I’m ensconced in a nice room at the University of Alaska campus in Fairbanks (the second largest city in Alaska). I’ve had my morning coffee, been to the supermarket to get some supplies and am thinking about eating now: Everybody here is really nice and friendly. PS The skies were blue and the temperature in the mid twenties centigrade until an hour ago when it started to rain. Oh well the bike needed a clean.
Somehow I’ve got a cold – passed on by room mate me thinks, so the thought of six days R & R here seems very appealing, especially after a 500 mile ride to get here yesterday. That’s the equivalent of London to Aberdeen just to cover a small bit of the Yukon and a small bit of Alaska!
During the first 100 miles of yesterday’s ride the views were outstanding – see pictures. Then it all flattened out until the US border after which and for the last 100 or so miles to Fairbanks you could have been anywhere in Europe – just gentle lush greenery everywhere. I rode on my own for the last 100 miles as there is a real danger of the trip just turning into a race from point a to b each day without time to see the scenery stop to rest etc etc. Indeed this issue has become a talking point by about half the group who are about to declare ‘UDI’ and start doing there own thing. For instance, when the group returns from Prudhoe Bay the next mileage is nearly 400 miles to Dawson City. the last 160 miles of this is the Taylor Highway which, for its last 100 miles is mainly an unmade road with epic scenery i.e. you want to ride it slowly and to stop and see things. Not confront it at the end of a hard day when you’re tired and in a rush because it’s getting late.
My roommate has agreed with my suggestion that the previous day, a rest day for the group after Prudhoe Bay, we take a leisurely ride to Tok which is 200 miles away and at the start of the Taylor Highway: Then we spend the night there and do the Taylor Highway slowly the following day. I suspect one or two others may join us and that this may set a precedent for the future.
One guy went on the group leader’s first trip over America about two years ago. He said that exactly the same mutiny occurred then with people getting a bit fed up with just riding vast distances quickly and missing all the sights as they sped past. Interesting.
So, now I chill for a while and then start planning to get a bit more out of the trip as I may never do another one like it.
Oh, before I finish, I came upon a huge Grizzly bear by the side of the road yesterday – he was big – and a coyote and a Caribou. Wildlife spotting is looking up a little.