Why? It was a checkout ride to prepare me for next year’s vacation. For seven weeks during the summer of 1998, I will participate in a fund raising ride for the American Lung Association. The ride starts in Seattle, and ends 3,000 miles later in Washington D.C. So I have to be able to ride long distances, day after day, and stay in a tent and sleeping bag every night. So this was a test to get the experience of what I might need for the longer ride.

The ride this fall was a little harder in that I had to carry my own gear and food. The ride next summer will be fully supported. My gear will be transported to the next evening’s camp, and I will be provided with breakfast and dinner. So there I was, traveling on my bicycle, pulling a little trailer, and hauling my camping equipment, clothing and food.

This trip was no less expensive than any weeklong first class vacation. The reason was simple. Since it was my first camping trip, I needed all the necessary equipment, tent, sleeping bag, cook-stove. I talked with many friends in the preparation for this trip, so I made sure that I had one of everything I could possibly need. I also spent many an hour browsing the aisles of REI. There were so many things that I must have.

I was well supplied for my trip. I had everything I could possibly need. I even had a little extra cash with me so I could stop at Gwin’s and get a big juicy red meat hamburger and fries. Little things like that are luxuries on a camping trip. I had everything I needed except for enough cash. I hadn’t planned on the camping fees in the parks. I was short and had to stop at an ATM in Seward to get extra cash so I could "rough it" all week. Camping in the wilderness of Alaska is tough!

My ride started about 10 miles north of Summit Lake. My wife drove me to just south of the road construction near Hope. I didn’t want to ride though the construction area, nor did I want to ride between Indian and Girdwood, since that road had very heavy traffic and no shoulder to get out of the traffic. I stayed the first night near Summit Lake. I rode to Seward the next day and spent the night at Exit Glacier. Then back to Seward, and the ATM machine. From there I went back up to the Y, and headed for Kenai. I stayed at Quartz Creek. Then next night found me in Sterling at Moose River. The last two days of my trip were spent in the Captain Cook Recreations Park north of Kenai. I ended the trip at my in-law’s house near Nikiski. The trip totaled 250 miles.

As I was coasting downhill into Seward, I thought, this is a long way down. Maybe I should stop now and camp tonight right on this spot, then I can start back up from here instead of having to climb all the way out of Seward. But I went all the way down into Seward. On the way back up out of Seward, the wind was blowing against me. Why is it that the wind blows against you when you are peddling up-hill? But I made it up the grade without a problem. I just shifted down and kept the pedals spinning, and very slowly, but surely, I climbed the hill.

The ride itself was an experience. Like the little caterpillar that crawled all the way across the road and into my path. He had crawled 40-50 feet across the road and had only had 6 inches left to get off the road before I came along . . . Hey, did you know that Moose pass has a bike path! It sure feels a lot safer being on the bike path than on the side of the road, especially when there is no shoulder, and when there’s also a guardrail.

While you’re riding along, you have lots of time to think. I rode for about 7 hours including rest stops. I averaged 9.5 mph while moving and about 7.5 mph if I include rest stops. I thought that I could devise a test. Take two human controlled projectiles, the object is to have them travel toward each other at a speed of over 100 mph. relative to each other. Have them pass within a couple of feet of each other without touching. Now, to make this test harder, let’s make the path crooked, going around many blind corners and over hills. Now, if that’s not enough, lets put a surprise obstacle (me) in the path of one of the vehicles. If either of these vehicles or I slip up, I’m toast. Fortunately, everyone passed this test again, again, again, again and again.

I am fortunate that the only digital gestures that I got during the ride were thumbs up.

When the road gets narrower, they put up guardrails. From my standpoint on the bike, this made the road even narrower. My ability to stray from my given path was now limited on my right hand side. If I brushed up against the rail, I would surely lose control and fall over. I had already experienced this loss of control on the Coastal trail when I got too close to a retaining wall along the path. If that happened in traffic, I would fall over and be done for.

As I rode along beside the guardrail, I could only look at the rail and think "Schmear" That’s the creamy stuff they spread on bagels, only this schmear wouldn’t be made from honey and walnuts. After miles of guardrail, I began to notice that often, many great lengths of the guardrail had been scraped by vehicles passing very closely. I presumed this was primarily from snowplows. The effect was that the rail which normally had its edges curved back away from the road, now had the edge distorted and facing straight up. As I rode along beside the guardrail, I could look straight down upon this edge and thought "razor blades". So when I reached the bike path at Moose Pass, I was greatly relieved. Riding on the bike path is a lot more relaxing than riding on curves, no shoulder, and against the guard rail. I thank the Moose Passian’s, Moose Passers or whatever you call yourselves. That bike-path was a welcome break. I’ll bet that caterpillar wished he had a caterpillar path!

I ride a recumbent bike. This bike is one that you sit down in and your feet extend out to the pedals in front of you. The handlebars are below the seat. This is very comfortable. You sit in a real seat, not a narrow hard saddle. Your hands are in a relaxed position at your side, holding onto the handlebars below your seat. On a normal bike, you put pressure on your hands as you lean into the handlebars. This causes your hands to get numb. I don’t have this problem on a recumbent bike. But, because the bike is lower, it is less visible to other people. I put a flag on my bike to alert drivers of my presence. I also have a large day-glow florescent triangle (slow vehicle sign) on the back of my bike. Anything to make me more visible is a plus.

I stopped at the picnic area at Tern Lake for a rest. The kayaker now had come back and put her kayak on her car, than came over and chatted with me for a while. That’s one nice thing about a recumbent bike, it’s a great conversation starter. Anyway, the kayaker told me that she could see me from across the lake and that my flag and day-glow triangle were doing their job, making me quite noticeable. Another day without being run down by a kayak. Anything to make me more visible is worth it.