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!).
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!
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.
