First entry! A few words and pictures about the start of my North America Tour. Nervous excitement, Easy flying and ambitious plans.
From July 2022 I had a year off work in the bag I was keen to put it use, I booked flights to Alaska a few days before my sabbatical leave was due to start. So early June I arranged some holiday off work before hand so I could have a few weeks prepping and some time to say ta-ra to the mates and family. Basically hangover time in that dept.
It felt like a big trip for me at this point and far too much thinking had gone into it so I was full of nervous excitement coming up to the flight. There’s nothing you can do about it but, as you’d expect, I was very keen to just get there and have all my gear arrive with me too. Thankfully, the airline’s made it happen and I was able to set my bike up in Anchorage airport on the afternoon of the 30th June 2022. It’s all part of travelling with a bike but pedalling off into town felt like a enormous load off my shoulders, like I could finally just get on with it and do this thing.
I had a few nights in Anchorage, kindly hosted by Donovan, a local guy, who offers his place (warmshowers.org) to people on bike tours like mine. It was massively appreciated, not only for the obvious financial savings but I needed to do some sorting and planning before I started pedalling.
Donovan also has bags of riding experience around there and a good collection of maps in his place, so looking at routes and chatting plans with him was very valuable. This thankfully gave me a bit of confidence about what I was actually heading off into over the next few weeks.
Being the 4th of July weekend was also nice timing as stuff was going on. We went into town, watched some live music, checked out the museum and drank drinks.
I set off north out of Anchorage the following day, Saturday the second of July, towards Denali National park, it would take me four days to get there.
Getting going was one of those crazy rewarding feelings you get when you do something you’ve visualised for a long time, I was buzzing. The huge views north to the mountains I was heading towards was also an exciting prospect, it’s nearly 100km to Palmer but it flew by. Had a beer at the Matasuska brewery with a local I met whilst she was out for a pedal, got some food supplys for the next few days then set off up a mountain road called Hatcher pass.
Hatcher Pass is a beauty of a winding road that’s kind of a must do if you’re anywhere near Palmer but it would be a 1000m climb in less than 20km. It was getting late in the day so I rode half way up and found a dreamy little place off the road to spend the night on my first wild camp.
Being summer and around 61N on the latitude it doesn’t actually get fully dark which was a new experience for me. Never ending evenings as the sun just stays low.
I finished the rest of the climb the next morning. Whilst being reminded of the ludicrous amounts energy required keep a 40kg bike setup moving uphill. I also realised the positive attention being a bike tourer can often bring. I felt like a celebrity with people taking my picture, tooting horns and a kind family from Eagle even gave me lunch near the top.
From Hatcher summit the downhill to Parks Highway at Willow crossing was long, mostly gravel and a perfect gradient for cruising fast. At this point I was also checking in to see the first views of Denali national park to the North.
Going to Talkeetna was an on the fly call, as it’s an out and back only road it’s not a convenient stop. However I’d hoped for some nice views of the Denali mountain and possibly have a beer with some fun people. Talkeetna serves as a bit of base camp for the national park so it was full of tourists, mountaineers and paddlers. Unfortunately clouds and smoke from wild fires hindered the best views but beers with fun people was allowed. Touristy busy little town but still loads of character and well worth the short visit for me.
According to the little research I’d done about the following section I wouldn’t be anywhere near a food shop for the next 5-6 days. I stocked up at the junction supermarket with rice and beans and set off towards Cantwell, which would be the beginning of the Denali Highway.
At this point I was really realising how long some of these roads feel when you’re riding. All day on just the same seemingly endless highway but I had plenty of stuff to think about and as the traffic eased off further north the surrounding views where amazing me. Camp three was at a roadside rest stop/view point and a I made the little junction town of Cantwell the following day.
Being the start of my tour I was brimming with enthusiasm. The legs were fresh and weather was dreamy. Looking back now having that buzz makes it all a hell of a lot easier. Those long roads can be hard work and being July the mosquitoes where getting bad but somehow I was loving every minute of these first days.
CW
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My One Year Bike Tour 