The Kluane to Chilkat International Bike Relay is a 160 mile long occasion for cyclists young and old, fast or slow, to celebrate the joy of riding bicycles. The race begins in Haines Junction, and ends in front of the  barracks building in Haines.  

Michael McCaan, from Whitehorse, has participated in the race before. 

“Actually I competed in the very first race,” McCaan said. “Don’t ask me the year because you get to a certain age and everything sort of disappears.”

That first race was more than 30 years ago.

“I think I did something like 15 years in a row of this race and then took a bit of a break,” McCaan said.

On Saturday he sat with his camera at the finish line, as he volunteered to document the competition. He describes the start of the race. 

“It was a bit drizzly but there was virtually no wind and overcast, actually kind of ideal conditions,” McCaan said. The first time we caught up with the leaders, was probably getting close to the summit. So they were really moving along pretty quickly, and working quite well together from the looks of it.”

Most of the energy bike racers expend goes to fighting wind resistance. When McCaan says the leaders worked well together, he means they all took regular turns riding in front of the group, where that resistance is strongest. At the end of the race, three riders came in 20 minutes ahead of the next fastest racers. 

Tyson Flaharty, from Fairbanks, finished first -for the second year in a row- He describes how he and his co racers broke away from the pack.

“There is a climb about 50 miles from the start, and that’s usually where things kind of shatter,” Flaharty said. “And these guys were just super strong when we started going harder there. So people kind of keep dropping off as you go. And a few more hills, and a few more people drop, and we kind of have the selection I guess.”  

Willy Bell, from Whitehorse, finished second. He says at some point the trio recognized they would lead the race.

“It was fairly early, I think it was about the fourth checkpoint, close to the halfway point,” Bell said. “We had four people but one was on a two person relay. So he stopped there and it was just the three of us.” 

The three of them stuck together to take advantage of that windbreaking teamwork. They waited for each other at the border crossing, and again about 15 miles from town, when one of them needed to pump up his tire. 

The bright sun at the finish line contrasted with a darker reality of the road. Some riders made the race into a celebration of life for a Whitehorse cyclist who died Thursday after being hit by a car while commuting to work. The driver left the scene after the collision.

Coming down the Chilkat valley, the racers benefitted from a steady tailwind, a rare occurrence. The race leaders reported top speeds of 50 mph, and average speeds over 23 mph.

At the last turn before the finish, the trio ended their cooperation and broke into a sprint, finishing seconds from each other, completing the course after over six hours in the saddle.

From the sidelines, veteran racer Michael McCaan marveled at how popular and competitive the event has become. The number of racers is limited to 1200, and the event sells out quickly.

“The very first race I think there was about 330 riders. And everybody was riding mountain bikes, because nobody thought you could ride to Haines on a road bike,” McCaan said. “It had to be a mountain bike. That has changed.”

The final and official results of the race will soon be posted on the KCIBR website.