Dalton Highway, Alaska ride

The 24-day adventure takes the 24-hour race hands down. Blarrrrgh I'd so
love to go with you! Because of my school and job, I'm booked so far
out into the future that I only have time for 2 separate weeks (one per
year) of touring until 2010, which is good for about 2x850 miles on a
bike, tops. I suppose I could do Dalton with you if we went 60 miles a
day and I only went one way, which sounds doable, but there's always
travel overhead. I'm assuming you're planning on doing somewhere around
40 miles a day, right? 828 miles in 24 days makes 35-ish, but I'm sure
you'll want some leeway. I don't suppose there's much that would stop
you from going 80-100 in a day, considering you're going to have all
day to do it. Imagine doing Dalton in 4 days! Then coming BACK in 4
more days! LOL. Possible, though...

I'm still curious about your pannier setup, though. Do tell!


--
chuckaeronut

Cycling: It doesn't get easier; you just get faster.
Unicycling: It doesn't get easier; you just do tougher stuff.
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Actually, come to think of it, thousands of cyclists do the STP (Seattle
to portland) ride every year in July, and a few unicyclists always seem
to be there, too... they do it in 2 days. It's 206 miles, which means
100 per day... if they can do 100 a day for 2 days, there's no reason
to think you couldn't do 100 a day for 4, or 8. ... With 50lb worth of
pannier!


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chuckaeronut

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Unicycling: It doesn't get easier; you just do tougher stuff.
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If you eat 4lb. of food per day (which I think is conservative... I eat
so much on bike tours) and will spend 12 days each way, then that's 48
POUNDS of food! Plus, hopefully, an entire spare tire, spare 36" tube
with tons of patches, all the tools needed to take anything apart and
put it back together, plus a water filter (is there water along Dalton?
I don't think so... you might need all your own water!)... I'm thinking
a good 75 pounds of stuff at minimum for a 12 day trek, assuming you
refill at Deadhorse. If you could cut the 12 days to 6 days and do 80
miles a day, that'd cut your food in half... which would probably mean
50 lbs-ish. I'd hate to skimp on food and water though.


--
chuckaeronut

Cycling: It doesn't get easier; you just get faster.
Unicycling: It doesn't get easier; you just do tougher stuff.
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I did the Dalton Hwy in it's entirety in '05 but on my motorcycle. I
had just started riding uni at the time and would have been blown away
to see a unicyclist there. I did see 2 separate people on bicycles out
there. I did it in August and it was actually fairly warm (maybe 50 F
for a high) and it stayed light for 24 hrs a day so you could ride
whenever you wanted. Some parts, where they were doing road work would
be very difficult to negotiate. I had a hard time on the motorcycle.
They'd lay down about 6 " of marble sized gravel and then level it with
a blade. Kinda loose. They only seemed to do this in fairly short (5
mile) sections at a time so, worst case, if you had to walk a stretch
it probably wouldn't be too long. Once I got close to Deadhorse there
was a pretty stiff breeze coming in off the Beaufort Sea and that
dropped the air temp to 18F. So the last 10 or 15 miles was pretty
damn cold. Best of luck if you manage to pull it off. Take lots of
photos.


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underdog

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tell you different' - Kurt Vonnegut
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I haven't figured out my pannier set up yet. I will let you guys know
when I work it out. I'm technically starting at the Fairbanks airport,
so It's more like 515 miles one way. I have no problem being that far
out from civilization, in fact, that's why I chose the location.

You guys do have me thinking about doing the trip in less than 24 days.
It may be possible.


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captainwelch
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I started figuring expenses for a trip like this and travel arrangements
and I came to the conclusion that I simply can't afford this trip,
Student loans only go so far.

Besides I would only have two days after my last final before I would
have to get on a buss, I would miss an opportunity to train with one of
my teammates in the mountains for RTL and I would still need to get out
to Nova Scotia if I plan on living out there. Money to pay the first
months rent and a damage deposit would be nice too.

I hope you get another person to ride with you on a trip like this and
I also hope you know what is involved in winter camping/trekking. I
have done my fair share of winter trips and have been in some survival
situations that would have been no problem whatsoever in the summer.

Just this weekend I went ice-fishing with some friends and we had to
hike/ski the 6 km from the road to the lake with all our gear. In the
summer it usually takes less than an hour to do this trip with a bunch
of 14 year old campers but it took us about an hour and a half to get
there threw the snow. It snowed overnight and we did not catch any fish
the second day so we were hungry when we left the site. With fresh snow
on the trail and empty stomachs it took us over two hours to get back
to the road. (and one guy broke through the ice at the narrows and had
to borrow my extra boots and socks to avoid frostbite)

I don't know what your experience level is with trekking of any kind in
the winter and have a feeling that you don't have very much since I
think I remember you talking about doing a century ride not to long
ago. If you are doing those century rides in -20 then I take my toque
off to you, I have never gone 100 miles in a day but can say that 50 km
in -20 is a lot harder than 90km at 0˚C.

If you can't find anyone else to go with you I urge you to consider
doing this in summer instead of late winter.

Have you considered applying for the KH Evolution of Balance Award for
this trip? Considering the distance, terrain and temperature I think
this trip would be worthy of consideration.

I talked to one of my instructors who lived up there for a while and he
said that the road is mostly snow-packed 4-track in May and has really
big loose gravel in a lot of sections. Actually he said allot of the
stuff that Underdog said before going off on a tangent about the first
time that he went hunting out on the sea ice and had raw seal liver for
the first time... I didn't get to much more info out of him.

Anyway I wish you luck on your trip and hope you are prepared for the
beautifully rugged country up there.

ERIC


--
saskatchewanian

phlegm wrote:
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Oh well, Eric, another year!

I've never been in majorly wintery survival situations... the coldest
I've ever ridden was about -5°C, and that was for only a couple of
hours. You know a hell of a lot more than me about dealing with the
cold!

... BTW, who are you talking to, wishing good luck...? In case it's me,
don't worry, I have no plans to do Dalton Highway by myself! I'd love
to go with someone, but I'd be too afraid to go alone. If I could have
some guarantee it'd stay above , say, freezing, I'd be less leery,
but... even then. Too many things could go wrong up there, I think.
Maybe in a couple years I'll be less chicken; that you were going to go
alone is truly a feat. And... for me... only in the summer!


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chuckaeronut

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Unicycling: It doesn't get easier; you just do tougher stuff.
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I was wishing luck to Mr. Welch, but if you need a bit more i can wish
you some to

I was never planning on riding the Dalton Highway alone, just
considering going with captinwelch. I was on the other hand planning on
doing the Top of the World Highway solo last year but that plan was
kaiboshed when I wrecked my shoulder. I would sill like to do an
Alaska/Yukon trip in the future but probably not this year.


--
saskatchewanian

phlegm wrote:
The best way to overcome a mental block is to do a mental rolling hop
over it.
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OHHH! Silly me! For some reason, it got into my head that you were the
one doing the ride, and I mentally merged you and captainwelch into the
same person in my mind! I thought you were the only one going! Then
when you started doling out goodlucks, I thought for some strange
reason you thought I might be planning on doing that, because I'd said
I'd -LIKE- to do it. Thus my confusion

BTW, Good luck, Mr. Welch! What you're undertaking is beyond anything
I've
ever even thought about by a long shot, and I can't imagine how much
fun you'll have. Stay safe and warm and kick some Dalton Highway butt!


--
chuckaeronut

Cycling: It doesn't get easier; you just get faster.
Unicycling: It doesn't get easier; you just do tougher stuff.
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