The Ride is Over…

We arrived back in Anchorage yesterday, ride is over. 😦  We rode in both rain and sunny skies, from Denali, aka “The high one” to Anchorage.  Our night capped off by farewell dinner with all the riders and our guides.

All were asked to share “oh darn (paraphrase), I’m in Alaska” moment…mine was Happy Valley moment when we were all frozen and stopped to eat lunch, huddled behind some old dilapidated small shack trying to block wind and a driving snow.  Your mind wanders to that place that says, hypothermia possible.  Back home or a ski slope, you can find a warming hut, heated building, etc. and all is well.  Yet in Alaska, and on this day, we were in stretch of 240 miles of nothing…no fuel stops, no little restaurant with electricity produced from a generator, etc.  The temperatures hovering in 32 to 33 degrees, therefore the windchill on a motorcycle at 60 mph is -8 degrees with clouds and fog blocking out the sun, hands, feet numb.  In this moment you only have the option to soldier on and wonder how it will all turn out.

I remembered Nicole Ferraro’s quote from the recent Cancerversary dinner we attended, which was “You never know how strong you are until being strong is the only choice you have.”  My “oh darn I’m in Alaska Moment” had worry and concern for the outcome.

Fortunately, we were all able to warm up enough to ride the next 40 miles, including the high elevation of Antigen pass to a welcoming warmer southern wind when we needed it most.  We celebrated a toast to success, everyone’s hope from the very beginning when our engines roared to life.