North to Alaska a Little Over a Week From Now

A week from Thursday I head up to Alaska for a six day bike tour with a local Anchorage company called Alaskabike.  When I leave the Anchorage airport to head to the hotel I will then have set foot in all 50 states.   (I will finally be able to remove the asterisk next to Alaska from January 1980.  Our Japan Air Lines JFK to Tokyo flight stopped in Anchorage to board passengers and refuel.  But our flight cleared departure formalities in New York because the Anchorage stop was only for refueling and to board originating passengers.  So technically, I had already left the U.S.  So how could I have been in Alaska if I had already left the country?!)

While my arrival in Anchorage will complete my goal of having been in all 50 states, there’s the more ambitious goal that this is a part of—biking in all 50 states.  As the previous post in this blog from last month noted, I’ve now ridden in 30 states.  This trip will add not just Alaska, but Washington as well.  Two driving trips later in this year will allow me to ride in 10 more states bringing the total to 43, with seven remaining for 2020 (it will also bring my total of current major league ballparks to 26, leaving four more at which to see games next year.  Fortunately both the cycling states and ballparks to be completed next year are all in the same part of the country!).

On Thursday the 20^th I’ll fly out to Seattle from BWI on Alaska Airlines arriving mid-morning.  That evening I’ll take the light rail into town to see the Baltimore Orioles play the Seattle Mariners. (I’m staying out near Sea-Tac Airport because of the cost of in-town hotels)   The next morning I’ll go into town again, take the ferry to Bainbridge Island, and spend the day on a rented bike exploring the island and adding my 31st bicycle state to my list.  On Saturday I fly to Anchorage, and we start riding Sunday morning.  I understand that there are eight cyclists doing the trip.  

The tour covers about 800 miles over 6 days, with an average of 65 miles of riding each day—although most days are 70-80 miles.  Now, you don’t have to be a math major to realize that 800 miles in six days would require over 100 miles of riding per day.  Each day will involve riding in the van for part of the day.  In fact the first day we depart Anchorage and travel 170 miles up the Park Highway before we begin riding.  We then ride 54 miles to our overnight lodging in cabins near the entrance to Denali.  On Monday we’ll ride 80 miles to Nenana, where we’ll then van up to Fairbanks for our second night.  

The next three days will be spent coming down the east side of the state, with about 75 miles of riding per day with overnight stops in Delta Junction, the Tangle River Inn and Glen Allen.  The final day of riding is 58 miles to the port city of Valdez.  On Saturday we’ll take a nearly six hour cruise on the Alaska Marine Highway (ferry!) to Whittier where we’ll then van back to Anchorage.  Total riding should be about 400 miles, which I’ll do on the tour operator provided hybrid.  I decided not to drag my own bike to Alaska for this trip, since Alaskabike provides hybrids and they said that if you bring your own bike, they’ll provide mechanical help, but you better bring repair parts because they won’t have them  except for their hybrids.

Here’s a link to the itinerary of the bicycle tour.  For details by day just click on the arrow at the end of each block which shows the day number.  I’m not really sure how many hours the combination of riding and vanning will take, but there’s no worry about being out after dark.  June 21 is the longest day of the year, and in Alaska that means it doesn’t get dark at night.  Only less bright!

On Sunday June 30 I’ll take the Alaska Railroad train from Anchorage to Seward (a four hour trip) to cruise through the Kenai Fjords National Park to see glaciers,  seals, and hopefully some whales.  After a late evening arrival back into Anchorage it will be a short night of sleep and then a 7 a.m. flight to Seattle, a two hour connection, and a nonstop back to Washington National Airport arriving at 10 p.m. that night.

Except for the fourth night of the bike tour, where I’m told there is no wifi coverage, expect daily updates with pictures.  For the details of the cycling, that only a fellow cyclist could love, I'll have a link to Garmin Connect.  Of course for those of you who follow my cycling on Strava, the rides will appear there as well.  Since Alaska is four hours behind the East Coast, you may end up having to wait until morning to see the previous day's update.

I hope you enjoy the updates, and thanks for following my quest to ride in all 50 states.