3 months on the road

Today, it has been exactly 3 months that we started our journey with our bicycles. To celebrate it, here is a little list of funny questions we have been asked almost every day (sometimes more than once a day) since we started riding:

Where did you start? Did you really start from Alaska?
Yes, we did! We flew to Fairbanks and then took a shuttle from there to reach the Arctic Circle sign, and that was our starting point.

Where are you going?
Well… today or in general? ? daily end can vary but the ultimate goal is to reach Ushuaia in Argentina.

How long have you been cycling?
Just 3 months now! We have been cycling exactly 62 days (as for when writing this), resting and visiting the rest.

Where is home ?
Juan is from Spain, Marie from France, but we were living in Australia for the last few years.

How many kilometers per day do you ride?
(My favorite) Well… depends! And I really mean it! Depend if the route is flat or hilly, depends if we got a tailwind or a headwind or no wind at all, if we are tired or full of energy, if there is plenty to see and we “have” to stop a lot, or not much and we can keep pedaling, if we have a puncture or similar, depends on where is the campsite we aim to reach at night…

But… can’t you tell, in average?
Ok, if you insist, let’s say, between 60 and 80km / day in average. But can be less and can be more ! The max we’ve done so far was 106km and the shortest was 25km.

And how many kilometers have you been cycling so far?
Approximately 3500kms!

How long will it take in total?
We want to take our time (turtles way!) so we gave ourselves 1,5 to 2 years.

What about the budget?
We have a budget of around 40.000 euros (64.000AUD) for the 2 years. We worked hard to put as much money aside.

Have you seen bears on the road?
In fact, we only saw one black bear in a logging road on Vancouver Island! We somehow managed to cross Alaska and the Yukon without encountering the tail of a grizzly!! Although we got to see a grizzly when taking some rest days in Haines while doing a hike.

What do you eat?
We recently decided to progressively increase our plants-based meals. For breakfast though, I can hardly do without my bread and butter while Juan prefers a bowl of oats plus jam and some peanut butter. For lunch, we like to have a light picnic with veggie burritos (that helps going back on the bikes after the break). For diner, we either have pasta, chili with rice or dehydrated food that is actually pretty good. And when we stop, we eat whatever delicious food our WarmShower host are cooking for us!

How many punctures?
Too many lately!! In total, 6.

You are too heavy!
(usually more an affirmation than a question) Well… It’s quite subjective I suppose, if you consider that we need gear for 2 years, to cover all weather conditions, and that we are mostly camping. So yes, we maybe are a bit heavy… but at the end of the day, we are the one carrying all the stuff. So really, don’t understand why nobody could feel offended to see us so loaded!! Or could be that we just like our stuff too much ?

How do you charge your phone/electronics?
It’s magic!! All human-powered! We have a dynamo hub installed into the front wheel, so we can charge all electronic devices. I was not convinced about the utility but I must admit now it’s pretty awesome! Also have a little powerbank for emergencies.

Do you always camp?
We try to most of the time, but we also use the WarmShower application. It’s a great network of amazing people who loves cycling and open their door to host biketourers like us. We also get picked up from time to time at the side of the road by fantastic kind people who simply invite us to sleep at their place (for more detailed info, you can have a look at our map here)

Did you train before leaving?
Haha, it’s a big NO! We used to go to the gym regularly, but we didn’t do much the last 6 month before our departure. Although we didn’t have a car in Australia, so we were using the bicycle everyday to commute or for shopping and going to work. Does it count?

Did you buy your bicycles in Fairbanks?
We actually chose to use our own bikes, so we shipped them from Adelaide. That sounded like a good idea but Fedex did a big mess with our boxes which arrived completely smashed and with holes on the sides. We lost some of our gear and had to get both our bikes fixed because they were quite badly damage. Not cool Fedex!!!!! Pd. We didn’t fill a complain because we didn’t have time since we already had our tickets for the Arctic Circle the very next day…

What are you going to do after?
Hmmm tough one. What about… something that makes us happy? ?