The Americas 2013

Happy Birthday my Miks!!

Today has been a long anticipated day! The seed for this trip took hold back in 2010 when I was riding from Cape Town to Cairo and it occurred to me then that an awesome adventure would be to ride the road from the southern most tip of south America to the northern most tip of North America. Much research went into understanding what a trip like this would entail but a foggy element of it has always been the road to Prudhoe Bay and the ride up the “infamous” Dalton Highway!

My 400km days ride from Coldfoot to Prudhoe Bay…

My total trip thus far showing the southern and northern most tips!!

Research on Prudhoe Bay and the Dalton reveals all sorts of conflicting information ranging from the stark harsh beauty of the environment to the danger of the road and the post apocalyptic industrial mess better known as the town of “Deadhorse” at Prudhoe Bay! So with this in mind, many might ask what the hell I am doing riding this road and going up to this God forsaken place at all? Its a good question and one I have asked myself many times over however, the answer is a simple and clichéd one; this entire trip is not about a destination but rather about loving the ride and the journey, a journey that has shown me as much inexplicable natural and human beauty as it has the converse, a journey that has provided me with as much insight into the world as it has into myself and all of which I am deeply privileged and grateful for and so contrary to my words of 16 January and in the intriguing words of Ben Gibbard, “my December sun is setting because I’m not who I used to be”!

So, about the Dalton?! Yes, its a hard road if ridden in bad weather conditions however if you happen to hit it on a rare and “mostly” sunny day (as I did!!), then its one of the most incredible beautiful and dramatic rides one will ever do…..Ever!! The road has its harsh patches and there are enormous trucks everywhere however, they were courteous and polite 99% of the time so don’t believe everything you read! For the rest, it was mostly hardpack with the odd loose stretch but I was able to maintain riding speeds of between 80 and 120km/h for 90% of the trip from Coldfoot to Deadhorse, BUT, this was in pristine weather! The real reason for riding to Prudhoe Bay however lies in this remote and largely untouched part of mother Earth which reveals the symbiotic relationship between all of her harshness and all of her beauty coming together in the most perfectly balanced and breathtaking environment one could ever hope to lay eyes on, and this journey has largely been made complete as a result of having ridden this road!

I got into Deadhorse at about 17h00 after leaving Coldfoot at about 09h00; stopping regularly to take photos and to soak in the views and the silence. The last 50km into Deadhorse was ridden in a thick pea soup like fog that was freezing like it can only be when in the Arctic circle but made a lot better arriving to find Jax waiting for me at the large zozo hut better known as our “hotel”, the Deadhorse camp…I kid you not!

Zozo hut Hotel!!

A common and necessary form of travel in these parts!!

The famous Atigun pass!!

Deadhorse/Prudhoe Bay has NO residents! People come up here on shifts of 2 weeks on, 2 weeks off to work for the oil industry in different capacities as this is solely a company owned “town” created for the specific purpose of extracting oil from the earth, so beautiful, it is not! Dinner (and every meal in fact) is a workman’s exercise of getting in line with your tray to get your daily nosh and although one might anticipate a dreaded meal, the food was beyond awesome, alternatively I was just starved after my ride, either way, it was a great meal and end to a fantastic day!!

Male Caribou with some impressive gear alongside the Prudhoe Bay oil pipeline…a Local resident of these parts!!

Tomorrow I will head back to Fairbanks and after having ridden this road am confident that the 800km ride is very doable in a single day if the weather is good!