The beginning of a tour can be an exciting time. Emelio and I rolled out of town with an escort from Burnice through the network of bike trails. It was great to get rolling, and we had perfect weather. Once the trails ended it got less pleasant as we were forced onto the motorway.
Emelio had a blowout, popping the tyre off. Emilio got it fixed.
I'd planned a big first day, and sort of pushed Emelio to come with me. In hindsight it would have been best to split it into two days as Emelio wasn't conditioned yet. In Wasilla we split up, with the possibility of catching up further along the road.
Even though I arrived after 9pm, Elaine, another warmshowers host met me with a beer and dinner! Also staying the night was Brigitte, from France who was also cycling north.
The morning was spent learning about sled dogs and mushing, as well as a bit of a tour of the local area. After lunch I headed off, feeling great despite my previous day. In Talkeetna I watched a free music concert and met up with Elaine and Brigitte, as well as Rich, who's place we ended up at that night.
I'm not particularly quick to get going in the morning, so I had a few hours of chasing before I caught Brigitte. This would become a common occurrence for the days we spent together. This particular day wasn't helped by catching up with Emelio, who was having a rest day near Talkeetna.
The riding was through mostly uninspiring terrain, every so often the trees would open up to reveal a bit of a view.
My first night camping at Byers was to become a fairly common experience for payed campgrounds, best described as a glorified carpark. Occasionally there would be a tent area, but in general everything is aimed at RV's.
My first bear sighting was a bit more interesting than I'd have liked. I was stopped and heard a rustling before a small black bear popped out on the other side. I decided to move on before being a good tourist and taking a photo.
My first mountain pass was a little disappointing. The views were great, its just hard to take a pass seriously when it's basically a false flat all the way. I met Dennis, a German cyclist, who due to his lack of camping gear had been averaging 110miles a day.
In Cantwell we stayed in our first RV park. Not terrible as it had free showers, but the tent sites were only just big enough for 2 tents, the overall experience was much worse than NZ holiday parks, although cheaper, as long as you can share the cost.
The Denali hwy had been on my list of roads to travel from the start, but I'd convinced myself that I didn't need to do it. Thankfully Brigitte made me change my mind. What followed was 3 days of great riding with prefect weather with awesome views of the Alaska range.
A tailwind gave us decent pace, but we stopped earlier than I'd have liked, but it was a nice spot. Overnight I had to get up in the night, and experienced as much dark as i'm likely to get for a while.
An overpriced beer and wifi at Mclaren River in the middle of nowhere were great to end the day, and we were camped just across the road.
I woke up feeling a bit lightheaded, but after a great breakfast at the lodge across the road I felt much better. Brigitte had left before me, so I had a bit of chasing, climbing at my own pace felt great. It was great to have some proper climbs, as well as some fun descents.
At Paxson a northerly wind made our choice for us, so we headed to Paxson Lake. This was one of the best spots for tents, as they had lakefront spots just for tents, at only half the normal cost!
That night I Skyped home, definitely felt strange doing it whilst being a long way from the closest town.
As we had decided to go south we knew food could be an issue so we'd planned to stop at a nearby roadhouse. Unfortunately the info at the campsite was 2 years old, and it had only just reopened and wasn't setup for food.
After coffee I decided to leave Brigitte, with only a little success. With different breaks we ended up rejoining, before finally splitting when I chose to push on another 30 miles. It was getting hot, only high 20's, but the constant sun made it tough. Arriving in Christochina to a reasonably priced tent site at the Red Eagle lodge with a shower was great, there was even a store in town!
An all you can eat breakfast was a great start to day, Brigitte had even stolen a march and had breakfast with me.
A 2nd hot day in a row was hard. After a few hours we parted ways. The night before I'd been told about a valley where an earthquake had shifted part of the road 18ft sideways. Knowing it was there made it very noticeable, others I'd met had no idea. Actually riding amongst mountains was great, I even had some shade which was a novelty. I even saw a bunch of moose.
At camp I asked some motorbikers if I could share their site. Ryan and Matt were great company, even sharing their booze. The next morning I left a bit before then. Soon enough they passed me, but with the aid for a great tailwind I covered 16 miles in 50 mins and caught them in Tok having breakfast.
Doing an overnight ride had been on my mind, and what better place to do it then about as far north as I was going to get. To prepare for this I took it very easy in Tok, which meant Brigitte caught me once again.
Rolling out of Tok at 10pm felt very strange. Whilst it was definitely still light, and would be for a long time I could feel that it was not normal. On the main highway there was still a little traffic, but once I turned off towards the Top of the World HWY I only saw 3 cars for the rest of the ride.
I did end up turning my lights on, but this purely so others could see me. I ran out of water, and nearly froze when the temperature dropped to 2 degrees whilst refilling. On sunrise I stopped at a rest area, had a quick snack and slept on a deck for a few hours.
Lack of sleep made the following day hard. The morning wasn't so bad, but after a good lunch and a free cinnamon bun from the Chicken Cafe the fatigue really kicked in. It was great to finally have some challenging terrain though, even if I wasn't in the best state to enjoy it fully.
Rolling into camp I was invited over for beers, and offered pot by an Eskimo, and Indian and a white guy, apparently a rather unusual group. It may have just been talk, but they were making themselves out to be a bit of a rough bunch, at least in their youths. Not the usual people I'd hang around but I figured why not.
Ended up camping with another pair of bikers, Dave and Greg. They even pulled out some throwing axes.
This would be my last night in Alaska, only 11.5 days, a bunch of miles, and far too little seen. I definitely want to come back, I'd love to see the country through the changing of seasons.
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