David Rides

Its been so long since ive posted anything. My apologies.

Stayed in Seward long enough to hike up exit glacier and most of the discovery bay coastline. Seward was a very touristy spot. I took an 8 hour ferry ride around the Chiswell islands. Then enjoyed a touristy meal of prime rib after witnessing a humpback breech for nearly 30 minutes. That was very satisfying and worth the money. So then I was off to the portage tunnel and Whittier ( a town of boats and fishermen. I stayed at the edge of town after exploring a vacant barrack. Apparently the single largest building in Alaska for decades. It was hundreds of flooded rooms dripping with as asbestos. Noticed some bear scat before leaving the premises. Found a cold spot to camp and a garbage can down the road to secure my food and smelly personal products. Took a ferry to Valdez the next morning. It was so pretty I fought to stay awake. The weather was consistently cold and wet as it was early june. In Valdez, my new friend Ron would let me stay on his 25 ft boat. He had great stories to share of his bike tour in the southern states. the He had a lot of great stories. Plus he was a great cook. Thanks Ron! You kept me dry, fed and entertained well. At mile 30 I would hike a glacier after climbing thompson pass. Grabbed a burger at mile 80 of the Richardson Hwy. I slept at mile 95 because I found a utility shed to stash my food. The mosquitos had just hatched and I was helpless to the buzzing that went on inches in front of my face. I could hear it over my iPod. A bivy sac is just not ideal for mosquito country. When I woke up, mosquitos were all over my gear and clothes like ants on sugar. I realized the time has come when I don’t stop pedaling for more than 30 seconds at a time. This is how long is takes for the bugs to find my smell. I was a little concerned since I was attempting to keep deet free. I thought maybe I will just ride 350 miles very slowly then I would not have to camp again in the mosquito inferno. I stopped fir groceries in Glenallen. 50 miles later I found Meiers lake gas station. Since the roads were fogged over and the alaskan range buried in the mist, I stayed there. It was a business that was used primarily for pipeline workers. I ate a big state burger for dinner and again for breakfast. My friends in Fairbanks were returning from a fishing trip and stopped by to rescue me from the nasty foggy wet roads. Conditions were perfect for getting a lift.
That night I would be in Fairbanks visiting with my good friend Elizabeth and her family. It had been almost a decade since seeing one of my oldest best friends.
I would come to know Spencer 3.5 yrs old and Mary of 11. Dave her husband would introduce me to a small heard of nomadic travellers who slowly migrated to the area. Some cycled oversees. In the next 3 months, I would wonder around Fairbanks trying to figure out how I would stay the winter in alaska.
Hot springs, camping, canoeing, hikes, and a week trip to Denali by bike would be some of the fun had in Fairbanks. Denali was special. I was backcounty camping only one night. A month or so before that hiker was eaten. I met a couple there I passed that morning. They were writing a book on cycling alaska. Another cyclist from Belgium shared camp. I believe he was in a bit of a hurry headed for Montana. He was my age but had already biked most european countries. It’s quite fun to split camp fees with 3 other cyclists. I returned to Fairbanks after a relaxed 6 day ride. I stopped at Skinny dicks half way in. They let me sleep in there beer garden after buying be drinks and dinner. They really like cyclists as well as adult humor. Once I returned to Fairbanks, reality started to creep up on me. Winter was not going to let me ride a bike. Alaska was too beautiful to leave after only a few months. I felt ready to work more than I felt like biking as the summer ended and fall began. So I looked around a little bit but ended up riding pretty hard as I don’t like looking for work. I found many great hills to ride outside of town. Its a good place to bike 4 months of the year. I would lament over the idea of a job. Then I realized what I wanted to do. Work with dogs. Little did I imagine it would be for a professional sled dog team.

The weather from Seward to portage was perfect. No Mosquitos yet really. To get into Whittier, I need to hitchhike through a tunnel that motorists share with the train. I know the rules but the fella at the security gate tells me anyway ” if you try to ride through the tunnel, you’ll be chased and arrested. He has a mouth full of dip and his teeth brown. Hard not to stare at. He says “good luck getting a ride, people don’t like to pick up strangers”. It’s 10 pm and 4 RV’s ignored me before a truck with a bike rack stopped for me. I didn’t even have time to put on warmer clothing. A retired couple took me through and we ate dinner together in Whittier. This town was a ship yard with a few fishing charters. It looked like a dump actually. I explored the once largest building in Alaska now vacant. Hundreds of flooded and vandalized rooms. Very cool to explore. I camped where the road stopped getting plowed, put my food in a garbage can and pitched tent just beyond the no camping sign. No mosquitos yet…
The next morning I was sure to be on that ferry and out of shittier, I mean Whittier. Grabbed a free shower on the ferry to Valdez and then struggled to keep my eyes open for the icebergs and glaciers. The seats were very soft. My bottom was very happy. A bicycle tourist staying on a 36 ft boat at the Valdez harbor was awaiting me after the ferry. Good thing he was there. The weather turned to the low forties with rain. The mountains and incredible views disappeared in fog. So I stayed several days until a break in the rain. Fortunately, he was great company, a decent cook and willing to share his small dry boat with me. However, It’s now a week later, and I still feel like I’m on a boat when I’m not pedaling. Mosquito country is just around the corner. The game will change when I get there. My camping style will be abbreviated in order to reduce Mosquitos bites. Jumping out of a tent into a cloud of Mosquitos is a different way to start the day for me. My rain suit and long hair are doing pretty good so far. Somehow I believe it can and will get worse. I just hope the fog keeps away so I can actually see Alaska as I ride through it.
In Seward, the highlight was the cruise to Kenai park. We floated next to ailiak glacier listened to it crack apart and watched it calfing. Glaciers are more active than I would have thought. 8 hours was long but in that time I saw mountain goat with baby, seal, sea and river otter, thousands of puffin, porpoise, sea lion, and bald eagle. Near the end of the trip, just before the prime rib and salmon buffet on Fox island, a humpback whale breached several times. The ship was leaning with people taking photos.
The other 3 days were full of hiking on beaches and snowy trails. Thanks to my new friend Lynda from warmshowers.org, I was able to rest up in a bed after each day.
Hiking for the Harding ice fields took everything I had. However, there is nothing to see from all the fog. Almost lost my own footprints on the way down. In the silence of that fog, Exit glacier would sound like thunder as it inched down hill. This was as exciting as watching humpbacks jumping out of the water.
Seward is so pretty, it’s hard to sit around and relax. By the time I Ieft for Whittier, my legs were tapped.

Didn’t meet any hungry immigrants in the chihuahua desert. I did meet border patrol(circumstances were good). I keep imagining myself hopping a barbed fence to camp out of sight. The hills have eyes, border patrol have binoculars, and mexican sniper thugs have scopes.
After getting a new wheel (different sized hub) sent from el paso, I began south from alpine to rte 170 between terlingua and presidio which parallels the Mexico border. 50% chance of ice pellets was forecast. Low 60s one day, high of 35 the next. Then I told no one where I was going before I went out of cell range possibly for days. 30 miles later, I found camp at elephant Mt. This ice pellet storm began that night just after handfuls of dust blew into the tent, later to create mud. Then the bike, the tent and the desert around froze over. So I stayed the next day in my sleeping bag listening to ice pelt my tent and bill burr podcasts. Ate the food and water for next days ride. Bored, i pulled thorns out of my tire and fixed a slow leak. The road to Big Bend is a thorny desert road with barbed off ranches, border patrol, mountain lion, wild pigs up to 300 lbs and javelina. A javelina looks like a 40 lbs hairy pig burn victim. They are technically a rodent. Startle them and they can charge and bite your ankle then They are fast as rats and blend well with shrubs. They will eat people.
Border patrol punks, roads riddled with thorns, and the vicious pig sized rat animal unsettled me. I wasn’t even sure about my new cheap wheel. So after my bike/tent thawed, I turned around and headed for Davis observatory.

Last night I saw a meteor so bright, I thought headlights where shining on my tent. It had orange sparks and lasted 5 seconds. Best I’ve seen.

In Fort worth I met a dozen new family members. Such good people! It gave me a real boost. I fattened up and dodged a fierce rainstorm that flooded streets in Dallas/Fort Worth.

The route in TX has been west, south, north, and east. Now southwest torwards the Davis mts and the McDonald observatory. The wind is so helpful some days that I skip rest stops and food breaks to catch the breeze. Northerly winds helped me keep a 19 mph pace for about 3 hours one day.

I followed I-35 as if it were a river of strip malls with gusts of carbon monoxide. I bathed in the exhaust. Beneath the overpasses, rat and bat crap accumulates to completely blanket the ground about 3 parking spaces large. Gross hang out. Earlier this month in LA, I ran over a full sized raccoon roadkill. I kept my head down and eyes out of the rain. Thankfully I did not fall in the carcass, but nearly severed it’s rotting head with my skinny tires. Yuk!

TX has a lot of fenced ranches and railroads lines. Too noisy to camp anywhere near a train yard or tracks. The coyote squeal more than howl at passing trains. I miss finding WMA or national forests, where camping is certainly legal and garunteed.
Next week I may meet some border patrol or lucky fence jumpers. Maybe if I can traffic some people into the states via trailer, I can give up massages at rest stops for food stamps. I fool.

Happy new year from Missiswampi.
This year has been epic. 9.5 months and 11k miles. Not counting the 2k miles of Amtrak. Alameda-Amtrak-Portland-Sacramento-Las Vegas-Denver-Amtrak-Chicago-Knoxville-NYC-Boston-Washington DC-Birmingham.

I have enjoyed meeting hundreds of new people. Even in the middle of one of my 3 or 4 thousand calorie meals.

Winter…
Its hard to drink ice cold water when your already chilled. Muscles prefer warm weather. Water bottles freeze overnight and the tent has caved in from snow. Ice forms on the bike if I ride in snowstorms and damages components. Winter is pleasant, it just hurts more.

25 or so cyclists from warm showers.org and several friendly people helped me with food, bed, shower, laundry and bike stuff. I’ve been shown so much kindness and heard such incredible stories. Meeting new people have been the best part of the ride. The next best thing is the exercise and food.

I eat a lot of insects. Involuntarily. A sinus infection had me pedaling with my mouth open for 3 weeks. Breakfast/dinner is sometimes several energy goo’s or power bars. No more cooking for me. I keep power bars in my sleeping bag at night to enjoy a soft treat for breakfast. I have consumed as much as 12k calories in a day. This means 2 loaves of bread, 1 lbs of cheese, 1lbs of salami, 2 lbs of peanut butter, 20 oz of jam, 1/2 dozen power bars, then a six pack of beer.

The parts spent were 12 tires, four chains, derailer, gear shifter, rear gear cassette, cyclometer, and two sets of grip tape. Maybe 15 tubes? 25 patches? Fallen from the bike three times and ditched it once with no serious injury to the bike or my body, just my inflated ego.

50 miles per winter day and 90 in the summer. A short day is 20-30 miles and a long day has been 40-170 miles. Average is 13 mph. Top speed was 54 mph. Winds break spirits, make knees sore, and can make me feel like I am breaking a wild stallion. I’d rather have Hildago or Seabiscut.

I’ve seen wall street occupations in Boston, NYC, Baltimore, Wash DC and a dozen smaller cities. Rode past the Baltimore to DC occupation walk.

The sun has set at 8:45 in UT and 4:15 in MA. I don’t see many sunrises. I love my podcasts. I ride with music most of the ride. I use my mirror and prefer not to hear the cars, their horns, or even the wind in my ears.

I’ve seen armadillo, bear, bobcat, beaver, coyote, marmot, and one albino squirrel. Now in MS swamps and looking for alligator and listening for dueling banjo. In CO, dozens of locusts hitched a ride with me for hours. I’ve fallen asleep and awoken to the sound of bears eating acorns like they were corn nuts. I had plenty of food in the tent. Good thing for acorns. Ive been chased by 50-70 dogs. If they look like biters, I try to run them down. Countless deer have awakend me with there silly whistling in the night.

Experienced 2nd degree sun burns, skin chaffing, bacterial dermatitis, bug bites, bloody nose, dehydration( the real bitch), and the continuous desensitizing torture of my bum.

No one has bothered me where I camp because no one has found my camp. Thanks to google satellite maps (and the flashlight), I can find good spots to pitch tent in the pitch dark. I choose sites that are easy, near food, and offer open sky. I carry two sleeping pads and enjoy sleeping in. Ive had no motels yet. Its not it when I have slept behind volunteer fire departments, cemeteries, baseball dug out’s, in a train box car, abandoned homes, construction lots, a building roof top, fire trails, wildlife mgmt areas, historical battle fields, and a ghost town jailhouse. I pitched my tent within firing range of Quantico. Camped in Death Valley at 260 ft below sea level and in Alma, CO at 10,500 ft.

The camping is fun, yet rough but worth the ride. Dopamine and endorphins is why. Being in a new place everyday is what this is about. Maniacal exercise is bliss.

Some people want to know how I fund the trip. I use paychecks from my past jobs. Duh. The costs since March have been equal to a what I used to spend on gas and ciggaretes in a year. Some people have spent more on their plasma TV. I’m sure many have gambled this much away in minutes.

Only half way through this ride and still having the best time.
I will reach Anchorage in May/June. Then I don’t know what…perhaps make more money to do it again.

In Baltimore, I met a women who spends a month in Alaska each year with her husky and recombinant bike. She rents a canoe and floats rivers with her bike and dog. Phenomenal spirit. She is my hero. I crossed paths with a 22 yr old swede who was biking to CA, then Australia, then China, a 3 year tour! Bravo.
In PA, I was no longer the slowest thing on the road with the Amish around. Northern VA was a rough patch. Sleeping in a historical war trench was fun. Out of DC, I replaced a bad tire with one that would not fit under my fenders. No returning it to the shop in PA. I was fairly frustrated to buy a $45 tire, carry it
600 miles and then learn its the wrong tire.
DC was great for the museums, bike trails, and huge crowds of tourists. Early one morning, I slipped on a slimy wooden bridge. I was doing 12-15 mph. Big crash. Somehow my large chainring gashed the top of my foot up good. It was slow to heal as I biked another 300 miles. Then feared infection. Thankfully, I had a place to rest ahead. I revisited my old friend Kai and her girls near Roanoke VA. I have many saving angels and she is certainly one. Of coarse her girls are too. href=”http://.info/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/20111122-123934.jpg”>

The airline state park trail made this state a favorite of mine. Many photos came from this trail. Though storming, I was able to ride this dirt trail (no mud, hard pack rock) for almost two full days with virtually no cars. The storms kept dog walkers and most nature lovers indoors. The trees were in full fall colors and provided a canopy and cover from the weather. I would go for hours without seeing a soul or hearing a car. This made camping feel safe. Before I reached the trail, I found glass in my tire 10 mi after New Haven. I fell short of my milage goal. Winds were at 30 mph and the rain looked like a cheap Hollywood FX, dropping in buckets. Puddles that could be potholes, large fallen branches, and thin, wide streams of rainwater in the roads had me yielding to conditions. Several hours of the storm were waited out between this bike shop in Middletown and a dunkin donuts 15 mi later.
The next day in a coffee shop in Putnam, a fellow cycle tourist, Laurie, saw my bike with trailer offered me a bed, shower and dinner for the night in RI. Real nice! Laurie is a homeopathic vet. She manages two teenagers, horse, pig, chickens and a home business. A truly dedicated animal lover and an experienced hiker/biker. Very cool person. She had no idea what warmshowers.org was.
The weather eases up for my final 50 miles north. This day, I would meet John. A tatoo artist and grandfather who was planning his first big bicycle trip. He wrote to me with the biggest compliment ever. Before his friends met me that day, he was treated crazy about his touring idea. Now that they heard my story and saw I was not crazy, but actually loving life, he said his friends now support him in doing his first trip. I have inspired others to take big adventures before, but to inspire Johns friends to support him is something entirely different. I’ve friends treat me crazy when they heard my plans. I have met strangers who don’t bike at all, giving me total respect for doing such an adventure. Some treat me like family in a matter of minutes. I am really touched to hear Johns friends starting to believe in him. A big heart like Johns trumps strong legs and a good gear ratio any day.

The blue ridge pkwy offered more climbing than CO and UT. Bears came to eat acorns outside my tent all night in shenendoah park. I was terrified as I had all my food in my tent. Thank goodness for acorns. I attended an apple butter boil with my warmshowers host in Harrisburg PA. This involved peeling tons of apples with 70 others the night before. Also attended two group rides. It was almost 900 miles in two weeks. This was enough for me to develop some mild dermatitis on my ribs. I was startled. For a long time I have been homeless, but now diseased? I skipped laundry I guess. At the end of PA I was looking at pedaling into Manhatten and Brooklyn where the city attempted to swallow my wallet whole. City riding is pretty fun. Getting there from the country is not so much fun. NYC is incredible. I reached NYC by way of Hoboken and the Newark area. In Newark this guy driving by rolled his window down to ask me where I was going. He just crossed country 3700 mi in 28 days supported. I’m impressed enough to hear what he has to say. He wanted to know where I was going to warn me of the upcoming roads. This was the newark turnpike. He suggests I take the train in. Sounds good. I ask him for a good bike shop to regroup and dry off/warm up. John escorted me to a shop I passed earlier. He introduces me to the shop owner, also John and then dashes of to work. New John takes me out for lunch! I got a helmet at wholesale and his mechanics scanned my bike for minor tweeks. The royal treatment.
The train into Manhatten sounds great until I realize that stairs would be awaiting me on the other side. This is not acceptable with the trailer and heavy foot traffic. When the rain let’s up a little, I ride out. Several moments for the next 10 mi are feeling less than comfortable. Ride fast and find an opening in the traffic of the Newark turnpike. It gets bad if I become an obstacle that causes cars to honk, swerve or pump brakes hard. I had none of that but I had to cut through traffic merging at more than 50 mph. Be alert and ride as hard as possible and one can go almost unnoticed. I have seen worse but not much worse. I would not like to do it again. Better to spend 20 bucks on a ferry. The Newark turnpike is a tight spot to ride through.

Chicago was a lot of fun. I got off a train and assembled the bike to hit the july 4 th gridlocked traffic. I was set to stay with a warmshowers host in a high rise apt building with spectacular views. My lungs thought I was still between 7-12000 ft. They felt bottomless. The bike trail next to the lake is 44 miles long. So I rode all day everyday. This is how I would bike 800 miles in 7 days. I was able to visit my cousins and eat out at some classic Chicago diners. I was indoors when a hailstorm dented cars and busted windshields. I was able to get involved in a social ride with about a dozen people that lasted till the bars closed. I’m shocked no one was hurt.