Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Hellbiking Lives!

Over at Cpt Swallowtail's Confessions is a link to a recent bike & boat trip. Bike & boat trips are also making their way onto the Alpacka forum.

Recently looking under the house for old tax records, I came across an October 1989 Mountain Bike Magazine with my "Live to Ride, Ride to Die Mountain Bikes from Hell!" story. It's a little embarrassing to read my hyperbole now, but like the Wilderness Classics before it, this was a rich full-bodied trip. It was a trip that really opened our eyes to the possibilities of mountain bikes in wilderness, centered on the packraft. As far as I know, it was likely the first bike & boat trip in Alaska (by bike & boat I mean we carried the boat on the bike and vice-versa).

On our trip we carried only one raft, a Sherpa Packraft. Our bikes had no suspension, as there were not even front forks with suspension!

Anyway, some of you might enjoy the read. I did. But then I guess at my age, reminiscing is becoming an increasingly popular pastime.

(To read any page just click on it.)







9 comments:

  1. That's a lot of Tenacious oil.

    I dug my May 97 Nat Geo out of the closet at my parents house the other week. That article, and even more the photos, made a huge impact on me back in high school.

    Thanks.

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  2. Awesome story! Is that the same Jon Underwood who's building trails across Alaska today?

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  3. Yes, that's the same Jon Underwood. His Anchorage Hillside trails are sweet.

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  4. 'Wild jocks establishing the boundaries of the possible..." That just made my day, again! I think Rollins poached some of your bravado.

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  5. Back in 1989 I was in my early 30"s and in great shape for a trip like this. I quit my job and tried to find one of you in Alaska to take me with you on a trip like MT St... Diane mtbmama

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  6. That's me and my wife, Carlotta, on the cover. Holy crap that was a long time ago.

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    1. Sorry I didn't scan that cover in its full color glory -- You guys looked great on that photo.

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  7. Roman,
    In 1990 or so you gave a talk on Hell Biking in Pala Alto,CA (Pacific Mountaineer, RIP). I took notes (dry your cheese, etc).
    In 1992 my adventure buddy and I rode thru Denali to Kantishna Hills and headed north into the backcountry on our no suspension stumpjumper, garyfisher bikes (with permits of course, given by confused rangers). We tussock-lugged them for miles to Toklat? tributaries, where we got our truck intertubes out (we were low budget) and created a raft with bike frames strapped to them. 20 miles downriver to the Stampede trail! Then 80 miles of alder-bashing and disappearing road tricks.
    It was a 10day epic, but a lifetime's adventure!
    We always had dedicated it in honor of (but not comparison to) yours.
    Thanks for the inspiration! I'll try to post the published story.

    -Dave and Steve Bay area and Truckee

    p.s.
    We were going to bike/raft down along the old Copper river railroad, but when we saw it we knew we'd die. Denali was our backup plan :)

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