By Lou Melini — An Alaskan bicycle tour has been on the bucket list for Julie and I for 15 years or more. Initially the plan was to ride the “North Star route” from Missoula, Montana to Denali National Park. That plan never rose to the top of our bucket list due to a bucketful of reasons. Julie and I are not yet ready to have a vehicle carry our gear, and we like to camp, so tours with vans and exclusively hotels were out. We have never been to Alaska, thus the thought of me pulling off the logistics in the manner that we are accustomed for an Alaskan trip seemed overwhelming to me.
In September of 2023 I got on the Adventure Cycling Association (ACA) website to browse the annual self-supported bike trips being offered for 2024. The ACA is perhaps the only organization that has group trips in which the riders carry their gear with no van support (note that most of their trips are van supported). The Denali National Park trip popped up in front of my eyes. A quick consult with Julie sealed the plan with each of us paying a $200 down payment. The late June 2024 trip started in Anchorage and ended, 430 miles and 14 days later (11 riding days) in Denali National Park. In addition, Julie’s sister lives on the Kenai peninsula in Alaska. The bike trip would combine a trip to see her sister and brother-in-law.
I’ve been a member of Adventure Cycling Association (ACA) since 1976/77 time period. I have used the maps produced by the ACA for many of my trips with Julie. The ACA produces great bike travel maps, and I expected the same professionalism for this tour.
Adventure Cycling Association Tours:
Julie and I were excited about doing our first commercial tour and doing it with the ACA. The website listed it as a road tour with some gravel. The technical difficulty was rated as “easy,” the terrain “mountainous,” and the difficulty rating of “5”, the most difficult. We assumed that the difficulty rating reflected the “mountainous” and “gravel” as there was no explanation for the rating. The tour was limited to 15 people including the leaders.
I should note that there are 2 aspects of ACA tours. There is a “Tours Team” a behind the scenes group and then there are the tour leader(s) that lead the trip.
We received a tour packet 2 months prior to our trip. A chat group was created enabling us to receive introductions from the rest of the group. I was happy to learn that many in our group had bike travel experience. Additionally, 5 of the 13 including me, were in their 70’s. One concern we had was a change in leadership for the tour 10 days prior to our departure.
For this trip we had 2 leaders, one an experienced tour leader and his assistant. Both leaders of the trip were excellent. They were very responsive to the concerns of the group. Because of their efforts the questions from the group were answered.
Anchorage:
Julie and I arrived in Anchorage at 4 AM Salt Lake time. The night flight was the only direct flight. We had visions of arriving in Anchorage with our bikes still in Seattle. Schlepping our bikes through the airport at that time of night was not pleasant. Plus, we needed two taxis to get to the hotel. The alternative was using Bike Flights. Julie informed me that both bikes would cost $600 to Anchorage and another $600 home. Perhaps I will take fellow bike traveler Matt Davidson’s advice and rent a bike in the future.
We started our trip at the Ingra House Hotel the home base for the trip. Ingra House Hotel is more a hostel than hotel, small rooms (Julie and I plus 2 bikes filled the room), shared bathrooms but incredible service by the manager, Max, and staff. The hotel had kitchens and a storage room to store our bike boxes while on our tour. In addition, Julie and I stored our packed bikes when we went to visit her sister. Max provided bear spray and isobutane fuel left by guests unable to carry those products on planes. Max provided us with information about Anchorage and Alaska before we arrived. For example, he informed us that Alaska has 12,000 rivers and 3 million lakes larger than 5 acres. Ingra House reached out to us and gave us a discount as part of the bike group for additional nights we stayed before and after the ACA tour. I will suggest the Ingra House Hotel if you are going to Anchorage.
Anchorage is quite the cosmopolitan city with a multitude of ethnicities. Restaurant service is just OK. Expect waits over 1 hour to be seated at restaurants. The Anchorage Museum was quite interesting about Alaskan history. The bike shops provided superb service. Two members of the group needed emergency repairs. Both were accommodated with repairs completed within an hour that included a new wheel build and replacement of a front hydraulic brake caliper. The Anchorage area has 350 miles of bike trails. Julie and I toured the city for 3 hours or so on bike paths prior to our ACA tour. The people in Anchorage in general were helpful and friendly. On the downside, we were warned to lock our bikes if they were out of our sight.
We met the new leaders the first day at the hotel. Within two weeks the new leaders had packed their personal gear, group gear, got up to speed for the Denali tour, and were simply on top of things. Adrian was the official leader. He has had extensive experience leading bike tours with the ACA. He provided us with confidence in his leadership. Spencer was his assistant. Spencer has never led a tour, but he jumped in and was a great part of the leadership team. Everyone in the tour group were happy with the new leadership.
The Tour: Roads and Scenery
We left Anchorage on the morning of June 16th. The group slowly split up as we followed RidewithGPS, and the map provided by the ACA. We took a bike path out of Anchorage and rode side roads to our first day’s destination, Palmer.
After Palmer, navigation was easy: east on the Glenn Highway (Hwy 1) to Glennallen, then north on the Richardson Highway (Hwy 4) to Paxson. We then turned west onto the Denali Highway (Hwy 8) to Cantwell where we turned north on the Parks Highway (Hwy 3) to Denali National Park. The tour included a train ride back to Anchorage. There are relatively few roads in the area of Alaska we rode. Though the construction season for roads is short, the roads were in decent shape.
The Glenn Highway had the most traffic, though light traffic would be a better word, with a wide shoulder on most of the road. The Richardson Highway had little traffic as did the Denali Highway. The 135-mile Denali Highway has 25 miles of pavement, 61 miles of gravel and 49 miles of chip seal, all of which is easily rideable. Contrary to the rumors, the gravel section of the Denali Highway was in excellent condition and easily traversed. I used 35 mm Pirelli Cinturato M tires with no problem. Julie was happy on her 45 mm Pirelli Cinturato H tires. My lowest gear has a 24-tooth chain ring with a 32-cassette ring that I never used, and Julie never used her lowest gear. Tires within the group ranged from 32C to 60mm. Gearing on some bikes was standard touring gears. We had few long climbs with roads grades being reasonable, perhaps similar to Emigration Canyon outside of Salt Lake City.
The scenery along the roads was outstanding. After leaving Palmer on day 2, the tour started to become remote as services became more spread out. The road out of Palmer had a nice shoulder and what I will describe as light traffic, allowing one to view the many splendid snow-capped mountain peaks, valley glaciers, lakes, and rivers. I can only assume that the rolling grassy hills we encountered would be defined as “tundra.”
Julie and I have toured on “the most scenic Highway” in several states over the years. In Alaska, the Denali Highway was perhaps the most spectacular road Julie and I have ridden on in our travels (the road through the North Cascades National Park being the lone exception). What helped make the Denali Highway notable was the lack of traffic probably due to the 60 miles of gravel. Even the spectacular beauty of Denali National Park, did not surpass the beauty of the Denali Highway.
Seeing Mt. Denali is a large part of the Denali experience. We took the free shuttle from our campground to mile 15. The bus/tour guide did his best to point out Mt. Denali, but our best view of Mt. Denali was on the train as we traveled back to Anchorage.
The Tour: Food
Julie and I had concerns about food and cooking during the tour. ACA tours do “group cooking.” Each night, 2 people are responsible for buying and cooking the food for the group with the exceptions being the 4 nights that we ate in restaurants. Julie and I prefer cooking our own meals although we enjoyed socializing with the group.
Groceries for the tour were obtained in Anchorage, Palmer, and Glenallen. There was a very small selection at a convenience store/gas station in Cantwell. About 10 miles north of Denali National Park there is a grocery store. The group carried 2 freeze-dried dinners purchased in Anchorage (REI) for nights when we did not have access to food stores or restaurants. The “market” in Cantwell was severely limited for supplies. On a few days, the leaders had arranged for breakfast at the restaurants and bagged lunches for us. Given the limited food options along our route, we ended up carrying less than expected due to the leadership and coordination by the group.
The restaurants we ate at had limited menu items, hamburgers (with variations including, cheese, bacon, or double patties of meat), pizza and sandwiches (Reubens for example). At the Maclaren River Lodge, we had a bit more variety including a 16-ounce steak dinner (steak and mashed potatoes) or Salmon. Vegetables were limited to the lettuce and tomato on a hamburger.
As I mentioned earlier, the leaders of the trip were great. At Denali National Park, one of the leaders rode 10 miles to the grocery north of the park for dinner and breakfast items. On the second night in Denali National Park we ate at a Serbian restaurant, one of many eating establishments within a couple of miles from our Denali camp. Eating at a Serbian restaurant was a novelty for our ride. The maître d’ took pride in explaining everything on the menu.
22
The Tour: Lodging
We camped in 9 locations including Denali National Park and spent 3 nights in lodging along our route. Julie and I had no complaints about our lodging. In general, fitting 13 tents into our designated campsites was a challenge due to tree roots and hard packed gravel. Julie and I enjoyed the camping, our favorite choice in lodging.
Inexplicably, the first BLM campground we stayed at did not have water. One member of the group acquired 3 gallons of water from a construction crew. We had a water filter but were warned by the construction guys not to filter from the stream due to the mineral contamination. One of our leaders called the BLM office to explain the situation. The BLM employees brought us 8 gallons of water and a 12 pack of beer, per our request. They were paid well for the water, beer, and their time by the group.
BLM campgrounds were a purely first come, first serve basis. At the second BLM campground, the group hustled to get in early. The camp was crowded but we managed to get 3 adjacent sites for most of the group plus one other site.
The indoor lodges were very nice. One facility, a dog-sled resort, had large, immaculate private rooms, kitchens, porches, and included an educational session about dog sledding. At Maclaren River Resort, Julie and I were granted our own room, but the rest of the group had shared lodging with multiple people per room. Maclaren was a 2-day stay and provided the group with options to be jet boated up the river for a canoe return or a hike to a glacier. I should add that the jet-boat options were additional fees for the individuals partaking in the activity.
The Tour: Weather
Before our trip, the weather in Anchorage was damp and cool. Normal temperatures are low to mid 60’s for a high and upper 30’s for the low. Max, from the hotel said it had rained in Anchorage every day in June for the past 2 years. I packed a light puffy jacket and full rain suit. We had temperatures 10 degrees above normal and no more than 20 minutes of rain one night. I increasingly believe in Julie’s angels.
The Tour: Mosquitoes and other creatures
Prior to the tour, the email chat line was full of mosquito questions from the group. I knew how to deal with mosquitoes using clothing, head nets, permethrin and DEET, but the little critters can still be annoying. In Alaska, the number of mosquitoes is legendary. In addition to my normal armaments for mosquitoes, I purchased a Thermacell (backpacker model), a 4-ounce device powered by a small can of butane/propane fuel that will give a 15-foot diameter of mosquito free space. The Thermacell unit worked well. Fortunately, we only had two nights that we had bothersome mosquitoes much to the delight of the tour group.
The mosquitoes were ferocious when present. Once I had a sudden gastrointestinal attack. I hopped off of my bike, ran behind some trees and did my duty, and so did a swarm of mosquitoes. At this moment, I had an epiphany to develop toilet tissue impregnated with DEET.
Moose were a near-daily sighting on our travels. One person in the group saw a bear. There were a multitude of birds including eagles and ptarmigans. Julie and I were stopped during a short hike by a grouse that did not want us to continue on the trail. Interesting interaction with the attack bird. Julie and I saw one caribou in Denali National Park during a bus ride.
The Tour: Bikes
The bikes in our group ranged from road touring bikes with 32 mm Schwalbe tires to very popular (in the group) Surly bikes with up to 55 mm tires. Julie and I felt that her current travel bikes were compromises for the Denali tour based on the information the “tours team” provided. We purchased a Surly Grappler frame. All of the reviews of the Grappler stated that the stability of the Grappler was remarkable, just what Julie needed. I did not like the set-up of the stock bike. My son built 29’er tubeless wheels based on the cycling motto, light, durable and cheap, pick any two. The wheels were light and durable, perfect for the tour. I also upgraded the components to a Shimano gravel group. The bike was completed with an 11-51 cassette and a 32-tooth chain ring, that will be enlarged for future tours. Julie did great. The bike turned out to be needed not only for this trip but for future use, so I am happy with the decision to purchase the bike.
On the flight home, Julie lifted a bag and suffered a sudden loss of function of her left thumb with swelling at the base of the thumb. She has arthritis in her thumbs however we thought she had a ligament tear. The hand specialist confirmed that the disability was an acute arthritic flare. The Surly Grappler will be a template for future bikes for her, single chainring to limit left thumb use for braking only, hydraulic brakes (which she loves) for their feel and function over rim and mechanical disc brakes and drop bars, as she doesn’t want flat bars.
The Tour: Pedals
For the Denali tour, we decided on flat pedals, also used by most of the tour group. Julie will not ride clipped in on gravel. We did an overnight bike trip to Affleck Park, about a 2-hour ride from our home and 1.5 hours return trip back to our home due to the elevation changes. The time difference with the flat pedals was perhaps a 5-minute difference from our rides to Affleck clipped in.
In Alaska there is a lot of elevation change, but not steep nor long. The flat pedals worked great. On 3 occasions we hopped off the bikes and did a 1–2-hour hike. We carried lightweight Crocs for camp use vs. a second pair of shoes as in the past. Julie used flat pedals by Fyxation. She feels that the RaceFace Chester pedals bother her feet on long rides. The Fyxation pedals have 10 durable plastic pegs vs. the 8 metal pegs on the RaceFace. The Fyxation pegs may be a hair shorter. Julie did not perceive any difference in efficiency between the RaceFace or Fyxation. I used the RaceFace Chester, which I like. As a general statement, I find that flat pedals have a small exponential loss of efficiency compared to being clipped in as the road grade increases after about 4 percent. Those that have high cadence pedaling style (>85) may also note some loss in efficiency compared to being clipped in. Julie and I will be using flat pedals for future tours.
We were told that the Five Ten (by Adidas) shoes we wore would not make good hiking shoes. However, the shoes worked great for our walks that were all less than 2 hours.
The Tour: Would I do it again and was it worth the money?
Both Julie and I would do the tour again. I think I could plan a similar trip now that I have experienced Alaska and know about Alaska Milepost magazine/journal. Alaska Milepost is a free publication that will tell you what services (lodging, restaurant, etc.) at mileposts along the route. A few of the tour members used it to consult with the leaders regarding food options for our tour. I may consider other ACA trips such as the Selkirk loop (Northern Idaho/British Columbia) especially if Adrian or Spencer are the tour leaders. The ACA tour was a fantastic ride with beautiful scenery.
Julie and I have planned and toured alone in the past. Costs have been on average 20% of our Alaska tour. In our minds, the cost for 2 weeks (for both of us) seems like a lot as the ride was basically a self-supported (no van support) camping tour. The ACA tour price included lodging, food, and the train ride back to Anchorage from Denali National Park. We had great leaders, an excellent route, and the tour got us to Alaska. We met a bunch of strangers in Anchorage that became lifetime friends by the time we reached Denali National Park. One can’t put a price on friendship.
Trip Details:
- Trip Name: Denali National Park Tour
- Number of Days and Miles: 14 days (11 riding days) 430 miles (20-60 miles)
- Dates traveled: Final two weeks of June
- Where to go for more information: adventurecycling.org; Note that this trip is not being offered in 2025. Instead, the Alaska Golden Circle tour is offered.
By Lou Melini — An Alaskan bicycle tour has been on the bucket list for Julie and I for 15 years or more. Initially the plan was to ride the “North Star route” from Missoula, Montana to Denali National Park. That plan never rose to the top of our bucket list due to a bucketful of reasons. Julie and I are not yet ready to have a vehicle carry our gear, and we like to camp, so tours with vans and exclusively hotels were out. We have never been to Alaska, thus the thought of me pulling off the logistics in the manner that we are accustomed for an Alaskan trip seemed overwhelming to me.
In September of 2023 I got on the Adventure Cycling Association (ACA) website to browse the annual self-supported bike trips being offered for 2024. The ACA is perhaps the only organization that has group trips in which the riders carry their gear with no van support (note that most of their trips are van supported). The Denali National Park trip popped up in front of my eyes. A quick consult with Julie sealed the plan with each of us paying a $200 down payment. The late June 2024 trip started in Anchorage and ended, 430 miles and 14 days later (11 riding days) in Denali National Park. In addition, Julie’s sister lives on the Kenai peninsula in Alaska. The bike trip would combine a trip to see her sister and brother-in-law.
I’ve been a member of Adventure Cycling Association (ACA) since 1976/77 time period. I have used the maps produced by the ACA for many of my trips with Julie. The ACA produces great bike travel maps, and I expected the same professionalism for this tour.
Adventure Cycling Association Tours:
Julie and I were excited about doing our first commercial tour and doing it with the ACA. The website listed it as a road tour with some gravel. The technical difficulty was rated as “easy,” the terrain “mountainous,” and the difficulty rating of “5”, the most difficult. We assumed that the difficulty rating reflected the “mountainous” and “gravel” as there was no explanation for the rating. The tour was limited to 15 people including the leaders.
I should note that there are 2 aspects of ACA tours. There is a “Tours Team” a behind the scenes group and then there are the tour leader(s) that lead the trip.
We received a tour packet 2 months prior to our trip. A chat group was created enabling us to receive introductions from the rest of the group. I was happy to learn that many in our group had bike travel experience. Additionally, 5 of the 13 including me, were in their 70’s. One concern we had was a change in leadership for the tour 10 days prior to our departure.
For this trip we had 2 leaders, one an experienced tour leader and his assistant. Both leaders of the trip were excellent. They were very responsive to the concerns of the group. Because of their efforts the questions from the group were answered.
Anchorage:
Julie and I arrived in Anchorage at 4 AM Salt Lake time. The night flight was the only direct flight. We had visions of arriving in Anchorage with our bikes still in Seattle. Schlepping our bikes through the airport at that time of night was not pleasant. Plus, we needed two taxis to get to the hotel. The alternative was using Bike Flights. Julie informed me that both bikes would cost $600 to Anchorage and another $600 home. Perhaps I will take fellow bike traveler Matt Davidson’s advice and rent a bike in the future.
We started our trip at the Ingra House Hotel the home base for the trip. Ingra House Hotel is more a hostel than hotel, small rooms (Julie and I plus 2 bikes filled the room), shared bathrooms but incredible service by the manager, Max, and staff. The hotel had kitchens and a storage room to store our bike boxes while on our tour. In addition, Julie and I stored our packed bikes when we went to visit her sister. Max provided bear spray and isobutane fuel left by guests unable to carry those products on planes. Max provided us with information about Anchorage and Alaska before we arrived. For example, he informed us that Alaska has 12,000 rivers and 3 million lakes larger than 5 acres. Ingra House reached out to us and gave us a discount as part of the bike group for additional nights we stayed before and after the ACA tour. I will suggest the Ingra House Hotel if you are going to Anchorage.
Anchorage is quite the cosmopolitan city with a multitude of ethnicities. Restaurant service is just OK. Expect waits over 1 hour to be seated at restaurants. The Anchorage Museum was quite interesting about Alaskan history. The bike shops provided superb service. Two members of the group needed emergency repairs. Both were accommodated with repairs completed within an hour that included a new wheel build and replacement of a front hydraulic brake caliper. The Anchorage area has 350 miles of bike trails. Julie and I toured the city for 3 hours or so on bike paths prior to our ACA tour. The people in Anchorage in general were helpful and friendly. On the downside, we were warned to lock our bikes if they were out of our sight.
We met the new leaders the first day at the hotel. Within two weeks the new leaders had packed their personal gear, group gear, got up to speed for the Denali tour, and were simply on top of things. Adrian was the official leader. He has had extensive experience leading bike tours with the ACA. He provided us with confidence in his leadership. Spencer was his assistant. Spencer has never led a tour, but he jumped in and was a great part of the leadership team. Everyone in the tour group were happy with the new leadership.
The Tour: Roads and Scenery
We left Anchorage on the morning of June 16th. The group slowly split up as we followed RidewithGPS, and the map provided by the ACA. We took a bike path out of Anchorage and rode side roads to our first day’s destination, Palmer.
After Palmer, navigation was easy: east on the Glenn Highway (Hwy 1) to Glennallen, then north on the Richardson Highway (Hwy 4) to Paxson. We then turned west onto the Denali Highway (Hwy 8) to Cantwell where we turned north on the Parks Highway (Hwy 3) to Denali National Park. The tour included a train ride back to Anchorage. There are relatively few roads in the area of Alaska we rode. Though the construction season for roads is short, the roads were in decent shape.
The Glenn Highway had the most traffic, though light traffic would be a better word, with a wide shoulder on most of the road. The Richardson Highway had little traffic as did the Denali Highway. The 135-mile Denali Highway has 25 miles of pavement, 61 miles of gravel and 49 miles of chip seal, all of which is easily rideable. Contrary to the rumors, the gravel section of the Denali Highway was in excellent condition and easily traversed. I used 35 mm Pirelli Cinturato M tires with no problem. Julie was happy on her 45 mm Pirelli Cinturato H tires. My lowest gear has a 24-tooth chain ring with a 32-cassette ring that I never used, and Julie never used her lowest gear. Tires within the group ranged from 32C to 60mm. Gearing on some bikes was standard touring gears. We had few long climbs with roads grades being reasonable, perhaps similar to Emigration Canyon outside of Salt Lake City.
The scenery along the roads was outstanding. After leaving Palmer on day 2, the tour started to become remote as services became more spread out. The road out of Palmer had a nice shoulder and what I will describe as light traffic, allowing one to view the many splendid snow-capped mountain peaks, valley glaciers, lakes, and rivers. I can only assume that the rolling grassy hills we encountered would be defined as “tundra.”
Julie and I have toured on “the most scenic Highway” in several states over the years. In Alaska, the Denali Highway was perhaps the most spectacular road Julie and I have ridden on in our travels (the road through the North Cascades National Park being the lone exception). What helped make the Denali Highway notable was the lack of traffic probably due to the 60 miles of gravel. Even the spectacular beauty of Denali National Park, did not surpass the beauty of the Denali Highway.
Seeing Mt. Denali is a large part of the Denali experience. We took the free shuttle from our campground to mile 15. The bus/tour guide did his best to point out Mt. Denali, but our best view of Mt. Denali was on the train as we traveled back to Anchorage.
The Tour: Food
Julie and I had concerns about food and cooking during the tour. ACA tours do “group cooking.” Each night, 2 people are responsible for buying and cooking the food for the group with the exceptions being the 4 nights that we ate in restaurants. Julie and I prefer cooking our own meals although we enjoyed socializing with the group.
Groceries for the tour were obtained in Anchorage, Palmer, and Glenallen. There was a very small selection at a convenience store/gas station in Cantwell. About 10 miles north of Denali National Park there is a grocery store. The group carried 2 freeze-dried dinners purchased in Anchorage (REI) for nights when we did not have access to food stores or restaurants. The “market” in Cantwell was severely limited for supplies. On a few days, the leaders had arranged for breakfast at the restaurants and bagged lunches for us. Given the limited food options along our route, we ended up carrying less than expected due to the leadership and coordination by the group.
The restaurants we ate at had limited menu items, hamburgers (with variations including, cheese, bacon, or double patties of meat), pizza and sandwiches (Reubens for example). At the Maclaren River Lodge, we had a bit more variety including a 16-ounce steak dinner (steak and mashed potatoes) or Salmon. Vegetables were limited to the lettuce and tomato on a hamburger.
As I mentioned earlier, the leaders of the trip were great. At Denali National Park, one of the leaders rode 10 miles to the grocery north of the park for dinner and breakfast items. On the second night in Denali National Park we ate at a Serbian restaurant, one of many eating establishments within a couple of miles from our Denali camp. Eating at a Serbian restaurant was a novelty for our ride. The maître d’ took pride in explaining everything on the menu.
The Tour: Lodging
We camped in 9 locations including Denali National Park and spent 3 nights in lodging along our route. Julie and I had no complaints about our lodging. In general, fitting 13 tents into our designated campsites was a challenge due to tree roots and hard packed gravel. Julie and I enjoyed the camping, our favorite choice in lodging.
Inexplicably, the first BLM campground we stayed at did not have water. One member of the group acquired 3 gallons of water from a construction crew. We had a water filter but were warned by the construction guys not to filter from the stream due to the mineral contamination. One of our leaders called the BLM office to explain the situation. The BLM employees brought us 8 gallons of water and a 12 pack of beer, per our request. They were paid well for the water, beer, and their time by the group.
BLM campgrounds were a purely first come, first serve basis. At the second BLM campground, the group hustled to get in early. The camp was crowded but we managed to get 3 adjacent sites for most of the group plus one other site.
The indoor lodges were very nice. One facility, a dog-sled resort, had large, immaculate private rooms, kitchens, porches, and included an educational session about dog sledding. At Maclaren River Resort, Julie and I were granted our own room, but the rest of the group had shared lodging with multiple people per room. Maclaren was a 2-day stay and provided the group with options to be jet boated up the river for a canoe return or a hike to a glacier. I should add that the jet-boat options were additional fees for the individuals partaking in the activity.
The Tour: Weather
Before our trip, the weather in Anchorage was damp and cool. Normal temperatures are low to mid 60’s for a high and upper 30’s for the low. Max, from the hotel said it had rained in Anchorage every day in June for the past 2 years. I packed a light puffy jacket and full rain suit. We had temperatures 10 degrees above normal and no more than 20 minutes of rain one night. I increasingly believe in Julie’s angels.
The Tour: Mosquitoes and other creatures
Prior to the tour, the email chat line was full of mosquito questions from the group. I knew how to deal with mosquitoes using clothing, head nets, permethrin and DEET, but the little critters can still be annoying. In Alaska, the number of mosquitoes is legendary. In addition to my normal armaments for mosquitoes, I purchased a Thermacell (backpacker model), a 4-ounce device powered by a small can of butane/propane fuel that will give a 15-foot diameter of mosquito free space. The Thermacell unit worked well. Fortunately, we only had two nights that we had bothersome mosquitoes much to the delight of the tour group.
The mosquitoes were ferocious when present. Once I had a sudden gastrointestinal attack. I hopped off of my bike, ran behind some trees and did my duty, and so did a swarm of mosquitoes. At this moment, I had an epiphany to develop toilet tissue impregnated with DEET.
Moose were a near-daily sighting on our travels. One person in the group saw a bear. There were a multitude of birds including eagles and ptarmigans. Julie and I were stopped during a short hike by a grouse that did not want us to continue on the trail. Interesting interaction with the attack bird. Julie and I saw one caribou in Denali National Park during a bus ride.
The Tour: Bikes
The bikes in our group ranged from road touring bikes with 32 mm Schwalbe tires to very popular (in the group) Surly bikes with up to 55 mm tires. Julie and I felt that her current travel bikes were compromises for the Denali tour based on the information the “tours team” provided. We purchased a Surly Grappler frame. All of the reviews of the Grappler stated that the stability of the Grappler was remarkable, just what Julie needed. I did not like the set-up of the stock bike. My son built 29’er tubeless wheels based on the cycling motto, light, durable and cheap, pick any two. The wheels were light and durable, perfect for the tour. I also upgraded the components to a Shimano gravel group. The bike was completed with an 11-51 cassette and a 32-tooth chain ring, that will be enlarged for future tours. Julie did great. The bike turned out to be needed not only for this trip but for future use, so I am happy with the decision to purchase the bike.
On the flight home, Julie lifted a bag and suffered a sudden loss of function of her left thumb with swelling at the base of the thumb. She has arthritis in her thumbs however we thought she had a ligament tear. The hand specialist confirmed that the disability was an acute arthritic flare. The Surly Grappler will be a template for future bikes for her, single chainring to limit left thumb use for braking only, hydraulic brakes (which she loves) for their feel and function over rim and mechanical disc brakes and drop bars, as she doesn’t want flat bars.
The Tour: Pedals
For the Denali tour, we decided on flat pedals, also used by most of the tour group. Julie will not ride clipped in on gravel. We did an overnight bike trip to Affleck Park, about a 2-hour ride from our home and 1.5 hours return trip back to our home due to the elevation changes. The time difference with the flat pedals was perhaps a 5-minute difference from our rides to Affleck clipped in.
In Alaska there is a lot of elevation change, but not steep nor long. The flat pedals worked great. On 3 occasions we hopped off the bikes and did a 1–2-hour hike. We carried lightweight Crocs for camp use vs. a second pair of shoes as in the past. Julie used flat pedals by Fyxation. She feels that the RaceFace Chester pedals bother her feet on long rides. The Fyxation pedals have 10 durable plastic pegs vs. the 8 metal pegs on the RaceFace. The Fyxation pegs may be a hair shorter. Julie did not perceive any difference in efficiency between the RaceFace or Fyxation. I used the RaceFace Chester, which I like. As a general statement, I find that flat pedals have a small exponential loss of efficiency compared to being clipped in as the road grade increases after about 4 percent. Those that have high cadence pedaling style (>85) may also note some loss in efficiency compared to being clipped in. Julie and I will be using flat pedals for future tours.
We were told that the Five Ten (by Adidas) shoes we wore would not make good hiking shoes. However, the shoes worked great for our walks that were all less than 2 hours.
The Tour: Would I do it again and was it worth the money?
Both Julie and I would do the tour again. I think I could plan a similar trip now that I have experienced Alaska and know about Alaska Milepost magazine/journal. Alaska Milepost is a free publication that will tell you what services (lodging, restaurant, etc.) at mileposts along the route. A few of the tour members used it to consult with the leaders regarding food options for our tour. I may consider other ACA trips such as the Selkirk loop (Northern Idaho/British Columbia) especially if Adrian or Spencer are the tour leaders. The ACA tour was a fantastic ride with beautiful scenery.
Julie and I have planned and toured alone in the past. Costs have been on average 20% of our Alaska tour. In our minds, the cost for 2 weeks (for both of us) seems like a lot as the ride was basically a self-supported (no van support) camping tour. The ACA tour price included lodging, food, and the train ride back to Anchorage from Denali National Park. We had great leaders, an excellent route, and the tour got us to Alaska. We met a bunch of strangers in Anchorage that became lifetime friends by the time we reached Denali National Park. One can’t put a price on friendship.
Trip Details:
- Trip Name: Denali National Park Tour
- Number of Days and Miles: 14 days (11 riding days) 430 miles (20-60 miles)
- Dates traveled: Final two weeks of June
- Where to go for more information: adventurecycling.org; Note that this trip is not being offered in 2025. Instead, the Alaska Golden Circle tour is offered.
