The Catskill Chronicle

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Sitting in my buddy’s cabin here in Fairbanks, it’s hard to believe the trip here is over! It took so much planning and care. Not that I’m sorry. The ride up here was mind blowingly beautiful. When I get home I will write about the great wilderness here. It differs from the intensity of the Amazon. Lonely and peaceful.

Quick note about yesterday.

Probably the best riding of the trip. Had a horrible realization in the morning. My back tire was not going to make it to Fairbanks before going bald…which was probably going to happen around Tok….so I hatched an idea. There was lots of tread left on the sides of the tires (can you see where this is going?), so I rolled the bike back and forth across my lane getting it as leaned over as possible. White line to yellow line…..white to yellow. Almost instantly I realized how much fun it was! Why had I not thought of doing this sooner!??

It felt almost exactly like skiing when I learned how to parallel. Staying in the curve as long as possible, then slowly upright…and boom switch to the other side. Back and forth down the hill. It was exactly like that, only on a motorcycle, and I never reached the bottom of the hill. I got to ride those curves all day long! It was awesome! I probably looked like an idiot, but for the 6 other motor vehicles I saw that day, I couldn’t care less:)

I love when you stop for a rest/snack and it’s 40 min…60 min…no 70 min sometimes before anyone passes you on the road. That meant for a moment in time, the closest human was 70 miles away, if not further. It was fun.

Today was mostly in the rain after Delta Junction. Barely any tire saving swerving was possible. I rolled into Fairbanks on a breadth and a prayer. So Happy! Quick stop for gas proved I still had some tire tread! Thank god for the USA. As soon as I had crossed the border into the US the roads became nice once more. None of that…chip-slate crap. Well barely any:)

The timing plate cover popped off somewhere today. Put some gorilla tape over the large hole to keep water and other crap out. Other bikers seem super concerned about keeping their bike SUPER clean….I like to clean it as mush as possible but, it’s more of a routine inspection sort of thing than pride of any kind.

The Harley Dealer had a Dunlop tire in stock when I stopped by today to ask. Got an appointment for tomorrow to have the thing mounted.

I know I just got here, but it’s been getting colder EVERY day I was riding north. I think with in a week there will be the first snow of the season. I’ve got the get the hell out of Fairbanks before winter. Super tired. New tires tomorrow. After that, it will be time to hatch an escape plan.

I’d only ever planned on getting to Fairbanks; never how to get out. Turns out this place is really really far away. Don’t think I’d make it back through those passes again before winter hits them. Several days already I woke to see snow dangerously low on the mountains. Also it’s been hovering +- freezing every night since Hope, BC.

Here’s to getting out of here with my bike!