Bike to work day 2018 - Anchroage

Anchorage has been really upping their game when it comes to bike to work day. Sure the weather isn't always going to be amazing as we are often dealing with the tail end of winter still when it comes around but the turnout always seems to be healthy. This year we once again matched up with national bike to work day in rest of the USA.

With so many stations (see map below) hitting them all is never really going to be an option.

Bike to work 2018

The game is always get to as many as possible whilst hitting up some key don't miss stations. This year I'm not working and was unsure as to whether I was going to partake in the bike to work events. I got a message yesterday from Josh who asked what I was planning on doing and would I like to join him and some of his colleagues (Matt and Tom) as they made the rounds. 

We met at Elmore and Abbott at 06:30 and headed north on Elmore. This meant coffee and House of bread put on by the Trek store was our first stop, less than 0.5 miles from the meeting start point. Following this it was the Police stop, Maple and Bacon donuts. Then it is the Blueberry stop with Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium. We then cruised around onto the paved bike path network to hit up a few stations including roasted marshmallows, before the main deal. As ever the Bacon station didn't disappoint. Whilst there we were informed by some friends that we had missed out on Fire Island Bakery, a quick back track took care of that then it was back past the bacon station again, though we didn't stop for seconds. One more station Nordic Ski Association of Anchorage then it was onto C street to head towards my riding company's work location at Klatt Elementary. C-street has stops on both sides, we stopped at only the west side stops and hit up a couple of stops before getting to Alaska Fish and Game for some tasty salmon.  Following this is was a quick dash to our last stop at Anchorage Sand and Gravel who had breakfast burritos. 

All in all a feast of a 20mile ride. The weather was a little damp, some might say wet at times but the turnout was still impressive.
Finally thanks Amanda for taking care of the little one so that I could do this.

Photo dump

Stop one
Tom, Matt,  Me andd Josh. - PC Trek Store Anchorage

side walk cruising

Josh with the selfie

Tom, Matt, Me and Josh
random guy photo bomb in background :D

Roasting Marshmallows - PC Tom 

Gorilla butts

NSAA - last stop on Chester Creek

Interactive map

The Strava Data

Sometimes whilst riding you just get lucky

Recently I have been fortunate enough to find time to fit some longer rides into my schedule mainly due to Amanda taking care of Fiona.  My first big ride was the Anchorage Palmer Anchorage ride (See here)

Then we had family in town, we did a lot of sight seeing however we were able to get out and ride some of the local trails to a lunch stop, Fiona completed 15miles on the trail a bike, her longest ride to date and our guests got to experience some of the local trails, although we didn't see any big wildlife whilst riding we did have a nice lunch and the riding was good.

The following weekend I got the chance to ride with the Alaska Randonneurs again.  The ride this time took us down to Seward, this particular ride starts early, 4am I guess the thinking is lower traffic, less wind and the chance to take the train on the return if you are only riding the 200km route.
For the first 7miles the route was very windy, so windy that some of the riders decided it was more sensible to turn around and abandon the ride, the next 83miles we were mostly riding in the rain with only occasional periods of wind.  The last 40ish miles were completed in the sunshine albeit with a fairly strong head wind, on these long rides I'm still working on my nutrition, though I am getting better.  I completed the ride in less than 10hours again (mostly due to Brant letting me draft him for the last 20+miles).  Once in Seward I  got to hang out in Subway (where the ride finished) with some experienced long distance riders before my train ride home, all in all a great day out on the bike!

Photo bombing Brant in the rain at the first checkpoint

Fresh snow on the hills, top of Turnagain pass

Swollen rivers and great mud guards

And then the sun came out

Tuesday 3rd of June was first round of the XC series at Kincaid, it was fun to be back racing on dirt. The event had over 150 participants, which is their biggest turn out ever.  This year I have decided to ride in the single speed category, due to being busy I ended up racing my bike with the fat wheels rather than the 29+ setup I intended to ride originally (29+ wheels are lighter).  My race was going pretty well and I managed to pass a number of people, when I finished the race I thought I'd possibly got a top 3 place, it seems luck was on my side though.  The last person I passed on the penultimate section of Singletrack (who had dropped his chain),  ensured I got a 1st place in single speed category, this is the first time I have ever won a race, I think a number of people were surprised to see a singlespeed fat bike with pink tyres passing them, next time I will ride 29+ as i'm sure this will not shock as many people when/if I pass them....... Probably!

The bike rolls well but has the aerodynamic properties of a brick

Kicking up dust

Finishing

The 4th June was Anchorage bike to work day,  on this day there is a significant increase in the number of people who bike to work, the weather was fantastic for this years event which saw a real swell in numbers (From BCA facebook page "Bike to Work Day counts are in. We saw an increase of about 20% from 2012 (the last Bike to Work Day that was sunny - last year was a wet, snowy day that lead to lower numbers).").  

I took a 26mile ride with a couple of colleagues to visit some of the bike to work stations before heading to work, we had, sticky buns thanks to the Trek store,  bacon donuts with the police,   Blueberry muffins at the blueberry station and bacon at the BCA(Bike Commuters Anchorage) station.

Quiet part of the coastal trail.

Morning commute with friends

That is all from me for the time being, hope everyone is well and take care until next time.
Nick