North Dakota

I traveled to North Dakota in July 2012 for a nice ride along the Missouri River on highway 1806.

Bismarck, right in the middle of North Dakota.

My route took me straight from my hotel in Bismarck through Mandan and south on 1806 (Google map: http://goo.gl/maps/KEKR). I can't say that there is anything I would have changed about the route. I normally prefer a loop to an out-and-back, but 1806 was a great road and it was worth seeing twice.

The route.

I didn't do much riding in Bismarck itself, but from what I saw it seemed fairly bicycle friendly. I came across some sharrows on Rosser Ave and other bike paths along the way as I went through Mandan towards 1806. Crossing the river was easy on Memorial Hwy with a nice and wide separated pedestrian path on the bridge.

Sharrows on Rosser Ave.

Near the Memorial Hwy bridge.

The view from the Memorial Hwy bridge.

Heading south from Mandan, there was a separated bike/ped path along 1806, plus a wide shoulder on the road itself.

Bike/ped path.

Plenty of shoulder.

More shoulder.

Eventually the shoulder disappeared, but traffic was light and the drivers I did see along the way didn't give me any problems. I had a great time out there and wished I had more time to follow 1806 all the way down to the South Dakota border and beyond.

Here are some more pictures I took along the way.

Wyoming

I have driven on Interstate 80 through Wyoming quite a few times and have always wanted to stop and do a century in Rocks Springs or Green River. I finally got my chance in September of 2011.

An overview of the area with Green River marked on the map.

The route planning was easy since there aren't that many roads heading out of the area. I started at a park in Green River and headed south on 530 to the Utah border. On the way back I took a little side trip on McKinnon road to get the extra 10 miles or so I needed.

The route.

The route turned out to be a good one. 530 wasn't busy at all, but there is plenty of shoulder if things are busier during the summer travel season.

Island Park in Green River before the ride.

This was the biggest climb of the day (only ~1000 feet) and it is right outside of Green River. It served as a nice warm-up on the way out, and who doesn't love a downhill at the end of the ride?

Much of the day's scenery reminded me of Nevada.

The Utah border, where I turned around.

Welcome to Wyoming.

Things were a little more red near the border and actually felt more Utah-like.

Louisiana

I passed through Louisiana in September of 2011 and was fortunate enough to have time to squeeze in a century. I planned a route near the Kisatchie National Forest, which is in the central western portion of the state. I based my route around the 17-mile Longleaf Trail Scenic Byway, a nice stretch of rolling road with little traffic.

An overview of the starting point.

My campground for the night: Dogwood Campground.

Dogwood Campground is right next to the Longleaf Trail Scenic Byway, so my plan was to begin from there and complete a loop that took me through Natchitoches.

The actual route.

Longleaf Trail Scenic Byway

Longleaf Trail is a nice, smooth section of road with a few rolling hills and plenty of forest scenery. The only traffic I saw for the entire 17 miles was Forest Service employees. After leaving the ease of the Scenic Byway, things began to go wrong. The very first back road on my route ended up being a terrible stretch of pavement that eventually turned into a dirt road. A little bit of dirt riding is no big deal, but it turned out to be an omen.

This is what you get when you don't know the area and you just plot out a Google Map that looks like a good idea at the time.

I encountered my first chasing dog of the day while I was riding on the dirt road. I haven't been chased by a dog since I moved to Nevada, so it was an interesting experience that reminded me of my days living in the Midwest. I can't say that chasing dogs ever bothered me when I was used to them (most of them just wanted to play and weren't aggressive), but I can't say that I've missed them, either. For the day I just considered it a taste of the local lifestyle and I gave them all a run for their money.

After the dirt road, my route sent me mostly on the main roads. Unfortunately, I either had bad directions or made a wrong turn and ended up at a dead end by a river with no bridge to cross. I was too short on miles to just turn around and I wanted to see more sights anyway instead of backtracking all day, so I had to improvise from there. Things turned out pretty well and even though I was riding mostly on highways I found that I either had a shoulder when I needed it or there wasn't much traffic to deal with.

All in all the ride was fun and the weather was great (sunny with highs in the upper 80s). Here is a small taste of what I saw along the way.

Alaska

In August of 2010 I spent two weeks in Alaska traveling with my wife. This was by no means a bike-related trip (I got to hike on glaciers, sea kayak next to glaciers, see whales, hike to secluded lakes, etc.), but you know how the mind of a cyclist works. I couldn't help thinking about what it would be like to travel through Alaska by bike, and I couldn't resist taking a day to squeeze in a century.

Alaska would be a wonderful place for a bike tour. Anchorage is surprisingly bicycle friendly, and it would be easy to fly in and start off right from the airport. Outdoor activities are huge in Alaska and there always seemed to be a campground around the corner, making it easier to ride a comfortable distance every day and to change plans on the fly when necessary. There are plenty of off-the-bike activities to take part in: hiking, fishing, kayaking, rafting, and even glacier hiking or wildlife cruising in certain locations. On top of all of that, daylight hours are extra long during the summer, which was one of my favorite things about Alaska. All that sunlight would give you a chance to get long rides in during the day and still have plenty of daylight left for setting up camp and/or squeezing in an extra activity. You really get the chance to make the most out of your day. The bad news? The weather's not great (says the guy who loves deserts) and the bugs can be bad. It's a small price to pay for all the benefits.

My century took place in Denali National Park. The National Park Service has a good guide to cycling in the park here. There is essentially one road in the park, which is only paved and accessible to personal vehicles up to mile 15. From there on out it's a quiet dirt road traveled mostly by the shuttle buses. In other words, it's a perfect place to ride.

The day before my ride we took the shuttle bus tour for some wildlife spotting and some hiking. We saw tons of wildlife (3 bears walked right by our bus), but it was too cloudy to see Denali (a majority of park visitors don't). The great thing about the bus system is that you can buy a ticket for one bus, get off whenever you want, and hitch a ride back on a different bus. Some of the buses have bike racks, so if you do a little planning ahead and you don't have all day to ride, you could take the bus out to anywhere you wanted and ride back to the park entrance area.

On the morning of my bike ride I decided to try to catch the free shuttle bus out to mile 15 so I could get as deep into the park as possible. Luck was on my side from the start as I was the only guy with a bike, so I had no problem making it out to mile 15 with my bike.

Speaking of my bike, I got stuck with a rental that was about two sizes two big and not in the best mechanical condition. It was either that or a girl's bike, which my pride simply couldn't handle. My advice: rent a bike in Anchorage instead of near Denali if at all possible. I'm sure the selection there is much better.

As for the ride itself, luck continued to be on my side early on. The sky was almost perfectly clear and we could see Denali from the bus. I had convinced myself the day before that I was never going to be able to see Denali itself, so the whole experience put a huge smile on my face and I couldn't wait to get riding so I could see it the way everything is best seen: on a bike.

After taking a few pictures from the bus we made it to the end of the pavement, which is where the free bus ride ends. I unloaded the bike and set out in a great mood, trying to ride at a good pace to get the best view of Denali I could before the clouds inevitably rolled in.

Eventually the poor bike fit took its toll on me. I developed pain in my right knee, and eventually favoring that knee led to pain in my left knee. There was no way I was going to miss out on my one chance to ride a century in Alaska, so all I could really do was push through the pain, stand up a lot, and/or spin easy gears. This led to the slowest century I've ever done, but I suppose what that means is that I had more time to take in the scenery. That's what cycling is about: pushing through tough times and somehow coming away with a memory of how fun the whole thing was.

The pictures below show only a small fraction of the beauty I saw all day. Imagine riding on a quiet dirt road, mile after mile of mountain after mountain. It sounds perfect, yet somehow it felt even better than it sounds.

A clear view of Denali from the bus ride out.

Zoomed in. It's hard to get a feel for how huge Denali actually is.

A picture of me in full tourist mode with Denali in the background.

Another look at Denali. This is the first picture from the actual ride.

The rental bike, which was too big and not in the best condition, but it got me through the day.

The bike and Denali.

No bears today.

These squirrels were everywhere.

The dirt road.

My favorite picture of the road.

As I got closer to Denali the clouds began to roll in.

Mountains everywhere. I could have taken hundreds of pictures.