Arctic 2007

Hello,

Jean and Nicolas are now at the north of the polar circle. They spend the night from wednesday to thursday just sleeping on it. Today or tomorrow they should go by the Atigun pass (1415 m/4643 ft) and consequently have some nice rises to climb… But they seem to have a beautiful weather and the landscape are much wonderful than they expected. If they keep their rythm they should be in Prudhoe Bay by Sunday or Monday, before coming back to Fairbanks by hitchhiking. And they might not have any access to internet before beeing again at Fairbanks.

Here you can have an idea of their way from Fairbanks to Prudhoe Bay. The Atigun pass is (I suppose) where there is this “little” moutains chain quite white. (you can double click on the map to be “closer”)

To see a bigger map

Besides, once in Fairbanks they had the opportunity to weigh their cycles. So, considering they had all their equipment plus food for twelve days, what was the weight of Nicolas’s one. I have no idea myself and Nicolas has not determined yet what will win the one who’ll have the good answer (or at least will be the closest of the right weight), but do not hesitate to suggest your answer in the comments.

And at Last, because they won’t have internet before many days, I added myself three new drawings.

Here are some answers to the questions asked by the chlidren of the schools. (And all these questions are available here.)

Where will you put your spare wheel?
We each have a foldable tire and a few spare spokes. Luckily, we haven’t had to use any of them so far.

How many clothes will you take with you?
We just bought some very warm clothes in case of arctic temperatures in Prudhoe Bay. All in all, we have approximately 5 tops, 2 pairs of pants and 4 pairs of underwear each.

How are you going to wash your clothes?
We use a multi-purpose cleaner and a foldable basin (see here).

What will you do if you meet a grizzly?
Well, what DID we do when we saw a grizzly? We stopped as soon as we saw it. Then, while walking back slowly and keeping an eye on it (but without looking at it in the eyes), we identified us as humans by calmly speaking and waving our hands. If it adopts an aggressive behaviour and there is an imminent assault, we each carry a bear spray to deter it.

How do the people help tackling climate change ?
Even if lots of people are aware of climate change, few actually do something about it and change their way of life.

How has the way of life of first Nations changed ?
The way of life of First Nations has deeply changed recently, independently of climate change. However, the most obvious effect of global warming on their way of life is the change of migratory routes which leads, as a consequence, to the disappearance of some settlements (see Climate Change post).

Jean et Nicolas are now in Alaska since Wednesday (or tuesday, I’m not sure). They plan to be at Fairbanks tomorrow evening. They also saw their first grizzli. The good news is that they seem to be still alive, even if I don’t have the details about this meeting.
To celebrate all this news I added two new drawings.
And if you wish to have a better envisionning of their way from Vancouver to Whitehorse (I don’t have yet the details of their more recent adventures) you can do it here. By clicking on the yardsticks you can read the french version of their journal (sorry, I didn’t have time to do the english one yet) and see some photos related to the place.

Hi everyone,

As said elsewhere, Jean et Nicolas overestimated the time available when taking a rest day. As a consequence, they posted fewer drawings than expected and wished. They’ll do everything to change that matter of fact but, given the regions will cross in the near future, they can’t promise you anything. They hope you will understand.

The drawings can be found in the Drawings subsection of the Photos section. They added some on their last connection and I added two today.

mumu

We have put two new drawings on the website.

You can see all those who have been selected so far here .

The day has come… After a year and a half of preparation, our trip starts today.I’m leaving for the airport in about two hours. These last days have been hectic, whether it was to find the last pieces of equipment or to finish my job in the lab. There have been disappointments (thanks to the National Bank who told me they never got my credit card application form even though I filled it in one of their agencies. No Canadian credit card for me…) and comforting moments (thanks to all the staff of Le Yéti for helping me solving the problems I might have had, answering all my questions and showing some interest for our trip).

The only concern now is the mount for the video camera which, though strong enough to hold a stove on my handlbar, might affect my tremendous speed in the hills.

I’ve also (finally) added the questions by the children of the École Enfant-Soleil. They have not been translated to english yet due to a lack of time.

To those asking us if we are ready, I’ll just give you en excerpt of a phone call I had with Jean on wednesday:
Jean: “I think we’ll do 60 miles a day for the first 3 days, but I’m going to ride like a grandmother.”

Nicolas: “Don’t worry. Anyway, I’m out of breath after riding for 50 meters uphill.”

Jean: “Oh, I’m tired after walking 10 minutes.”

Nicolas: “…”

Jean: “We really are stars”

Hi everyone !

Today, we answered three more questions, thanks to Jean. As usual, all the answers are summarized in the Questions page. I also reorganized that page to outline our answers.

I also would like to mention that Mumu has been promoted from the status of “moral support” to the one of “Editor”. She will be in charge of updating the blog when we will not have access to the Internet (namely, we will give her lots of information once a week and she will split it in daily updates).

Thanks Mumu!

And the questions with the associated answers:

What will you do if it rains when you are cycling?
We have waterproof equipment, so except if the conditions are really, really bad, we will keep cycling when it rains. — Jean

In Alaska, will you cycle on road or on snow?
We will always travel on road. Some road will be gravel roads. We do not expect to have snow on the road. However, it is not completely impossible to have snow close from the Arctic Ocean. The snow should be removed from the road as vehicles need to use the road. If there is snow on the road itself, we will not be in a position to cycle. We will then either wait for the snow to be removed or we will have to change our plans and to use another route. — Jean

Will there be snow in the Rockies?
There will probably be snow on the tops of the Rocky Mountains. No snow is expected on the road though. — Jean

If you are caught in a very violent storm, will you keep going or giving up? — Charlotte, Ecole Stanislas
If we are caught in a very violent storm, we will look for a shelter and wait for the storm to calm down. We will not keep going. — Jean

Hi everyone,

A little update to tell you that almost everything is set now. We have a Bed and Breakfast booked in Vancouver, a satellite phone and bear-proof barrels.

I also visited the school Enfant Soleil on tuesday and gathered many questions and drawings. We also got some drawings from Kincardine in Menteith and Jean decided which one he wanted to see first.

Edit: the drawing is from Becky Hamlyn (Primary 7).

I have also been told that the “Questions” was bit confusing. I will thus try to explain it a bit better: we will answer the questions regarding our attitude towards the trip and the preparation before leaving for Vancouver. The rest of the questions will be addressed during our trip. Every time an answer to a new question is given, it will be both posted on the blog and added in the Questions page.

11 days left…

(Click on the image to access the album)

After a long break, the blog is finally updated. We read all the questions we have received and we compiled them in the page Questions. We will answer the ones concerning the preparation in the next month and the rest during our trip.

We can already make some comments:

- the most concerned about our health (and also the ones thinking of the most frightening situations) are the girls
- when the Scots wonder if some plants have already gone extinct, the Quebecers ask for our budget and what we would do when confronted to a grizzli.These are all great questions and we hope our answers will contain all the information you want.

I will complete this post by answering one question I particularly like:

Are you aware of the danger of this trip? Marian

Well, probably not as much as our parents wish us to be. However, if we were aware of the danger of this trip, we would probably not do it and that would be really sad.

Wow! I gave my first talk to Montreal kids today! It was at Stanislas school, in Outremont, Montreal. The children were wonderful, participating, asking questions and interested in the project. As Jean had told me, these moments are pure magic! I can’t wait for April, 17th to meet them again, this time with my bike and all the equipment.

Thank you all for being there.

The pictures are available there: http://www.arctic2007.org/photos/schools/stanislas/