Day 36. July 20. Seward to Takeetna. Distance 70 mile bike ride.
The day after the fabulous cruise from Seward, we met up with the others at their campground and drove together the 165 miles up to Wasilla to begin the day's bike ride. I drove the RV with Janet in the passenger seat so she could start to become familiar with the big hulk since later in the day, she would be driving it for the first time. We dropped off the rental car in downtown Anchorage, and then continued on with all 8 of us in the motorhome. It was pretty crowded, with all our stuff and one bike inside.
In Wasilla, we transferred into our bike-riding clothes and all six of us took off, north toward Fairbanks. Janet agreed to SAG for us, meaning she would play leapfrog and park ahead of us at spots along the way to see if anyone needed anything, and for our scheduled breaks. For the first time on this trip, we had a driver and therefore all of us could ride the entire distance. Here she is in the driver's seat:
She was a champion driver, and Tomoko helped navigate and decide how to support the riders since she had sagged before. It was a very late start for our bike ride, about 1:30 pm, but 70 miles is now considered "short". Since I was still having trouble with both my shifters, I was stuck in a single high gear. Luckily, it was not hilly, so having only one gear was not much of a handicap.
That night we stayed in Takeetna, a little village with character. It's at the end of a 14-mile side road off the main highway that almost parallels it. A river keeps them from continuing the road north and back to the highway, so the next morning we needed to return those 14 miles. The town is there because of the Alaska Railroad, that begins in Seward and ends in Fairbanks. It was begun in 1903, and helped make Anchorage the big town it is now since it was a supply center. The photo on the previous blog is us at dinner at the Danali Brewing Company, and here's a shot from out front:
Here's another shop in town with a special character:
To sleep eight people, Bob had to pitch his tent for the first time on this trip. It was raining, so I pulled out the RV awning and they put the tent under it. Bob, Derek, and Rick slept in it, Jessica slept on the middle bed (kitchen table conversion), Bert and Tomoko slept over the cab, and Janet and I had the back bedroom. Whew! We did it, accommodating all eight of us!
Day 37. July 21. Takeetna to Cantwell. Distance 125 miles.
Jessica's 27th birthday! It rained all night, causing some to want to sleep in, so we got a late start leaving on our long 125-mile day. Just packing up the tent and putting back the awning added time. All six riders left in the rain, but during the day some decided to call it quits. We were thoroughly drenched all day. In this photo at one of our breaks, I had taken off my wet things but you can see Derek behind in his soaking clothes:
We had to squeeze the water out of our gloves before putting them back on after the break:
At the 90-mi rest stop, only Bob and I were still riding. I left before he did, so I kept riding slowly so he could catch up. I did not realize he had stopped and gotten on the motorhome, so when they all passed me and saw how slowly I was going, they told me to stop too so we could get to the campground by 7 pm. They thought I was tired but I was not. Not only was I going slowly up hills waiting for Bob, but I was still having trouble with my shifters, and I was at that point stuck in a single low gear. (I had been in a single high gear for the past two days, but once I shifted from the large chain ring to the small one at mile 88 because the hills got too steep, I could not go back into the big chain ring.) Early the next morning I rode the 17 miles I missed the evening before, when I was yanked.
Day 38 July 22. Cantwell to Denali National Park. Distance 36 miles.
Janet's mother's birthday! It was a short ride so that we'd have time to explore the national park. Alas, we did not get to see Mt McKinley since it was cloudy (but not raining). On the ride I got to see a caribou doe and her fawn, right next to the road! I didn't have my camera with me, so no photo. I was behind everyone at that point, and was the only one who got to see them.
By early afternoon after lunch on the RV at the campground, we rode or drove the RV a short distance to the park. Bert, Tomoko, Janet and I took a shuttle bus 15 miles in, and spent an hour walking in a scenic area called Savage River.
Bob, Derek, and Rick rode their bikes to the same place, and here they are across the river from where Janet and I were:
That evening, for many hours, Rick worked on my bike to try to solve the shifting and gearing problems I'd been struggling with for many weeks, and it had gotten so bad I couldn't even shift up my front derailleur. The master mechanic put on a new chain, greased my original rear tire that had been stored since about day 7 and put that back on, and fiddled with the derailleurs endlessly until finally getting it! He even test-rode it a few times and came back to adjust some more. Poor guy spent his whole evening until after 10 pm helping me. Thank you so much, Rick!
Day 39 July 23. Denali to Fairbanks! Distance 120 miles. Goal Achieved!
An epic day, all of the original Five for Alaska boys riding the entire 120 miles to our "final" destination. Wow, what a feeling of accomplishment that we did it, all according to Bob's original itinerary planned months earlier.
We started the day getting a photo of all eight of us wearing our Five for Alaska jerseys before setting out. It was taken using Rick's camera, so I don't have it yet.
At the 67-mile lunch stop in Nanana (where Jessica ended her ride), Janet made all the sandwiches. Both Janet and Tomoko did so much for us on the three days we traveled together. The RV was always spotless (well...as much as it could be without a three-day overhaul), food was always prepared. They catered to us and it was SOOOO nice!
Farther up the hilly road, Bob took a quick rest:
Late in the day, a reporter with the Fairbanks CBS TV station drove south to meet us riding along, and he took lots of video of us from several vantage points along the road. Then, at the 106-mile rest stop, he interviewed Bob and Derek, Rick (who arranged for this via the CBS station in Butte), and Bert and Rick who hadn't shaven since the trip's start (so they're the bearded buddies):
While the interviews were going on, I also got this cool photo of a fox across the highway:
Once in Fairbanks, we all rode to the motel where Janet and I, and Bert and Tomoko were staying. Janet, Tomoko, and Jessica were already there after having gotten gasoline in the motorhome. We four motelers unloaded our stuff, they put all the bikes onto the racks, and drove several miles to the campground (after a MAJOR grocery shopping).
Wouldn't you know, but next door to the motel was my "heaven" - an all-you-can-eat sushi restaurant!! I had craved sushi for so long, and here it was with all I could eat. I loved it, eating 44 pieces. They joked they would have to charge me more money when they saw how much I was ordering and eating.
Day 40. Today, July 24. Fairbanks to Tok. Riding distance 100 miles.
I had to say goodbye to Janet this morning. It was an incredible week we had. So glad we arranged this visit. She was a wonderful addition to the whole trip for us, driving the RV as she did and smoothing me over some difficult times. In just two weeks I'll get to see her again in Butte.
After Janet and Tomoko (and later, Derek) left for the airport, I took the RV to a Jiffy Lube for an oil change. Then we drove all five of us and our bikes south to 10 miles north of Delta Junction. Here, we unloaded the bikes and started our ride at a spot just over a bridge spanning the Tenana River. Right next to our vehicle bridge
was a special bridge for the Alaska Oil Pipeline:
It is 800 miles long, the pipe is 4 feet wide, and it first started pumping oil on my parents' 35th wedding anniversary, June 20, 1977 (a night we took my parents in a limousine to Beverly Hills for a dinner and piano music by my dad's favorite, Johnny Guarnieri).
I was the first SAG driver, and in Delta Junction I got these photos because it is the end of the Alaska Highway (Mile 1422).
Look at how low the temperature gets here sometimes. Yikes!
From where my 20-mile segment ended for being the driver, we had 100 miles left to Tok. I rode those 100 miles really fast, since it was pretty level and we had a tail wind. It actually was the fastest 100-mile ride (a "century") I've ever ridden - 5:04, which was a 19.7 mph avg speed. My previous best was 5:15 when I was 31 yrs old, but, to be fair, it was a hilly course without the tailwind. Bert drove the 2nd 20 miles, and then finished with 80 miles for 100 miles also. The others rode slightly fewer miles. Tomorrow we head back into the Yukon Territory.
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