2004 Alaska Bike Trip
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Background
- This adventure idea is inpired by Andy Heßberg's Greenland Arctic Bike Trip, which is done in below -40 celcius and yes it's crazily amazing and beautiful
- The trip distance is planned to be 4127.5km. Most of the roads are paved, except the last 798.8km stretch from Fairbanks to Prudhoe Bay. I originally intend to finish the trip in 50days
- This trip involve 2 partners, me Joe the adventure biker and my best friend Jane my Vancouver base coordinator who provide communication and logistics support.
- The trip ended up finishing in Prince George(778km) as I lost my gear there.
Instant Trip News:
- 22April04- bike trip planning is in the final stage. Right now, I'm busy packing things up, testing my equipment. Oh yes, I'm tapering for my upcoming hardcore marathon bike race. Hope I can get a good timing, hope it will be as good as the Sun Run. Just to remind, I will be updating this website during the trip, reporting things and stuff. Stay tuned! Share the Passion! Cheers~
- 23April04- everything is CONFIRMED!!! I will leave Vancouver on 30April04 and go to Roberts Creek, which is 40min from Horseshoe Bay to get ready for the BC Marathon XC Race #1(I will stay in a campground near the race). After the race, I will immediately(after the party) take the ferry back and hitchhike past Whistler(for the sake of safety) and start some easy pedalling and probably camp in Pemberton. My Mission Statement for this trip is drafted- To explore and appreciate the wonderful nature created by the Almighty and have a philosophical reflection. Practically, this trip is travelling, meeting new people, having superfun and mental/physical training- overloading and then super-compensation, which means train to the edge of overtraining and then active rest to have a breakthrough in fitness. By the way, I have great chances in meeting all 3 kinds of bears- black bear, Grizzly and Polar Bear. I have seen the first 2 in last Rockies bike trip and I'm looking forward to see a 10 feet Polar Bear~ Once again, thanks v. much for all your support(you know who you are, you guyz Rock!!!), somehow I need deep faith especially "people" from my "Chinese" family tree show extensive opposition, censorship, distrust and verbal aggression and mental abuse on me.(trust me culture can be a real limiter in life) Anyway~ need to uphold the duty of being a Christian and not hate anyone. God bless. Thanks guyz, keep updating and share the Passion.
- 24April04- Today I went to the UBC Bike Kitchen and stayed for 4 hours to learn some basic bike mechanics. I have checked all my gear for this trip, everything is there. Next week, after my monday psyc exam, I will shop for food, then pack everything up and test ride my full-load bike. Today I testrode my rocky hardtail with slicks and aero bars on, it's amazingly fast. I kept following some roadies and got some good cardio training. I have thought of 1 thing today- everyone likes to go on a camping trip or something, and what really determine whether the trip is happenable or not are time, availability of gear and partners, which are even more determining than the doability of the trip. I cannot help with time, but I surely know that the gear issue can kick away a lot of great trip ideas. So, I just want to say, in this trip, I have bought some equipment that are quite a hassle to buy- bear spray($49), bike rack and panniers, aero bar, multi-bike tools... and if anyone needs any gear, do gimme a shout! I can lend it to you under good care, like the bear spray is just a security device that most people seldom need to use it in a trip. Do gimme a shout! Live out the passion~ In this trip, as it's pretty long, the book that I'm gonna bring with me will not philosophy(as philosophy articles usually requires a lot of other critique and reference from other books), it will be Bible.(I never read it by myself except in fellowship, but I hope it will be a good try) By the way, food for this trip will be- breakfast- cereal n nuts n milk powder, lunches- pita bread, wheat bread plus beans..., supper- pasta plus...(I still have to figure out how to get all the essential proteins, carbs and vitamins and keep the weight-food ratio low. If you have any good healthy recipes, gimme a shout, email me! Stay tuned, have a wonderful day~
- 26April04: Finally, it's DONE DONE DONE!!!^^ HAPPY! I finished my exams and gear preparation, what a huge relieve~ It's time to sit back and relax, take a deep breath, stay focus and give my best shot in the coming marathon race and my long bike trip. I know it's gonna be superfun. Photos are now ready in the photo page~ check it out! Yesterday, I came across an amazing website by Dave- cycling from Alaska to Argentina~ it is awesome, go view it if you have time~ Right now, my bike will have 2 18L panniers, 1 frame bag, and a 75L backpack on top. Tomorrow, I will fit things in. Right now, everything is done and it costs me $1079.16. I have to use reason to overcome my sentiment and tell myself these gears are gonna last pretty much forever and will serve not only me but all my friends~ LOL It totally shows the importance of having sponsors. This trip is kinda hurry. I think for the next trip, I'm gonna give myself enough time to borrow gear and ask for sponsorship. ^^hope I will have good results in this racing season, LOL. Tomorrow, I will go camping in the Golden Ears trail in Maple Ridge for 3 days with my best buddy. 100% look forward to that~ Then the bike race and the following bike trip will come. Thanks God. Everything is awesome. God bless everyone, everyone has a great wonderful summer! Having heard JohnKim's "motivated by passion, guided by reason", it's good- what's life if there is not living passion and energy. A zest of life that makes things and people beautiful. God bless~ Cheers~ Live with passion!
- 29April04- AWESOME! The Gold Creek camping is a blast! Thanks Kevin! It is such a wonderful great time! We hitchhiked 5 times and met great people- Matt, Jane, a fellow hiker, a Korean lady and a truck driver. The camping refreshed my camping skills and speed. We had good time and we even met a bear(I guess it's a grizzly with a cub) coz some other campers did not store their food well and the bears visited them gratefully, 2 feet next to their tent. The bear ended up hanging around the campsite. It's good, we met the bear and everyone is intact. The gold peak is full of snow so we decided to challenge it again next time when we were half way in the snowy trail. Photos will be posted soon hopefully. (our camera is missing in the park, somewhere on the road when we hitchhiked) Today, I packed up everything, testrode my full-load bike, it's fast, the gear weight is around 30-40lbs. Everything is done and I'm good to go. The departure time is tomorrow friday afternoon or satuaday early morning(most probably). Thanks god. Alouette Lake is awesomely beautiful. Kevin is incredibly awesome too. Hey Kevin, it's hard to say goodbye, but God bless you with love in your heart. We will have another adventure soon~ c ya soon~
- DAY1(Vancouver-Horseshoe Bay-Gibson-Roberts Creek), 1MAY(7am)- I'm on the road now. You guyz all have a wonderful awesome summertime. I wish you all the super best. God bless ya. live out the passion*
- 7May - The following info are updated by me -- Jane ^^v-- Joe is now at 100 Mile House, which is located on Highway 97. Covering around 100 km daily, he is now on his seventh day of the trip. Although the first few days of the ride were hard because of the steep hills, the upcoming several days will be an easier ride thx to the sunny weather and better road condition. During the nights, he has been camping in interesting places, such as a manger and along the lake~ Food-wise, he has been filling up by bread, pasta, beans, PB etc. Thx God there are Subways and Tim Hortons at the place where he was at. Another updates should come about in a few days. Meanwhile, gooooooooooooood luck Joe~~
- hihihihi guyz, it's me Joe, talking to you in Prince George Library. Today is my rest day~ yes~ my 10th day in my bike trip. so let me make a summary of the first part of the long long bike trip here:
- DAY2(Roberts creek-Horseshoe Bay- Squamish), on 2/5, after the race, a nice old man(a first aid crew of the race, ^^sorry, I will get your name here later) drove me to the ferry station in Langdale, then I took the ferry back to Horseshoe Bay, the ferry ride is merry and fun, peaceful and relaxing, I'd like to have some cruise travel later^^ then I came off the ferry and rode to the "sea to sky" highway, at that time, it's around 6-7pm, so I decided to hitch a ride, a nice guy, Carrie gave me a ride after 30min wait. I went to the city center of squamish and camped right in the Lily Garden beside the entrance of the "Rose Park", the way to the climbing paradise. It's a good sleep~ sleep @ 11pm
- DAY3(Squamish-Pemberton), on 3/5, I tried to hitch a ride to pemberton, cause I wanna avoid the busy traffic and dangerous sea to sky highway, however after 1 hr, I still cant get a ride, so I decided to ride. The ride is not good, cause there's a lot of construction in the Whistler area, making things scary. Around 30km from Whistler, I asked a lady if she can give me a ride to Whistler. She, Jennifer, who is a realty dealer in Whistler, graciously reply yes^^ thnx Jennifer~ Here, I wanna thanks all people who gave me rides, they are all awesome people and we had great chats on the rides, Thanks, God bless you all with love and grace^^ I had lunch in Whistler, bought some bread, stayed for 1 hr, then I rode on to Pemberton. It's pouring rain on the way. When I first got there, there's no camp site around, and with a bit of insecurity, I found a big ranch right beside the highway, I went in and asked the couple, "I'm doing a cycle tour. Can I do some housework or dishwashing in exchange for a grassland to set up my tent for one night?" They said yes right away, and I ended up sleeping in a barn with hay, that's awesome, dry and comfy, by far the best night~~~^^ don't even have to set up my tent^^ sweet~ I had so much fun playing with the 2 kids there, and chatting with their mom. After 1 hr of washing the bathroom(I had a shower too^^), I fell asleep with a sweet dream~ sleep @ 9 30pm
- DAY4(Pemberton-Lilooet 90km), on 4/5, I biked from Pemberton to Lillooet, first of all, I would use the following words to describe it- torture, insane, unbelieveable, tough, hardtime, nightmare... Soon after I departed from Pemberton, I started to climb an X'treme grade 13%, a 40km climb... o my god, climbing is good in races, but when my body is still tiring and my bike is so heavy, it's an nightmare. I had to push my bike up for 5 km on the first 15% grade, and managed to stay on my bike for the next 35km 13% grade for a good couple gruelling, brutal hours. The whole course is up and down, up and down, and not much to seem. The scenery is kinda grand when approaching Lilooet, where there's a huge creek and deep valley and river, however, my battling mood at that time cannot appreciate that at all...^^""" The Seton Lake right before Lilooet is very beautiful. I stayed for one night in a camp ground, paying 16 bucks, which I am not quite willing to pay^^. anyway, I had a shower that night too, which I believe will make my 16 bucks worth more. sleep at 9 30pm Thanks god I made the hills^^ that's amazing, I don't even wanna look back at it at all...
- DAY5(Lilooet-Clinton), on 5/5, my body clearly told me to give it a break, however, I wanna pick up speed, and decided to ride from Lilooet to Clinton. The ride is hard. I mean the road is up and down, relatively okay flat, but my legs just didnt seem to respond. At about 10km from Clinton, I went outta strength and stood beside the highway and tried to hitch a ride into Clinton. I actually got angry as I stood there for 1 hr and no one helped me out. yes, I'm really angry at that time compounded by tiredness. Then, motivative by anger, I bursted the final 10km into the nice little town of Clinton, I stayed in a RV park, paying 9 bucks. Clinton is really really beautiful~^^ I like it, a small neat town, I had supper in a chinese restaurant, where my manager lady who is from Hong Kong is very concerned about my safety and wished me good luck and play safe. Thanks very much for your concern, God bless you guys^^ There is a shower place in Clinton, I went there, brushed my teeth, took off my clothes, and figured out that there's just hot water but no clod water in the bath. I's freezed, luckily^^ survived^^ It's very cold in Clinton, around 0 in dawn. I sleep at 9 30
- DAY6(Clinton-100MileHouse), 6/5, I went on from Clinton to 100Milehouse. I love 100MileHouse, the ride is once again tough cause I didnt give myself a rest~^^ LOL I rode for 9 hours and went into the town at arond 3 sth. It's very nice. I'm tired but motivated by the subway and tim hortons roadsign in the last 40km...^^ that's a real great motivation. I of cause had a terriyaki footlong and tons of muffins and donuts there, before going to bed at 9 30pm. The visitor info center is right by a lake with marsh, it's very pretty, I camped right behind it, had a great night^^
- DAY7(100MileHouse-Williams Lake), 7/5, today, I biked from 100MileHouse to Williams Lake. Williams lake is a big town, not really special, with no spectacular view. Today, my tiredness started to attack me not only physically but mentally, I felt lonely, very lonely, with tiredness, and meaningless in the trip... I phoned my dad and cried a little bitT.T I ended up sitting right by the visitor info center(yes^^ I camped behind it again tonite) thinking, shall I go back to vancouver, detour to somewhere, or whatever. Actaully, it kinda makes sense, cause last time, my rockies trip, all 12 days rocks with awesome, breathtaking view, but like, up to now, well there's some places which is really nice, but not amazing tho. and the ride is long and boring and without great scenery. I hope things will get better. I decided to give myself a rest tomorrow and decided how thigns will go. I had a chocolate bownie earthquake in dairy queen and went to bed at 9 30pm. this visitor info center is not as nice as that yesterday.^^ a good sleep anyway, tired tired tired
- DAY8(Williams Lake-Mcleese Lake), 8/5, today, I got up, had breakfast in subway, then went to the library to check my e mail and updated my website, it's very nice~ at round 12 30pm, I had lunch in Tim Hortons, and found that, I didnt really have much to do in Williams Lake, plus the scenery is just plain here in the town, I decided to keep on riding after buying some bread and set off at 1 30pm. I rode for a couple hours and came to a place "Mcleese Lake", which is very very very beautiful, it's 5pm, seeing that I cant make Quesnel today, I camped that, paying 15 bucks. Th 15 bucks totally worth it, I had shower, laundry, and surprisingly, tonite, it is the birthday of one of the staff there, there's a big party like 20 something people, having fun and good food, I chatted with them all, they are all cool people and amazed by my trip. god bless you guys~ god bless Lorrie, the birthday boy(56 years old LOL, acting like a big fun boy^^) tonite is awesome, thnx god for having so many people accompanying me at the time when I was feeling incredibly lonely^^
- DAY9(Mcleese Lake-Prince George), on 9/5, I rode from Mcleese Lake to Quensel, continued to ride for 2 hours, at around 5pm, I caught a ride to Prince George, deciding that it's a good way to give me a rest day and save time on my trip. The lady, Carrine, who is from Cowichan Bay Vancouver Island is very very very nice and kind person. Thanks for the ride and the great chat. God bless you and your husband^^ the ride is very relaxing and comfy
- DAY10(rest day in Prince George), 10/5, I took a rest day in Prince George. After going to the library and checking my website, I read my bible in Second Cup. Before long, I met a guy, Andrew Stobbe, an interesting person who has been to so many places around the world in missionary and travelling. His story was amazing. He then drove me around Prince George, UNBC... Thanks Andrew. Tonight, I stayed in his home, a nice traditional, handbuilt log house, yes~~~~~ it's log house~~~~ i love it^^ it's always a dream of mine to live in a log home, so much like a vacation~^^ LOL When I told Andrew that I hid my gear in a bush in a park, he's shocked, he immediately drove me down to the park. When I went there and saw that the gear has vanished, I's kinda shocked for like 10 seconds~ then, I just don't feel anything at all~ my mood is uplifting~ maybe I was so happy~~~ I even prayed for the guy who stole it~ coz we agreed that I lost nth, just material thing, but the guy who stole it lost his soul to Satan and must be in a really hardtime. I wished him good luck and have a good life^^ haha~ Then we went back home, I had a shower, then we had icecream n pie~ sweet~ and watched some lonely planet videos~ and sweet dream time at 11 30pm~
- DAY11(end of trip), 11-5, Andrew drove me to report my case to the Prince George police. Then we went travelling again in Prince George, went to the Art Gallery, Nice hotel, tho he kept on saying that there is not much, nothing in Prince George, and I would agree. haha~ He's actually the kind of person who loves hot weather and doesnt really like living in PG at all~ LOL~ it's obvious, as he just escaped to California during the winter for 2 months~~~ hey Andrew~ I hope you can move outta Prince George as soon as possible~ live with passion n energy~^^ Then I decided to go back vancouver at 5 30pm by greyhound, as I wanna get back to social work as soon as possible, given that I cannot do my bike trip anymore.
- after a 13hour bus ride and a deep coma, I went back to Vancouver on 12May 7 00am. The Amazing thing is, on 12May 1 00pm, the Prince George Police phoned me that all my lost gear is intact. A park manager had picked them up. LOL^^
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Afterthought
My thought about the trip is, in terms of travelling and scenery, it's not much compared to my last Rockies trip. I even won't call it travelling, I'd say, it's something like training, or biking for the sake of biking, so, I felt really or kinda bored. Next time, I think I will probably take the bus to Dawson Creek, or even to Whitehorse or Alaska and start biking there, coz it's way more beautiful. I'd rather spend 40 days exploring and appreciating Alaska, than 40 days going(struggling) to Alaska.
LOL, I might seem not happy as the trip ends like this~^^ but actually, not at all^0^, I mean this trip gives me lots of inspirations and I tried things that I'd never tried before, for example, sleeping in a barn, sleeping in an Indian cemetary(I dunno that before Andrew told me). And the climax of this trip is I met Andrew and lots of amazing people.
I learn how to live on the streets, learn more about the gold rush history... make lots of friends, great experience.
for now, I will leave this trip with an open end^^. Maybe next time I will continue again from Prince George on^^ Who knows~ God bless Thanks God
Here, I Joe would like to give my deepest and wholehearted BIG THANKS to the amazing people I met or who helped me out during this trip. I will list them chronologically.
first of all, Jane. Hi Jane, thanks thanks thanks xn for your endless support, encouragement and motivation for me. This trip, a pursuit of my dream/interest won't be able to make it without your help and support. You gives me lots of confidence and faith. If I can give you something, I will give you my deepest appreciation and my greatest support for you own pursuit of your dreams. God bless you with a wonderful good life~~~~(hey Jane, it's hard to define what's a good life, forget about Mill, Marx... just make up one youself, LOL^^). I support you always my best friend^^
Nature from Gibson. Nature, I don't think I have to mention how amazing you are^^ LOL, You are a great buddy of mine. God bless you n your gf(I forgot her name><")
First Aid Crew gentleman(I forgot your name sorry^^"), who gave me a ride to the ferry station and we had such a great chat together. I wish you have a real awesome time in your coming summer Europe bike trip. God bless you!
Carrie from Surrey, who gave me a ride from Horseshoe Bay to Squamish. Thanks so much for the ride and the great chat on the way^^ God bless you!
Jennifer, a realty estate dealer in Whistler, who gave me a ride from the sea to sky highway to Whistler. Thanks for your help^^ God bless you!
Ranch Family in Pemberton, for the hospitality, great chat, and letting me to sleep in the wonderful barn^^ I feel like I'm in a fairy tale^^ God bless you and all your wonderful kids^^
Michael, who had a great chat with me in Tim Hortons in 100MIleHouse. God bless you with your current hardtime, I wish you can move down to Vancouver. Have faith in God Michael^^
Everyone in Mcleese Lake, especially May, Mcleese Lake campground manager and Lorrie, the birthday boy, Thanks for the big party and wonderful night. I truly feel wonderful that night. So much fun. So many great travelling stories. Thanks! God bless you guyz.
Cameron and his buddy(I forgot your name^^") from Quesnel, who are biking from Quesnel to Vancouver Island, then to Halifax. God bless you guyz have a great time n successful bike trip.
Carrine, from Cowichan Bay in Vancouver Island, who gave me a ride from Quesnel to Prince George. Thanks for giving me a ride when I's totally powerless at that time^^ God bless you and your husband
Andrew Stobbe, a wonderful gentleman in Prince George, who was a truck driver and an independent missionary, and now, a great friend of mine. Thanks for you hospitality and great food^^ and inviting me to stay at your home, a handbuilt log home, I's super happy, like in a fairy tale again^^ Thanks also for your wonderful travel stories. Hey Andrew, God bless you with your illness. Recover soon. Keep on your travelling and exploration and passion in life.^^ God bless you^^
"motivated by a living passion, guided by reason and love, powered by all my best friends"
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