yukon. (Thanks to Ted for the pilfered photos!)