480-km ice road bike ride caps ultramarathoner's month of Arctic adventure

Many Canadians are using Canada's 150th anniversary as a reason to explore their country — but few, if any, are taking the concept as far as Ray Zahab.

Zahab, an ultramarathoner who has previously run across the Sahara Desert and set a world record for the fastest trek across Antarctica to the South Pole, is currently en route to Fort Good Hope, N.W.T., by fat-tire bicycle. He began his trek earlier this week in Wrigley and is cycling up the frozen Mackenzie River to Fort Good Hope — a distance of nearly 500 kilometres.

Zahab is travelling with Italy's Stefano Gregoretti and Yellowknife's Dr. Ewan Affleck. 

"We're excited about the adventure," Zahab said in Yellowknife Sunday, as he prepared for the trip to begin. "We're so excited to see the beauty of the Mackenzie River Valley, we've heard so much about it. But more than that, it's about the people we'll meet along the way, the stories we'll hear along the way."

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Third stage of Arctic adventure

The trek is the third stage of Zahab and Gregoretti's "Arctic Extreme expedition," which began inauspiciously on Feb. 1. 

The first leg — an attempt to traverse Labrador's Torngat Mountain range on foot — nearly ended in disaster after Zahab fell through a patch of ice.

"Long story short, I wound up... going into the water," he said. "My whole body practically being in the water, and becoming as close to hypothermia as you can with wet clothing, and spending 48 more hours trying to basically get out. My body just would not recover from that.

"Remember Kenny Rogers? You've got to know when to hold em and when to fold 'em? It was time to fold 'em."

After Zahab's accident, the pair chose to press ahead with the second leg of their trip. Heading to Qikiqtarjuaq, Nunavut, Zahab and Gregoretti dealt with high winds while attempting to ski across Baffin Island.

Sporting frostbite marks on his face, Zahab says that despite the harsh conditions, the highs of the experience make the trips worthwhile. He pointed to the second day of their trip, where the pair worked their way to a moraine after battling 100 km/h winds the night before.

"The sun started to set, and night started," said Zahab. "We had one head lamp that was working.

"And as we skied together in the night, there was a bow of Northern lights above us. You could see every star in the sky, flanked by mountains... out there in February, in the Canadian Arctic, you could have heard a pin drop out there.

"We are in the middle of one of the most epic [scenes] that you could ever imagine, and it came at the foot of this massive storm. We're witnessing this, and I'm thinking to myself, other than being with my family, is there anywhere else I'd rather be on the planet in this exact moment? 

"And the answer is no. Because I'm seeing something, and I'm experiencing something that will only ever happen once in my lifetime. It will never be replicated."

'The pain is temporary'

Zahab says the third leg of the expedition will be the most difficult. The pair will battle temperatures that could dip below -40 C as they bike up the ice road, with only two communities on the direct route.

However, the group does have experience fat-tire biking in the Arctic, which Zahab says gives them the knowledge needed to successfully complete the journey. Their custom bicycles have studded 5-inch wide tires, as well as specialized pedals that will allow them to cycle in snowmobile boots.

"If there's one thing I've learned, the wind is never at your back," he said. "So we've sort of designed everything that we're doing for the wind being head on."

You can only prepare so much for the Arctic in winter, though, something that Zahab says he's come to terms with, believing that his ultimate goal will be worth it in the end.

"There's the old saying, the pain is temporary," he said.

"I'm going to go ride my fat bike across the Mackenzie Valley, or ski across Baffin Island, in the middle of winter, you're probably going to get some frostbite. Is that tradeoff worth it? In my mind, it is.

"This is why I love adventure, this is why I call myself an adventurer, this is why we do what we do. Because it's what we love."