So I’ve made it to Alaska…. Woohoo! All good so far, although I haven’t actually done any cycling yet. I flew into Anchorage mid last week (south coast) and am now up in Fairbanks (central Alaska) where I’ve been sorting myself out ready for my Artic assault.

En route to Fairbanks the bus passed through the incredible Denali National Park; home of the monstrous Mt Mckinley. And although I was scheduled to go straight through to Fairbanks it seemed rude not to stop and explore, so I ended up jumping out to join a Kiwi on the bus for some hiking.

Alaskan Range & Mt Mckinley

All pretty spontaneous, but definitely worth it. It did however result in the slight complication that I didn’t have anywhere to stay; all affordable accommodation was booked up and I didn’t have any of my camping gear with me. Luckily though I meet a couple of friendly locals while out hiking, one of whom owned a nearby outdoors shop and let me borrow a load of camping gear, amazing!  (Thank you Kate from Mountain Works) Another option proposed was to sleep in the local post office…classic Alaska.

So having spent a couple of days hiking around Denali, play time’s now over and I’m readying myself to head North and start actually doing some cycling! Today was spent stocking up on all the food I’ll need (as it’s quite remote up there) and general prep. Tomorrow’s plan is to try and hitch up to Prudhoe Bay (start point of the ride). I’ve got a nice wooden sign made up, but given the minimal traffic it could be a long wait for a ride, fingers crossed though! Given the remoteness I imagine it’ll be a couple of weeks before I’m back in the land of wi-fi (and possibly phone reception). So to all my readers (mum), you’ll probably have to wait until then for the next update….

Bike Re-Construction in Fairbanks