See SPOT ride

This post is for the benefit of my family mostly, but I will be carrying the blinking paperweight known as SPOT around the Golden Circle this weekend. If you want to follow along with the trip, you can click on my SPOT Shared page, which should begin updating at about 11 a.m. Thursday.

I was hoping to catch the 1:15 a.m. ferry out of Juneau, but late deadlines at the Empire and last-minute bike stuff will probably force us to grab the 8 a.m. ferry instead. That means a late night into Haines Junction, or a possible bivy in the cooking shelter at the Million Dollar Campground at mile 98. SPOT will share all.

I'm pretty nervous about this trip. It's almost an understatement to say I haven't done much biking since the Tour Divide. I'm a little uncertain if I've logged 370 miles since July 16, and I'm facing that many in the next three days. But hopefully my summer base and mountain-climbing-forged quads will see me through. My butt will probably hate me come Sunday. I'm hoping that's the only unhappy part of my body.

Weather is looking to be marginal, as expected. High winds Thursday, although with any luck they'll be tailwinds. 60 percent chance of rain, highs in the 40s, lows near freezing. Snow is forecast for Haines Highway on Thursday night. I'm planning to bring the NEOS for my frostbite toes; I'm even debating pogies. Multi-layered rain gear is key. There's no way to beat hypothermia if you're out all day when it's 40 degrees and raining unless you don't stop riding. But we won't have much time for breaks anyway.

I'd be lying if I didn't admit that I probably would have cancelled the trip if I hadn't talked John into coming out and riding with me. But it's going to be adventure, and as we learned in the Tour Divide, misery is just so much more fun when you have someone to share it with.

Wish me luck!

The SPOT shared page is here.