TeamD Adventures

We started in Watson Lake and ran the Watson Lake TSD, a new one for us.   Jerry, the organizer, greeted us with bagged lunches as we pulled out.   We ran the section with no issues then headed up to Ross River for an ‘extreme control’.

We now call the Campbell Hwy/South Canol Hwy, the  Mini Dempster.  It is full of ruts, potholes, gravel and road crews.  We made a number of serpentines through work crews, ran the car up several new dirt ramps spanning culverts.  It was pretty, but everyone was happy to see pavement.

The body count for the 6 cars:

Car 1 – 2 flats

Car 2 – check engine light

Car 3 – no issues

Car 4 – 1 flat, lost a shield for the gas tank, check tire light won’t go off

Car 5 – rear skirt came off in a dip

Car 6 – 1 flat, 2 magnets or sensor fouled

Car 8 bypassed and went straight to Whitehorse

Tomorrow should be an easy day.  One TSD in the morning and then a transit to Dawson Creek.   Oh and scores, with drops for days 1 and 4, we are still in 2nd place.  Car 2 has 21 points, we have 28.   Not many people are talking about doing the extreme control and instead plan to do the new Midnight Dome TSD.    BTW, Marvin is doing a fabulous job with scoring.  He has them ready at the hotel when cars arrive!

We started in Dawson Creek and ran the Old Alaska Hwy TSD and then the Kansas TSD.   OAH went well but 2 semis pulled out in front of us .7 into the section on the ‘Looks like we’re in Kansas’ section.  Faced with hairpins and switchbacks ahead, Marinus did a bold pass and we managed to get by them near a control.  We took only one 1 point on that section.

After day 3 we are holding onto 2nd place.  Car #2, the veterans, lead by 7 points now.  Tonight we’re in Watson Lake.

I was glad to be at the start, but sad I wasn’t coming along this time.
Photos are here, on the TeamD Flickr pages.

A tougher rally day.  We ran the 11% grade and Blackwater TSDs early in the morning.   Having previously run them in the Winter 2008 AlCan we kinda knew what was going on, but still managed to pick up some points.

After the Blackwater, we heard part of a conversation on the radio that bike #17 was disassembled.  Not knowing if it was a crash or breakdown, we waited in Prince George.  Luckily it was an oil leak and not a crash.  It was a serious oil leak on the bike,  but fortunately a KTM dealer was nearby and able to fix it in about an hour and a half.  We were the last to arrive at the hotel in Dawson Creek at 8pm, but scores were already ready.

R. Dale met us in the parking lot and gave us the run down. The field is tightening up.  Cameron and Gary in car 1 had a fabulous run on the 11% Grade.  They are on our heels.  We’re 5 points behind the leaders in car #2.   Jason on the bike, nearly halved his score from the day before and finished a strong 3rd in his class.

Today we have 2 TSDs in the morning.  We’re at the start of the AlCAn highway.  We’ve moved out of the smoke from the fires that have blanketed the area for days.  Tonight we overnight in Watson Lake, BC.

Silence means many things.  In this case it means I’ve been too busy to throw in my two cents and things are slipping by.  What, do you ask, is slipping by?  Why, let me tell you….

The 2010 Alcan 5000, that rally previously documented by Renee and Marinus, that one starting in Kirkland and ending in Anchorage, that one?  Renee and Marinus are competing (in Team WXYZ clothes as the mighty D is underrepresented) but they are not the only ones involved that at times hoist the TeamD flag.  Oh no….

Marvin and I are there too.  In fact, Marvin and I are currently in rally HQ at Dawson Creek (well, Marvin is sleeping, I am finishing this but am not optimistic about the chances of undisturbed sleep -due to snoring) getting ready for Day 3.  We are workers.  Marvin is in charge of scoring and I am in charge of getting marvin to where he needs to be to score the rally (I am also doing some checkpoint timing but I think my role as marvin-chauffeur is probably more important).

I’ll try to give some insight into our roles in the next few days.  At the same time I will be posting live scores and information at the new and evolving Alcan 5000 website (go here for current scores).  There’s also a new Alcan5000 twitter feed (for all you twitfaces out there) that I will try to update as regularly as possible.

If you have specific comments or questions, please post them here and I will endeavour to answer them as I can.

Peace out and pass out.