The last two days (Wed. and Thurs.) the weather was perfect for biking. Sunny skies and no weather to contend with. Put in 105 miles on Wednesday and 78 miles yesterday. Yesterday the first 51 miles were pretty difficult. It is harder than you think to drag behind 60+ lbs of bike trailer and everything else. And there were lots of big climbs yesterday, also some fun descents, but I was one hurtin' unit when I pulled into Cantwell yesterday afternoon. The one thing for sure is that if I wasn't in good shape before this trip I will definitely be in killer shape afterwards!
I had thought that it was UPHILL to Denali NP from Cantwell, but apparently it was downhill pretty much the entire way, followed the Nenana River from Cantwell to Denali NP. So, those last 27 miles into Denali NP flew by!
I arrived in Denali NP at about 4:30 pm yesterday, exactly 50 hours since I left Anchorage. So, that's 240 miles down and I'm hoping to do another 600-700 miles. However, the weather must cooperate and so far it has been way better than I could ever expect. They say that you can only see Big Mac (aka Denali) once every 7-8 days; I've seen it two days in a row, so does that mean I'm in for a big stretch of rain?!
The computer here in this Denali Princess Lodge is way slower than computers I've used in third world countries, so no photo uploads until Fairbanks over the weekend. Besides, I'm highjacking their computer illegally anyway so I gotta keep it short.
The big story is the soreness of my rear end! It is hurting bad. I've decided to take a rest day today, not because my legs are necessarily that tired (but they are, I realized I haven't fully recovered from a 50-mile trail race I did less than a week ago) but my butt is just killing me! I look forward to getting a different bike seat in Fairbanks. To get to Fairbanks, I've got a plan though: I will wear my two pairs of bike shorts AND wrap my bike seat in a camp towel that I've brought along. That should do the trick. Now I can take my mind off of the soreness that happens every pedal stroke and hopefully make some more progress on the road.
So far I've been averaging (with ample breaks and with big hills) pretty much exactly 10 miles per hour. Not sure of what I will do the rest of the trip. A lot will depend upon how my rear end holds up. If the rear end soreness abates then I will likely try to put on 80-100 miles again per day.
Potential options:
1) Go up and tag the arctic circle and/or the farthest north spruce tree and then return to Anchorage (Dalton Highway, aka the Haul Road).
2) Bike to Fairbanks then east to Tok then southwest to Glenallen then back to Anchorage.
3) Bike to Fairbanks then return to Anchorage for a warm meal and a shower then head down to Seward to watch the Mt. Marathon race on July 4th.
What will I end up doing? Stay tuned.
From a rainy Denali NP,
Charlie signing out.
P.S. I've seen lots of interesting roadkill up here. Mainly birds and squirrels. Saw a moose and calf yesterday evening - more dangerous than a grizzly! So, I immediately turned away and took an alternate route. Good thing because another man said that they continued and the moose charged his wife, getting to within 10 feet of her! They just laughed when they told me about it, but I don't think they know the seriousness of that!
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