TOP TEN ALASKAN MOTORCYCLE TOURING TIPS by Thomas Jamrog (published in Motorcycle Tour and Travel, May 1997 issue) This past summer I spent six weeks on the road traveling from Maine to Alaska on a BMW R1100 GS motorcycle. Just before I pulled out of the the garage my oldest son Lincoln tied a Yoda Star Wars figure to my handlebars . I would like to report that the Force was responsible for getting me home in one piece, but there was a little more to it than that. I would like to share the top ten tips I gleaned from my 14,000 miles on the road. A long-distance motorcyclist experiences two phases during a trip such as this. The dream phase is composed of three parts: pre-trip wilderness freedom fantasies, daily hopes from the saddle, and post-trip reminisces. I am hopelessly stuck in the last phase even though I have returned about three months ago. Everyone does this huge adventure their own way. I did mine with my long-time travel partner Alan McKinnon and we chose to camp the whole time. Even the five nights that were spent in people's homes found me on a floor in my sleeping bag. I didn't want to use a bed. We packed food and camping gear that allowed us to cook most of our suppers. In previous issues of MT&T I detailed the advance planning for this trip: tools, spares, and camping gear. I was well within my $2500 budget when I rolled back down my driveway with $400 left in my pocket. You may choose to spend that much on an occasional motel room, halibut or salmon fishing trip, or more days on the road. While the following tips are primarily for the camping motorcyclist, they will prove useful no matter how much cash you have to cushion your expedition. 1) Learn about Alaska. Spend time before you go reading about the land, the people, and the roads there. Talk to anyone who has been there, motorcyclist or not. I asked many people three questions: "What was the most interesting place you visited?" , "What was your most valuable piece of gear?", and "What would you do differently next time?" If you have a computer and modem, hang out on the Internet and post some travel questions. The best place I have found to do this is the rec. motorcycles group on NewsWatcher. Alaska is a very popular motorcyclist's destination and there are many who are willing to share their trip reports and tips with you. 2) Invest in a quality riding suit. I lived in a Motorport Ultra II Cordura suit for the duration of the trip. I stayed dry, warm, and intact after long days of rain, cold that dropped to the 30's, and survived the impact of an accident that damaged my R1100 GS BMW but left me bruised but not bleeding or broken. The option is to carry along a rain suit that you squeeze into over your leathers, but I had grown tired of years of the viscous peeling/unpeeling routine. I retired my rainsuit with large yellow patches of recycled peat moss bags that were the result of misplaced legs against hot mufflers and header pipes. Alaska is a wet and cold place even in the summertime, and a good insulated Gore-Tex suit is worth many times it's original value out in the lonely subarctic landscape. Another advantage of Cordura over leather is the ability to quickly wash out dirt. We logged over 3,000 miles of gravel roads on this trip, and wet mud cakes on to legs like cinnamon to toast. When my over pants began to weigh me down with dried mud, I was able to toss them into the washing machine with some detergent and they were back again as good as new. You can't do that with leather. 3) Get some experience on gravel roads. While the 1645 mile Alaska Highway is paved from Dawson Creek, British Columbia to Fairbanks, the ravages of winter and extreme conditions result in continual summer repair and reconstruction projects. The worst of these is grading. Think of it as summer plowing of the roads. Hard surfaced roads in Alaska are chip sealed, a mixture of gravel and tar that is pounded into submission by your wheels and mine. Sometimes resurfacing results in 40 mile sections of unfinished road. For the two-wheeled traveler this translates into a surface of loose rocks that may be up to a couple of inches in diameter spread a few inches thick that are marbling around under the narrow patch of rubber beneath you. It is unnerving to the uninitiated, and uncomfortable for the experienced gravel traveler as well. The best advice I got was to open the throttle in these conditions. It seems odd to be speeding up when you feel like you are riding on ball bearings, but trust me, going prudently faster stabilizes the bike. Bring the eye drops too. If it isn't muddy and slippery, you are blessed with the specter of dust. I found that shiny spots that looked like mirages up ahead were usually a sign of a large "frost heave", a sudden dip in the road. If you want to keep your lunch where nature intended, be ready for them. Wire screen or plastic headlight protectors may prevent a broken headlight. 4) Be ready for insects. Mosquitoes could be the state bird up north and precautions must be taken to insure comfort. When it isn't raining or windy, these buzzy buddies can ruin your perfect stream side campsite. While a combination of long sleeved shirt , pants and repellent are usually sufficient to keep the pests at bay, leathers may be needed if they bite through clothing. I wore a long-sleeved mosquito net shirt that also had a head net grafted onto it. A zipper was conveniently located to allow one to insert foodstuffs into mouth, but when they were bad, even I had to keep moving while eating. Try the moving technique if all else fails. When you see a group at a campsite walking briskly around a picnic table waving their forks between bites you know it's time to break out the 100 percent DEET (diethyl-metatoluamide) high test stuff, but be careful not to get it on the plastic or your camera. It eats away at the finish. 5) Expect tire problems. Anticipate the possibility of a flat or a worn out tire. I was ready for both, as I carried front and rear spares along with a repair kit. Begin the trip with new tires. Road surfaces in Alaska are rougher than in the lower 48, so count on more rapid tread wear. If your total mileage will exceed the life of your rear tire, then have a plan that answers the question "How and where will I get a new one?" You don't want to find yourself stranded in an obscure back country settlement waiting a week for a specially sized specimen to be shipped from a distant warehouse. A friend of ours wasted a valuable week's time waiting for a rear tire to fit his Kawasaki Concours in a campground in Whitehorse. Carrying my own replacement , I was able to schedule a quick change on my return trip home when I reached Billings, Montana. If you run tubelesss, have a complete kit on hand, and practice using it on an old tire before you have to do the real thing on the road. Tubed tires require tools to remove the wheel, a set of tire irons, a small bottle of detergent to help seat the bead, a spare tube, patch kit, and means of inflation. 6) Pack a canteen. It can get really hot and dusty up north, with neighborhood convenience stores a foreign concept. Buy a couple of one quart canteens. I have a half-gallon one that has a strap on it, with a Fastex fastener that allows me to clip it to the outside of my load. Remember to fill up at the time of your last fuel stop, which allows you the freedom to select a campsite "au sauvage" and start right in on cooking your supper. Even established campgrounds sometimes had no easily accessible water sources, and you find yourself dipping out of a river. If you dip, be sure to boil it for five minutes. I can tell you that giardia is no fun. 7) Budget for a charter plane flight. Alaska is a huge state, containing one-fifth of the landmass of of all of America. The geography is breathtaking but there just aren't that many roads that reach some of the majesties of the state. A short chartered plane flight can bring an obscured panorama to life. We bucked and shook our way down the 60 mile gravel railroad bed from Chitina to McCarthy. My fear of heights was tested to the limit on the 525 foot Kuskulana Bridge ( a former railroad trestle), passing 238 feet above the silt swollen Kuskulana River . I considered myself blessed that I was navigating the road after 1988, when the bridge was upgraded and guard rails were added. We finally reached the outer edge of the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, the largest in the US (it is twice the size of my home state of Massachusetts), but I wanted to get closer to the eternally ice-covered 14,000 foot peaks. There is only one way to do that. When we reached the Kennicott River, we reluctantly coughed up the funds for a glacier tour via a tiny Cessena airplane. The $40 that I spent bought me the flight of a lifetime. Within 5 minutes we were above a world that i never experienced before, one with endless horizons of rock, ice and snow, with rivers of white and black flowing in every direction. A couple of weeks later we flew out to 20,000 foot Denali peak, where a 70 minute charter thrilled us again. 8) Call it a day before it's a night. Traveling in Alaska puts you close to the Arctic Circle, and if you reach the Brooks Range on the Dalton Highway you'll be above it. We traveled in late June, and the combination of the summer solstice and the far northern latitude extended the daylight hours into the twilight zone. It is easy to push on when the sun is still up over the horizon, but consider stopping for the day after checking your watch. If you have been riding for 12 hours, it's probably better to quit. The extended daylight masks your fatigue level, and you will be pushing your luck to continue driving in the twilight. Your reserves and fatigue are genuine, and must be respected. Many Alaskan motorcycle crashes occur at the end of the day when your judgment is clouded by a camouflaged fatigue. 9) Plan to stop for a couple of days every week or two. Two reasons: It slows down the frantic, "I gotta do it all" pace that life can take on the road, and secondly, there are often repairs that have to be made, mail to be sent, needed supplies, and clothes washing to be taken care of. Travel reports of Alaskan motorcycle tourists often mention the fact that people take sick on the road, and a break gives the body a chance to catch up on some needed rest and acclimatization. It is tough to hang back and realize that something more will have to go if a rest stop is to happen. It won't take too many days on the roads of the 50th State to convince yourself that you will be back someday. When that happens, the pressure is off. 10) Maintain a positive attitude. I consider every motorcycling day spent on the open road a gift, and try my best to keep it that way. There will be hardships enough that will come in the form of cold, rain, mud, and the inevitable equipment breakdowns. One of the self-imposed trials that I had to personally endure was my disappointment with and negative reaction to the large numbers of huge RV's that were found on the roads in Alaska. Sometimes they were towing cars as well. Passing these large herds is always difficult and dangerous. I found myself habitually cursing inside my helmet when I found myself caught behind yet another imposing wall of travel -stickered fiberglass. One day, I realized that I was making myself miserable, and decided to cease with the better-than-thou attitude. I saw a RV with a Maine plate pulled off on the side of the Haul Road. I pulled over and paid a visit with an interesting, older-than-me grandfather who was in need of talk and company. In exchange I learned there are real people in those 4-wheeled houses, and a number of them were very interested in learning about life on the two wheeled path. I won't forget the words of one labored fellow from Indiana who climbed down his steps and soon promised that "Next time it is going to be just me, and I want to do it on one of those". I consider my Alaskan trip the finest motorcycling experience of my life. I had some problems that dulled my enjoyment of the open road for some of those forty-two days. I hope that these tips will help make your trip a safe and successful two-wheeled transportation celebration. May the Force be with you.