Time to (Re)Think

One of my most favorite things about being on a bike is all the quiet time you have to think... about anything... and everything.

Obviously, I like going light and simple and pedaling a heavily laden bike up steep hills is not so much fun. So, I resorted to Cass Gilbert, world traveller via Surly Ogre. His (bike)packing style is similar to mine, so I was able to jump the learning curve quite a bit through his writings and photos. He has great insight on how and why, including how & why not, through experience. The latter is the best.

My Fargo got rigged up in a similar fashion, which I really like a lot. It worked fantastically in the 1.5 day ride Brett & I did to Denali Park.
Unfortunately, my worsening ankle pronation due to flat arches, caused a tendon/ligament to flare up and cause a good limp. I had to quit the 460 mile ride I had planned for 6 days, going across the Denali Highway and back up to Fairbanks.
Instead, I hopped the train back to Fairbanks from Denali National Park, where Brett had planned on accompanying me to.

In the 120 paved miles, I did learn my nicely-organized set-up in one way and junk show in another, could be improved upon. Ironically, I got home and Cass had put up a post with his altered set-up, which was almost exactly what I was thinking to change. I like the addition of the rack to strap random things to, or as a place to put some food at the start of the trip or at re-supplies.

When I got back to town, I bought some Superfeet insoles and they seem to be helping my foot issue. I'll give it a few days of rest, then I'll be back on the bike. I have a few more rides I'd like to do this summer, including the portion I had to skip out on.

Ride times:
Fairbanks to Monderosa ~55 mi: 3.5 hrs
Monderosa to Tatlanika/Nenana River bridge ~27 mi: 2 hrs (camp overnight)
Bridge to Healy ~25 mi: 2 hrs
Healy to Denali Park ~14 mi: 1 hr
8.5 hrs total ride time, Fairbanks to Denali ~120 mi

Here are some photos of the ride. Thanks for stopping by.
Josh