Day 65-69

Day 65

We made it to Alaska!! Today we rode from Beaver Creek, YT to Northway, AK. I dedicated my ride to Christy Francis's parents. It was a somewhat slow start to the morning, but I think that was due to the border race...the first border race where the two routes were "competing" against each other. After breakfast and ride dedication about half us got on the road and started heading for the border while the other half hung back. They wanted to give us ample time to get there and have cameras at the ready for when they reached the border. I rode the later half of this stretch with Amy L. and Kacie, and Amy suggested that for each of the last five miles before the border we talk about someone for whom we were riding this summer. I shared the stories of my father, aunt and grandmother, and I have to say they were some of the best miles I have ridden. Talking about these people and what they mean to me really brought back into focus the purpose of the ride. Mike won the race, but the whole pack of racers came in not too far behind him. After a slew of pictures at the Welcome to Alaska sign (these included pictures by team, gender, major, tent...you get the idea), we headed to the Customs building. The remainder of our day was relaxed. I know that we only crossed an arbitrary border between countries, but the scenery in Alaska was gorgeous...until we got into camp and it started raining. My tentmates and I set up our tent and then piled in a van and drove to Northway for dinner. Upon return to camp we piled back into our tent to stay warm and busted out a card game called Male/Female. Basically this involved trivia questions intended to stump people based on gender and lead to some rather amusing discussion of Batman and saffron.

Day 66

I dedicated today to Kasaundra's grandparents. While our schedule says we were riding from Northway to Tok, AK, we actually rode about 25 miles past Tok to the Log Cabin Inn, which is owned and operated by some friends of Kyle's. The ride today was again very relaxed. This was in large part due to lots of construction. Gravel roads can only be taken so quickly if one wants to remain on one's bicycle! We had to sag through 1 mile of the day, but fortunately, the pilot cars simply loaded us and our bikes into the back and drove us though the work site. I sat in the cab with one of the construction guys and started chatting. It turns out that he was a Vietnam veteran after I told him what I did, and we started talking about the VA, the war and the general outlook on the military...don't worry, it was a friendly conversation. He was really impressed with the innovations in rehabilitation with which I work. When we finally reached the last rest stop of the day, one thing sticks out in my mind: we had cell phone reception. Normally when you pull into a rest stop people are sitting there talking to each other. At this rest stop though, almost everyone was on a cell phone with a family member or friend. I guess we really haven't had reception lately! We arrived at the Log Cabin Inn shortly before dinner. The house and cabins are beautiful and I would highly recommend stopping by if you are in the area. The owners John and Jill are fantastic. They and Kyle's parents and sister prepared an amazing dinner for us. Afterwards, people hung out around the camp fire or inside the main building. Around 7p or so, Becca and the Culotta's arrived. Becca had been gone for training for work for a couple weeks, but once she arrived, the Sierra team was back in full force. This evening the geriatric tent and Becca were invited to spend the night in the cabin the Schaefer family had rented for the evening. We were quick to take them up on the offer. There is nothing like being warm!

Day 67

Today is the Schaefer's 30th wedding anniversary and I dedicated my ride today to Mrs. Schaefer. The ride was from Tok to Chistochina and ended up being 10 miles or so shorter than I thought it would, which was a nice surprise. The day started out with another amazing meal prepared by our hosts. John made us his famous oatmeal and even gave us the recipe! The first 4-5 miles of the ride today were a bit rough (literally) but we were soon back on the Alcan Hwy. The scenery just keeps getting more and more beautiful. The skies are clear and it was sunny for the first time in days (or more). We are seeing more and more glaciers, and they are breathtaking. The residents of Chistochina were gracious enough to let us stay at the school after some confusion about us staying at the community center. While everyone made dinner, a few of us headed to the trading post and did everyone's laundry...the last load we need to do before Anchorage! In between loads, I finished reading The Screwtape Letters, which was my fifth book on the the trip. I spent the rest of the evening talking to people before eventually heading to bed. It was the first night that I used earplugs this entire trip, and I have to say they were amazing. It is amazing how much snoring can echo in a gym!

Day 68

Almost there! Today we rode from Chistochina to the Grizzly Paw Gift Shop. I dedicated my ride to Jill, one of our hosts in Tok. I was feeling pretty slow today, but this could have been due to all the hills we seem to be climbing! I spent a lot of time today looking at glaciers and talking to Alberto. I think I have mentioned this before, but he and I work on similar research, so we occasionally find ourselves talking shop, which is actually a lot of fun. I rode the later part of the day with Becca and catch up on each other's lives. It's such a busy time! The last 20 miles or so we rode today were pretty slow and pretty tiring. We arrived at the gift shop around dinner time and then set up our tents for the last time! The drivers today cooked a feast for us in an effort to use leftover food in the trailer. We were joined at dinner by another cyclist who had flown in from France to bike from Vancover to Anchorage. He shared stories with us about touring all over the world, and definitely left me with an itch to get my panniers to Austin so I can do weekend trips. After dinner, some of us crowded around a tv inside the gift shop to watch the Olympics. I feel so out of the loop with how they have been going, but we're doing our best to watch or read about them whenever we can.

Day 69

Some people are thinking of today as the last day of the trip because tomorrow we will be carried across the finish line on shear adrenaline. We rode from the gift shop to Sutton, AK, and I dedicated my ride to Becca's parents. Today we got closer and closer to the glaciers. We even passed a shop or two which offered hiking tours on them. Going into today we knew two things: 1) we would have to sag the entire team for five miles through a construction zone because we weren't allowed to ride and 2) the entire team sagged the last 30 miles into Sutton last year. We did one rest stop as normal and then at the second rest stop we had everyone load their bikes into the trailers (about half a mile before the construction started). As an aside, the 20 or so miles into this second rest stop were great--almost all downhill! After a brief wait, we were allowed to pass through the construction zone (behind the pilot car). Towards the end of the construction we passed a few signs that talked about how curvy the road was and how few turnouts there were for the next 25 miles. We pulled off to the side of the road at the first turnout and told everyone to please wait before pulling the bikes out of the trailers. Todd and I took one of the minivans and drove up the road five miles or so to see if it would be safe to ride. We were thinking it would be better not to have people ride, but after hearing that the team did it a couple years ago we decided to go ahead and ride. We pulled all the bikes out of the trailers and got on the road. Within a couple miles though two riders were run off the road by an oversized vehicle (no one was hit, though there were some scratches). Needless to say, the entire team turned around and road back to the turnout. We loaded all the bikes back into the trailers, jumped in the vans and drove the rest of the way into Sutton. Our hosts were ready and waiting for us. Fortunately didn't give us a hard time about having to sag! They prepared a great meal, and all the riders thoroughly enjoyed it. After dinner, a family with their own bluegrass band came to play for us a bit. They quickly learned we liked sing-a-longs and you can imagine the amusement that ensued. I hung out around the campfire with Pastor Dan and his daughter Miriam and a few other riders. Sometime after midnight we decided we better get some sleep and we all headed back inside to happily past out in our sleeping bags for our last night.