Thomas Muhler - Bike Expedition to the far end of the world

Base camp Whitehorse - Borderland to the wilderness, gate to endless liberty

You 're not sure about what kind of adventure you will get involved in with the „Arctic Bike Challenge“ of Thomas Muhler in the ice cold north of Canada. Certainly your have pored over the appropriate literature, teamed up with local specialists and you have made provisions for your health and suitable equipment. Nevertheless, a lot of questions are left unanswered. Is the air really so dry? How can you do your little business in the open at minus 30 - 40°C. How will the nights be in the tent? Do the Inuit really eat raw meat? Will we see the northern lights. Will our special material still function at minus 40 °C or even lower degrees?

Thomas Muhler's bike expedition, which shall give us an answer to these and even a lot more other questions, is leading us to the end of the Canadian mainland. And right there to Tukoyaktuk. The true aim actually is the route from Whitehorse to Tuktoyaktuk. 1,600km in 12 to 14 daily stages, 220km ice track, 746km Dempster Highway gravel road, 474km Klondike Highway, 160km on the Yukon Trail, 3 continental water sheds, 2 ice bridges (Peel and Mc Kanzie River), 3 mountain ranges, 2 villages with more than 1000 inhabitants – that is mainly the statistical basic data of the tour. And all that at the coldest time of the year.

For this unique challenge, Thomas Muhler has got an eight-man crew in the background that escorts him with three heavy trucks (American-built cross country vehicles). Naturally, Thomas Muhler receives medical attendance as well as a bike-expert and a local guide who will be responsible for the equipment. Additionally a camera team and a photographer will document the expedition.

At bright sunshine and agreeable temperatures (-4°C) Thomas Muhler, the business man from Frankfurt, pushes his 22kg weighing Focus mountain bike to the start of the "Yukon Arctic Ultra“. A long distance race for runners, mountain bikers and cross country skiers, who race for several days either 100 miles or 230 miles along the famous Yukon Trail (a well-known dog sledding) across the Canadian wilderness. As the first European Thomas Muhler successfully completed the distance of 320 miles last year. This year he starts with the 100 miles track because the finishing line exactly forms the starting point of his bike expedition. From here there are exactly 1,460km to Tuktoyaktuk.

Still the mild temperatures are turning out to be a greater drawback. „The snow is so soft, slippery and wet, that I've had head first falls over the handlebars several times. The track is only 20 to 30cm wide - and you have to stay into it firstly", Thomas reports after the first kilometers. The logical consequence means "to push". Up to the first checkpoint of the marathon distance Thomas has made only 9 miles on his bike and pushed it 17 miles. "Luckily, I haven't fixed any speed indicator onto my bike for the 100 miles, otherwise I would have gone mad."

After a short break to check the material Thomas finally disappears with his halogen-lupine lamp in the night. Each participant must be able to survive in the wilderness at least for two days. Therefore, a sleeping bag, a camping stove, food and drinking as well as dry spare clothes belong to the obligatory equipment. Due to colder temperatures at night Thomas was able to make a bigger part of the trail on his bike because it became harder and harder. Much to the delight of his crew he reached the finishing line of the race in scarcely 32 hours. In the next few hours the equipment for the great bike expedition is now arranged. Everything has to be stuffed away in an optimal way to be ready at hand, since at the expected frostiness the hands will be frozen stiff in only a few seconds. After the first awakening on sub polar virgin "soil", the mood resides in abeyance between exaltation and exertion. "Now I am going to try to ride my bike a little closer to Tuktoyaktuk day by day," says a little bit nervous Thomas Muhler.

Source: Kappes Adventures, Munich/Germany