Above: Posing inside Motoquest's Anchorage shop, (left to right) Rob Glenney, Jason, and Phil Freeman of Motoquest Tours. Phil is the managing partner of Motoquest Tours www.motoquesttours.com. Rob leads tours and keeps the bikes up and running...Motoquest keeps about 25 bikes at its shop location on Spenard Road near Anchorage International Airport. Jason, a new hire this year, is a mechanic who drives "Jethro," the back up support vehicle for the tour (crew cab Chevy pick-up outfitted with slot for a back-up or damaged motorcycle, auxiliary gas tank, compressor, spare wheels and tires, and all manner of trip support accoutrements).
If you prefer to ride, but not to go on a Motoquest organized ride in Alaska, Motoquest will rent you a bike. But, break down or crash beyond 200 miles away from Anchorage and its your responsibility to get the bike back to the shop. After my wonderful short ride to Alyeska ski resort and the Portage Glacier two days ago, I realized that there are two or three days of good motorcycle touring potential further down the Kanai Peninsula, incorporating the towns of Seward, Homer, and Hope. I'm tempted to fly back up and rent a bike to go pillion with MDT to these locations, south of Anchorage. Wait, I can't do that! There are no five star hotels down there! I'll have to go solo! She's so picky!
The Anchorage Motoquest shop is only open four months out of the year. The shop is mothballed in the fall/winter/spring season. However, Motoquest coordinates motorcycle tours around the world throughout the entire year.
Of the three people in the above pic, only Jason, who drove "Jethro," accompanied on our tour. Phil traveled to New York to the Americade motorcycle rally to pitch for business. Rob stayed in Anchorage to mind the store and to provide regular weather and road condition data to our tour leader, Nicole Christensen (his wife).
Above: My friend Jim (left) and Tom (right). The Prudhoe Bay tour started today. On our first (regroup) stop, 20 miles out of Anchorage, Jim and Tom get acquainted. Jim and Tom are the only tour participants to ride their own motorcycles, both BMW R1200 GS's. Each rode the entire distance from his home (Jim, Williamstown, MA and Tom, Lansing, MI) to Anchorage... a significant motorcycle adventure in hand, already, for both. Tom, a tenured professor of veterinary science at Michigan State University, had ridden from Lansing to California, where he visited with relatives, then to Anchorage, taking the Cassier Highway up through western British Columbia to link up with the Alaska Highway near Watson Lake, Yukon Territory. Jim, coming west through Saskatchewan and Alberta, picked up the Alaska Highway at Dawson Creek, British Columbia.
Note in the pic the wet ground beneath the motorcycles. Our 350 mile ride to Fairbanks on the Parks Highway was undertaken in mostly rainy weather. Scenery was occluded by mists and clouds - no sight of McKinley this time around. The weather was cold. I was "plugged in" with a Gerbing heated jacket under my brown, with red trim, Triumph leather jacket. Over the leather, I wore a gold colored L.L. Bean waist length rain coat. I wore black, water proof First Gear armored riding pants, and a white, Shoei, full faced helmet. I used waterproof, long gauntlet, heavy TourMaster Hipora gloves. I wore waterproof BMW dual sport riding boots. Though the ambient temperature was below 40 degrees (and concomitant lower wind chill due the speed of the bike), I rode very comfortably. NOTE: Inclement weather riding purists might ask why I didn't have Gerbing heated gloves connected to the Gerbing heated jacket. Motoquest employee Jeff Mariska configured a connection from my jacket to the KLR. In doing so, he warned me that the KLR had just enough amperage to support the jacket. I had the Gerbing gloves along, but I decided not to use them, wary of running the KLR battery down in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Above: My rented bike. A 2008 Kawasaki KLR 650 with 14,000 miles on it. Tires were new Metzler knobbies. On the tank is my Coretech TourMaster magnetic tank bag. In my tank bag I carried binoculars, medication, a Moon Alaska guidebook, maps, tour and travel documents... also, other odds and sods... Tums, Ricola cough drops, duct tape... yada.. yada. The rear, soft, waterproof panniers came with the rental bike. In the panniers I carried extra layers, shoes, weather gear when it wasn't raining, and back-up gloves - including Aerostich two fingered, waterproof glove covers, in case my heavy, putatively waterproof, gloves weren't so waterproof.
Tour and ride leader Nicole Christensen provided us each day with a map of the day's route indicating desired fuel stop and lunch location. We weren't asked to caravan. We could ride alone... ride with a buddy... ride with Nicole... or stay back and stop to take images in which case sweep rider Jeff Mariska, or Jason in Jethro would wait until the last rider got started again. Usually, all riders would arrive at an appointed rendezvous location within twenty minutes of one another.
For many, the KLR 650 is the "bike of choice" for around the world motorcycle adventure touring. It has a 6.1 gallon tank and a safe range of 220 miles. Coddled at modest speeds and in good weather, the bike might reach 300 miles of range.
The KLR has a "long distance minded" 651 cc four stroke, liquid cooled, single cylinder motor. Like the "thumper" 500 cc Royal Enfield that I recently rode in India and Bhutan, it boosts great low-end torque and its easy breathing means power at all rpm.
The bike has an electric start, a five speed transmission, and a handlebar-mounted choke.
Unlike the Royal Enfield, the KLR is a true dual sport bike. It has a 41mm front fork with 8 inches of travel and a high-mounted front fender for any off-road adventure situation.
This was my first experience on a KLR. Though it didn't have near the power of my BMW R1100GS, it was much lighter and would prove more versatile in complex riding conditions. I rode a Honda XR 650 in Ecuador and a Yamaha WR 450 F in Peru. Both, were really dirt bikes, adapted to dual sport use. The KLR was much more comfortable and appropriate for this ride than would have been the Honda or the Yamaha.
We arrived in Fairbanks about 5:00 PM to stay at Sophies Station Hotel. This was a good three star accommodation with a good bar and a fine dining restaurant. Accommodations up the road wouldn't be so nice, but, what's an adventure without hardship?
Pure adventure travelers (like Dr. G, who commented in yesterday's addendum) are laughing at the above statement. Most of the purists camp. Configuring a light weight, minimal volume, motorcycle adventure camping package is an art form for many motorcycle adventure travelers. As Spartan rooms in modular buildings up the haul road cost upwards of $250 a night, depending on one's point of view, there is logic in the decision to camp. But, oh those "mossies" (Alaskan "state bird").
