Gravel & Ice

Headed up Skyline Drive this evening during my scenic ride home and ended up riding straight into the setting sun. The road twisted it's way up the hill up to the ridge marking the south side of Goldstream Valley. About half way up, I was surprised by a bunch of loose gravel in the middle of a curve and the front wheel slid sideways a couple of inches and the rear significantly more than that while spitting out a pile of gravel behind me. With the sun in my eyes, I just didn't see the gravel. It was no problem keeping the bike upright but I was pretty tense the rest of the way up the hill. Yesterday morning, there was ice in the middle of the lane for most of my commute in. A significant number of households in Fairbanks haul their water as opposed to being connected to city utilities or having a well. People have tanks in the back of their trucks and they seem to dump water on the road when heading up hills. It was below freezing the last couple of mornings. Fortunately, the ice is easy to see. The weather the last couple of days has been wonderful. Visibility on the morning is in excess of 200 miles and it has remained sunny and cool for the rest of the day. Most of the leaves have fallen off the trees so the bright fall colors are turning to drab grey. Winter is threatening but not here yet. This Sunday, someone on the BMW riders list proposed a "Last Ride of the Season" out to Chena Hot Springs for lunch. Last year, there were at least four rides with the same name. Hopefully, this won't be the only one this year. I think I will join in for at least part of the ride but I head back up north late Sunday afternoon...


Saturday afternoon -This is the turnout at the Alyeska Pipeline (aka Alaska Pipeline) Visitors Center outside of Fairbanks. It was a really nice day and since I needed to fill up for tomorrows ride, I went for a long ride around the area on my way to the gas station.