Tuesday, June 25, 2019
Today’s ride began about 20 miles south of Fairbanks
opposite Eielson Air Force Base. Before
we got there, in the van we passed North Pole, Alaska. The town capitalizes on its name with candy
cane painted light poles, a giant statue of Santa Claus, and letters sent to
Santa Claus, North Pole get sent to the post office here.
As we got started on a planned 75 mile ride, we saw two Air
Force KC-135 tankers take off on the runway that paralleled the Richardson
Highway on which we were riding.
Unfortunately no pictures,since there are signs warning against taking
any photographs in the area next to the base.
The Richardson Highway does not feature the high mountains
such as the ones along the Parks Highway near Denali. The road and trees that
line it create a scene that could be anywhere in the Northeastern quadrant of
the country.
I woke up with a cold (was this a "gift" from the lady who was sitting behind me on the plane out to Seattle?) and felt worse as the morning went on. I had no energy. At mile 35, our lunch stop, I remembered the lesson I learned three years ago on the cross country trip I took. I got a cold in the first week of that trip. I didn’t want to ride the van (didn’t want to miss a mile!) and as a result ended up with bronchitis. Even after antibiotics it hampered my progress as I had no energy and finally left that tour in Minnesota after 2,000 miles. Today I was not going to make the same mistake. I decided to ride the van for the next leg (18 miles). I slept for an hour which revived me somewhat, so I decided to get back on the bike to do the last 21 miles. Especially with a tailwind blowing.
I woke up with a cold (was this a "gift" from the lady who was sitting behind me on the plane out to Seattle?) and felt worse as the morning went on. I had no energy. At mile 35, our lunch stop, I remembered the lesson I learned three years ago on the cross country trip I took. I got a cold in the first week of that trip. I didn’t want to ride the van (didn’t want to miss a mile!) and as a result ended up with bronchitis. Even after antibiotics it hampered my progress as I had no energy and finally left that tour in Minnesota after 2,000 miles. Today I was not going to make the same mistake. I decided to ride the van for the next leg (18 miles). I slept for an hour which revived me somewhat, so I decided to get back on the bike to do the last 21 miles. Especially with a tailwind blowing.
That was a good decision.
The ride was relatively easy. Shortly after passing the first view of the Alaska Pipeline at the
Tanana River, I came up to a cyclist who was obviously traveling
self-supported (I don't know how she could move that bike as fast as she did with all that gear attached to it!). Katherine was from
Ireland, had started at Denali, spent several days there, had ridden up to
Fairbanks where she had also spent time and was now heading to Vancouver,
BC. She was on a sabbatical from her job
as a designer for IKEA and is going to meet her mother in Vancouver at the end
of August. We rode together for nearly
an hour and having someone to chat with about the differences (and
similarities) between cycling in Alaska and in Europe made the time fly by.
Total mileage ridden today by me between the two legs was 56 miles.
This evening our group went to a local restaurant where most
of us had pizza, and then I was dropped at a nearby food store to pick up some
more cold capsules and other supplies as I went through most of the ones I had
brought with me today.
Tomorrow we will continue down the Richardson Highway to
Paxson where we will then turn off onto the Denali Highway to the Tangle River Inn
for the night. Tomorrow is 68 miles. I’ll
try to do it all, but if not, I will not be reluctant to re-employ today’s
successful strategy and ride one segment in the van again.
There is no wifi where we are staying tomorrow night, so the
next posts will be on Thursday night (Friday morning back east is when you’ll
see them), covering the next two days rides. The data for today's rides can be found using the links below, and the pictures follow,
Bruce
Part 1
Part 1
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| How many highway signs in America direct you to Santa Claus Lane? Welcome to North Pole, AK |
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| Look closely to see the candy cane stripes on the light poles. |
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| What would North Pole be without a Santa Claus House? |
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| Or without Santa himself! |
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| The Tanana River, one of the many times we crossed it today. |
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| The Richardson Highway goes all the way to our Friday destination, Valdez. |
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| Is it some suspension highway bridge? |
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| No. It's the Alaska Pipeline! |
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