Geof Harries

On Saturday, July 6, I joined a group of 11 Yukon gravel cyclists to try and ride the South Canol Road in one day.

Most people take two to three days to ride the route.

The South Canol Road is about 230 km (143 miles) of 100% gravel in distance, and stretches from Ross River to Johnsons Crossing.

The road has a lot of climbing - more than 3,330 m (10,826 feet) of elevation - and you're in a very remote location with no services.

Our group's rule was that you had to finish the ride in less than 12 hours, or you get put in the van. That seemed like a reasonable proposition before we started pedalling.

A little backstory on the South Canol Road before I share my tale of how the ride was.

From Government of Yukon:

In 1943, the American army and their contractors built the Canol Road as a “tote” or supply road. It parallels the route of a short-lived oil pipeline from Camp Canol, near the oil wells at Norman Wells, Northwest Territories, to Johnsons Crossing. The Canol Road is seasonal, and provides access to the wilderness of the south central Yukon. The South Canol follows ridges, often above the tree line, that provide many scenic views. In the Pelly Mountain ecoregion, there is a transition from boreal forest to alpine tundra and coniferous forest. The high country intercepts coastal weather systems to make this a “wet-belt” climate. The South Canol Road is the traditional territory of the Kaska and interior Tlingit First Nations.

The event organizer, Jean-Paul had arranged for an Eddyline Outdoors van and trailer to transport us to Lapie Canyon Campground on Friday, July 5. That van also followed us the next day for support, and then brought us home late the next evening.

We stayed overnight at Lapie Canyon Campground, where I went swimming a couple of times in an eddy. The water was really cold, so I only lasted probably less than a minute each time, but still a worthwhile dip and in a gorgeous spot.

The next morning we woke up and had a hearty breakfast served by Eddyline guides, then got ready to ride.

We took a group photo and began rolling out of the campground by 7:45 am.

This is big country. You feel very, very small in a secluded location. Over the course of the day, I counted more than 30 piles of fresh bear scat on the road. We saw two other cyclists and a handful of vehicles.

We stopped numerous times at nearby water sources - there's lots of them close to the road - to refill our bottles. Everyone was carrying different types of filtration systems, even though in this location it was probably fine just to drink it straight. I didn't want to take any chances though (giardia, been there, done that).

Over the course of the day, there were multiple moments where the ride got really hard. The last 80 km was particularly challenging and I ended up walking up more than a few hills.

Steve was my partner for the worst of it. Here he's being slowly pursued by the support van. We were laughably sedated at this point. Everything was desperate, but funny. We were delirious.

Something that the Belgian Waffle Ride taught me is that I can go longer, faster and suffer more than I previously thought possible.

That doesn't mean there weren't a couple times when I wanted to quit, but through that experience I learned how to recognize and work through my negative self-talk; to process it and just keep moving.

As you can likely imagine, it was quite the day. A very big adventure.

I finished in 13 hours, 13 seconds with 4 other guys.

Jean-Paul was gracious and permitted us to finish despite breaking the original 12-hour rule, and for that I'm very thankful. It was a huge effort, and I wanted to make it to the end on my own.

The days after were painful. My hands ached, I had blisters on my fingers, my feet were really sore and my legs had ballooned to comical proportions with lactic acid.

But no matter. I'd done it. I'd finished.

I'm incredibly happy to have ridden the South Canol Road in one day with a fantastic group of people. It was a fine way to celebrate the arrival of my 50th birthday year.