Home! (Car 16, at least)

Well, after last night’s awards banquet and social to-do, the Sirius Rally Team has gone it’s separate ways and headed for home.  As the lucky ones closest to (one of our) homes, we managed to make it back to Calgary by 9 in the morning on Wednesday.  As it turns out, neither of us could sleep past 4 am, so we decided to hit the road.  The Icefields Parkway is spectacular in the daytime, but not much to look at at 5 in the morning.

So, a team update on behalf of the travelling Siriusians still on the road!

As a team we all did extremely well, especially for rookies!  Car 18, Bill and Doug, finished 12th overall and 2nd in class IIE, with 271 points.  This was a great finish for a great couple of guys.  They had the most entertaining runs through the ice race course, with the snowbank crushing power of the Dodge.   Car 17, Jen, Gord and August, finished 11th overall and 2nd in class IE with 261.4 points.  They claimed first overall in the ice races on combined times, beating all of the perennial favourites in this part of the competition.  We in Car 16 finished 9th overall and first in class IIE, with 159.9 points.  Most importantly, all of us on the team had a great time, enjoyed each other’s company and made it to the end of the event with relatively little drama.

All of this was announced at the end of rally banquet at the Jasper Inn, where each car and team was described with some highlights, along with their scores and standings.  A computer projector showed photos and videos from the event, and great fun was had watching all the clean lines and major stuffs from the ice races.  After the dinner, we all chatted and talked about the event and rally in general.  It was great being able to kick back and get to know so many people from across the continent(s, for car 12).

All in all, a fantastic event and a great experience!

Josh

We did it!

We arrived in Jasper this afternoon to complete the Alcan 5000 Rally at mile 4706.944. We’re glad everyone arrived here safe and sound. We’re looking forward to the banquet tonight to share stories and see results. There’s no wireless internet here at the hotel so I’m making this short post from my cellular internet account. Stay tuned for more updates from us.

Thanks to those who followed us along the way and provided their words of support. See you soon!

AU

Car 16 Inuvik to Tuk to Eagle Plains to Whitehorse to Liard Hotsprings to Dawson Creek Update

So we’re back in civilization, or at least Dawson Creek, just across the Alberta border in northern BC.  Since my last update we have travelled north from Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk, been fogged in on the Beaufort Sea on the drive back south, spent the night in the 1970’s chic Eagle Plains Hotel, returned to Dawson City, Whitehorse and points south, and are now at the end of the Alaska Highway.

Day by day updates:

Friday – Departed Inuvik NWT for Tuktoyaktuk via the ice road.  Arrived in Tuk about 9:30 am, and got some good pictures of ourselves at the Trans Canada Trail marker at the tip of the town.  Walked around town before heading back south again, and got invited in to the town office by the staff, cause they were surprized to see so many cars driving to the town that time of year.  Headed south on the ice road in a thick ice fog, but made it back to Inuvik safely.  Did a little shopping and got some photos of the unique architecture around the place.  Headed south to Eagle Plains on the Dempster Highway. 

Saturday – Departed Eagle Plains early for a side tour to Dawson City in daylight, discovered that at -30 and the middle of winter, Dawson is pretty much shut down.  Got some great photos of Dawson, then headed south for Whitehorse.

Sunday – Had a short (8.4 mile) TSD section in Whitehorse, then off to the lake for an ice race.  Managed to only pick up 4 points on the TSD, and then didn’t take maximum points at the ice race!  Our teammates, Car 17, took fastest overall time of the day, to lead the ice races overall for 4WD studded tire cars.  After the ice races, we headed south on the Alaska Highway to the Watson Lake signpost forest and the Northern Rockies Lodge where we spent the night.  This place is amazing – almost the middle of nowhere, and just a great facility.  Saw about 50 buffalo along the highway on the drive.  Very cool!  On the way down, stopped at the Liard Hotsprings for a soak, and got to relax in the steaming water while the air temperature was about -5 degrees.  Great way to end the day.

Monday – a long transit day, we headed south on the Alaska Highway again, ending in Dawson Creek.  Along the way, we had TSD sections in Fort Nelson and just outside Dawson Creek.  Picked up 16 points total, middle of the pack for the day, but we are still managing to lead class 2E.  Had a short parking lot session trying to help Gord, our teammate and Subaru tech, patch one of the officials cars whose timing belt seems to have jumped a few cogs.  I wasn’t much help, but I felt good about contributing a flashlight.  We are resting up for the final day tomorrow – 330 miles south from Dawson Creek to Jasper, with one TSD and lots of transits.

Josh

Day 9 – TSD Rally Sirius Style

I had every intention of dragging Gord and August back to the hot springs this morning, but I think we really needed our sleep in time, still recovering from the chaos of the first few days of the Alcan Rally. Having no internet at Liard was a treat; we had a chance to chat and relax without dealing with tech frustrations and frantic uploading. I’ve been able to enlist the guys to help with the updates as well. It was fitting that Gord agreed to write about yesterday, since it was his big day as the iceX champ. Josh, our teammate from car 16, was in the hunt for fastest time, even though his rennovated Forester lacks a turbo. His advice of the day, a mantra he followed, was “brake LATE”. We have some video of him ‘kissing’ the snowbank on the final outer corner, and he put on a great show.

It feels as though we have resurfaced in the civilized world today – we’ ve started to wonder about what’s been happening at home while we’ve been gone, and August and Gord are once again tied to their cellphones. We started at Liard and we’re sleeping at Dawson Creek, and here’s a little bit about how our uneventful but enjoyable day unfolded:

We are finally getting the hang of this TSD thing. Gord has generously agreed to let me do the remainder of the TSD driving, and August is totally on with his spreadsheet and the real time challenges of keeping us on perfect time. We had two regularities, both about 12 miles in length. The first was near Fort Nelson, taking us through a snowy neighbourhood and around the airport turnaround at 10 mph. I think Gord lets me drive because I’m good at going really slow when needed. As one might imagine, Bill and Doug are having trouble doing slow average speeds in their massive truck, and they’re in for it even more because August has just told me there is a section requiring an average speed of 4 mph tomorrow!

The second was part of the Old Alaska Highway, and I was nearly driven to distraction by a fierce and colourful sunset along an old road with a crazy bridge and lots of turns. We’re still waiting for the scores, but it felt great. I’m sad that the rally is ending tomorrow, since today has been a pretty happy and effective day for the team. There’s a lot more to say, but the rally is in its last hours and I am eager to enjoy the time we have left. August’s friend Ryan is here to keep us company, and we’re starting to organize our homecoming plans. I’ll be fleshing out the details of all the posts as they come back to me, and we’re aiming to have photos up before we leave for Jasper tomorrow.

JD

Update: The scores are in and we finished the day with a tiny 6 points overall. That’s only 3 points per regularity; with each one having 4 checkpoints, that’s a lot of ones and zeros (and one two, but still, I’m proud). Our teammates, car 18, are only 2.4 points ahead of us overall, so the story of the day will be Rex vs. Dodge for the win.

Day 8 – Hot Springs and Hotter Lap Times

The first job of day 8, which began in Whitehorse, was to repeat the Lost Lake TSD regularity, which the team nearly missed last time around because our alarm didn’t go off. For our Lost Lake revenge Jenn was at the wheel, August was in the right seat and I was the checkpoint hunter, drinking some Tim Hortons in the back. I witnessed some outstanding driving and navigating by Jenn and August and enjoyed some outstanding coffee from Tims. We ended up with just 16 points for the regularity – a big improvement from the 200 points we got last time! The second section of the reg was nearly perfect – only ones and zeros. After Lost Lake we returned to the IceX course for another race, my favourite part of the Alcan.

Last night us and other teams lobbied the rally organizer to run a reverse start order, giving teams with a higher starting number a better chance to put down some fast lap times. Last time there was a big difference in grip and available lines from the first to the last laps. Today, with an extra turn at the start and very polished ice from the last race the conditions were very ‘slippy’. Fearing the wrath of the Rex, some competitors were swapping tires last night, hoping for their best chance at keeping up.

All three of us had clean runs, no spins or snowbanks! With the promise of a cold beer for fastest lap of the day from teammate Doug, I drove flat out. I came across the finish line after my second lap running on only three cylinders, and a flashing check engine light. The problem was quickly remedied in true ‘Rocket’ style and the Rex was ready to run again. Results were not posted until late, and suspense had been killing me as both runs felt slow. To my surprise both runs were fastest of the day by about four seconds….yes!! Jenn and August both put in respectable times as well.

Day 8 ended at Liard Hot Springs after a ‘brief’ 400 mile transit. On route we stopped in Watson Lake and had look at the 70,000 plus signs posted at the Sign Forest of the Alaskan Highway (I only counted 69,886). We ended up up to our nuts in snow trying to see them all. Later in the drive we were greeted by a herd of elk/caribou, and up the highway a whole bunch of buffalo rooting through the snow. We pulled in to Liard in near last place again, but we were the first to the Hotsprings. We hiked the trails, but the small upper pools couldn’t compare to the big main pool, steaming and sulphury, with staircases and benches, but totally pitch black. The water temperature was patchy, but some lazy treading water evened it out nicely. We let our eyes adjust and searched for stars, but eventually the rest of the rally arrived with beaming headlamps, and we called it a night. One of the other competitors has a telescope with him, we found out, and hopefully we’ll get a chance to see some clear skies before the rally ends. We joined Bill and Doug for a few drinks in their sans plumbing bare bones but charming cabin, and we got to bed on time for a change. All and all another satisfying day and it’s off to Dawson Creek tomorrow. Can’t believe there are only two more days left – it has been so much fun.

GR

Day 7 – Retracing Our Tracks

The first lull in the frenetic pace of the Alcan Winter Rally happened today, and things are quiet at our hotel in Whitehorse. We started the morning with a pre-dawn departure from Eagle Plains with the Keatleys who needed to get some photos of Dawson City in the daytime for Josh’s wife in Alberta. Gord and then August were at the wheel to take us down and off of the Dempster; I slept most of the way. We got our first bite of frigid Northern air in Dawson, and took only a quick walk down by the paddleboat before opting for an ‘in car’ tour.

Last night at Eagle Plains was a time warp, taking me back to the feeling of my Aunt’s ‘camp’ in Terrace Bay, ON, to being surrounded by overimbibers, like an undergraduate, and to a time way before my generation, which is documented in the photographs and artifacts that line the walls and ceilings of the Eagle Plains Hotel. Mining, hunting, trailblazing and manhunts were part of the history of the NWT, and a night here gives names, faces, and a powerful sense of being closer to that wilder time. It’s a great resting stop after driving the Dempster and the ice road like an outlaw, and after witnessing the austerity and hardship of Tuktoyaktuk. The dogs at Eagle Plains are as friendly and striking as the dogs I knew in Bella Coola. We spent the later part of the evening with three locals passing through on their way to hunt caribou. I enjoyed hearing what life in the North is like from people who have always lived there; at times visiting places for mere hours feels disconnected and artificial. They told us about a road that might someday be built from Yellowknife to Inuvik, a similar road to the one I assumed existed when I was pestering Jerry the Alcan Organizer to avoid backtracking from Inuvik to Whitehorse. I’m surprised and a bit humbled at how much 7 days of driving has changed my perspective on many things: from what qualifies as road food, to what living as an aboriginal youth in Northern Canada might be like, and even my thoughts on Americans.

We drove slowly but on track back to the hotel in Whitehorse, did some laundry, and had designs on bigger things, but the boys are asleep. I hope August doesn’t get worse with his virus and I’m so glad he was willing to write about our Tuktoyaktuk trip. Tomorrow we get another shot at full speed glory at the iceX, and then on to the Liard Hotsprings. The pace and energy of the Alcan seemed to fizzle out tonight as many nursed their Eagle Plains hangovers, but I think a new sort of character might emerge as we gear up again for the last few days. We’ve been plotting some more mischief, and I hope we’ll enjoy the fruits of it tomorrow.

JD

Send the Sirius Rally Team Real Time Email Messages

The Rom Comm tracker is working better than ever since we brought it in from the cold just before we hit the ice road. It will be amazing to see our route plotted along the Mackenzie Delta and the ocean in the years to come, but now we’re hoping to use it to keep in touch with our families and friends. To send a message directly and instantly, check the siriusrally box on the main menu, and hit the ’send email’ button. Popups MUST be enabled for this to work, as a text box will open for you to type your message. August has tested this and it works well, so feel free to send us greetings or scoldings or any notes from home. The tracker is in the rex, car 17, but we are in close contact with the Keatleys in car 16 as well as Bill & Doug, and Stevan and Kristin. We could probably send word along to any team on the rally, as long as we know who to look for, so please include names and car numbers.

Connect with the Sirius Rally Team via Rom Comminications HERE.

Day 6 – The Ice Road

On Friday morning we embarked on the portion of the trip that I had been dreaming of driving since 1998 – The Mackenzie Ice Road. I first heard about the Ice Road from a friend of mine named Chris Donald. In 1986 he and a team took donated Jeeps from Chrysler to Tuktoyaktuk and back to Vancouver for Expo 86. It was Chris’ stories that got me interested in the trek which then led me on to the Alcan 5000.

Leaving from Inuvik well before dawn, we drove down the boat launch of the Mackenzie River and turned right towards the Arctic Ocean. Shortly after leaving town we passed large tug boats, supply ships and barges frozen in the very river that we were driving on. Our visibility was unlimited and we could see the riverbanks until we left the river delta and veered northwest on the Beaufort Sea along the northern shores of the Northwest Territories.

The ice road seemed to get rougher as we changed from fresh water ice to sea water ice. The cracking in the ice was more prominent. Unfortunately the ice claimed one tire on car 19 and one tire on car 14 who also sustained injury to two struts.

Just as we had left Inuvik, we drove up the boat launch in Tuktoyaktuk. The sun was just rising as we arrived, filling the horizon with soft orange light. We explored the Hamlet of Tuktoyaktuk for about an hour, taking lots of photos and searching for a place to buy Tuktoyaktuk University t-shirts, or more commonly worded “Tuk U”. The only place that sold them in Tuktoyaktuk was the RCMP Detachment and apparently they weren’t open for a few more hours. Fortunately I was able to find some in Inuvik at the Inuvialuit Regional Office.

When we left Tuktoyaktuk, we were amazed to see how fast the weather conditions changed. The visibility changed from unlimited to less than 100 feet. Apparently Tuktoyaktuk was expecting blizzard conditions later that evening. By the time we got back on to the Mackenzie River, the visibility opened up all the way back to Inuvik. We got a short glimpse of just how arduous winter road travel can be and it gave us an appreciation of the people who live and work in these remote communities.

This 109 mile ice road is a vital link to Aklavik, Tuktoyaktuk and numerous oil and gas operations staging from Tuktoyaktuk. The ice road is open from mid December to late April on average with the record late opening on February 15 1988 and the record early closing on April 15, 1998. According to the Northwest Territories Transportation, the bearing capacity of the ice was posted as 64,000 kg which amounts to an ice thickness of 126 cm. By the same formula, our vehicle needed only 20 cm of ice thickness not including other factors such as ice types and cracking.

Our trip is now past the halfway point and we are southbound from here on in.

AU

Sirius Team Organizational Meeting

We’ve been busy, disconnected, and simply having too much fun on our adventure to keep our Alcan diary updated and orderly for three days, so there’s lots of stories to read. Josh and Evans are in Car 16 and Jennifer, Gord and August are in Car 17; the individual team posts can be reached by clicking on the new Car 16 or Car 17 categories. We’re still having a great time with Bill and recent Birthday boy Doug in Truck 18. Check out their blog HERE, especially a quick clip of our recent snowball attack. Fourth in our convoy are Stevan and Kristin in Car 19, another blue Subaru, who are posting their Alcan diary HERE.

We’re all in Inuvik resting up for the Tuk trip in the morning. Thanks for all the comments, and we’re taking last minute orders for the epic load of Tuk tokens for friends and family all over.

JD

Day 4: Sirius Team Sleeps In & Takes Fastest IceX Lap

In rally competition terms, day 4 of the Alcan 5000 was a big one for the Sirius Rally Team. The morning started sunny and with the plan of maintaining a close 2nd in class, but we awoke at 8:10 and our in time for the first TSD was 8:15. We learned that rush hour traffic in Whitehorse occurs between 8:00 and 8:30. It might be the only stop on the Alcan that actually has a rush hour. Gord and August, capable of rushing out the door much faster than I, made it to the regularity before it closed, but managed maximum points. A 200 point addition to our total score will likely put us out of contention for the class and team wins, and has happily caused us to focus on the fun and the adventure, instead of the point by point obsession.

That said, I’m proud to report that Gord ran the fastest lap at the first iceX this morning. It was a very close margin against a perennial stage rally driver who has apparently piled the points on other teams in the past. August put in a smooth and quick single run, and I reached a new level of sideways rhythm before stuffing it in the bank mere inches from the finish line. Josh excelled and achieved drift and impressive stage times despite lacking a turbo. The most fun of the iceX was watching Bill and Doug in the Dodge shining their rims on all the snowbanks and pinning it through the straights. Our car 17 was sternly scolded for waiting in the finish area, but the 360 from the Dodge coming in after us was elective and not necessary to avoid us. Josh and Evans were able to visit with Josh’s long time friend and her kids who are living in Whitehorse. We got some great local info about a stop on our afternoon transit that featured gigantic cinnamon buns and mushers with dog teams crossing the finish line of the Yukon Quest Dogsled Race. We kept a casual pace all afternoon, dawdling along the road from Whitehorse to Dawson City. The weather was looking unfavorable for eclipse viewing, but we located the moon through the clouds just before the eclipse was complete, and we stopped to watch it when it was clear enough to see it emerging from the earth’s shadow. Evans later told me that he had seen the bright full moon early in the evening and wondered where it had gone. I wish I could have asked him to point it out to me because I almost missed in entirely.

With our eyes on the skies we ended up being the last team into Dawson, and hadn’t finished dinner before some of our new friends left the pub for bed. We heard from another competitor that it was our teammate Doug’s birthday on day 5 tomorrow. I really think birthdays should be a big deal, and an occasion with limited resources is extra fun. Everyone who was left in the bar gathered together to figure out how to wish Doug ‘Happy Birthday’ in ‘on the road to the Arctic’ style. Of course there’s not a balloon or cupcake to be found in Dawson at midnight in the winter, so we relied on toilet paper, shaving cream, drinking straws, zap straps and inflated condoms. We plastered our birthday wishes all over the big Dodge truck, in an occasion of decoration, or vandalism, depending on whom you ask (read Doug’s blog for details). Katie, one of the volunteers, happened to have a photo printer and some cardstock for impromptu cards, which Kristen, Steve and others managed to get signed by pretty much everyone on the rally. Gord spent a good chunk of the evening working on a blue Subaru that was leaking fuel because of the cold. He got a round of applause for his fastest lap at dinner, and after the car was fixed, he joined us for a toast to a great iceX. We crawled into bed way too late, but it was a great day on the Alcan.

Driving the Dempster on Alcan Day 5

The alarm went off (success – already a better start than yesterday!) and I peeked out the window to see if the truck maintained its glory overnight. I saw our teammate Bill peeling off toilet paper, and in a sober moment, I hoped we weren’t in big trouble. It went over well, in the end, and although they pulled all the stuff off, the shaving cream was frozen solid and as the engine warmed the hood chunks of it melted and gave clean smelling birthday windshield wishes for the better part of the morning. We traveled from Dawson City YT to Inuvik NWT along the Dempster highway, and as the sun set we did a few blocks of the 100km ice road that will take us all the way to Tuk tomorrow.

We had heard from the Alcan veterans that the Alcan starts on the Dempster, and today we found out why. This highway is a winding, elevated snowy path that undulates through mountains, bare tundra and smooth marshmallow arctic hills. There’s simply too much to describe, and I’m so glad we get to travel it twice. Gord and August were very patient with my requests to stop at every spectacle for photos or a closer look, but we had a hard time keeping on the required Alcan pace. Anyone who knows my Dad will understand that I am genetically inclined to photograph and marvel at every natural wonder while on a roadtrip holiday. We’ve been traveling in a convoy of four cars, which is fun because we’re all into the sights, speed, thrills and a bit of mischief as the best parts of the Alcan adventure.

The middle part of the Dempster rides along a ridge where I felt that we were driving at the top of the world. As we came down off the divide we crossed two ice bridges at Peel and Mackenzie, where they have the summer cable ferries stranded on snowbanks as a reminder of how different things will be there a few months from now. When we started out down the highway this morning the landscape seemed strange and unusual, and as we explored the streets of Inuvik, the scene seemed even more unfamiliar. There are snowmobiles everywhere, as erratic and unpredictable as jaywalking pedestrians but traveling at much higher speeds. The houses are lifted blocks with brash or faded coloured siding. The open space under the houses wards off permafrost. The streets are all ice roads, crisply white, except for a lot of yellow corners. It was hard to discern where the ice road started; I guess I was expecting a drive off a ramp like at a rally or some cheesy fuss and circumstance like on the Ice Road Truckers show, but it was quiet, simple and austere. Until we got buzzed by a bunch of snowmobiles. The dusk in Inuvik was the most colourful I’ve seen with no clouds – just pure pink and purple light, and white snow ice road. We’re leaving very very early tomorrow so I have time to meander and take it in before everyone catches up. To rally or to wander – a tough choice sometimes, but it’s a luxury I’ll happily negotiate.

Link to the Dempster Highway map HERE.

Car 16 Day 5 Update

Dawson City, Yukon Territory to Inuvik, Northwest Territories – Halfway!

The day started with a clear, crisp, but not too cold morning departure from Dawson City.  While it was still dark, all the rally cars departed the hotel and headed back to the Dempster Highway corner, where we all turned north on the road to Eagle Plains.  While the sky was slightly overcast, the visibility was great.  The Dempster runs in a valley, and the road looks like gravel, but the frozen surface actually gives it great traction.  We stopped for a few photo opportunities, and the weather was amazing – just a few degrees below zero!

After Eagle Plains, the road continued on through to Fort McPherson and Inuvik, where we are spending the night.  We arrived at around 6 pm local time, just early enough to catch the sunset, and to see a few of the sights in town. 

We’re off early tomorrow for the drive on the Mackenzie river up to the Beaufort Sea and Tuktoyaktuk, than back south again to retrace our steps all the way to Eagle Plains.

Link to the Dempster Highway map HERE.

Late Car 16 Day 4 Update

Whitehorse, Yukon Territory to Dawson City, Yukon Territory

Wednesday morning started with an actual breakfast at the hotel restaurant, a nice break from the road food we had been enjoying.  We started the morning with the Long Lake TSD regularity, a short in-and-out road near the Whitehorse sewage lagoons (thanks for the tip, Marusia!), where we actually managed to score 5 points total over 8 checkpoints, including 5 zeroes!  Then it was off to frozen Schwatka Lake for the first ice races of the rally.

A Whitehorse snowmobile club plowed a track on the surface of the lake, and each car was allowed to take up to 4 runs (2 per driver, maximum).  Evans did the first 2 runs, and I took the second stint.  Considering that the car has only 165 horsepower, we did fairly well, running about 5 seconds slower than the top cars.  With 9 hours allowed to get to Dawson City, we paused for lunch with our friends Marusia and Brendan, and Marusia’s twins Audry and Callum, before heading north again.  When we were just short of Dawson, we stopped to see the total lunar eclipse, then continued on to the cool Eldorado Hotel in downtown Dawson.

Late Car 16 Day 3 Update

New Hazelton, BC to Whitehorse, Yukon Territory

Tuesday was the longest travel day of the rally, with over 840 miles to cover.  The Sirius cars split up in the morning, with Jen, Gord and August leaving early to make a side trip to Bear Glacier near the Alaska border, and us following a little later.  We met up at Medzian Junction on the Cassiar Highway, a very scenic route north through heli-skiing country.  This road had been closed the previous week due to avalanches, and most of the gas stations along the route were either closed or frozen, making the trip a little difficult for the cars that went to Bear Glacier.  The rally had a stop for a great buffet lunch in Dease Lake, just prior to departing for a short TSD section on the highway heading north.  Then, cars 16, 17, 18 and 19 all travelled together as far as the Yukon border for a photo opportunity.  At the border, 16 and 17 stopped for fuel and then headed the next 460 kilometers to Whitehorse on the Alaska Highway.  This was a long, wide open highway that reminded me of the road in to Fort McMurray, just without the traffic.  All in all, a very long day, but lots of fun, with great scenery.

Late Car 16 Day 2 Update

Quesnel to New Hazelton
As we discovered late Sunday night, the Quesnel stock car track was too covered in snow to run the day’s ice race. Because of this, the organizers decided to add a TSD regularity instead, the (apparently) infamous 11% Grade road. This started at a local school and wound it’s way through some old logging roads and farmland. The navigator (Josh) discovered that there were several errors in the calculations, and was trying to redo them just before the start of the regularity. As it turns out, the road was quite difficult, especially with the checkpoint placements being located somewhere near the most difficult corner!
After finishing 11% Grade, we all returned to Quesnel and resumed the scheduled route, starting with the Blackwater Road TSD. This was actually a fairly wide open road for most of it’s length, but did not have many features to check the rally odometer against, making it tricky. After the end of the regularity, the road actually got much tighter and twistier, leading to some interesting driving from some of the cars, in particular the SUVs, which tended to launch themselves off the bigger bumps in the road. A long transit eventually led to the Fraser Lake TSD. This was a tricky section, due to the 12 mile per hour stretch in the middle. It was difficult to drive slowly enough through this section to make the checkpoint on time, and we ended up 20 seconds early. After we finished the 12 mph length, the remainder of the TSD was straightforward. We continued on north from there to Burns Lake, where we had a great lunch courtesy of one of the competitors and his friend Nathan at a local restaurant. After passing through Smithers, we finished the day in New Hazelton.

Day 3 Review – Mass Transit

Yesterday we drove 750 miles from New Hazelton BC to Whitehorse YT. At the end of such a long day in the car we preferred beers and karaoke over updating the website, and, it turned out, setting our alarm clocks. That’s technically a day 4 story, so more on our sleep in later.

The Sirius Team stuck close together on day 3, accompanied by the truck’s transit buddies Stevan and Kristin, in their blue Subaru. We left early to enjoy the sunrise and to make time for a quick detour west to see the Bear Glacier. A quick TSD section in the afternoon was all that was on the schedule aside from the transit, but we had a great time stopping for some photos and snowplay all along the route. We’re learning to use our in car camera, but the roads are so picturesque that we end up with a lot of video. The experience reminded me of driving the Icefields Parkway, because it’s very hard not to stop at every corner and marvel at the mountains. August was the driver and tour guide all the way to Dease Lake, because he works in the area occasionally. It’s a popular heliskiing destination that gets massive snowfalls, and in many places the banks were so high we couldn’t get good photos. Since I’m the camera happy one, I’ll be in the back seat for the scenic stuff from now on – Gord was (understandably) unimpressed with being blasted with cold highway speed winds whenever I opened the front window to snap a shot.

At the end of the TSD section our little convoy of cars 16-19 had agreed to wait for one another. When I set my feet out after we pulled over, they sank into perfect packing snow, and I could not resist the temptation to start a snowball fight. The huge truck offered a great barrier and we were lobbing snowballs over it onto the other blue Subaru, as well as pelting the Keatley’s windows and interrupting Josh’s calculations. It occurred to us that we were the last competitors through the rally, as most of the other cars had elected to take an earlier time through, so we joined forces in preparation for the control crews that would exit the reg soon after. We ambushed the first car, who promptly reported our hooliganism to the rest of the crews, but we waited for the next crew anyways. Since I can’t aim or throw for anything I underestimated the impact of a crowd that can! The scores at the end of the day showed terrible numbers that we’re calling ’snowball penalties’.

We’re on to Dawson now, after an outstanding time at the iceX this morning.

Day 2 – How Many Schoolkids Can Fit in a Rally Car?

The Sirius Team is safe and sound in New Hazelton, awaiting scores and preparing for the epic 700 mile trip to Whitehorse tomorrow. The second day of our Alcan adventure was fantastic. The sun was shining and our Sirius jackets were all we needed to stay warm. We remedied our tire/wheel issues early in the AM and set out for the TSD gathering point, which turned out to be at an Elementary School. All the kids and their teachers came out to see the cars; the crowd was big around the Mitsu team because they were handing out stickers, but we opened the Rex doors and let the kids sit in the car, so we got to visit with them too. I honestly never thought about how much they could mess up our setup by pressing or turning every available button, knob, timer, computer and everything, but August did! They didn’t do any irreparable damage, and it was great to see how excited they were about it all. A couple of them figured out the tracker in no time, and another gave me a lesson in driving a manual. I had my first major ‘elder’ moment, marveling at how smart and tech savvy they were (confession: August does all the tracker maintenance; I have no idea how to use it, aside from flipping the ‘on’ switch when told to do so). After the kids went inside we had enough time to prepare for the first regularity of the day.

The first TSD section, which replaced the cancelled iceX, was sneaky and demanding, but a great ride. Jennifer drove and August navigated hairpins and hills with brisk average speed requirements. Ron S, one of the Sirius Team mentors and a perennial presence at the Alcan, set up the most difficult control so far: we came uphill and around a hairpin at about 1/2 the speed we needed and were met with a smiling cameraman and a control timer! Darn, better luck next time. Our odo is spot on and August is dialing in the math, so at least we’re progressing and learning from our mistakes.

Although there was talk of cancelling the next section of the rally, it went ahead, and was by far the driving highlight of the day. Gord was next up for the TSD reg, which was about 19 miles in public traffic and then onto graded logging roads. We had heard so much about this reputedly tricky and fast section that Gord was stoked and August and I were a little worried. We came to the end of the TSD section; August and I were relieved and Gord was feeling cheated. What followed for the next 2.5h and almost 100 miles was the most amazing flowing snowy rally trail that we’ve ever encountered. Gord was setting a brisk pace and we were only temporarily hindered by other rally traffic. Our wheels left the snow in many places, and we heard similar accounts of jumps and photo ops from other competitors on the radio. The pro stage character of the road was commented on by many as well. By the time we pulled in to Vanderhoof, having left city roads in Quesnel, Gord was no longer feeling cheated.

The Alcan organizers are pros, and today they built in flexible in times for the latter part of the day. We elected, with Josh and Evans in tow, to bust it to the early time for the last reg. It was strange not to see a lot of rally traffic around, but many of the teams had stopped on the road of dreams to stretch and socialize with a competitor stuck in a snowbank. The last reg went smoothly, although we learned that we need more math for slow speeds, and that the Rex doesn’t do 12mph very well. Our early reg time allowed us to get lunch in Burns Lake with some of the rally frontrunners, but we weren’t quite fast enough because they were out the door soon after we arrived.

The Health in Order Cafe in Burns Lake was extremely generous and hospitable, and I’ll eat for days off of what they provided us. The Damms in car 20, our IE class rivals, organized the meal, and although we haven’t seen them yet, we’ll be thanking them heartily. Anyone passing through this part of the province would do well to patronize such a classy, healthy and wholesome eatery.

We finished the day with a casual and scenic drive through Smithers, admiring the snow tipped peaks and austere sunset. The moonlight was bright enough to make driving lights unnecessary, and we’re betting that the moon will be in the perfect viewing position for the eclipse on Wednesday. We’re off to check the scores and make our final control, and then a quick sleep. We are planning a very early departure tomorrow so that we have time to stop and enjoy the scenery, and take more photos, before the TSD in Dease Lake.

Day 1 – Practice Today for Perfect Tomorrow?

Today we traveled from Kirkland WA to Quesnel BC, and it’s good to be back in Canada. The preliminary scores are posted HERE. We are sitting in 9th place, and only 4 points behind the accomplished team that is leading our class. From reading Josh’s message and Bill’s & Doug’s blog I’ll put myself in 3rd place for best Sirius Alcan updates. We’ve enjoyed getting to know our teammates, and I’ll defer to their accounts of day one. To reach Bill’s & Doug’s page click HERE. They’ve got photos in the story; ours are posted together on the Sirius photo page HERE.

Part of being a team is poking fun at the other teams, and the Mitsubishi factory team has been our favourite target so far. The Mitsu blog for today describes traveling through the Okanagan on the way to Quesnel, but the route was hundreds of kilometres from Okanagan soil. They also apparently traversed the rocky mountains at Thunderbird last weekend, which took place between Merritt and Kamloops. Knowledge of local geography clearly isn’t required to follow a routebook – one of the Mitsubishi cars is currently tied for second overall.

Just a few details on the story in our car 17 today. August has been fine tuning his codriving and he’ll lead the team in the right seat for the TSD regularities. I drove the first reg pretty consistently and managed a zero; Gord took the wheel for the second reg and did pretty well for his first serious TSD driving. We stopped for a sunny patio lunch in Clinton, we all got a little nap time during the transits, and we’ve been enjoying CBC Radio 3 on the satellite.

Sirius was climbing in a perfectly clear sky as we filed into Quesnel, and we’re set for more TSD tomorrow. The iceX has been cancelled because of too much snow, but Jerry assured us that we’ll get three iceXs before we’re done. I really, really hope that this is true.

The view from car 16 – Day 1

It looks surprisingly like the back end of a GMC Envoy, at least some of the time.  More on that later!

Sunday started cold and sunny, with a coating of frost on the cars in Kirkland.  We had a few stickers to add to the Forester before the official start, then some team photos in the parking lot.  Bill and Doug’s truck is roughly eight times larger than the other two cars on the Sirius team, put together. 

From the start at the hotel, we transited north to the start of the first TSD, Mosquito Lake.  This was a 39.5 mile twisty paved road through the Washington countryside.  Fun road, and plenty of checkpoints to catch out our rusty TSD rally skills.  No major dramas for us at this stage, and the regularity ended a short drive from the Sumas border crossing.  A quick hop back into Canada, and we were heading north through the Fraser Canyon to Williams Lake.  This transit was 312 miles long, and took us from 10:46 am until 6:15 pm.  We had a little extra time when we arrived in Williams Lake, so we took a few minutes to replace the relay for one set of our driving lights before the night’s TSD.  The wiring for the lights kept blowing fuses mysteriously, so we fixed that again.

Then, it was time for the short Soda Creek TSD, and our first real taste of ice and snow since we finished driving the Coquihalla on Friday night.  The starting order has us behind a rented GMC Envoy SUV.  Around 15 miles into the 17 mile TSD, we caught up to them.  This means that we were either a) a minute early (bad) or b) they were a minute late (bad for them, not too bad for us).  We’re going with b), at least until we see the scores!  Because we were stuck behind them for a few miles, we lost some time at a couple of checkpoints.  For those of you contemplating TSD rallying, proper etiquette when caught by another car is to pull over and let them by.  No big deal though!

Another medium transit north to Quesnel, and we’re getting settled in for the night.

Josh

Alcan Winter Rally DAY 0 in Review

Here’s the big news from Kirkland today: the crew has added another car… err – TRUCK – to the team! The Sirius Rally Team welcomes Bill Beers and Doug Heredos from Oregon in their big Dodge Ram. All three Sirius entries will run together with start order numbers 16, 17 and 18. The team has the distinction of being a pure novice crew because no one on the team has ever entered an Alcan event. We needed another vehicle to be eligible for the team prize; Bill and Doug have stage rally experience, and valuable ‘pullling us out of the ditch’ potential. They’re in the Alcan for the fun and the adventure, just like the rest of the Sirius Team.

We came for the adventure, but August and Gord switched into full on ‘TSD nerd’ mode when they turned to pouring over the routebook tonight. Gord has been working on a TSD spreadsheet to make the codriving for the calculated sections easier, and although August wasn’t sold on the idea initially, the two of them dialed in all the math for tomorrow, despite routebook errors. I’m feeling pretty darn lucky to have such great teammates! They ended up working the laptop and routebook in the middle of the reception, sending a few codrivers back to their rooms to get at the math as well. We also sorted out the odometer on the way to Kirkland today, and, happily, it’s looking like we haven’t crammed too much stuff in the Rex.

Gord drove from Squamish to Kirkland today, with August navigating and managing logistics and Jennifer fussing with the rally computer and the in-car camera. We left Squamish late because we had to wait for a tire that didn’t show, and then we ended up hopping along the border crossings until we found the one with the shortest lineup. We won a race against a locomotive to get to the Sumas crossing, all the while laughing at what our tracker path will look like. We got to the HQ to witness the close of the driver’s meeting, which from all accounts was a practice session for the story telling that will become the staple of Alcan social interaction.

It wouldn’t be RALLY unless we did things past the last possible minute, so after tech and registration, we went shopping. We needed to fix our in car camera, and to find a good extension cord for keeping the Rex warm up north. We neglected to stop and buy Revelstoke for Dave, but we’ll try again at the Duty Free tomorrow. Who knew that beer and wine stores are closed Sundays down here? At least he’ll be happy that we have a huge truck on our team.

We might end up crediting someone for helping us every day of the Alcan, but again, a couple friends really came through for us today. The Sirius team left Squamish this morning short a studded tire that should have been there yesterday, and we will be lucky enough to get it as we pass through the lower mainland tomorrow. This is a replacement tire for the one that got shredded at Tbird last weekend. Thanks to Warwick and Fraser for going out of their ways to play personal courier this weekend.

We’re headed back to Canada during the first day of the Alcan tomorrow. Aside from a few cursory questions and a good look at us, the border guard sent us through with a smile today and we expect the same tomorrow. There could be some tales from the American competitors though. We won’t rest until we get to Quesnel, which is as far away as Josh mentioned below. There are two TSD scored regularities tomorrow, and we’re hoping to meet up with Gord’s folks and Fraser in between. The team has been discussing how to mete out the driving / navigating / passing out in the back seat duties, and so far we’re planning on taking it day by day. Tomorrow August will drive off the start line for the team; Jennifer and Gord will drive a TSD each. Whoever is still standing will probably take the last long drive to Quesnel. My bet is on Gord.

The Team’s all here…

It’s Saturday afternoon in Kirkland, Washington, and both the Canadian Sirius Rally Team cars have arrived (with their people), although there was a short holdup for Jennifer, Gord and August getting here.  Currently, everyone is checked in, and we’ve gotten through tech without any hiccups.  Evans and Josh arrived in Chilliwack, BC, Friday evening after driving through Rogers Pass in true Canadian winter conditions (I’ll post a picture as soon as I’ve figured out how).

Tonight, the rally kicks off with a reception here at the host hotel, then tomorrow will consist of 483.351 miles from Kirkland to Quesnel, BC, including two TSD sections.

 Time to start calculating!

 JPK

Sirius Team Bound for Alcan 5000 HQ

The 2008 Alcan Winter Rally starts tomorrow!! The Sirius team is packed and as ready as it will ever be for the adventure ahead. Josh and Evans are already traveling to the Alcan start for scrutineering, registration and a bit more information about what they’ve gotten themselves into. August, Gord and Jennifer will be joining them in the morning.

There’s a lot of people to mention before we hit the road. Thanks to all the friends and family that have wished us luck and love, and we promise to take good care of one another. Here’s a short list of some of the businesses that have used connections, donated time or gave us a good deal to help prepare the car and the team:

Thanks to ROM Communications for the tracker and tech support. It’s been a big hit so far and we’re looking forward to being followed all the way North.

Thanks to SMD Automotive in Whistler and to Big O Tire in Westbank for the tires and wheels.

Thanks to Mountain Crests in Whistler and Mojo Signs in Squamish for decking us and the rex out in style! Even with its logging truck scars the car looks ready to rally!

Thanks especially to Cynthia at Hula-la Design Company for the Sirius logo. All the guys at Rocket think the pink decals look awesome.

It was dark and rainy in Squamish by the time the car was ready, so we left the photo session until the morning. We’ll try and post some shots before we leave.

Tracking the Sirius Rally Team at the Alcan Winter Rally

The BC contingent of the Sirius Rally Team is together in Squamish and preparing for Saturday morning’s departure. The Rom Comm tracker is online and can be viewed through the following link:

http://www.romcomm.net/romtrax_md/

The following information is required to access the Sirius account:

username: rally
password: rally

On some computers a map may be visible on the main screen. To view the team position in Google Earth, from the main Rom Comm screen, check the box next to ‘Sirius Rally’, then click on the Google Earth icon. Google Earth provides an accurate and detailed map, but it’s not absolutely required. To use the Rom Comm map server, click on the ‘Sirius Rally’ text from the initial menu. This will open the Unit Detail screen, and clicking on ‘ROM Map Server’ will show the team position on a map. In general, the Rom Comm site can be navigated by following directions in the left hand column. The site also has a date range feature that shows all the tracker points for a set period of time, plotting the route as the team travels.

Please email siriusrally@telus.net for troubleshooting suggestions. We’ll do our best to get everyone interested in tracking our adventure online before the official start on Sunday AM.

Eis Munkys Take Savoia Aero Team Prize at TBird 2008

This year’s Thunderbird rally was a classic snow event. Over forty cars took to the backroads between Merritt and Kamloops, and although many ended up in snowbanks multiple times during the rally, at the end of the event there were only 2 DNFs. The Eis Munky Rally Team this year had both new and returning members, and took the overall team prize with three class wins. Congrats to Historic winners (and captain) Gil and Chris, Paper winners Alan and Emma, and to new Eis Munkys and Novice winners Karl and Shane.

Sirius team member Josh drove his Alcan Forester and won the Calculator class. Josh will be writing for the website during Alcan, so that the Sirius team will have both cars represented in the daily updates.

While Jennifer and Josh were at Thunderbird, Gord and the Rocket Rally crew started their 2008 rally season with a 3rd place overall at the Rallye Perce-Neige in Manawaki QC. Everyone is back home now, and the last minute preparations are under way. The Sirius Rally Team is looking forward to a cold, snowy and eventful Winter Alcan Rally – only 5 days away.

Link to Thunderbird 2008 results HERE.
Click HERE for TBird photos from Sirius Rally.