Clara Hughes: a terrifying ride down a dark and stormy highway

Olympian, author, and all-round adventurer Clara Hughes has seen her fair share of wet, windy and challenging nights. And she's experienced them all — exposed to the elements — from the seat of her bicycle.

But Hughes says that her most miserable ride happened while she was on her honeymoon. 

Hughes had just tied the knot with her partner, Peter Guzman. To celebrate, they packed their cycling gear and headed to the origin of the Dempster Highway. The route connects Dawson City, YT to Inuvik, NT and is the only all-season road to cross the Arctic Circle.

Remote, rugged, and rough — it's not an easy ride. 

One evening, a few days in to their journey, they approached 'Hurricane Alley', an area notorious for treacherous winds and massive snow drifts. As the wind started howling, Hughes realized they were in for a long night.

"We got to the point where we started going up a hill," Hughes explained. "We put our bikes down because we couldn't pedal any further, and they started blowing down the road." 

Hughes and Guzman were starting to panic when, off in the distance, the lights of a pickup truck appeared. As it pulled up, the window rolled down. 

"And they're like 'Is it bad ahead? Do you think we can make it?'," laughed Hughes. "And they were in a full-on, four-wheel-drive pickup truck. I was like 'I think you'll be OK!', and they left us there." 

And then we realized we were going to have to stay the night.- Clara Hughes

The couple decided to take shelter, tossed their bikes in a ditch and began to set up their tent. With wind — and now snow — howling from all directions, one of them had to stay inside to keep the tent from blowing away. Once set up, they settled in for a sleepless night. 

The next morning, the weather hadn't improved much: 

I remember opening up the zipper in the tent, peering out, and seeing nothing but white.- Clara Hughes

Fort McPherson, one of the few hamlets along the Dempster Highway, was still 75 kilometres away. Knowing they had to get moving, Hughes and Guzman waited for the wind to shift in their favour, then packed up their tent and set out along the road. 

They rolled in to Fort McPherson that evening, cold and shivering. The manager of the town's only campground watched them approach and insisted that the sad-looking pair lodge themselves in a nearby cabin. According to Hughes, she and Guzman "stayed there for two days, and ate all the food that was left by someone else." 

Looking back, Hughes laughs about her dark and stormy experience — but says she learned an important lesson from that wild Northern ride. 

"Don't be afraid of the unknown, but be prepared," she said. "Realize that when you feel like you're kind of making a bad decision, you are. And when you're in the outdoors and you're vulnerable, you're going to get your ass kicked." 

WEB BONUS | Explore Clara's route through 'Hurricane Alley' using this Google Street View map: