Raid to Prudhoe 2010!

[laukkanen]

I'm in the beginning phase trying to put together a ride up to prudhoe bay this summer. I have very limited vacation time left for 2010 (too many damn friends decided to get married this year) and am trying to figure out a 8-9 day ride.

I am fine doing 12hrs a day, possibly more with the amount of light I would have up there.

So far my thoughts have been to ship the bike to Seattle, ride up the Cassiar Hwy, up through Fairbanks and on to Prudhoe Bay. Then I need to get to somewhere I can ship my bike back to New England. Either that or start in Montana and ride up through Calgary...

So the question is: is this feasible or am I delirious thinking I can do a raid type ride up there in that short a time? Cost of shipping the bike to my start point and back from my end point isn't really a big concern, just the logistics of the actual ride.

[BEC]

It can be done but you are really not going to see much except the road and there is so much to see and do beside the ride itself. If you are going to make the effort to make the trip you need a few more days. There was a group of us that were going to go last year and pull of a 15 day from Colorado to Prudhoe and back. All iron seat riders 500 to 1000 mile riders and we decided not to go.

The other plan which really may not matter since you are willing to ship your bike is to rent one from one of the two companies that run organized tours and or rent and go on your own trip. Either way if you can make the time work Alaska is such an amazing place you need to spend the time for you may wish you did when you get back.

I have traveled a lot on my bike, 4 Continent's and I have learned three things:
1. Pack lite
2. Never plan your trip to the tee because either you will miss that one in a life time opportunity or Murphy's law will always come into effect (stuff does go wrong in some fashion or another and you just have to roll with the punches, both big and small)
3. Give yourself plenty of time to take it all in because if your going to make the effort make sure you enjoy yourself, life is way too short.

Brian

[northrider]

Another idea would be to fly to Anchorage and rent a dual sport (check out www.motoquesttours.com). That way you have the full eight or nine days to ride and see things at a reasonable pace.

[laukkanen]

Well my thought is that in two or three years I'll be able to take more time off and really ride around up there the way I want to but in the meantime I'll take what I can get.

I'm pretty set on the part of riding up there just trying to work out the logistics of shipping my bike back from Alaska. I haven't found many/any shippers who will do something from Prudhoe or Fairbanks on to CT without me having to pick up the bike in Seattle and ship on from there.

[AK Rider/MotoQuest]

The folks at Classic Motion in Anchorage can help you out with shipping http://www.classicmotionak.com/
We also have lots of bikes to choose from if you decide to rent. A KLR650 for a week wiil run you about the same amount of $ as the shipping.

If you have time try to ride the Denali Highway, It is one of the best roads in Alaska IMO.

[eakins]

you must be older than i am younger.
i've seen the word used before & understand what the general concept is

...but what is a RAID type ride?
is that what we call adv ride nowadays?
can someone explain the history of the word use?
it doesn't seem to be the correct word to use as per the actions taken.
this is the first time i've seen it used on advrider.

when i here the word raid i think either the cops are busting in, i've got some bugs to kill or i need to check the harddrives on the server.

this is from an online dictionary:
1. A surprise attack by a small armed force.
2. A sudden forcible entry into a place by police: a raid on a gambling den.
3. An entrance into another's territory for the purpose of seizing goods or valuables.
4. A predatory operation mounted against a competitor, especially an attempt to lure away the personnel or membership of a competing organization.
5. An attempt to seize control of a company, as by acquiring a majority of its stock.
6. An attempt by speculators to drive stock prices down by coordinated selling.

or ya going all paramilitary on us?

[laukkanen]

geez I hope I'm not older than most on here...

my thought was to try and take over deadhorse in a one-man military-type raid. I'm outfitting my GS with all sorts of fun little things (caltrops, flame throwers, mini gattling guns to pop out of my side cases and a few other things I can't talk about here.)

or perhaps my word choice was a little faulty, it was late and I was wrapped up my planning world and had come to the conclusion to do a trip to prudhoe in the time I have would pretty much be a race against the clock. multi-stage race sometimes known as raid type rally... anyway, there's my screwy logic.



back on topic! after talking to some inmates here seems I might better enjoy my time if I ditch the fairbanks->deadhorse part of the trip and ride cassiar -> fairbanks -> anchorage.

happily that gets me on the denali highway which sounds like is a good choice

[eakins]

so you're adventure touring.

[laukkanen]

Originally Posted by eakins

so you're adventure touring.

a keen observation