Chugiak, AK

I arrived in Anchorage, Alaska yesterday at 1 AM in daylight. Being the day of the summer solstice (June 21st) I arrived on the longest day of the year. I had no problems bringing my bicycle onto the plane except for the $100 fee they charge on top of the $25 for checking two bags. I still don't understand the policy on baggage, some over-sized items they seem to be fine with not charging a fee for and others they hammer you on. Luckily my bike made it through the trip unscathed and weighed in at 55 lbs in the case with a few other items that I packed inside. 

I set the bike up on Sunday after getting some sleep that night but didn't ride it until today. I did some errands in town such as finding where my class is on campus and visiting the bike shop that is holding the 24 hour race on Saturday. It was a great shop carrying all sorts of high end bikes and equipment much better then the bike shops I have seen in California and on par with the few I visited in Colorado.

After running my errands I had plenty daylight left as it doesn't get dark here until 2 or 3 in the morning and even then its not really that dark so I decided to check out the trails by my parents house. I had been on them before on my parents 4 wheelers so I wasn't that excited about it but thought it would be a good check on my bike after the assembly. As I ventured out the trails really surprised me as I really found them enjoyable even though it had no singletrack but the views were great the weather was perfect and its always good on my mountain bike.

          

It was hard to navigate my way around as there are no signs posted and without a map of the roads or trails. I came upon a few dead ends after crossing the railroad tracks where I was met by a river. I thought about crossing it but a few rough looking individuals came through in there trucks so I decided to head back home the way I came. All and all I ended up with 15 miles in about an hour and a half. Tomorrow I will head down to Kincaid park and check out some of the singletrack in downtown Anchorage.

Photos