From: druth@erg.sri.com (Doug Ruth)
Subject: Re: What would you ride on a long distance trip?
Organization: SRI International, Menlo Park, CA
Date: Thu, 19 Nov 92 17:05:00 GMT

In article <BxvKzz.2n1@apollo.hp.com> brady_p@apollo.hp.com (Peter Brady) writes:
>Recently I've been thinking about taking a long distance solo ride -- a ride to
>Alaska from my home in New Hampshire. I'd ride the Trans-Alaska Hwy through
>Canada (my 2nd favourite country, and sometimes my most!), go up through the
>Territories to Dawson, over to Circle, down to Fairbanks, then Anchorage. From
>there, I'll take the state ferry to Sitka and Juneau, then down to Vancouver,
>into the Pacific Northwest, then trundle my way back across the USA to New
>England.
>
I had the good fortune to be able to do this trip this past summer
(8 weeks in from mid-June to mid-August '92) on my motorcycle, a 
`91 BMW R100GS/PD.  I camped essentially the whole way.  I started on
the left coast however.  My route was:

    Location                    Mode            Comments
    -----------------------     ---------   ------------------
    Mt. View, CA                motorcycle
    Vancouver, BC                   "
    Prince George, BC               "
    Meziadin Jct.                   "
    Hyder, AK                       "       Side trip to get Hyderized
    Meziadin Jct.                   "
    Watson Lake                     "       Cassiar Hwy(450 miles,1/3 dirt/gravel)
    Whitehorse, YT                  "       Alcan Hwy
    Atlin, BC                       "
    Skagway, AK                     "
    Lake Bennett, YT            foot        Backpacked the Chilkoot Trail (32m)
    Skagway, AK                 WP&Y Railroad
    Haines, AK                  ferry
    Haines Jct., YT             motorcycle
    Whitehorse, YT                  "
    Dawson City, YT                 "
    Inuvik, NWT                     "       Dempster Hwy (~460 miles gravel,1-way)
    Tuktoyaktuk, NWT            airplane    Tuk' is on the Arctic Coast. No
    Inuvik, NWT                 airplane      summer road, only a winter road.
    Dawson City, YK             motorcycle  Only spill of the trip thanks to a
    Circle, AK                      "         f**king RV. Bike OK. Cracked a rib.
    Tok, AK                         "         
    Fairbanks, AK                   "       Alcan Hwy
    Denali National Park, AK        "
    Paxson, AK                      "       Denali campgrounds were full for
    Glenallen, AK                   "         about 3 days, so took a loop trip
    Palmer, AK                      "         including the Denali Hwy.
    Denali National Park, AK        "       
    Anchorage, AK                   "
    Portage, AK                     "
    Hope, AK                        "
    Homer, AK                       "
    Seldovia, AK                boat
    Homer, AK                   boat
    Seward, AK                  motorcycle
    Valdez, AK                  ferry
    McCarthy, AK                motorcycle  Last .5 mile involves crossing river
    Kennicot, AK                foot/bus      on 2-person tram.Leave cycle. Hitch-
    McCarthy, AK                foot/bus      hike to Kennicot (old copper mine).
    Tok, AK                     motorcycle
    Whitehorse, YT                  "       Only mech. failure. Bad rotor.
    Dawson Creek                    "       Finally found new rear tire. Cords
    Prince George                   "         showing on old tire. Whew!
    Vancouver                       "
    Mt. View, CA                    "       11,000 miles in 56 days!
        
The Alcan Highway is essentially paved the whole way except for
several places where they were doing road upgrades/construction
between Ft. Nelson and Watson Lake, Watson Lake and Whitehorse, and
just west of Whitehorse.  However one of these construction areas had
some of the worst road conditions of the whole trip.

The Dempster Highway, from Dawson City to Inuvik (in the MacKenzie
River Delta, within 50 miles of the Arctic Coast), was dirt/gravel for its
entire XXX mile length.  There were usually 2 well-defined good tracks in the
middle and sometimes 2 additional gravelly tracks on either side.  Usually
piles of loose gravel between the tracks which made switching tracks for
oncoming trucks and RVs interesting.  Road upkeep was a lot better in
the Yukon section than the Northwest Territories section.  It was heading
south on this road, in the NWT, north of the Arctic Circle, where I took my
only spill of the trip when, rounding a left-hand corner, an oncoming
RV  driven by some a__hole refused to move over to his side from the 
middle of the road. I had to get way off to the right side, got into
some loose deep gravel, and the Beemer went into a tank slapper,
throwing me off as we both headed down the 4-6 foot embankment (up
there all roads are built up on embankments on top of the permafrost).
My trusty 2-piece Aerostich limited my damages to a cracked rib from
where I landed on my right side. The Beemer suffered some cosmetic
damage (i.e., missing left side front turn signal and mirror, and
slightly bent exo-frame around the fairing) but was largely unfazed.
It fired right up and I rode it back up the bank onto the roadway
where I assessed/repaired the damaged before heading south again.
The a__hole RV driver didn't even stop.  

The Top-of-the-World Highway from Dawson City over to Tok was also
treacherous having rained off-and-on for the last 3 days.  The road
was clay-based which turned to slick muck when wet.  Almost bit it
several times on this road.  Earlier in the trip I had met a couple of
German bikers on TransAlps who attempted the Top-of-the-World after it
had been raining solidly for about a week.  They turned around after
about 20 miles saying it was terrible conditions.


>So here is your essay question -- what would you ride on a 10,000 mile trip?
>Pencils up... and begin.
>
No question for me: a '91 BMW R100GS/PD!  
I could write a good deal more on the incredible country I saw, other bikers
and people I met, the ad hoc troubleshooting, diagnosis, and crude fix of my
crapped-out rotor by myself, 2 German bikers, and 4 Mercedes factory
engineers who didn't speak a work of English (and me essentially no
German).  (I realize this serves as potential fodder for the old
R100GS/FJ1200 flame wars, but then I don't think an FJ even could get
that far north to even have a chance of breaking down up there!).

Overall an incredibly great trip, and the only thing I'd do different if I
did it again would be to take 12 weeks instead of 8!

If you have any questions about Alaska, the Yukon, or the Northwest
Territories send me some email.

-- Doug Ruth         | druth@erg.sri.com  | SRI International
-- '91 BMW R100GS/PD | Work:(415)859-3860 | 333 Ravenswood Ave.
-- AMA #: 197665     | Home:(415)962-9808 | Menlo Park, CA 94025
-- 
-- 
-- Doug Ruth         | druth@erg.sri.com  | SRI International
-- '91 BMW R100GS/PD | Work:(415)859-3860 | 333 Ravenswood Ave.
-- AMA #: 197665     | Home:(415)962-9808 | Menlo Park, CA 94025
--