After six months of winter break in Canada, I am ready to resume my bicycle ride to Alaska in an hour.
I arrived in Terrace BC a few days ago and was doing bicycle maintenance when I found out that the gearbox had some issues. Luckily, Pinion sent a replacement from the US which I was able to install onto the bicycle yesterday. Now the bike feels as smooth as silk. Thanks to my Warmshowers hosts Amy and Matt and their lovely kids Finley and Liam for having me at their place.
Starting from Terrace, I will be reaching Kitwanga tomorrow, the place where I took this picture six months ago. From there, I will be heading north on to Cassier-Stewart Highway to Yukon and Alaska.
It has been a long break from cycling. I am very grateful to my friend Nasir and his family in Mississauga for hosting me for so long. Without them I wouldn’t have survived the harsh winter of Canada. Also, big thanks to Sajid and other friends who gave me a great company during this break.
I always tell people that this journey has been a testimony to human kindness. I wouldn’t have been able to come this far and resume this trip without people’s help. There are so many who have helped me at each and every step, whenever I have asked for and even when I didn’t. They have believed in me even I have doubted myself. So thank you everyone!
Today, when I resume my journey, I am as confused and nervous as I was on my first day of the trip. Questions like “do I have enough food? Am I missing anything?” circle above my head. But there is a big question everyone asks me, “why are you doing this?”
Once I start pedalling I will be pondering this question out in the cold today. I know the snowcapped mountains will be looking at me through the clouds. The Skeena River is going to give me a company for a 100 km as it did to me for hundreds of kilometres last year. The road will open its palm as it has always for me so I could roll my tyres on it. There is something that tells me that the north is waiting for me.
And so the journey begins with a belief that the earth will again take me in its lap like a mother does its weeping child, and all my worries will disappear from the road like a mirage!