Is John Grinsel still on his ride to Alaska ?

Hey,

Is John still on his trip to Alaska?  The last time he signed in was on August 21st and I remember him saying he was going to Alaska.  Has anyone heard if he is having fun or his ride is going good?  I hope the mosquitoes didn't carry him off somewhere.

Why would he be having fun? As he keeps telling us he's a traveller not a tourist.  

He won't have stopped to wash his underpants either as he goes commando.

So my guess is John was so impressed with the clean bathrooms in Canada on the way up to Alaska, he's currently looking for a Canadian property to buy on his ride back home.

JeffR_ wrote:

Hey,

Is John still on his trip to Alaska?  The last time he signed in was on August 21st and I remember him saying he was going to Alaska.  Has anyone heard if he is having fun or his ride is going good?  I hope the mosquitoes didn't carry him off somewhere.

We left for North Pole, Alaska on Aug 26 and just got back home yesterday. Only saw one bike on the road west of the Divide, and that a guy we talked to in Delta Junction that was riding a Harley Road King.

It was very cold and wet going over the Divide and the only problem we had was my wife got a rusty screw in her front tire and had a flat about 20 miles north of Fort Nelson. Riding to Alaska, you have a better chance of being run over by a moose than being carried off by mosquitoes . Seen at least a dozen moose on the road and they won't get out of the way and they're not scared of cars or motorcycles.

Chris,

Did you ride up there with John? And it is pretty cool that people ride their SWings to Alaska. There is a professor in Florida that rode his SWing 4 years in a row to Alaska to raise funds for the deaf. I have heard many take SWings but I don't hear too much of other scooters making the trip. I'm glad you all made it home safe and had a good time.

No, just my wife and I went. I don't know John and never seen him on the road anywhere. Fall is in full swing in Alaska and the Yukon, and growing plants are starting to shut down for the season. It was in the 30's the morning we left North Pole but it warms up quickly during the day. We went up there to visit my wife's sister that lives in North Pole.

It's a beautiful ride and late summer is the best time to take it IMO. Road construction on the alcan was wrapping up for the season and only had to ride a total of about 20 miles in dirt or mud. If you go mid-summer it's not unusual to hit 100 miles or more of construction on the highway. We made it up there in 4 days, and back in 5 but we stayed overnight in Fort Nelson (unplanned) on the way back because of my wife's flat tire. Steady drizzle and it was too cold at the time to deal with it.

I hope you got a tetanus shot for your wifes scooter, after all it was a rusty screw.

Contrary to rumour, tetanus is not caused specifically by rust. I quote from NHS (British National Health Service) Choices website:-
Tetanus is caused by a type of bacteria called Clostridium tetani. The bacteria can live in many different substances including:
soil
house dust
animal and human waste, such as manure.

As you can see animal manure is a cause, so keeping away from riders of large American motorcycles may be regarded as a prophylactic measure

Well, the only other rider we met from the northern rockies to Fairbanks was a guy on a Harley Road King. We were headed to Alaska and he was coming back to the lower 48. We saw him in Delta Junction and talked to him a bit. He had been in Alaska all summer and was working on some telecommunications project in Fairbanks.

Around here, the Harley riders are usually the last folks we see out in the fall and the first ones in the spring on their motorcycles. They are riders too, and the ones we meet in our travels love riding as much as we do.

Not to hijack this "Where's Grinsel" thread, but Chris what kind on MPGs or miles per tankful did you get with your heavier variator rollers vs your wife's SW with OEM-weight rollers?

Tim

Honestly, I guess we didn't keep track of it. When we filled up we parked our bikes next to one another and filled both off the same pump most times. I don't think there was much difference between them though as we both needed gas at the same time pretty much.

Putting in those heavier rollers I think only makes any real difference in around-town riding. And not much change out on the highway. Both of our rear tires are only 2-3 months old and already down to the wear bars, and our new belts that we put in in June got 14,000 miles on them already. I'm sure those two items make some difference on fuel mileage too as they wear. But both of our flashing fuel bars would come on at 160-165 miles almost every time, and Kristin would pull up alongside (I usually rode lead) and point to hers and sure enough mine was flashing too.

Sounds like a great trip, Chris. I'm envious. How many miles a day did you average going north?

BTW: If you've feeling adventurous I have a new, unused, set of 24gm Dr Pulley Variator rollers (not 'sliders') I'm willing to sell. Unobtanium: I got them directly from Paul Wu, Dr Pulley himself, in Taiwan.

Tim

We ran 1,330 miles the first day, made 990 the second day, then about 400 miles the last two days on the way up. We ran our Widder vests as it got colder and wetter, but still had to stop more often the further north we got. The Silver Wing has excellent weather protection for feet and legs, which helps your body not losing heat so fast in cold and wet weather compared to regular motorcycles. But I feel the windscreen could be a bit wider but not any taller. I like the windblast on my faceshield riding in the rain to keep it clear. But there's a bit too much wind on your shoulders for cold weather extended riding. I may see what Clearview has for a custom windscreen that's stock height but a little wider than stock.

My wife echos pretty much the same sentiments on the Silver Wing's windscreen.

Thanks for the offer on the rollers, but I'm happy with mine the way it is.

So at 1330 miles the 1st day, where was that stop?.

I'm always dreaming/planning a ride to Watson Lake then Hyder and am curious about how others have faired in their ride north plans.

Tim

We left here at 1:00AM and got to Edmonton, Alberta at 10:00 our time that night. We learned long ago doing Iron Butt rides that leaving in the wee hours of the morning makes the best time for the first day. There's no traffic and we got thru the Twin Cities while everybody was sleeping and were already at the North Dakota border during rush hour.

We've been to Alaska many times on the bikes. Rode our GL1500 to Deadhorse once, and that was a nightmare on the haul road. Got caught in a downpour and some of the 11% grades that are dirt going over the Brooks Range turn slick as ice when the mud sets in. Late summer/early fall is the best time to make a ride to Alaska. It's cooler, but the bugs aren't as bad and the summer rains can get downright nasty in the mountains when the summer storms come thru the passes. In the fall the daytime heating is reduced so the storms are less severe, and when you do run into rain it'll be steady 1-2 days of drizzle, and in the higher elevations a few snowflakes mixed in. If you run into slush just pull over and wait it out. It's usually gone within a few hours that time of year.