Cycling Alaska-Canada.

polishbiker
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Cycling Alaska-Canada.

Postby polishbiker » Sat Feb 23, 2013 3:57 pm

Well its time to start organizing another trip, have been preparing this for the last few months and just getting bits and pieces together. Anyone cycled the area?
Plan: Start in Anchorage, Alaska, then cross to Canada
Time: ~5 months or so should be enough. After reading a few blogs here and there think end of May/mid June is best time to start in Alaska.
Distance: 11.000km or so.
Route, combined other peoples routes into 1:
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Full route:
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Thoughts?

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Releng
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Re: Cycling Alaska-Canada.

Postby Releng » Sat Feb 23, 2013 7:53 pm

This may be easier:
http://www.tourducanada.com/

I spent 3 months in Saskatchewan last year, not the most interesting cycling on the prairies. Flat, straight roads in poor condition due to ice damage through the winter, with lots of wind and stupidly big utes.
If you are going for 5 months you probably should start early May and look to be finishing in September or early October at the latest. Their winter takes about 8 months.

good luck, I am more than a bit envious.

Mick

polishbiker
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Re: Cycling Alaska-Canada.

Postby polishbiker » Sun Feb 24, 2013 12:36 pm

Thanks for the link, their route looks very similar to what i put together, mine is a combination of blogs taken from crazyguyonabike.
In regards to the dates, think May would be still a bit cold in Alaska and some roads are closed as they are seasonal, the road up from Alaska towards Inuvik is open from June or so from memory.
What time were you in Canada last year?

Ta

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il padrone
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Re: Cycling Alaska-Canada.

Postby il padrone » Sun Feb 24, 2013 3:41 pm

Ah, the Dempster Highway. Riding it in June - you're soft, anyway the 'ice road' is not rideable in summer. Do it in the snow like these guys :P

[edit]This guy - he rode it solo, filmed it all himself.




More details about the Dempster Highway and a spring journey along it, including photos, can be found here.
Last edited by il padrone on Sun Feb 24, 2013 4:29 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Mandatory helmet law?
"An unjustified and unethical imposition on a healthy activity."

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Releng
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Re: Cycling Alaska-Canada.

Postby Releng » Sun Feb 24, 2013 4:02 pm

polishbiker wrote: What time were you in Canada last year?
I was there from the end of April till the end of July.
They were still getting snow and temps below zero in April. I joined a cycling club while I was there. A fantastic group.
http://www.horizon100.com/index If you get to Saskatoon, tell them Mick from Tassie says hello.

polishbiker
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Re: Cycling Alaska-Canada.

Postby polishbiker » Sun Feb 24, 2013 10:36 pm

Yes, I prefer warmer weather, Its not a competition for me, i just want to go and have a good time : )

Will have a look, thanks Releng.
Is cycling popular over there, did you see many people touring on bicycles?

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Releng
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Re: Cycling Alaska-Canada.

Postby Releng » Tue Feb 26, 2013 7:28 am

Cycling is quite popular around Saskatoon, considering the short season they have. The town of 500K people has 5 bike shops, they survive through the winter selling ski gear.
The drivers were reasonable by Australian standards, although the local cyclists thought they could be better. There is some good cycling infrastructure, cycling lanes, etc. probably better than we have here.
I did not see many bike tourists, although I did read in the local paper about a couple who had their bikes stolen.

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rifraf
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Re: Cycling Alaska-Canada.

Postby rifraf » Sun Mar 03, 2013 4:46 pm

Mozzies as big as sparrows I've heard in Spring/Summer. Drop off any Polish doughnuts at my place before you leave so the Grizzly bears arent
attracted to you. :D
Surly Ogre, Extrawheel trailer.

polishbiker
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Re: Cycling Alaska-Canada.

Postby polishbiker » Sun Mar 03, 2013 10:19 pm

yes i heard about them too :P Meant to rain quite a bit in Alaska in summer time.
bears is the main concern atm, i know i can buy a bear spray and hope for the best!

John Lewis
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Re: Cycling Alaska-Canada.

Postby John Lewis » Sun Mar 03, 2013 11:55 pm

Hi Pawel,

Andrew and Joanne Hooker rode their trikes from Dead Horse Alaska down through USA.
Started in Perth and rode across Aus first.
You may find something of interest here.

http://www.where2pedalto.com/journal/an ... htm#canada" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Seems they have it written up in Ebook format.

http://www.where2pedalto.com/journals.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

John

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il padrone
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Re: Cycling Alaska-Canada.

Postby il padrone » Mon Mar 04, 2013 12:11 pm

Andrea Wiliams (Worldbiking) has evidently cycled through that part of the world

The Top of the World Highway - Alaska-Yukon border cycling into Dawson City
Image
Mandatory helmet law?
"An unjustified and unethical imposition on a healthy activity."

polishbiker
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Re: Cycling Alaska-Canada.

Postby polishbiker » Mon Mar 04, 2013 1:41 pm

Thanks for the articles.
speaking of the worldbiking people...i cycled past them along the swan river 2 months or so ago, later realized it was actually them, small planet :)

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geoffs
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Re: Cycling Alaska-Canada.

Postby geoffs » Tue Mar 05, 2013 6:37 pm

It's a long time since I was there but I had a great time cycling in Canada. When I was in Jasper on my way down the icefields parkway in July I met a couple who had tried to start in the Yukon but the roads were impassable so they had to come south.
When we were in Calgary a couple of years ago, we arrived on June 1st and it was snowing so expect extremes in temperature. Some of the nicest riding I did in Canada was through the Kootenays and Kokanee region. Small towns great food and really friendly people. We rode back through the Glacier National park to Vancouver where we had started from.

polishbiker
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Re: Cycling Alaska-Canada.

Postby polishbiker » Sun Mar 10, 2013 9:26 pm

The plan for now is to start in Alaska beginning of June so hopefully the weather will be warming up by then, i will be carrying several merino/thermal clothes so should be OK.
Also hoping there would be no rain through to Inuvik as the dirt road meant to be very hard to ride on a bicycle, just ordered schwalbe mondial evolution 26x2.0" so hopefully they would do the job. worst case scenario there are trucks, people traveling through that road from what i know.

geoffs - do you have any blogs/maps etc you could share with me? would be good to get more ideas about the route.

polishbiker
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Re: Cycling Alaska-Canada.

Postby polishbiker » Sat Apr 06, 2013 10:11 pm

flight booked for the 8th of June to Anchorage, happy days.

polishbiker
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Re: Cycling Alaska-Canada.

Postby polishbiker » Sat Jun 08, 2013 1:11 pm

leaving for Alaska tonight : )

maxknott
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Re: Cycling Alaska-Canada.

Postby maxknott » Sat Jun 08, 2013 5:24 pm

safe travels :)

Baalzamon
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Re: Cycling Alaska-Canada.

Postby Baalzamon » Tue Jun 11, 2013 7:42 pm

Heard from polishbiker via facebook.
He got there safe n sound, however his bike didn't. From what I heard, dents and scratches in frame, fork squashed. Fortunately a LBS in alaska sorted out his fork. Lucky it was steel in one way
Masi Speciale CX 2008 - Brooks B17 special saddle, Garmin Edge 810
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rifraf
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Re: Cycling Alaska-Canada.

Postby rifraf » Wed Jun 19, 2013 5:19 pm

Thats bloody dreadful to hear about his Thorn being damaged like that. :shock:
Sorry to hear about it. :(
What did the airline have to say? Do you know who he flew with? How was the bike packaged?
Any updates to how/where he is?
Glad he got some forks ok, but it must have been a bitter blow all the same.
The more I hear about that sort of thing the more determined I'm am to get the money together and explore S&S couplers to get my Ogre into a hard flight case like the Bike Fridays. :idea:
Even then the frame needs to be secured in the bag as (I've heard) bags are often opened and explored without much due care for the contents.
Tell Pawel we're looking forward to some good news and he's way overdue for an update. :D
Surly Ogre, Extrawheel trailer.

polishbiker
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Re: Cycling Alaska-Canada.

Postby polishbiker » Thu Jul 04, 2013 4:19 pm

In dawson city for 3 days as it was my birthday yesterday. Alaska was pretty indeed :)
Going thriugh denali n top of the world was great too but found out the hard way that my 16x42 rohloff setup is too high for the terrain, going in my lowest gear was hard work so heading towards whitehorse tomorrow n hoping to get a 38 chainring to give me more spinning power.
Back on the road tomorrow, met some cyclists that are going same way intil jasper so we are going to team up :)

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HappyHumber
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Re: Cycling Alaska-Canada.

Postby HappyHumber » Thu Jul 04, 2013 4:28 pm

Can't wait for some pics, if some of your previous ones from Australian trips are anything to go by.
--
Hit me up via the BNA dm; I'll get an alert. If y'know, you know.

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grasshopper
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Re: Cycling Alaska-Canada.

Postby grasshopper » Thu Jul 04, 2013 5:35 pm

Just saw this. I did the Dempster a couple of years ago; fabulous ride. Not to mention The Pit! Hope you enjoyed it polish. The LBS in Whitehorse was good, and it's a pretty easy ride from Dawson.

polishbiker
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Re: Cycling Alaska-Canada.

Postby polishbiker » Fri Jul 05, 2013 9:47 am

I created a simple public website on facebook where I upload the pictures, hopefully get a chance to upload more from the last 2 weeks while in Whitehorse, the link:

https://www.facebook.com/CyclingAlaskaCanada" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Bit rainy here so spent another day in dawson, decided to skip the Inuvik part as I want to spend more days just cruising along and staying few days here and there, Inuvik n back would be 2 weeks+ so maybe next time : )

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rifraf
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Re: Cycling Alaska-Canada.

Postby rifraf » Fri Jul 05, 2013 10:49 am

A late Happy Birthday Pawel.
Hope your enjoying yourself.
My 700c Rohloff wheels on the Ogre are running 34x16 and it still seems a little higher than the Moulton.
The upper gears for me are definitely redundant except for very steep downhills.
All the best. :)
Surly Ogre, Extrawheel trailer.

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rifraf
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Re: Cycling Alaska-Canada.

Postby rifraf » Thu Jul 11, 2013 1:44 pm

Re: Cycling Alaska-Canada.

Postby rifraf » Thu Jul 11, 2013 10:45 am
Hi Pawel,
I hope your not wearing that new Lynx Wolverine underarm on your trip:
http://www.spokesman.com/blogs/outdoors ... n-highway/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Edit:
hopefully link fixed now. :oops:
Surly Ogre, Extrawheel trailer.

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