This ride has been by far the hardest of my life. It has tested me physically, mentally, and emotionally. Each stage of this journey has had it’s own challenges that have required different strengths to overcome. Be it the massive mountains, the seemingly endless winds, the weight of carrying days of food, or the lack of water at times. While I was crawling slowly the mountains, I wold imagine my friend Julia sitting at her computer, looking at my little dots of GPS coordinates so close together knowing that I was suffering up a hill and cheering me onward to keep me going. Thinking that was the only thing that kept me going at times. Thank you so much Julia! When I got to Deadhorse I called her and told her this and she told she had been doing just that. It made me very happy to know that while I was physically alone out there I was never alone. I had my friends and family in my thoughts and I was in theirs.
When I was in my room after eating my first dinner of the night, after showering and working on my second dinner (take that Hobbits), I was thinking to myself “would I ever want to do this ride again”? I immediately thought “No. No no no no no. No. Nope”. But even just a moment after thinking that I could actually see myself doing it again. Probably not alone, but I would love to share this experience with someone. I saw some of the most beautiful parts of Alaska. I want to explore the parks and wildernesses up there more. Will I ride this road again anytime soon? The answer to that is absolutely not. But someday maybe I will come back and ride it again. When the memories of the bad times and mozzies have faded and the struggle and pain have turned into fondness and joy, I may just start fantasizing about the vast distances, beautiful mountains, and wonderful people that you meet on the Dalton I may just start planning another ride on Alaska’s Dalton Highway.
A few stats to round out this post. My ride from Fairbanks to Deadhorse was 800km in total with 9,400m in climbing and was done over 11 days including two rest days.