The opportunity just dropped into my lap. I have a buddy, Dan, who needs to get two Kawasaki KLR650s to Anchorage, AK, from Seattle. They need to be there by early August but will be in Seattle ready to go next week. Would I be interested in flying to Seattle and taking about 10 days to ride the 2,463 miles with him? Do I like to breathe? When do we leave?
OK, let's not get ahead of ourselves. There's a lot of planning and preparation needed here. And a lot of questions to get answers to.
First off, what is the road like going up there? I've heard stories of gravel roads that are a challenge on four wheels. While I've ridden street motorcycles for years I don't have a lot of experience on dual-sport bikes. What might be an interesting challenge on a day ride could get very, very old over the course of 10 days. I mean, the idea of a couple thousand miles on gravel would give me second thoughts.
As any good 21st Century American will do I turned to the internet. And it wasn't long before I found plenty of information. Apparently the road is paved most all the way up. However, roads in that part of the world get beat up pretty badly by the extreme weather conditions so there is always some construction/repair work going on. You can count on riding on pea gravel, larger gravel, and mud at least part of the way. Plus, pea gravel is the norm for turn-outs and parking lots all along the way.
I hate that stuff on my street bikes but that's why dual-sports like the KLR have knobby tires. They should do the job, although if we're running knobbies, how does that affect handling on the majority of the road that presumably will be good pavement? These are things I'm just not knowledgeable about.
Speaking of tires, though, I ran across other information saying that this road is really hard on tires. One fellow said that of six in his group, four of them had flats. I've never changed a tire on a motorcycle and wouldn't have any idea how to even begin. Fortunately my buddy Dan has lots of experience in this and I'll definitely be asking him if we'll be carrying spare tires and/or tubes and whatever tools needed to change tires. If he says no I'm definitely going to be asking why not.
Next, are we going to be staying in motels or hotels? I've never been very far north in Canada and I've never been to Alaska but camping would seem to be an iffy proposition. I know one guy who went to something called the Hyder Seek Rally, in the little town of Hyder, AK. It's billed as the world's smallest motorcycle rally because there are only so many riders who can be accommodated. Something to do with the bears roaming free in the area, you know.
What it really comes down to for me is that I really, really want to do this but I'd be lying if I said I don't have some apprehension. Dan has spent time in Alaska, Dan has ridden a lot of dual-sport, and Dan is an experienced mechanic. Myself, I score zero out of three. But he's confident. He tells me I'm a good rider and I'll pick up the KLR quickly and do just fine. And honestly, I believe that. But that doesn't make me less apprehensive. I guess this is what they call adventure riding. I'm looking for it to be one heck of an adventure.
When do we leave?
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