Alaska - This Is Why We Bike

Valdez, AK. Today I completed 100 miles of bicycling in the Alaskan wilderness. I started in Copper Center, along the Copper River in central southern Alaska, and finished in the port of Valdez. It was a wet, windy ride, and we were swarmed by mosquitoes when we stopped. But, the scenery was amazing (along Alaska route 4, following the route of the Alaska pipeline). I'm in Alaska as a guest of a Backroads tour company bicycling trip. This is the "century day" on the trip.

Alaska was every inch as stunning as its reputation. Today's route began on a bluff overlooking the Copper River, with four massive volcanoes in the distance: Mts. Sanford, Drum, Wrangell and Blackburn. We crossed the green, glacier-fed Tiekel River twice, and moved up the valley of the Tsaina river. We had lunch at Mt. Billy Mitchell, which is an imposing, Matterhorn-like peak over route 4 that you can see for miles. The Worthington Glacier sat off to our right as we climbed Thompson Pass.

The day finished with a rainy 2300-foot descent to the coastal plain along the 'braided' Lowe River, which gushes into Prince William Sound. But, on the way down we see the magnificent Bridal Veil Falls and Horsetail Falls. I pulled into Valdez drenched but triumphant.

I posted many of my pictures to Webshots. The link will show you the whole album. We've had five days of bicycling in the Alaskan wilderness. This is not normally a part of Alaska that tourists see: the loop between Palmer and Valdez, connecting via ferry back to Whittier and Girdwood, and finally back to Anchorage.

Along the way there were points where cars could not pull over -- there was only a half-shoulder behind rumble strips. It was perfect, however, for a cyclist to stand and take a picture. Thus, many of the pictures in the Webshots album could only have been taken by bicycle.

As you may imagine, my century time was much delayed by the climbing, the headwind, the rain, and the large number of photo stops. I don't really treat a century as a race, however. This has been one of the most memorable -- both challenging and rewarding. This is why we bike!