Cycling with Sally

The first week has truly been amazing.  Although both of our bodies are in absolute shock from all the cycling, we have been so fortunate with all the wonderful people we have meet and stayed with this week.  We have felt super spoiled with the generousity the Alaskan folk have shown us.

We cycled from Anchorage to Fairbanks which is 576km/358miles.  There were some serious hills to climb particularly through the Broad Pass (approx 2400ft) and the never-ending upward climbs from Nenana to Fairbanks.  Our longest cycling day was yesterday when we rode into Fairbanks, which ended up totaling 83miles.  We had a couple of short cycling days in the middle to rest and also take in the surroundings of the Denali National Park.  This is where Mount McKinley/Denali is located; the highest mountain in North America standing at 20,300ft.  Apparently only 10% of people passing through the park get to see a clear view of the mountain as it's so big it creates its own weather patterns.  We also got to see some wildlife including bears and their cubs from afar, a wolf, fox, heaps of caribou (wild reindeer) and dall sheep.  What's fascinating with caribou and reindeer is that the velvet on their antlers shed every year once the necessary growing is complete.  It looks kinda gross though as it has a circulatory system so when it's falling off you can see blood and vessels hanging off the antlers.

On day four we had planned to camp out somewhere along the road, however as we were starting to look for the ideal spot we came across an abandoned lodge.  It came up at the perfect time.  We were able to stay in one of the cabins that was still structurally sound and tidy and even had a lock on the door.  It was not until day seven that we actually had to put our tent up for the first time.  We heard about a Bluegrass Festival that was taking place in Anderson so to get a touch of local culture we swung by.  It was definately quite the shin-dig but Roland couldn't quite identify with the song 'Road Kill Stew', however it was a bit of fun and watching the dancing (with hula hoops included) was a sight to see.

In many respects we have become to the tandem style of cycling very quickly.  We are puttig systems in place to easily communicate our intentions on the bike.  Our bottoms are feeling rather tender and our legs a tad heavy but already starting to notice new muscles forming.  Something we are noticing is that we draw quite a bit of attention.  Not only is our bike bright yellow, but a tandem and has a trailor so it is a very good conversation starter with strangers! 

We would like to put a big massive THANK YOU out to all the wonderful people we've meet this week:

• Wayne and Ruth McDonnell and Judy and Dave Childs from Wasilla Community Church.  We got chating with Wayne in a restaurant about the bike and then next thing we were being invited to stay with them!  We were so stoked!  We had a great night gasbagging, sleeping over in the church and having a scrummy breakfast of french toast and blueberries.
• Ralph and Tracey of Talkeetna.  We stayed in their basement which also doubles as a bike shop (called 'We Cycle').  They had such a cool house that Ralph had built himself.  We now have a stand for our bike which makes life a wee bit easier when wanting to park the bike somewhere.
• Ken and Claire Curtis near Cantwell.  Again, we were blown away by their surprise hospitality.  The highlight staying with them was not only spending time with this couple but also learning about  the Iditirod, which is a sled dog mushing race that is central to Alaskan culture during the winter months.  We also sampled our first bag of Almond M&M's since being away compliments of Ken (Roland was in heaven).
• River White living in Denali National Park.  We really enjoyed our time there and also to see how working in Alaska in summer could really be a fun experience.  River jumped through a few hoops to give us such an excellent experience while visiting the National Park.  He even roped in his friend Alison who also did a few favours for us which we really appreciated.
• Jim, Joe and Jeanette at the Anderson Music Festival.  Thanks for letting us camp behind you.  We really enjoyed sitting by the campfire and sipping on a cocktail.  The wheaties for brekkie also helped to tide us over till we got to food.
• We are currently staying with Jay and Krista Harris of Fairbanks.  They have welcomed us into their home like family!  They very kindly gave us free tickets to the Riverboat Discovery cruise that we enjoyed today.  It was super cool!  Not only was it a river cruise but incorporated activities down the river such as, a sled dog demonstration, salmon taste testing, looking around and learning about a traditional Athabaskan village and watching a plane take off and land in the water.  A really great way to spend a few hours!
  
• Extra cool things included being given key lime pie by a family picnicing where we were having lunch, being given a couple of bags of chips by a chip delivery guy, and a bunch of chocies from two guys we passed who were also tandem cycling - they were devoured in no time at all!
  

We feel this has been a perfect way to prepare ourselves for the next part of the journey.... The Dalton Highway, which starts at the top of the world (Prudhoe Bay) and comes back down through the Arctic Circle to Fairbanks.  It's far more remote and tough going but also apparently very very beautiful.  We imagine it will take about ten days or so to complete this next stage so you may not hear from us for a while........

What did we find along the road:

• Two Low Alpine camera cases
• A softball
• A head bandana
  
• Couch with stuffed animals
• Three moose (a cow and her two calves)
• A steel bracket from a truck that (according to Roland) came out of nowhere that caused our first puncture, which then required a series of patch up jobs! 
  

Cribbage score to date: 

Roland beating Belinda winning five games to three......Belinda happy she has at least 51 more weeks to improve her score.

People of NZ:
Did you know a leeming is an actual animal and not just a cute character in a computer game?