Total Climb: 1671ft
Time: 2:15
Max Speed: 31.4 m.p.h.
Route: Here
Although it was pretty long, and despite what the elevation profile says, there was a killer hill at the beginning, this was an absolutely fantastic ride that actually delivered on the promise of great views and sweeping vistas. The land just north of the college (where I hadn't ventured before this) is absolutely beautiful.
This is definitely the most remote ride I've taken. Cars would pass only every few minutes, and houses were few and far between. There were also bits of the road that were pretty torn up.
About halfway through the ride, I passed over the Alyeska Pipeline. I originally mapped out the ride to visit the pipeline visitors center, but the I figured that it would have been closed by the time I got there. There is also the issue that it was only accessible by the Steese Highway, which is a 2-lane 55mph highway. I eventually did make it out to the Steese, took one look at it, and decided that it would be a bad idea to ride alongside. I turned around, and continued my trek back into the heart of fairbanks via. the Old Steese Highway, which didn't have much traffic going through it. On the way there, I passed a Skeet range, the Gold Dredge, and an abandoned Boeing jet that looked like somebody lived in it (complete with rusted-out stair truck, and nowhere remotely near an airport).
Overall, despite the long distance, this is probably my favorite ride that I've done here thus far. I'm trying to gather up some people to do it again with me, although the ones who bike a lot tend to lean toward mountain biking. Personally, my bike's sort of a frankenstein contraption that's built out of half road components, and half mountain components, resulting in a bike that doesn't really do either particularly well, but gets by fine on both. I should take a picture of it someday...
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