Alaska Training Camp

Many folks have asked us how we are training for such a long and strenuous bike tour. I wish we could say we are currently ripped cyclotrons but the hard fact is that not much actual biking has been taking place on account of going to Brazil for a wedding, moving out of our house and preparing to move our lives onto bikes for four months. However, for the last two weeks we went to Alaska to develop our rugged side, which is really worth more than any time on a bike. Zoey’s family has a long history in Alaska and own a small cabin near-ish to Fairbanks and we went up with her parents to learn the ropes. It was my first time in Alaska, and Zoey hadn’t been since many trips as a kid. It’s a fairly big endeavor given that you have to get to Fairbanks, drive a few hours to Delta Junction and then take a small jet boat 40 miles up a couple pretty wild rivers. Zoey and family summarized 30 years of jet boat horror stories before we took off, so I was extremely gripped the entire ride up to the cabin, not realizing that it was very high water and therefore not likely to be problematic at all. Regardless, it was two hours of great high heart rate training for me. Once at the cabin we got to work opening it up.

For ten days we honed our bodies and minds with the following methodology:

• Wake up between 9:30 and 10am every morning
• Drink coffee while watching moose and beaver
• Go boating, then fish, then eat the fish. Zoey caught a very large 28” pike and her muscles were bulging after the fight.
• Chop wood
• Shoot cans
• Journal in the family journal that details years of cabin tales.
• Play cribbage. We are bringing a mini cribbage board on our trip. Zoey was training her cribbage skills in Alaska so she wouldn’t be enraged when I win all the time. This might actually be a reason the bike trip could fall apart.
• Pound a new water well 23 feet into the ground
• Build a large retaining wall to support the boat launch. We had to mine sand and ferry it back in the boat to fill in the crater in the bank we were trying to support. Zoey’s mother, Lynn, tried to convince us we shouldn’t work so hard, but we knew this was great training for pushing our bikes through endless miles of mud and sand.
• Accidentally dump our second boat off the boat launch and perform a harrowing three hour recovery with five or six ropes, a come-along and a winch. Great problem solving and team building excercise. We were successful.
• Play bocce ball in the woods and on the beach.
• Sing songs

Also, it turns out that bald eagles hunt swans. We witnessed a very up close, high speed pursuit between a bald eagle and a swan, it was metal. The eagle took a swipe mid air and white feathers scattered, but the swan top gunned it out of there, eagle in pursuit. The conclusion of the chase is unknown.

The cabin is a very quiet and peaceful place, with occasional far off or in your hand gunshots. A lot of time is spent appreciating the forest and the river and it has made us both excited to spend a lot of time outdoors. It was a great transitionary space to unwind from a hectic couple of months. Lots of love and thanks to Lynn and Tom for facilitating Alaska training camp. Returning to big city Salt Lake to make our final preparations has been sensory overload, but it’s made it a bit easier to leave behind our very charmed life here. We head out tomorrow!