100 Miles of Nowhere Race Report: Winner of the 64 Times Across the 64th Parallel Category

06.21.2013 | 5:46 am

A Note from Fatty: After reading this report, why not check out another by The Self-Righteous Cyclist? Click here.

100 Miles of Nowhere Race Report: Winner of the 64 Times Across the 64th Parallel Category

by Gary Cooper

Delta Junction, the small town my wife and I call home, is at the end of the Alaska Highway, in the interior of Alaska. By many people’s standards it is in the middle of nowhere. With a limited amount of paved roads to choose from, I decided to ride a 2.5-mile out and back section of a nearby road that joins the Alaska Highway at milepost 1415. The official end of the Alaska Highway is milepost 1422. I considered riding the additional mile to the Alaska Highway, but that might be considered as going “somewhere” and I wanted to be sure that I was riding 100 miles to ”nowhere.”

Road ahead
The road ahead on the day of the ride

I would travel north – south and cross over the 64th parallel, which is 177 miles south of the Arctic Circle. By riding the five-mile round trip twenty times over the 64th parallel, I would go over and back 40 times.

Ak range from 64
Looking southwest to the Alaska Range along the route

I decided to take a short off-the-bike refueling break every 5 laps (25 miles) but before each break I would do an additional 3 loops at the marker I placed at latitude 64.000. By doing the additional twelve loops I would cross the 64th parallel 64 times.

GPS at 64
Latitude 64.00000

I started riding about 9:30AM and finished around 4:30, with a riding time of 6:08:24. The high temperature of the day was 80 degrees and there was a west wind blowing at 15 mph the last four hours of the ride.

MtHayes from ride route
Mt. Hayes from the ride route

The day went off with out a hitch with my wife and several friends stopping by to cheer me on through out the day. Hopefully I successfully secured a top spot in the category for the number of crossings of the 64th parallel in one day by a 60-year-old.

Many thanks to Fatty for spearheading this great fundraising event, all the sponsors for the fantastic gifts, and the helpful folks at Twin Six.

Odo after

PS from Fatty: It is my hope that Gary will do this exact ride again in four years…when he is 64. 

10 Comments

  1. Comment by Tom in Albany | 06.21.2013 | 6:48 am

    Well. That’s just cool! Great job!

  2. Comment by Doug (Way upstate NY) | 06.21.2013 | 6:58 am

    Alaska is a beautiful place.

  3. Comment by Lorraine | 06.21.2013 | 7:59 am

    Your nowhere sure is beautiful! Great race report :-)

  4. Comment by davidh-marin,ca | 06.21.2013 | 9:29 am

    We need to find someone from the Southern Hemisphere so Gary can go Mano e Mano so to speak. Oh! but then we’d have two people in one Division, can’t have that.

    Great report Mr. Cooper. When are you going to do another movie?

  5. Comment by Heidi | 06.21.2013 | 9:47 am

    Fabulous job. It would have been a crime to stay indoors with the scenery you have available to you!

    P.S. My friend’s Mini Cooper is named Gary…

  6. Comment by Jeff Bike | 06.21.2013 | 9:58 am

    Crossing the 64th parallel 64 times is way cool. That view is way cool. Thank you for sharing.

  7. Comment by gufra' | 06.21.2013 | 10:39 am

    @david-marin,ca I would love to see a north 64th versus south 64th battle as well, but I feel sorry for the southern guy, being in Antarctica…

  8. Comment by davidh-marin,ca | 06.21.2013 | 11:21 am

    @gufra’

    I’ve got the candidate! Nate Cannon! we just need him to move a little north!

    Hero-01-09-2012-017.jpg

  9. Comment by T-Man | 06.22.2013 | 10:38 am

    G-Man
    Great job! We’ll be riding through desert and catus soon…………

  10. Comment by zac_in_ak | 07.1.2013 | 9:17 am

    907! Yay! great job! I was too slow too sign up and missed out…maybe next year. We can have an Alaskan division :)

 

Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.