Alaskabike Day 6-Tooling Around Prince William Sound In A Kayak

Day 6 of our adventure finds us busting out the kayaks for a little jaunt around Prince William Sound to a glacier called Columbia.  This is the first time in my life I have ever kayaked and to say I'm nervous would be very accurate.  Especially when our guide Dan is giving us advice on how easy it is to tip the kayak over into the water.  Yikes!  But I keep thinking positive thoughts as we take our two hour boat ride out to the Sound.  On our way there, we see four bald eagles, a couple of sea otters just chillin' in the water and a couple of sea lions sunning themselves on a navigational buoy.  Once we make it to our destination, it's time to go kayaking!  I never realized how much equipment you must wear in order to keep yourself relatively dry.  Getting all that equipment on and settled into the kayak is a major production.  But I managed to get through all that and settled into the back of the tandem kayak.  You really find out a lot about your partner when you tandem kayak (or bicycle).  Although me and Laura did not have any arguments, there were a couple of moments like this:

Laura: Honey go left.

Me:  I am trying!

Laura:  Were going towards an iceberg.  GO LEFT!

Me:  I'M TRYING!!

We did make it past that iceberg.  There were a couple others we ran over but survived intact.  It was amazing to see them up close and listen to them pop due to the water being just slightly warmer than the iceberg itself.  We had lunch on "Bird Island".  It was an island in the Sound that had a lot of seagulls nesting there.  We had to be mindful that at any time, we could be pooped on as they flew above us.  Luckily, none of us got hit.  We finished our kayaking adventure by maneuvering around some more icebergs and getting an up close look at the Columbia Glacier.  What a magnificent sight it was!  All in all, I had a great first experience kayaking.  Would I do it again?  I might.  Never say never! :)

Tomorrow, the last day of our Alaskan adventure.  See you soon! :)  

Alaskabike Day 5-I touched the Alaska Pipeline!

I also climbed up a mountain.  More about that later.  Yes indeed I did touch the Alaska Pipeline.  So did Laura.  Here's a photo of her doing it:

Doesn't she look like Julia Roberts touching the pipeline?  I think so! :)  Anyway, here are some fun facts about the pipeline:

Even though you don't see a photo of me touching it, I did do it.  I will post a photo of me doing it once I get back to civilization and can download photos from Laura's camera.  

Now about that mountain.  In our itinerary for day 5, it says we will ride approximately 33 miles which will encompass a 2,678 foot climb to Thompson Pass.  Ok.  No sweat. I'll take my time and we'll be done in a few hours, right?  WRONG!!  First of all, our friend unrelenting rain decided to accompany us on our ride today.  And unbeknownst to all of us, Walt decided  to increase the mileage for the day.  Out first segment was 18 miles and mostly flat.  The next 10 miles to our lunch stop had one major climb.  The next 12 miles had three major climbs up to Thompson Pass and were some of the hardest miles I have ever done.  They were sort of steep but very long.  I had to stop a few times to let the lactic acid calm down in my legs but eventually, I made it to the top. Wet and cold, but I made it.  The final 12 miles were the easiest of the day as we descended 2500 of the original 2678 feet in just six miles!  Even though the road was wet and some fog thrown in for good measure, I FLEW down the mountain.  I guesstimate I reached a top speed between 45-50 MPH.  It was a lot of fun!  Total mileage for the day was 52 miles!  It was a fitting end to the cycling portion of our adventure.  Everyone completed the ride successfully.  Feeling wet, cold and tired, it really made me feel like i accomplished something! :)

Tomorrow, I go kayaking for the first time in my life.  Wish me luck! :)    

Alaskabike Day 4-South Side Kid Stands Next to A Glacier!

Today we hiked to a glacier.  Let me say it a little differently.  WE HIKED TO A FREAKIN' GLACIER!!  It was awesome!! (I would show you pictures now but because Virgin Mobile does not offer cell service in the state of Alaska, I can't make calls nor can I upload and photos from my phone.  Once I get back to 'civilization', I will create a post of pictures.  Now back to your regular blog.)  It was a three mile trek from our starting point to the glacier.  It included a walk across a suspension bridge to traverse across a river of glacier runoff.  Normally I'm not fond of bridges that sway and bounce as you walk across them, but I crossed with no issues.  In fact, it was kinda fun! :)  We saw all sorts of rocks formed by the melting of the glacier and how a little trickle of glacier runoff a million years ago could create some of the most expansive valleys I've ever seen.  It was an amazing sight!

Some lunch and then a 15 mile bike ride in headwinds that averaged 26-29 mph with gusts in the 40 mph range.  Of course we had headwinds.  It was a sunny day on the some of the flattest roads we've had during the entire trip.  Mother Nature was trying to test our mettle today.  But we survived with vim, vigor and aplomb! :)  

Tomorrow is our last bike ride of the trip.  A 33 mile journey that will take us to Thompson Pass and a six mile downhill as the main attractions.  I can't wait!  Talk to you tomorrow!

 

Alaskabike Day 3-Raindrops Keep Falling On Our Heads!

"Forward To The Past" should have been the title of today's adventure.  We took to canoes for a three hour jaunt down the Tangle River to a unnamed island where we did a little hiking.  This was the first time I have been in a canoe since I was twelve at Camp Richards in East Troy, WI.  But I had no trouble reawakening my long dormant canoeing skills.  Laura and I were pros in navigating our vessel down the river.  Some of the time.  Laura and I were like Abbott & Costello in navigating our vessel down the river.  Some of the time! :) Put it together and it made for some memorable scenes!  By the way, did I mention the rain?  Yes we got soaked.  Again.  For almost the entire duration of our journey. However, I must give a shout out to the salesperson at REI in Schaumburg who recommended the pair of waterproof hiking shoes I had on today.  They lived up to their billing today.  While the rest of me was drenched, my feet were nice and dry!

After lunch, we biked the last 20 miles of the Denali Highway.  Mother Nature decided to cut us a break and stop the rain and even threw in a couple of peeks of sunshine.   Those last 20 miles are paved but are extremely hilly.  It reminded me of the eight mile, 1000 foot climb up Spooner Junction in Lake Tahoe.  Throw in a little wind and you had the makings of a miserable ride for me.  But I went back to the basics, shifted into my lowest gear on the hills and made it up the climbs with no issues.  And once I reached the summit of the last climb, I was rewarded with a nice downhill to complete the day's activities.  All in all, it made for a very special day.

Tuesday, a glacier hike is in our future and another bike ride as well.  Talk to you tomorrow! :)

Alaskabike Day 2-Much Drier! :)

What a difference a day makes!  Today we were met with much better weather than the day before.  Don't get me wrong it was still cloudy but NO RAIN!  It made our 16 mile ride much more bearable than the soakfest we experienced yesterday.  After a delicious breakfast at the Perch Restaurant, we tackled the Denali Highway. It is a mostly gravel highway which is little used.  Only 24 of of its 135 miles are paved.  And we got to ride 16 of those unpaved miles.  Luckily, we are using hybrid Cannondale bikes that can handle  just such a road.  Being poorly maintained, it has a tremendous amount of potholes (for all of you TNT cyclists out there, think Penny Road before they resurfaced it).  But we made it to our lunch stop with no problems.  

Here's a photo of the of the group:

On the left side from to back, say hello to Adrian, David, Karen and Laura, while on the right side front to back, we have Mike (Adrian's father), Walt (Alaskabike tour director), Greg (Walt's son and assistant  tour director) and your humble blogger.

After lunch, we had a one hour van ride to our next activity, a five mile hike in Denali National Park.  I can't remember the last time I went on an actual hike.  It took about two hours to complete the hike.  But it was AWESOME!  We saw mountains and glaciers and even got to pick (and eat) wild blueberries right off the ground.  Really cool!

Our hike ended the day's activities.  We settled in at the Tangle River Inn for dinner and a good nights rest.  Tomorrow we ride 20 miles of the paved section of the Denali Highway and get to do a little canoeing!

Me and Laura on the deck of the Perch Restaurant:

 

See you tomorrow! :)

Alaskabike Day 1-Soaked!

Today was our first day exploring the Alaskan countryside with a small but hearty band of souls. On this tour, there are six of us ranging from a husband and wife from Yakima, WA, a father and son from Philadelphia and your humble blogger and Laura from the northwest suburbs of Chicago. The forecast called for rain showers but when we loaded up the van, it was just cloudy.  I'm thinking, "maybe it won't rain on us".  WRONG!  We took a three hour van ride from Anchorage to Denali State Park where upon our exiting the van, it started raining. Not heavy storms or a torrential downpour, but just steady rain showers that DID NOT STOP THE ENTIRE RIDE!!  Our first segment was nine miles to the lunch stop. Who would think nine miles could be trying?  I can do nine miles standing on my head. But if you take rain, plus temps in the mid 50's, it equals quite the test. I made it to the lunch stop where our tour guides Walt & Greg had a tent setup to shield us from the steady rain. After lunch, another nine mile segment with some "nice" climbs. At this rest stop, we were informed out last segment would be an 18 mile jaunt to the van to conclude our ride day. It was a tough 18 miles. Even though I had my rain/cold gear, I was thoroughly soaked and cold as one could be. I wanted to cry tears of joy when I saw our van in the distance. Well, not really cry but that's how I felt! :)  Thirty-six miles covered today and I earned every one of them!  Now that we all have dried out, day 2 is upon us. We get to ride the Denali Highway and do a hike. Can't wait to get started!  

This is a picture of our first night's lodging at the Perch Cabins in Cantwell, AK. It's a mini house that has an upstairs and can sleep four. Very cozy and comfy and just what we needed after being soaked to the bone for the entire day. 

See you tomorrow! :)

We Paid For An Adventure...And We're Getting One!

Greetings from Anchorage, Alaska!  After a six hour flight (complete with crying baby) we have arrived in the great state of Alaska.  And already the motto I use on these trips (the title of today's post) has been invoked.  When we landed, what's the first thing I did?  Turn on my cell phone.  OK, no sweat.  It'll take a few minutes to find a signal and it'll take a few more minutes to find a signal and why is it taking so long to find a signal?  We get to the hotel and still no signal.  When we get to our room, I fire up my trusty iPad (thanks to the Marriott for the free Wi-Fi) and search Google for 'Does Virgin Mobile have coverage in Anchorage Alaska?' To my surprise, the answer is a resounding NO!  No coverage for THE ENTIRE CITY!!  WTF Virgin Mobile ? (excuse my three-letter-acronym)  I could understand if were were in the deep woods of this state.  But Anchorage is a major metropolitan city.  Other mobile carriers have cell service here.  OK.  No sweat.  I'll just have Laura post/upload all the picture and video.  Me:  Laura, who's your cell phone carrier?  Laura: (with a hint of resignation) Virgin Mobile.  WOW!!  So, we can't text people, use Facebook, surf the web or upload pictures on our phones.  So what will we do?  We'll adapt, overcome and survive (just like the marines in 'Heartbreak Ridge' (good Clint Eastwood movie, I highly recommend it).  I found an app for the iPad that allows me to send text messages.  I was able to text mom and let her know we made it safely.  Posting pictures to this blog will be a bit of a challenge.  But your humble blogger will find a way to work around this predicament.  Otherwise, It's great to be in our 49th state.  It's in the upper 50's right now which is a 40 degree difference from what we left back in Chicago.   Rain is predicted almost everyday of the trip with temps in that upper 50-lower 60 degree range.  But......WE PAID FOR AND ADVENTURE, AND WE'RE GETTING ONE! :)

The tour starts tomorrow morning.  We can't wait to get going!  Will talk to you tomorrow!

   

Thank you!

To everyone who took the time via email and Facebook to wish us well on our Alaskan adventure, THANK YOU!  Your kind words and comments were very nice and much appreciated! :)  I must say I have been very blessed in this life and I must thank God for giving me the gift of friends such as yourselves.  

Packing.  I'm not to crazy about it.  Yet I know at some point, I will have to get off my big tuches and start the process of stuffing things applicable for Alaska in a suitcase.  And that point is rapidly approaching.  I am really really excited about Alaska and really really not excited about packing.  But, I will get over my packing malaise and (in the words of Larry The Cable Guy) GIT 'ER DONE!

The calm before the storm.  More tomorrow! )

Back On The Road...To Alaska!

Hi Kids! It's your humble blogger back and better than ever (or so I like to think). You know if I'm writing a blog, it must mean I'm going on another cycling adventure. And this year's adventure will take me to our 49th state, Alaska. This will make the 9th state I will have either completed a one day century or multi day bike ride in. I can't wait to start the tour! And this year, I will have girlfriend extraordinaire Laura along for the ride! It's gonna be a lot of fun. I hope you enjoy the blog as we chronicle our Alaskan adventure!