Post your ride pics

[bobco85]

I was going to post pics about my trip to Alaska about a week and a half ago, but I soon realized I had too many pictures to go through (almost 1,000 total). Instead, I decided to make a video and share my thoughts on biking in Anchorage (if you want to go straight to the biking portion, it’s on Day 3 at 5:15 in the video). I did a lot on my trip, but I think the only way to travel is to do so much that you practically collapse into your bed each night

[video=youtube_share;aNNwDXMbPGw]http://youtu.be/aNNwDXMbPGw[/video]

The route of the bike ride I did is here: http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/531346294

I rode on 4 trails: Tony Knowles Coastal Trail, Lanie Fleischer Chester Creek Trail, Campbell Creek Trail, and Ship Creek Trail. All were pretty well-maintained, and the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail is probably the most interesting of the bunch. The Ship Creek Trail seemed to be the newest-looking with a pretty nice bike bridge. The total cost of my bike rental was $32 (full day rate).

Stuff I checked out on my bike ride:

• bird refuge along the coast of Turnagain Arm (viewable from the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail)
• University of Alaska – Anchorage campus
• Alaskan Botanical Garden (they happened to be having their annual Harvest Day event, so it was fortuitous to happen to be biking there)
• Sourdough Mining Company for delicious sourdough rolls and more
• Kincaid Park (this has many MTB trails, although I did not check them out since I had other destinations)
• Point Woronzof (has an airplane viewing spot just like Gravelly Point, except without crowding around the trail, and the point is raised up like a cliff)
• the boatplanes at Lake Hood/Lake Spenard (the lakes are connected by what looks like a water runway)
• Earthquake Park (Good Friday Earthquake of 1964, a 9.2 magnitude earthquake, caused a massive landslide off the coast; if you look at the Google Maps image of Earthquake Park now, the half-circle section where the park is located is what actually had slid off into the water; trees later grew on it and the trail was built on it)
• William Jack Hernandez Sport Fish Hatchery (kinda cool seeing salmon jumping up out of the water up the artificial waterfalls)

My experience biking in Anchorage was quite positive, and I noticed a few things:

• Anchorage in general is much flatter than I imagined, with mostly rolling hills (until you get to Kincaid Park where there are some steeper inclines)
• there are many paved side paths running next to the highways/multi-lane roads, sometimes there are side paths on both sides
• no protected lanes and not many bike lanes (probably due to all the side paths)
• on one-lane streets, biking in the street feels fine
• on the multi-lane roads, traffic generally travels a lot faster, so cyclists are somewhat expected to use the sidepaths instead of taking the lane
• very little bike parking in the areas I traveled
• the trail mileage markers show both miles and kilometers
• the trail detours (construction on the Lanie Fleischer Chester Creek Trail) onto neighborhood streets were really well done with many, many signs directing people in either direction
• Tony Knowles Coastal Trail is the most enjoyable because it gives the nicest views (being on the coast)
• to many fur-buyers delight, there are many fur stores in Anchorage
• Alaska is EXPENSIVE since they need to import most goods (example: in VA you can get a 2 for $1 or $1.50 candy bar deal, in AK you can get a 2 for $2.50 or $3 candy bar deal)

[KLizotte]

Very clever showing McKinley “disappearing.”

[rcannon100]

The happy couple:

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I’m confused. Is this a Bikenetic ride or a Fresh Bikes ride?

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Grinding Gravel

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[ShawnoftheDread]

@rcannon100 94986 wrote:

I’m confused. Is this a Bikenetic ride or a Fresh Bikes ride?

Bicycle ecumenism. Vatican II has nothing on us.

[Greenbelt]

Crop Hop prep (getting lost mostly). Ended up in South America
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[dkel]

@ShawnoftheDread 94998 wrote:

Bicycle ecumenism. Vatican II has nothing on us.

As a cyclist and a Protestant, I agree with both of those sentences.

[Dirt]

Bikenetic Sunday Gravel.

It was a very fun group and a LOVELY day to ride! Thanks to all who rode with us!

[jabberwocky]

Lovely day in the Shed.

[creadinger]

Here are some pictures I took on “Paul’s Paradise” permanent I did on Saturday. It was the hardest ride I’ve ever done, and it definitely tested my limits, in terms of leg strength. Today my legs feel sore in places that not even yoga practice has reached before. I definitely think I’m more tired and sore than after the relatively flat 300K I did last year. I am happy to be done.

Here’s my strava activity link; http://www.strava.com/activities/197255319

Early morning sunrise with fog and tiny horse silhouettes.
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While I was riding, Daisy was with my wife at Great Falls.
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I was riding northbound up Harmony Road and surprise, there’s the notorious Coxey Brown! I didn’t have to climb it, but I did climb Harp Hill, which was ridiculous. My estimation had the steep part equivalent to about 4 41st Sts stacked on top of one another.
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What Coxey Brown climbs.
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Vista on Harmony Road. Great descent to Wolfville Rd and the bast of Harp Hill Rd.
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[creadinger]

Pt. 2

From the top of Mar Lu Ridge eastbound. I climbed it both ways, so I went up the hard way in the morning. Going eastbound you have a lovely stop light at the bottom at the US Rt. 15 intersection. I got lucky with some cars ahead of me tripping the green, so I didn’t have to stop.
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Garmin at the end. 125 miles. 11 hours 36 minutes. 9590 feet of climbing.
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Oh! I forgot to say…. from the very beginning of the ride, I had that new Taylor Swift song in my head…. for 9 HOURS AND 35 MINUTES I had the Taylor Swift song in my head on REPEAT… it was driving me crazy! While I passed through Buckeystown at mile 103, I passed a hole-in-the-wall bar with a live band playing “Turn the Page” by Bob Seger. Appropriately enough, I heard the singer sing the lines “and you don’t feel much like ridin’, you just wish the trip was throuuugghhh”…. wow. That was weird. And helped cure me of my Taylor Swift problem.

[sjclaeys]

Despite some of the circumstances, the Back Roads Century was still fun:

The inevitable lines:
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Beautiful views:
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The white post of White Post, VA:
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[DismalScientist]

@creadinger 95013 wrote:

Oh! I forgot to say…. from the very beginning of the ride, I had that new Taylor Swift song in my head…. for 9 HOURS AND 35 MINUTES I had the Taylor Swift song in my head on REPEAT… it was driving me crazy!

Dude, you need to shake it off.

[creadinger]

@DismalScientist 95238 wrote:

Dude, you need to shake it off.

After a couple of hours, when I realized I was actually going crazy in my own mind, I tried to switch it to the Florence and the Machine version of “Shake it Off”, because I actually like that song. But I failed.

[Rod Smith]

I saw a large group of riders on Virginia Ave. so I chased them down to see what was up. It was The Climate Ride! I passed a lot of them so I could get some pictures, followed onto Constitution, then turned off to make my drop at 1001 Penn.

I see this guy regularly going home on the MBT. I always ask him “What’s up?” but he never answers. Today I shouted “Hey I know you!” Got a smile out of him. Maybe he’ll talk to me next time I see him. I want to ask him about this ride. I had brief interchanges with a few of the riders but I had a double rush onboard and rolling fast. Blowing lights, taking advantage of the police escort…

[Greenbelt]

College Park Day

There was an airplane taking off…
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On Rhode Island Ave crossing the Intersection of Eternal Despair
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Kids bike rodeo and helmet giveaway
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Orioles Bird bike thief
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