Two Moto Kiwis Arctic To Antarctic May 2012...

[Two Moto Kiwis]

Well mum nature could have been nicer to us but at least our tent got a good wash, we set off for Pruhdoe Bay at 8.00 am and arrived at 12 noon for 140 miles, the road was a combo of very bad to very good, mud, bog, tar, shingle, potholes etc, lots and lots of roadworks.



The last 50 miles we had a very strong cross wind so we got to use up use a good portion of the right hand side of the tyre, is was very hard work for me let alone Ellen, full credit to her she is a wee machine as that would have been as hard as any Kiwibiker would have endured and still smiled.

Over the passes there was thick pea soup fog and freezing conditions, both our carbs iced up on numerous occasions so temperatures we were guessing were around zero or below.

The Prudhoe Bay tour left at 3.15pm from Deadhorse and took 2 hours, it is actually about 16 miles from Deadhorse to the Ocean, cost is $49.00 US per head, spendie but worth it.





For those of you who have not been to Prudhoe Bay it is no small operation, there are over 500 miles of roads by the oil companies purely at the bay, not including the access road in.

Big Drilling rig



Local Fox with three legs and some KFC



Sign at Prudhoe bay



Myriad off pipework, literally thousands of kilometers



Big machinery



Even a local forest which is green all year



Local grizzly and her cub



Photo of an Asian tourist taking a photo ... who woulda thought?



Some dodgy bugga with a big smile and literally on top of the world.



It was blowing quite hard, probably 45 - 50 mph wind



Here we are still in love



Vast is the only way to describe it eh



Evidence of the rock stolen from Prudhoe bay to be matched up with his Antarctic counterpart some miles away and the little (empty at this time) flask given to us by Frank and Simone to take with us to the top and bottom of America



My promise to you Frank I will take it to the bottom of the world to get Ushuaia sticker.



When one gets to Prudhoe and pays dearly to get there one must take advantage of the freezing conditions and chilly waters... so game on, when we lost the feeling in our feet it wasn't so bad



Bloody poser

[Two Moto Kiwis]

We left Deadhorse and headed back to camp at Galbraith Lake 140 miles away, we had tea and a shot of energy drink prior to leaving to aid with warmth and sharpness and believe me it was needed, the wind had increased to what turned out to be about 60 mph as when we headed up the Brooks range with the then tailwind I was doing 55 mph on my speedo and the leaves were overtaking me ... we need a bigger engine bro!!

Chiwi and Hobbit having a break



Local Caribou running away from me .. shouldn't have taken my helmet off.



This dude kept riding beside me, although every time I saw him up beside me I gassed it and held him at bay, sneaky !!, he never took the challenge to overtake which is kinda cool cos that means my situation might have been slightly different.



Then came the takeover bid from the female biker ... time is around 9.00 pm thus the shadows, not sure if she is riding relaxed or just totally shagged after the big side wind.



On arriving back at camp at 11.00 pm we were greeted with fine ish weather which was nice, we were both pretty shagged but very happy with having such a great day and Deadhorse and Pruhdoe Bay.





I would have to say the Sargent seats saved our bums and are well well worth having so a huge thank you to Sargent for sponsoring the seats.

[Two Moto Kiwis]

Frost ... nup, snow!

WTF we went to bed in a nice evening, I hopped up at some am for a wizz and it was still good so some time later in the early morning mum nature treated us to a small snow storm.

Too cool .. we are getting used to these now.

The tent



The guys ropes, they wouldn't be chick ropes cos a chick couldn't take the cold (..and that Your Honour is when the fight started )



The GPS is under there



We packed up with snow and ice on the tent and rode back out, weather was pretty crappy to start with but only a few km up the road WOH HOH ..sun!!

Still slightly cold somewhere well below freezing we stopped to take some pics, Ellens heated grips failed so that was not much fun for her.

A stop at Atigun Pass



See



Looking up Atigun Pass, just beautiful



Frost and snow STILL on the inside of the screen after 50 miles! the screens kept the direct chill of us so we were very pleased to be able to hide behind those, a shameless plug for Screens For Bikes Australia, well done Peter these are made incredibly well and the shape is mint for protection of the Two Softey Kiwis .... now we just need an extendable retractable inflatable colourful screen for when it is hot cold dark windy fine snowing and cold



Even Mr Garmin wasn't let off the hook with a wee stalactite hanging even after 50 miles of riding



We finally arrived at the Hot Spot Cafe and ordered a monster burger each which was a welcomed warm input, we set up camp with fine warm weather and enjoyed an evening of relaxing and watching mozzies on the OTHER side of the mesh ... suffer ... they could smell us but they couldn't have us .. a very satisfying feeling

[Two Moto Kiwis]

Yay, we woke to a few spots off rain which soon retired and left us being able to pack up dry ... the down side to that is we were ON the breakfast menu with the mozzies, friendly bunch they are all wanting to kiss us all over! ... funny enough it is only the females that suck you dry ... seems to be an international thing not limited to mozzies

We headed on out to the Yukon and filled up with the intention of heading into Manly hot springs, we went through a multitude of road works with the third world construction zone / mud pit for 5 miles being the worst only 5 minutes from the end of the James Dalton Highway.

This was the result



See the Calcium Chloride eating into the engine cases



End of the highway (well the beginning actually but the end for us)



Just as we finished taking pics and Ozzie couple rocked up and stopped so we had a chat and gave them the road conditions etc, great to catch them up for a chat, I let their front tyres down a little to aid with traction as they didn't have a tyre gauge, their bikes were beautifully clean but 2 more minutes was gonna change all that hope all went well guys and we will catch you along the way.

Two Slimy Kiwis



N o i c e and clean cob!!



After saying goodbye we headed off to Manly hot springs only to get 9 miles before pulling the pin on that, deep slimy mud that was seeing both of us struggle, it was going to end up with one or both of us doing a tank slapper and binning so simply not worth it, the Calcium Chloride is nasty but provides a great binder.

With binning the hot pools idea we headed on back to Fairbanks to Adventure Cycle Works for a clean off and new rubbers.

[Two Moto Kiwis]

The end of the Dalton and basically our rear rubber, still a bit of life in them but too heavy to carry, we had Dan spoon the Heidendau K60 rear on, the machine making easy work of it.

Chiwi cocking her leg



Action man cleaning off the Dalton



We have a K60 front as well but will carry them until the front has died as they still have a bit of life in them yet, next day or so we spent in Fairbanks to gather thoughts, gather food, gather energy and catch our breath, not to mention writing up a monty report for family and friends to see just what we have been up to.

We are off to Denai Park tomorrow so the next write up will cover the Denali Park, Denali highway, Tok, D2D, Dempster, Inuvik and Tuktoyaktuk all of which we had fine weather

Love to family, friends and followers.

[Tradey]

"Two Slimy Kiwis" on DR's and two squeeky clean Aussies on KLR's and another two squeeky clean Aussies on KLR's off to South America... you Kiwi's just don't get it do you ?

[Two Moto Kiwis]

Originally Posted by Tradey

"Two Slimy Kiwis" on DR's and two squeeky clean Aussies on KLR's and another two squeeky clean Aussies on KLR's off to South America... you Kiwi's just don't get it do you ?

Heya Geoff ... nothin to get mate, those dudes woulda looked like us only 2 minutes after those pics .. and they were larfing at us bein grubby ... besides I was tryin to be polite about the soft Ozzzies

All good, hope your trip prep is going well, most of our shit is working well except we seemed to have an epic fail on Headsets and heated grip so today we binned the idea of headsets unless we can find something that will do better than two days total life.

Hope #2 is sorted, don't you go bullying him to hard!!

[Two Moto Kiwis]

We stayed behind today in Fairbanks to get all our Ride Reports up to date and some FU@$#N wanker flogged our ipad 2 literally from under our nose in the University Library.

Couldn't bloody believe it eh, the thing would not have been more than 2 metres from us

We have been to the Police and filled a report, they are going to get some footage from the surveillance camera but they are not very hopeful.

Can't believe the cheek of some lowlifes, if we find them they will pay with their lives.

[Alaskajeff]

Originally Posted by Two Moto Kiwis

We stayed behind today in Fairbanks to get all our Ride Reports up to date and some FU@$#N wanker flogged our ipad 2 literally from under our nose in the University Library.

Couldn't bloody believe it eh, the thing would not have been more than 2 metres from us

We have been to the Police and filled a report, they are going to get some footage from the surveillance camera but they are not very hopeful.

Can't believe the cheek of some lowlifes, if we find them they will pay with their lives.

WOW so sorry to hear that! That is really LOW, expecially at the university. That LOWLIFE will get his just reward, maybe not in this life but rest assured in the next.
I've really enjoyed reading your travel log and all the great pictures.
BTW Greg and Len from Chugiak are good friends from church and one of my riding buddies! I look forward to meeting you two in Dawson. I'll be on an old Red and white KICK START ONLY Honda 1988 XR600 with a bright yellow rear dry bag. Cheers, and don't let ONE sorry excuse for a human being bring you down....

[hondav2]

Originally Posted by Two Moto Kiwis

We stayed behind today in Fairbanks to get all our Ride Reports up to date and some FU@$#N wanker flogged our ipad 2 literally from under our nose in the University Library.

Couldn't bloody believe it eh, the thing would not have been more than 2 metres from us

We have been to the Police and filled a report, they are going to get some footage from the surveillance camera but they are not very hopeful.

Can't believe the cheek of some lowlifes, if we find them they will pay with their lives.

There is some bastards around a , CJ is back in Tok just ask anyone there where he lives , His property looks like a museum , stay safe , love the pics Cheers Toddy

[GaryAK]

Originally Posted by Two Moto Kiwis

We stayed behind today in Fairbanks to get all our Ride Reports up to date and some FU@$#N wanker flogged our ipad 2 literally from under our nose in the University Library.

Couldn't bloody believe it eh, the thing would not have been more than 2 metres from us

We have been to the Police and filled a report, they are going to get some footage from the surveillance camera but they are not very hopeful.

Can't believe the cheek of some lowlifes, if we find them they will pay with their lives.

Andi & Ellen - so sorry to hear that a low-life intruded into your aura of good karma. The cosmic universe will set things right eventually and visit & hold him accountable - and for now, his punishment is to live his crappy life. You and Ellen are among the finest and best people on the planet, and karma and the cosmic universe will set things right for you two - but, it sucks for now.

Options: Did you have your ipad "Find Me" feature set up? If so, there is a possibility that it can be tracked - and even remotely wipe all of your data - unless the thief restores the ipad system. In any event, Apple recommends that you change your passwords for any online accounts.

The Apple bulletin recommends that you also use My Support Profile so that you can see what serial numbers have been purchased or registered with your Apple ID.

There are turd people everywhere - so, please do not let this guy win and detract from your awesome adventure - anything we can do to help - give us a yell.

Gary & Deb

PS - Excellent pics - thanks!

[Phreaky Phil]

Looks like your havin a great time. Awesome to see the bear and its cub up there. We were about 3 weeks later the year we went up to Prudhoe bay and had an great weather run. 4 fine days. They said the day we got up there that it was the first summer day they had had. No Polar bear swim ! Me neither ! How was the road on the last 50miles to Pudhoe. On our trip it was BIG chunky pit metal with big rocks to tear a hole in your tire. We saw 2 bikes with ripped up flat tires. One we talked to had to limp back to Prudhoe and get another tire flown in.
Where to next Dawson ? Did you ride the Denali highway on your way up ?
Keep up the good work

[hondav2]

Originally Posted by Phreaky Phil

Looks like your havin a great time. Awesome to see the bear and its cub up there. We were about 3 weeks later the year we went up to Prudhoe bay and had an great weather run. 4 fine days. They said the day we got up there that it was the first summer day they had had. No Polar bear swim ! Me neither ! How was the road on the last 50miles to Pudhoe. On our trip it was BIG chunky pit metal with big rocks to tear a hole in your tire. We saw 2 bikes with ripped up flat tires. One we talked to had to limp back to Prudhoe and get another tire flown in.
Where to next Dawson ? Did you ride the Denali highway on your way up ?
Keep up the good work

I like your comments about the big rocks , I could only run 30mph max on the worst sections on my DR would have fell apart , I would have given anything to have a KTM with White Power Susp that day. I also had beautiful weather , no wind. I was with CJ and Jazz a Aust hitchiker who we picked up in Dawson . We rode from Prudhoe to Coldfoot overnight . It would have to be one of the most special rides I have done . I was waiting on the top of the Atigen Pass at about 1am for CJ to catch up and the air was so calm I could hear his old BMW miles away , a truck passed by and the dust just hung in the air and didnt blow away. Its a special part of the world to go riding above the Artic Circle . Keep the stories and pics coming guys , and Ellen keep that bike out of the Veges . Cheers Toddy

[Two Moto Kiwis]

Evening all, ok uneventful day leaving Fairbanks and getting to Denali National Park, still a bit pissy about being ripped but it can be replaced no problem, no one died (yet) so it is not too bad, thanks for the kinds words Gary and Deb, just need to get a replacement organised now, may even get a lappy yet we will see.

Phil the last 50 miles was one with loose deep shingle, freshly graded mud, great surface worthy of 200 km /hr plus if there was no wind but we got pretty heavily blown.

Weather was cloudless tho which was magic.

Toddy ya bastid, hope life is treating you well mate.

Gary, Ellens SMH10 pooed itself the second day in use so we have sent it back too, I am gonna change my name to Jinx as it seems to be more fitting for my life

Tomorrow we head of deep into the park to the end of the road, not allowed to take the bikes so a bus it is, weather is beautiful and the place is stunning so we are really appreciative of where we are.

[hondav2]

[QUOTE=

Toddy ya bastid, hope life is treating you well mate.

[/QUOTE]

Yer its pretty good , Im at the office , fathers day 2 day , not going for my usual evening ride , buying pizza and rice for 3 hungry kids at 6 pm , I told CJ u r about 2-4 days away maybe , he is working at a mobile home repair place on left side of road as u go thru Tok , its after the big log info centre . Its a nice ride across the Denelli Hwy , I done it both ways . There is good campground at other end . Cheers Toddy