My story
The unknown
In 2021 I landed in Ankorage AK. I didn’t do any research, I just wanted to land and explore. I knew that I had to get to Deadhorse, 1500 miles away, as mentally that was my start line. With no cycling experience or training and a fully loaded bike I set off. I knew that if I made it to Deadhorse I would make it to Argentina. I thought I was in no rush, but I was wrong, I had to get there before winter set in
Denali National park
I arrived at Denail National park, but unfortunately there had been a land slide and I couldn’t get all the way in. But even if I could at that time, I’m not sure if I would have gone in as there were a lot of bears in the area and sleeping in a tent isn’t the safest, this was a big regret as now bears don’t seem to scare me as much, I hope I haven’t become complacent!
Northern lights
The first time I saw the northern lights I was in a campsite along the Nenanne river. It was 2 am and I was sat in the toilets charging all my cameras, my power bank and drone. I was so tired and that was the last thing I wanted to be doing, but as I was going to my tent the sky just opened, up it felt so magical and I spent most of the night taking pictures. I found myself sat in the middle of the road at gone 4 am just mesmerised and said out loud “come on Adam go to bed “
The magic bus
I was getting a coffee in the little town of Healey when some one asked me “you off to the magic bus?”” No I’m off to Deadhorse.” Sat drinking my coffee those words stuck in my head, I kept thinking what is the magic bus? so I decided to Google it. I’ve seen the film but didn’t know where the bus was, I found out it was about 30 miles away. How hard can it be? so I stocked up with 20 days of food and set off, it didn’t go well, the road turned into a river and then I lost my shoes in knee deep mud. Next my stove broke so I made a fire to try and get dry and warm, but I wasn’t paying attention and melted my cooking pot on the fire and had to eat cold hard pasta.
Dalton Highway
Finally made it to the Dalton highway, It felt so strange, I finally felt like I’m doing it. Maybe because all the YouTube videos I watched to learn were all on the Dalton highway. I’ll never forget that feeling, all the hard work getting my house ready to sell and then the stress of selling my house, car and belongings that I had worked all my life for had finally paid off and It felt surreal. Up to now I’d I had great weather but, that all about to change.
Arctic Circle
After days of hard cycling, long days and horrible head winds I finally arrived at the Arctic circle but it wasn’t what I expected I was kind of disappointed by this point I thought I would have been sleeping on snow but all I had was hot windy days. I came to Alaska and wanted to be in harsh weather were stupid mistakes can cost me my life
Cold foot
This was kind of the halfway point I’ve had no service for hundreds of miles and I was looking forward to some hot food. I set up my tent and then put my laundry on. I couldn’t wait to get a nice hot shower, but disaster, it was freezing cold and this was the first time I realised that things aren’t always going to go my way. After the shower incident I didn’t have much faith in what food was going to be on the menu. I told myself, I’m in the middle of nowhere, it can’t be too good, but how wrong I was. I got an all you can eat banquet for a good price, so I went back 3 times, then got some pudding. I was so happy a few days off, with internet and great food, so I ate as much as I could over the next few days !!!
Muscox
It had been a long day and I wanted to get to a place to camp before
Gates of the Arctic
Cycling up the road and seeing mountains like this is so moving, I still had 250 miles to go and those building’s on the left would be the last people I’ll see until Deadhorse. I was thinking, are you sure you’re ready for this? knowing the cycling and camping is going to get so much harder now. I was nervous of the unknown of the next days to come.
But I just took each day at a time and knew each turn of the pedal brought me that much closer.
Trapped by a moose
I hadn’t seen much wildlife up until today, but I set off early and saw a caribou migration which was great. Then I saw a moose near the pipe line, I began taking pictures of it and it started coming closer, I was happy as my pictures were getting better, but then it started to come too close, I started to shout at it but it wouldn’t stop, I had an emergency whistle but it didn’t stop it. I had my bear spray in my hand but at this point it stoped about 10 mts away. I was just shouting at it stuff like “I know you’re not scared of me “ and “ I just want to pass” after a few minutes of me shouting stuff it finally trotted off and I was so happy I was shouting “ who’s a good boy “.
Deadhorse
I arrived at deadhorse after cycling 110 miles I hadn’t booked a hotel but arrived at a hotel that served hot food, I left my bike outside asked if they had a room and if the kitchen was still open , the receptionist said to leave my stuff in the reception which I was a bit unsure about, she said “ quick leave your stuff there and go get some food the kitchen closes in 10 minutes.” I didn’t need telling again! I loaded my plate up, it was a Banquet! I had chicken legs, pork chops,chips, roast veg, 2 grilled cheese,soup, garlic bread, my tray was full, I hadn’t eaten much in the last couple of days, but there was enough food to feed 3 people on my tray, every one was looking at me, probably couldn’t believe how much food I had on my plate!. Even I couldn’t believe how much I ate, I was like a bottomless pit, After II ate it all I looked up and everybody was still looking at me, probably thinking who’s this guy with a bike helmet on in the middle of nowhere that could eat more than 3 men. I just smiled and went and got 3 puddings from the fridge as the kitchen was now closed!