Bicycle Alaska 2008: Introduction
BICYCLE ALASKA, 2008
by
John Berry
INTRODUCTION:
There are always many reasons why one attempts a strenuous journey or any other activity that taxes one's physical or mental abilities. In the extreme it can be to prove that the thing is possible: more often it is merely to prove that you yourself can do it. It can be to create space away from people and mundane worries to meet a spiritual need. It can be because you really enjoy the activity, or because one needs to live "on the edge". It may be that you have always wanted to go to a place, or that there are people you want to visit there, and travel by air seems to spoil the point of a journey, which is largely in the going. The project in question may also be part of a larger, longer term, project. In the case of a long bicycle tour, it may also be that you want to save money, though I think that touring by bicycle is not really cheaper than doing the same journey by car. What you save in gasoline you spend on huge meals and for accommodation.
All these reasons apply to my tour of Alaska and the Yukon this summer: my brother Ted lives in Alaska, as does my best friend in the Geology program at the University of Pennsylvania, Milt Wiltse. Ever since I passed through the State on my way to Ice Island T-3 in 1963 I have wanted to see more of Alaska, and ever since I read the poems of Robert Service and "The call of the Wild" by Jack London I have wanted to see what the Yukon really looked like. Also, this is the second leg of my bicycle journey across the entire accessible continent of North America.
Therefore I prefer to think of this summer's adventure not as a long bicycle tour, but as a tour of Alaska and the Yukon by the best means available, including aeroplanes and the Alaska Marine Highway (ferries), as well as standard gauge and narrow-gauge railway lines, followed by a bicycle journey home. Incidentally, during the latter I crossed the only two Canadian provinces that I had not previously traveled in, as well as briefly visiting the only American state that I had not yet seen – North Dakota. An overview of my route is shown on the map below
There are seven installments in this account. At the moment (15 Sept, 2008), Sections 3 and 7 have no content. Section 3 will detail my visits to Barrow and Bethel by air, as well as the train trip from Fairbanks to Anchorage, and Section 7 covers the trip southwards from Winnipeg to Austin.
I have tried to write for both my friends at home and for my fellow cyclists. For the accounts of some of the latter see:
http://members.tripod.com/gohike/bikeak.html: describes a trip made by Dave Brock in 1987.
http://crl.ucsd.edu/~buff/alaska/: photos by as guy called Bob from a supported 1998 trip.
http://alaskabikeblog.blogspot.com/: blog by Tim, a year-round Anchorage biker. Lots of links.
http://www.cyclingaroundtheworld.nl/alaska/ie_alaska.htm this is an information site with links to many others.
For this reason I do not describe just the road and the events of the road, but also give details about the things that interested me: the geology, industry, history, the people that I met, and as much about the vegetation as I am competent to write. Most of the research for this I have done on the web.
This is a first draft, and one section is still more-or-less exactly as I sent it by e-mail. The other sections have been expanded on and cleaned up. I am sure that some passages will be tedious to many people, and that I will sound by turns pompous and wimpy, depending on whether I am spouting science or complaining about the weather. However, I hope that my readers will get a feel for what it is like to cross a continent by bicycle, and perhaps also a feel for the variety of landscapes and people along the way.
Figure 1: My bicycle journeys across North America. 2008 trip in red.
Compared with my trip north from Texas to Labrador four years ago through the eastern part of the continent, this trip involved more mountainous terrain and was shorter (5,000 miles vs 6,300 miles) and more hurried (105 days vs 154 days). On that trip my average daily ride was 63 miles; on this trip it was 74 miles, representing an additional hour of actual pedaling each day. On the last trip I rode every inch of the way, even though I embroidered the main thread with some loops in hired cars when the weather was unpleasant. During this trip I accepted or cadged several lifts for a variety of reasons: my health (I am now 67 years old and suffer from Atrial Fibrillation), mechanical problems with the bicycle, or dangerous road conditions. All of these were enhanced by the fact that I had a fairly tight deadline, so that waiting out an episode of "A. Fib." or waiting for bicycle parts did not seem like smart options. However, on this trip I made no loops by car but did use trains for three very pleasant stages in Alaska. Both journeys involved extensive voyages by ferry, because along the intricate coastlines at both glaciated extremities of the continent there are many communities and places of interest on peninsulas and islands that can only be reached by sea. These ferry trips were some of the best parts of each trip, in terms of the scenery, the wildlife seen, and the fun and interesting people I met.
The statistics of this summer's trip are summarized in the table below:
.......................................................Miles .....Kilometers
Total Distance Ridden ...............5018 .......8030
Days on Bicycle ...............................68
Average Daily Mileage ...................74 ...........118
Longest Day's Ride (July 25th) ..113 ...........181
Total Nights ..........................Number .........% of total
.....Under Canvas ......................38................. 36%
.....Hotels/Motels .....................36................. 34%
.....In Hostels............................. 16................. 15%
.....With friends and relatives. 15 .................14%
Tires and Parts Replaced: Number
Number of Punctures: ................3
No. of tires replaced:.................. 3
Other parts replaced: Rear Wheel
.........................................Front derailleur
by
John Berry
INTRODUCTION:
There are always many reasons why one attempts a strenuous journey or any other activity that taxes one's physical or mental abilities. In the extreme it can be to prove that the thing is possible: more often it is merely to prove that you yourself can do it. It can be to create space away from people and mundane worries to meet a spiritual need. It can be because you really enjoy the activity, or because one needs to live "on the edge". It may be that you have always wanted to go to a place, or that there are people you want to visit there, and travel by air seems to spoil the point of a journey, which is largely in the going. The project in question may also be part of a larger, longer term, project. In the case of a long bicycle tour, it may also be that you want to save money, though I think that touring by bicycle is not really cheaper than doing the same journey by car. What you save in gasoline you spend on huge meals and for accommodation.
All these reasons apply to my tour of Alaska and the Yukon this summer: my brother Ted lives in Alaska, as does my best friend in the Geology program at the University of Pennsylvania, Milt Wiltse. Ever since I passed through the State on my way to Ice Island T-3 in 1963 I have wanted to see more of Alaska, and ever since I read the poems of Robert Service and "The call of the Wild" by Jack London I have wanted to see what the Yukon really looked like. Also, this is the second leg of my bicycle journey across the entire accessible continent of North America.
Therefore I prefer to think of this summer's adventure not as a long bicycle tour, but as a tour of Alaska and the Yukon by the best means available, including aeroplanes and the Alaska Marine Highway (ferries), as well as standard gauge and narrow-gauge railway lines, followed by a bicycle journey home. Incidentally, during the latter I crossed the only two Canadian provinces that I had not previously traveled in, as well as briefly visiting the only American state that I had not yet seen – North Dakota. An overview of my route is shown on the map below
There are seven installments in this account. At the moment (15 Sept, 2008), Sections 3 and 7 have no content. Section 3 will detail my visits to Barrow and Bethel by air, as well as the train trip from Fairbanks to Anchorage, and Section 7 covers the trip southwards from Winnipeg to Austin.
I have tried to write for both my friends at home and for my fellow cyclists. For the accounts of some of the latter see:
http://members.tripod.com/gohike/bikeak.html: describes a trip made by Dave Brock in 1987.
http://crl.ucsd.edu/~buff/alaska/: photos by as guy called Bob from a supported 1998 trip.
http://alaskabikeblog.blogspot.com/: blog by Tim, a year-round Anchorage biker. Lots of links.
http://www.cyclingaroundtheworld.nl/alaska/ie_alaska.htm this is an information site with links to many others.
For this reason I do not describe just the road and the events of the road, but also give details about the things that interested me: the geology, industry, history, the people that I met, and as much about the vegetation as I am competent to write. Most of the research for this I have done on the web.
This is a first draft, and one section is still more-or-less exactly as I sent it by e-mail. The other sections have been expanded on and cleaned up. I am sure that some passages will be tedious to many people, and that I will sound by turns pompous and wimpy, depending on whether I am spouting science or complaining about the weather. However, I hope that my readers will get a feel for what it is like to cross a continent by bicycle, and perhaps also a feel for the variety of landscapes and people along the way.
Figure 1: My bicycle journeys across North America. 2008 trip in red.
Compared with my trip north from Texas to Labrador four years ago through the eastern part of the continent, this trip involved more mountainous terrain and was shorter (5,000 miles vs 6,300 miles) and more hurried (105 days vs 154 days). On that trip my average daily ride was 63 miles; on this trip it was 74 miles, representing an additional hour of actual pedaling each day. On the last trip I rode every inch of the way, even though I embroidered the main thread with some loops in hired cars when the weather was unpleasant. During this trip I accepted or cadged several lifts for a variety of reasons: my health (I am now 67 years old and suffer from Atrial Fibrillation), mechanical problems with the bicycle, or dangerous road conditions. All of these were enhanced by the fact that I had a fairly tight deadline, so that waiting out an episode of "A. Fib." or waiting for bicycle parts did not seem like smart options. However, on this trip I made no loops by car but did use trains for three very pleasant stages in Alaska. Both journeys involved extensive voyages by ferry, because along the intricate coastlines at both glaciated extremities of the continent there are many communities and places of interest on peninsulas and islands that can only be reached by sea. These ferry trips were some of the best parts of each trip, in terms of the scenery, the wildlife seen, and the fun and interesting people I met.
The statistics of this summer's trip are summarized in the table below:
.......................................................Miles .....Kilometers
Total Distance Ridden ...............5018 .......8030
Days on Bicycle ...............................68
Average Daily Mileage ...................74 ...........118
Longest Day's Ride (July 25th) ..113 ...........181
Total Nights ..........................Number .........% of total
.....Under Canvas ......................38................. 36%
.....Hotels/Motels .....................36................. 34%
.....In Hostels............................. 16................. 15%
.....With friends and relatives. 15 .................14%
Tires and Parts Replaced: Number
Number of Punctures: ................3
No. of tires replaced:.................. 3
Other parts replaced: Rear Wheel
.........................................Front derailleur
Labels: Alaska, Barrow, Bethel, Bicycle, Fairbanks, Touring, Winnipeg, Yukon
posted by John Berry at 2:13 PM
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