This story is from my cycling tour in Alaska in 1999, and about meeting the spirits of my three black cats, Onyx, PC, and Ebony while riding to Valdez in Prince William Sound. That day was perhaps the best day of my life. The story is part of an excerpt from a much longer story I wrote about the entire Alaska Tour. Even the writing from that day is quite long, so if you have some time, sit back and enjoy. Skip ahead to the chapter called “The Spirits of the Black Cats” for the best part of the story if you want.
The Winds of Alaska
The credit belongs to those people
who are actually in the arena…
who know the great enthusiasm, who at best,
know the triumph of high achievement;
and who, at worst, fail while daring greatly…
so that their place shall never be with those cold
and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.
– Theodore Roosevelt
Day 9, Thursday, July 8th, 1999
84 miles, Copper Center to Valdez
288 miles total
Today would be the farthest distance I would ever attempt to ride on a Timberline tour. Our destination was Valdez, 107 miles away. I had never ridden 107 miles at one time before, but after completing 57 centuries I was quite sure I could. I have completed every 100 mile ride that I started. Today that streak would be broken. What I did not count on was a steady ferocious headwind that would last the entire day. I had a good breakfast. We started out cycling west, then we turned southwest towards Valdez, directly into a steady 30 knot wind, and gusts that went well over 30 knots. I remember seeing the most erect wind blown flag I have ever seen at one of the Alaskan Pipeline Stations. The morning ride was quite frustrating. I went only 40 miles in five hours, or about eight miles per hour. I kept doing the math and I soon realized that it might take me over 14 hours to finish. Feeling quite discouraged, I knew that the section from Thompson Pass and down into Valdez supposedly was the best scenery on the entire trip. I felt I might never make it there. I wanted to take my time through that section and take pictures. I remember pedaling downhill in the small chain ring at seven mph. The wind was blowing the smoke from the forest fires originating in Tok away from us. I knew I had a choice of smoke covered scenery or wind in the face during the ride. Actually, I did not have a choice. The wind was blowing the smoke away quite powerfully. I think God answered my prayer back in Palmer to remove the smoke. As the smoke cleared, the beautiful landscape being unveiled before me was the most beautiful I had seen since the Canadian Rockies.
I kept doing mental calculations in my head. I figured three hours to Thompson Pass, one hour up Thompson Pass, and two hours into Valdez. I now knew that I would not make it. I decided to take a shuttle in the van to the base of Thompson Pass so that I could enjoy the 40 mile ride into Valdez. If only I could have made it ten more miles. The next 15 miles consisted of steep downhills with beautiful scenery. I felt a little bummed seeing all the beautiful scenary while the van plummeted down several steep hills. I could have been coasting on my bike. I had no way of knowing the terrain would change so dramatically to down hill. I still think I made the right choice at the time. I could always ride centuries in Florida. After all, riding a century is just a number.
I had already ridden 40 miles. I rode 26 miles in the van and then rode 44 more miles on my bike into Valdez. I ended up finishing at 7:00pm, so I think I did the right thing. Paula dropped me off about a mile before Thompson Pass. She told me not to count on seeing her the rest of the day as she had to go back and support the riders determined to ride the century. I told her not to worry about me, that I planned to ride slowly and take lots of pictures and that she would probably see me again.
The Spirits of the Black Cats
Faith is to believe what you do not see;
the reward of this faith is to see
what you believe.
— St. Augustine
The ride up Thompson Pass was surreal. The skies were dark and cloudy. Several times light rain fell upon me. Halfway up the pass was the Worthington Glacier. I had seen pictures of this glacier in several travel brochures. I took several rolls of film of the Worthington Glacier. This glacier seemed to fall out of the sky, sprawling down through a cirque (a cirque is a caved hollow caused by a glacier forming a depression in a mountain) and reaching down almost to the road. The pass itself was not a very difficult climb at all. I thought the grade was actually quite mellow. The amount of green vegetation on the side of the mountains amazed me. Being so close to the Gulf of Alaska and Prince William Sound, ample snow and rain fell here making every mountainside the greenest I have ever seen. The slopes of the mountains in Colorado and the Canadian Rockies are quite brown compared to the slopes of Alaska. I guess being so far north I expected the terrain to be more barren. Instead these slopes were covered by alpine meadows. I took fantastic photographs of this area. They all came out quite dark, but the photographs captured what I saw. I can only imagine what the area might look light with bright sunlight on it.
I saw my first bald eagles while climbing towards the summit of Thompson Pass. The bald eagles soaring past me on my left were a sign to me that spirits were close. I stopped near the summit when I felt that the spirits of the black cats were near me. I had tried to meet them on Sheep Mountain but we had not connected with each other. Now I felt they were near again. They were still not quite here yet, although I did see three clouds pass by me that I thought might be them. Then Paula came by in van with Didi. Didi had not been able to overcome the wind either and was riding in the van. I told Paula that I was beginning to feel the spirits. Earlier, I had told Paula about my misadventure on Sheep Mountain trying to reach the spirits of the black cats. We took some pictures together. Paula told me that my eyes were very wide open and very blue, that she could tell I was really feeling something special.
I pedaled to the top of Thompson Pass. The scene was mystical. I saw low hanging clouds and dark skies over hanging valleys suspended between mountains. I saw huge boulders strewn across alpine meadows bordered by a dark green forest. The forest was surrounded by purple mountains covered by whiter than white glaciers. I stopped for a long time at the summit. Tracy came by, talked for a while, and then she set off down the pass towards Valdez.
A cloud bank floated in around me and completely obscured the terrain and landscape. I could barely see five feet. I put down my bike and ventured out into the alpine meadow. Then I felt the presence of the black cats. Later that night I found out that Paula had come by at that exact instant in the van and saw me disappear into the clouds. She was concerned when I disappeared into the clouds, afraid that if she could not see me that other vehicles might not be able to see either. Her concern did not really matter since I was no longer there. I know now that Paula saw me slip away from the surly bonds of earth and join with my black cats, Onyx, Ebony, and PC. I walked up a ribbon in the sky to meet my dear black cats.
I felt absolutely enthralled. I was in tears and goosebumps covered my skin. Shivers went up and down my spine. My entire body felt electric. This was the moment I had been anticipating the entire trip. Not being able to receive the spirits of the black cats two days earlier on the top of Sheep Mountain had disappointed me. I guess you cannot plan on these encounters. Meeting them today took me by surprise. After I saw the bald eagles, I started to sense the black cats’ presence on the way up Thompson Pass. I started to believe that I might see them today. This was the first time I met the spirits of all three of them. I had met PC’s spirit two years earlier in Colorado. Onyx and Ebony were handed over to God in 1998. I had hoped to meet them all during my cycling trip through Oregon in 1998 but had not. For the first time in five years, the four of us reunited. I cherished the moment, knowing how rare days like today were. I sensed them all joyfully scampering around me. I knew that Onyx, Ebony, and PC were happy. They were no longer old and frail. God had made them whole again. The moment at the top of Thompson Pass was pure magic.
Glacier Spirits
I did not want to leave the black cats or the summit, but I knew I must if I was to make it into Valdez. I still had 25 miles to go. I climbed back on the bike and started the descent. I was not dressed properly for the speedy plunge. The conditions were very cold and windy. I had the clothes I needed for these conditions, but they were in the van. I did not exceed 25 mph during the descent because of the stiff crosswinds. I easily could have reached speeds over 40 mph since I was exiting a mountain range on my way down to the sea. The crosswinds made the bike very unstable. I knew it was best to exercise caution on these high speed descents. A crash would ruin the rest of the trip, or even seriously maim or kill me. I had heard horror storys from the tour leaders about tour participants crashing and then being airlifted to hospitals. Besides, the scenery in this valley was incredible. I descended out of the cloud that I had met the black cats in and became very sad. I was grateful that I had met the spirits of the black cats during the tour. I was now sad that they had left and I knew my time with the black cats had come and gone. At least I knew that the three of them went back to heaven together. The last time I encountered the spirit of a black cat, I had met PC in Colorado. PC then had to go back to heaven by himself. Now I was the one who was traveling alone.
The ride down into the glacier sculpted mountain valleys on the way into Valdez was simply spectacular, easily one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen on earth. The mountain valley was the familiar U shaped post glacier valley. I descended into a magical valley surrounded by an enchanted forest. I sensed then that Onyx, Ebony, and PC were still watching over me, ensuring my safe descent. I saw spectacular views of cloud draped mountains, with glaciers flowing down the sides of the dark mountains. Waterfalls were everywhere as the winter and spring snows melted. The weather today was the opposite of what I experienced at the Blue Mesa Summit. During the Blue Mesa ride, it had rained the entire time I was in Colorado. Then I met PC, and for the rest of the tour the sun was shined brightly each day. This trip, there was sun the entire time until I met the black cats, and now it was cold and rainy. Clouds enshrouded the canyon walls of the mountains. The dark and gloomy aura made the valley surreal. I experienced a truly spectacular ride into Valdez, an afternoon that I will never forget. The ride was very emotional. I had tears in my eyes. When I reached the valley floor I felt quite sad, and also quite frozen. I am not sure of the exact time during my descent the black cats left and went back to heaven, but I was now quite sure they were gone. I cried.
I stopped at Bridal Veil Falls for some pictures. Water was cascading down well over 500 feet. An older couple asked me to take a picture of them in front of the falls. I did, and they also took one of me. As I set off on my bike, I noticed that they had a Florida tag with Pinellas County on it. I went back and asked them where they were from. Turns out they were from Redington Shores, about seven miles from where I lived in Florida. Here I was, 4000 miles from home, and I had met people from only seven miles away from where I lived. They had driven the entire distance to Alaska, living in the back of a camper, and had been on the road for over four months. I so much hope that someday I can travel like that with a woman.
Exhausted, I rode slowly into Valdez. I had left Copper Center 11 hours earlier. This was the longest cycling day I have ever experienced, even with the 26 mile van assist. I kept thinking I was almost done, but the final ride into Valdez took longer than I had expected. On the way in, I hit my 10,000 mile total ridden since I started tracking miles in June of 1996. I still had four miles to go. The last four miles were especially demoralizing for the five riders who made the entire 107 miles. Expresso Mike gave up only one mile from the end. George bonked (bonking is a term describing when you completely run out of glucose and collapse) four miles from the finish. George had ridden across the country in 29 days (about 120 miles a day for 29 days.) That’s how tough the wind was that day. George got some food from Paula in the van and managed to finish the ride.
I myself made it into Valdez at 7:00pm, after cycling 84 miles, an eleven hour day. Paula was waiting at the van with a beer for me. What a princess Paula was. I was totally exhausted.
I barely made it to the 8:30pm dinner that night. The restaurant was right on the Valdez harbor. I sat facing Valdez harbor. There were hundreds of fishing and excursion boats visible in the harbor through a window in the restaurant. Inscribed on the back of one of the boats was the name “Glacier Spirit.” Right then I knew I had the name for my Alaskan adventure story. Normally the name for a story falls out while you are writing the story. Glacier Spirit completely described how I felt that day meeting the spirits of the black cats on top of Thompson Pass among the mountains, glaciers, boulders, clouds, and eagles. I had to hold back tears at the table.
Experiences like the one I had today are very rare, and only happen a few times in one’s lifetime. These moments are now one of the main reasons I take these trips. I have found, that while we are in the game, worrying about work and money, that we become disconnected from our spirit. Sitting around at work also disconnects us from our bodies. A few hours of exercise once or twice a week, more than most of us get, or even an hour of exercise each day still leaves the connection from the body and mind broken. After exercising vigorously for eight or more hours each day, for four or more days in a row, I find that my body and mind start to rejoin each other. The mind is acutely aware of the aches and pains and limitations of the body. The body starts to feel toned again, and then the mind becomes acutely aware again of how the body feels and what the body is capable of doing. At this point, the body and mind reconnect. This sets the stage for a wonderful event to occur. Once the body and mind have reconnected, it is now possible for the spirit to rejoin as well. To facilitate having the spirit rejoin with the mind and body, I find it helps to surround myself with God’s most beautiful works. In Alaska I found dramatic snow capped and glacier covered mountains, dark green and emerald forests, and stunning waterfalls plunging into deep blue seas. This is what I saw on my ride into Valdez from Thompson Pass. Then I exercise myself into complete exhaustion. At this point, my mind, already at one with the body again, opens up and reconnects with my spirit. Through the pain and exhaustion, a sense of euphoria overwhelms my being and I transcend into a higher state of consciousness. This is when I have been able to receive the spirits of my black cats, Onyx, PC, and Ebony. I am no longer in the game. I have now moved into a higher state of consciousness. My hearing becomes incredibly acute when I reach the zone. I can hear the wind blowing through the grass as if the wind was blowing at 60 mph. Birds seem to be screaming at me as they chirp away, as if I were in an aviary. I see flashes of light out of the corner of my eye. My peripheral vision seems enhanced as the sunlight beams down between trees causing contrasts between shadows and light. I don’t know quite how to explain the feeling of entering into the zone, but I always first detect I have made my way into the zone when my hearing becomes especially acute. At this point I have achieved a very rare and ethereal state of being. I become very emotional, somewhere between crying and absolute peace. Today I had reached this euphoric and transcendental state of being.
Today had truly been an outstanding day. I walked along the harbor that night looking for souvenirs to bring back. It was after 10:00pm by now, and the stores were already closed. I went back to lodge. The trip just kept getting better and better. I knew this day would be one that I would remember for the rest of my life. I went peacefully to sleep at the end of a simply spectacular day.