Erinn's Edibles: Summit to Sea Bicycle Adventure

After all of the planning that went into this trip I can’t say I was more excited about one thing more then another, but the cycling excursion held a special place in my heart. The day before leaving for this cruse I officially ended my work on the Sea to Sea bike tour. For 15 months I planned a nine week cross continental bike tour with out once getting on a bike. I would not have minded riding a section of the bike tour, but these were serious cyclists with very expensive bike and most of them had clip-in peddles. Now I had never used clip-in peddles before, but I have dispensed advice to many of the cyclists that they take some time to get used to and that it is not uncommon to fall when you are learning to get out of them (I can talk such a good game when it comes to cycling). So I did not want ride and fall potentially damaging one of the cyclists bikes – because they are so expensive. This cycling excursion became my own little mini Sea to Sea adventure – which I called my Summit to Sea Adventure.

After wondering around town for a while Shannon and I went back to the ship to get ready for our adventure. It was a relatively cool morning and we were going to start at the top of the summit so we dressed in a few layers. It was so funny, that whole morning my mind was racing with all the knowledge I had picked up over my time on the bike tour. As I was getting dressed, I kept thinking that I needed to make sure I had the proper clothes, layers, things that were easy to take off if needed. Then I started thinking I needed to make sure I had the proper hydration – I had one water bottle, but wondered if I needed a second. Then I was thinking what I should eat – was a getting enough calories, had I eaten the right amount of protein, I needed to make sure I grabbed a banana for the potassium… Then I just started laughing at myself. I was going to be riding a bike for about 90 minutes, basically down hill the whole way – I was not going to be spending 6 or 7 hours in the saddle riding 70 or more miles – I didn’t have to worry about all this stuff – it was definitely a case of having too much knowledge!!

Once I relaxed about everything, we were on our way….

We got back down to the dock a little before 10:00 am and found the people for the bike tour. Once everyone was accounted for we headed over to the van and got in. We started our journey up the Klondike Highway to the summit. On the way up the staff of the Sockeye Cycle Co introduced themselves and so did everyone in the van. Gordon was the lead guide, and he started things off – everyone had to say their name, where they were from and something interesting about themselves. HP was the driver (his real name was Ryan) and he claimed he could hold his breath for over a minute. Emily was one of the other guide and Jacob was the mechanic. Shan and I were in the back of the van and tried to think of something interesting to say. Shan decided to say that she was on the synchronized ice skating team in college. I mentioned that I had worked on the bike tour and not ridden a bike.

As we were driving up, there was a mountain goat on the side of the road. HP quickly pulled over and Gordon took pictures for everyone who wanted one. The mountain goat was beginning to go back up when our picture got taken, but here he is.

We started our journey at the top of the White Pass summit at 3292 feet. Here is the sign showing the elevation.

It was really cold up at the top – pretty much the coldest temps we had the whole trip. The summit is right on the international boundary, so we never really crossed into Canada except when we walked over to the sign, we might have taken a few steps out of the Country. Here is the sign.

Here is the gorgeous view from the top.

They then pulled the bikes out of the trailer and we had to find a bike that fit us. We also had to find a helmet and gloves. No safety vests though.

Here is Shannon in her gear.

Here I am with the red bike I picked.

Shan picked a red one too.

Here is the trailer from the cycling company.

Much like the start of all of our excursion there was the 15 minute overview/safety spiel from the organizers. This was one I could have actually given. We were going to be riding on a highway and sharing the road with buses, trucks, cars… so there was a level of danger there, but seeing as I had just lived 9 weeks knowing full well of the dangers on the road I did not think much of it. Shannon on the other hand was a bit scared by it all. One thing I was surprised by, but should not have been, was that if you had a moving fall they would pull you off the road for the trip. Good thing we did not do that for Sea to Sea – no one would be left. We let people ride with broken bones if their doctors cleared it. :) Then we were on our way. I rode behind Shannon, at the end of the pack – I let her set the pace she wanted to go. I would have gone faster, but did not want to leave her. So I actually rode a lot with Emily the guide and we chatted.

The first scenic stop was at Bridal falls. Here are the falls.

Me by the falls.

Shan by the falls.

Us together by the falls – don’t we look cute in our gear.

Along the route we stopped at several other spots to take in the beautiful scenery.

Here is a waterfall.

Some Mountains.

Way in the back there is the Denver Glacier – the 3rd glacier we saw on this trip.

Some clouds hanging over the mountain.

A sign talking about the highway.

As we got further down the mountain things were getting more green and vegetative.

Midway down the ride we had to go through customs. Even though the actual border is at the top of the summit, due to grade of the mountain it made more sense for the custom offices to be further down road and not right at the border. So we all rode through customs with a quick check with the customs agent.

This is a bridge we rode over. I love this bridge – it is located on a major fault line so when they built it, it is suspended on one side, but not on the other. This way is should withstand a major earth quake.

At this stop we saw the train go by. It was fun to see that we were riding parallel to the train.

After one of the scenic stops we had our only incline of the ride – about 200 yards – it was the only time we really had to peddle.

Once we got back into town we got to ride through some of the residential area, past the school and the airport. It was so fun to see a part of Skagway that was not so touristy. When we got back into town we were at 33 feet elevation - so we had ridden about 15 miles, downhill dropping 3259 feet!

The bike ride ended at the cycling company’s store a few blocks away from the ship. We dropped off our bikes, grabbed our stuff and then wondered back towards the ship.

Around the corner from the bike shop is one of the most photographed buildings in Alaska. The face of this building is completely covered in driftwood.

Then we headed over to the Red Onion Saloon. The Red Onion Saloon was Alaska’s most exclusive brothel in the days of the gold rush. It is now a restaurant/bar on the first floor and you can take a tour of the brothel on the second floor. As we approached the building we took a picture.

Then I noticed the Obama sign in the window – I thought that was the funniest thing. Then started thinking of all kinds of campaign slogans – “the red onion mama’s for obama” “Brothels for Barack” “Madams for a change” I could go on and on…. So I went in for a closer look.

Then Shannon and I went inside where we ran into Chris and Mike from the ship. We chatted with them for a while and then Shannon decided to buy a t-shirt. While we were in line I got the opportunity to get this ultimate picture.

I am not sure how the campaign would have responded to this, but I think it is great!!

We then headed back to the ship and took another great picture.