As July approaches my plan to spend a month cycling in the arctic is under review. My friend Dustin had to bail on riding half the tour with me...=-( So I'll be riding solo. I've also got a project at work that won't be done before my planned departure date of 1 July. As I mentioned below I'm not really stoked about spending huge amounts of time alone at the moment. If you are in the right head space that can be a lot of fun, but if you are not it can be uber lonely. Taking this all into account I've come up with a new plan for my summer bike touring adventures that works better in all respects.
Dempster Highway
This is really the part of my arctic tour that I was excited about. The paved road ride from Whitehorse to the start of the Dempster Highway was just a convenient way to get from Dustin's place in Whitehorse. Now that he isn't going on the trip I'll just start my tour in Dawson City around the middle of July and ride to Inuvik and back on my own. This will shorten the trip while keeping the most remote and interesting section of the tour. I'm going to take my Thorn Sherpa for this trip. I had considered taking the Big Dummy, but now that I'll be going solo I'll pack ultralight and the Sherpa can roll fairly quickly with a light load whereas the Big Dummy would be overkill and much slower.
Shambhala Music Festival
I'll get back from the arctic and head to British Columbia [by car] for a music festival some good friends are DJing at. It will be nice to car camp in luxury after my bike tour and spend some time dancing/hanging out with my friends.
Bike Tour Part II
After Shambhala I'm going to take off for another bike tour using up the time I would have spent in the arctic had I completed the full tour from Whitehorse to Inuvik and return. I should have 10-14 days in the bank for this tour. I haven't decided 100% on what I'd like to do, but two options I thinking about are:
Dempster Highway
This is really the part of my arctic tour that I was excited about. The paved road ride from Whitehorse to the start of the Dempster Highway was just a convenient way to get from Dustin's place in Whitehorse. Now that he isn't going on the trip I'll just start my tour in Dawson City around the middle of July and ride to Inuvik and back on my own. This will shorten the trip while keeping the most remote and interesting section of the tour. I'm going to take my Thorn Sherpa for this trip. I had considered taking the Big Dummy, but now that I'll be going solo I'll pack ultralight and the Sherpa can roll fairly quickly with a light load whereas the Big Dummy would be overkill and much slower.
Shambhala Music Festival
I'll get back from the arctic and head to British Columbia [by car] for a music festival some good friends are DJing at. It will be nice to car camp in luxury after my bike tour and spend some time dancing/hanging out with my friends.
Bike Tour Part II
After Shambhala I'm going to take off for another bike tour using up the time I would have spent in the arctic had I completed the full tour from Whitehorse to Inuvik and return. I should have 10-14 days in the bank for this tour. I haven't decided 100% on what I'd like to do, but two options I thinking about are:
- Option 1: fly to Vancouver and ride back to Calgary via HWY #3. This will be a fun & beautiful ride through an area I like a lot. I'd take my Surly LHT and it would be nice to get back on tour with this bike since I'm not riding it that much at home [blame it on my Tikit and Big Dummy!].
- Option 2: drive down to Eugene, OR and visit Bike Friday HQ then tour along the OR coast and drive home. I'd probably take my LHT for this trip as well, but I might ride my Tikit as that would be appropriate after a visit with the Bike Friday folks.
I'm going to leave the second part of my bike tour plans open. That way I can fine tune what I end up doing depending on how I'm feeling as the summer progresses...=-)
2 comments:
oregon coast.
jaw dropping.
but i'd head south from eugene and head to crater lake. then west to the water @ coos bay or port orford. north along the coast. blm and state parks along the way, every night. sunsets, fog, amazing views. old trees - and if you did what i did when car camping in 2000 you'll sleep aside a roaring brook each night.
I vote for Oregon Coast, I've been wanting to do it as well.
Post a Comment