PowerCycle

08/21 Since today is the 21st that means I’ve been riding for exactly six months now. Yikes. It kind of just seems like this is my life now which is weird. I like it though.

For the 2nd time on my trip I went and caught a cold. Last night my nose and throat were killing me. I probably had a fever too but its hard to tell when its 35 F. I know who it was too. Some old guy sneezed when he walked by me while I was eating in Paxson. I feel better today but when this happened last time it seems like I was under the weather for a few days.

Needless to say I didn’t make it to Cantwell and was kind of dragging all day. Only managed about 40 miles. To make matters worse the road went to hell at mile 70. By hell I mean very loose gravel and many areas that were extremely bumpy (washboarded for those that know what a rookie grater driver can do). That kept my speed down and did a great job of popping my front panniers off. Not all the way off; just the back clip. I suppose popping off like that is better than snapping off so maybe it was a good thing. My front fender also kept rubbing up against the tire and annoying me so in a fit of anger I stopped and practically tore it off. Of course for the next 15 minutes I had to unbend it and try to get it back on (succeeded). Sometimes I can be pretty stupid.

Broke my record for chocolate bars prices. Paid $2.50 each for 3 of them. That was at Alpine Lodge. They had wifi so I posted yesterdays entry from there. The best part was 15 miles further I stopped at another lodge and they were $1. I’ll have to look up the name of the second place because the co-owner was really nice. Carrol I think her name was (her husband is Butch). She’s looking to sell the place after 53 years because business is down so much and they want to travel more anyway.

For several reasons I’m really hoping it doesn’t cloud over and/or start raining until late tomorrow. Seeing Mt. McKinley is somewhat rare from what I’ve heard because clouds usually obscure it. Riding on this gravel in the rain will suck. If I’m still sick it will suck even more.

Boy do I have a sweet camping spot tonight. The view is of the Alaska Range and it’s incredible. The terrain changed from tundra back to alpine so there are trees again (pine mostly) and they dot the valley below along with lots of small lakes and a river. All of the riding today was on the side of mountains so I stopped a few times to admire the scenery. Saw a couple caribou and that was about it for wildlife. They have lots of room to roam up here so I was surprised to see any.

GPX Track