The tiny settlement of Coldfoot was my mid-day destination during my second day of travel. You don’t know what to expect when you get to Coldfoot, halfway up the Dalton Highway and above the Arctic Circle in the foothills of the Brooks Range. You don’t know what there is to do, what there is to eat, or how big it is. But you know one single thing is certain, and that is the fact that you are going to get some gas at Coldfoot. If you pass by Coldfoot (a 7 second endeavor), a very blunt road sign alerts you that the only place to get gas after Coldfoot, in fact the only other place at all, is at Deadhorse, another 240 miles up the dirt road. Not surprisingly, there can be a line at the gas station. That's about as far as i could ever go in my truck during city driving, and unfortunately I've never gotten more than 260 miles on the highway in it. By the way, if anyone reading this knows of a sign that beats out "Next Services 244 miles" i'd be interested in knowing about it.
The pipeline just north of the Arctic Circle heads towards Coldfoot.
As I was filling up, a group of motorcycle riders on the other side of the pump were taking turns filling up their dozen or so bikes. I couldn’t help notice that they had very, very nice bikes. BMW touring bikes covered with lots of exciting looking stickers. I had recently seen such bikes in that Long Way Round film that i mentioned last time. The bikes of these riders in front of me looked similarly official, and were being driven through similar terrain, so I just had to ask these guys what they were up to. I was glad I asked.
“Top to bottom”, as they called it, is the longest organized motorcycle tour in the world. The total driving distance is around 17,000 miles. Bikes are flown into Anchorage from the UK. From there the group travels up to Prudhoe Bay, turns around, and then rides all the way down to Tierra del Fuego in Argentina. The trip is done once every two years and takes up to five months to complete the journey.
Kevin Sanders – Owner, Leader, will not hesitate to get naked in order to break a record, and he will command you to do the same.
The company is Globebusters Motorcycle Expeditions (www.globebusters.com). Tour leader Kevin Sanders and his wife Julia started the company after achieving a Guinness World Record in 2003 for the fastest motorcycle ride from Prudhoe Bay to Tierra del Fuego. The previous year the couple had broken another world record for the fastest circumnavigation of the world by motorcycle, and the fastest overland vehicle ride around the world. I later looked this stuff up to verify his claims, and sure enough, he's my kind of maniac.
Kevin enjoyed talking about world records. In fact, he claimed that they had just that morning set a world record for the largest number of naked motorcycle riders swimming in the Arctic Ocean at one time. They showed me (more like forced me to watch) video to prove it.
Participants of the tour come from all walks of life. This years’ group happened to all be citizens of commonwealth nations. Although the trip was just beginning, they seemed to already be having the time of their lives. One couple on the trip, Lisa Fairhurst and Steve Gondy from Suffolk, England, was even planning to get married during the trip in Arizona.
Advanced motorcycle skills are not required. Before the expedition starts, clients must first fly to England, where they attend a two day BMW training class in the South of Wales. Globebusters is a partner with the World of BMW, where Sanders is also Chief Instructor & Director for BMW Rider Training (www.bmwridertraining.com). Linley Sullivan-Pavey, the owner and operator of BMW Offroadskills, (another part of the World of BMW site in South of Wales) was also on the trip. Linley and her husband Simon Pavey trained actor Charlie Boorman for his Dakar Rally race attempt. If you don't know, the Dakar Rally is the most bad ass vehicle race on the planet.
Jeff Condon – First assistant and "fixer" (mechanic/problem solver)
I had lunch with the group and everything was just nuts. Here i was thinking about Long Way Round and then i actually run into the people that trained the two actors for the trip! It's just crazy who you can find in the middle of nowhere.
Globebusters’ Trans -America’s expedition was recently featured on the National Geographic Channel in a feature called “The Ride” and is now available on DVD. Both he and his wife are available through email at the Globebusters website.
Next Time: The real trip begins at the Gates of the Arctic.
