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D. Two wheels allow weaving around the worst portion of frost heaves
Good luck.
I have hard this about trikes, instead of hitting one tires width of pot holes, you are hitting three. But I though it it was the frost heaves which were worse, not so much a pot hole I could go around. Though there was one bad one by a bridge in maybe BC, that I hit. Ran into a guy that went down on his FLHR and broke his leg on the pot hole. He was riding with a cast.
I have not rode a trike, but I am curious about 3 wheel in general. I would think having 3 wheels in mud and gravel would offset the rough ride, maybe??
It is rough. I think Canada did better job about marking breaks in concrete and bad heaves. They didn't seem to mark them in US, so you would be goign along and then all the sudden hit a big bump.
The haul road was not bump, most it was hard gravel. But if it rains it can be mud. North of the Yukon river was a helicopter pad, they wetted the ground with calcium chloride for that. Was like driving through a farm field. Had to wait for semi, to follow his ruts out after going down 3 times in about 150 yards.
I would also pack light long johns. We brought to heavy. So some days I left off the heavy cause I didn't want to be to hot, and could have used something.
It is a rough ride, but gentlemen now a-bed Shall think themselves accursed they were not here, And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks That rode with us that day,
The road is roughest along Kluane Lake the last hundred miles before the Alaska border. Frost heaves there can be bad enough to dent a rim or pop a bead.
The lake is beautiful. I left on June 14th to be in Fairbanks by June 20th. Had three rain days on the way up and one on the way back. The one on the way back was worst - heavy rain and 41F on July 1st. I should have sat that day out. Forecast didnt say it was going to get colder as the day and rain progressed. Was pure riding misery.
Best advice I could give you besides the obvious:
1) buy an AirHawk or WildAss seat pad and keep it on your seat once you pass Watson Lake
2) Keep your speed to 60 mph max - going faster could kill you from hitting an animal or a deep patch of gravel; deep gravel kills riders every year up there
Never ride on the bottom half of your gas tank if a gas station is open, always stop in and top up The next one might not be open, or if it is might not have gas, & even if it has gas, might not have electricity to pump it
250/300 miles A day is a good target Make sure you have a flat tire repair kit and know how to use it before you leave The Harley shop in Anchorage is a better choice than the one in Fairbanks
Approaching the Northern Canadian Rocky Mountains, just north of Muncho Lake Its a hell of a ride, and worth every bit of inconvenience youll go through to do it
Even though it is still daylight well past 8pm, moose, elk, deer, bears, and nocturnal creatures will still come out between 8 and 9. They feed alongside the road and cross the road. Just like the upper Midwest, it is not safe to ride past 8pm. Make sure you are parked and enjoying your accommodations for the night. Dont stretch the day. Bison are present on the First Nations reservation north and south of Liard Hot Springs. They tend to hang out on the road or alongside the road. Respect the fluffy cows - they outweigh a trike.
I found long days very easy, 500 target. Not like you are stopping for traffic lights. After awhile 100 miles becomes nothing. Every thing is about 100 miles apart. Just ticks off.
I found long days very easy, 500 target. Not like you are stopping for traffic lights. After awhile 100 miles becomes nothing. Every thing is about 100 miles apart. Just ticks off.
Agreed. I wouldn't plan to do more than 500 per day though. Weather is always a wild card and it it exhausting to ride 500 miles in the rain at temperatures below 60F. And most likely there are consecutive days of riding which slowly take a toll on the body. By the time I got to Fairbanks I was ready to be off the bike for a day or two. Took a six day slow loop inside Alaska and then returned on a slightly slower planned mileage until Alberta and then switched back to 500-mile days. It was an enjoyable ride. Glad I did it. Not sure I'd do it again on a 3-week schedule but four weeks would be comfortable.
For me it was 9k miles in 3 weeks, with the middle week in Alaska and not as much riding.
I thought miles ticked away, no stops, nothing else to do.
We said a day without rain, was like day without gravel. We lucked out no bugs. For us we are used to cool temps too.
Nice thing about cool days, you just put all your gear on, and leave it on
We got lots of rain and rain gear on a lot, but I don't recall hard rain.
It was 6,900 miles in 22 days for me. The miles did tick away, but Saskatchewan and eastern Alberta make Kansas look positively mountainous. Those prairie miles sucked even with no wind and no rain.
It had been colder the week before I arrived so no bugs on the way up. Headed home they were bothersome but not overwhelming. I took a bug net but never needed it.
July 1st was our hard rain. Rode tank-to-tank without stopping because it was coming down so hard, it was so cold, and it was western Alberta so there was no place to stop. Finally called it a day after 400 miles. Did 600 miles the next day in blissful weather.
There was one section of deep gravel that was not marked. I had about 100 miles total of road construction where they had torn out the pavement and the road was some combination of gravel, hard pack, and mud. One was difficult and unnerving - the rest were uneventful except for the Black Bear that ran in front of me. I was behind the last car in the pilot line and he apparently didn't hear me until he was midway cross the road. I had a grizzly sow and cub step in front of me near Haines Junction while I was doing 60mph. I stopped 40-50 feet from them using everything except ABS.
It was a good trip. The northern Rockies was great riding as were the miles inside Alaska. The scenery was probably the best in the Yukon. Saw lots of grizzlies in Denali so that was cool. I was able to do the trip for around $1500. I don't know that I'll ever ride to Alaska again. I'd probably choose Cape Breton Island if I had the opportunity and felt like gambling on the weather. Riding in cold rain sucks no matter where it is.
It was about 13/14 days for me to get from the Kitwanga Junction on Highway 16 up Through Dease lake, With a side trip to Stewart where I stayed overnight, To Whitehorse, then Anchorage, then Fairbanks And back out to Edmonton end of June/early July
never even had enough bugs to have to clean my windshield from them And a day of rain maybe 100 miles of construction total And the worst of the road I would say was from destruction Bay by Kluane Lake to Toqe Alaska Which I affectionately called a 500 mile black top bitch slap because I did it in both directions
stayed in motels in Stuart, Dease, Whitehorse, Toqe, Anchorage, Fairbanks, Toq, Haynes junction, and then a few places in Alberta before I got to Edmonton, where I had my motorcycle serviced At Edmonton Harley Davidson
The only damage I received on the motorcycle for the entire ride up north was a broken left rear rubber mount On the exhaust pipe they replaced that in Edmonton
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