Rapha Gone Racing - Alaska Pipeline FKT

okay looks like they're both recording [Music] so these are the roads that follow the pipeline it's 858 miles uh give or take 30 miles so that's i think 1280k [Music] tomorrow i'll be starting a time trial along the transalaska pipeline where i ride from dead horse to valdez [Music] actually my first big race was an out and back to valdez it was the fireweed 400 400 mile road race and that was in the summer of 2014. that's when i first started riding the roads in alaska [Music] i borrowed my mom's road bike and on my days off of work i'd ride as far as i could [Music] and then that july i entered my first race 400 miles non-stop and that's when i realized that i was good at endurance it's actually kind of cool that i'll be riding there again what is it eight years later or something like that sounds a little low i'm from anchorage which is south central valdez is a little bit southeast of there last summer i came up with this idea that i wanted to go ride a time trial on it so i'm back to set a record and then the idea is to encourage other people both to come up to try to break my record and just to ride the road feels like a million bucks [Applause] that looks pretty good you could fit at least these two in my shorts pockets i think [Applause] i'll be carrying as much food as possible because there really isn't much for the first 500 miles so uh there are two restaurants hopefully i hit them while they're open but no grocery stores so i'm just gonna pack food in every bag in every pocket and eat like it's my job [Music] i've been in alaska for a week and it's been fun spending time with my family doing some events you know i'm i'm tired but that's fine that's all part of it you know it's like you just have to show up with what you have and ride with all your heart and see how it goes i'm super pumped that we have a full uh female crew for this project rue is shooting anna jaeger is uh driving the truck we have a female editor at rafa that will be putting together the video so that's really empowering it's really cool that we get to share this story [Music] i forgot where i was when we woke up no idea funny blades this one's a bit lower pressure because i always want to ride my hardest and do my best and this is something that i completely made up [Music] i'm in at the general store in dead horse and this is the start of my pipeline time trial route and i've got about three turns to get to the main road and then i'm on that for the next almost 500 miles i know when we're going maybe by putting this story out there more people will come up and ride somebody will come break my record we'll get some energy into this road [Music] more cyclists but more cyclists with their own dream and their personal journey you know we don't always have to have races or events uh to to do amazing things on the bike [Music] i'm stopped here waiting for the pilot car to see if uh they will let me ride and maybe i can just just kind of push whack around the site or whatever i have to do because i don't want to i don't want to get in the truck the thing really is to not get too mentally down about being stopped you know being stopped for an hour and just waiting and looking and don't think about the clock running because it just is and there's nothing you can do about it so i asked if i could get special permission to ride and they said no it's not safe so we have to follow the rules and then now i get to ride again that's how it goes and i'm gonna hit the road because mosquitoes are really bad right here okay [Applause] bye good luck [Music] first day was really crummy weather super foggy raining windy the visibility was extremely low the roads were very muddy which made them pretty slow i like the idea of time trials and setting fkt's fastest known times because they're so personal you could take any route in the world and then try to ride it your fastest or try to set the overall record on it that people could challenge at any time it is very mentally challenging to do that compared to riding your race [Music] getting tired what a day oh it's wet it's real wet we're just getting pretty close to that again pass i think i'm just gonna sleep on this side of the pass wake up spin four hours and then start climbing to warm up and the whole day has just been super gray we are in the brooks range but you can't even really see them but i've seen them before they're magnificent feel good it's been pretty slow going because the ground's really wet and it's just been wet and gray all day but doing fine and then hope it clears up tomorrow but i'm still having fun i woke up this morning at uh two o'clock because my tent was shaking like crazy like and it was the stakes were pulling out so i grabbed like the tent pole and it was just holding it there and then i slept for like two and a half hours so i just decided to get up and pack up and get going all my camping stuff is completely soaked [Music] there was zero visibility which kind of sucks because it's really pretty spot but once exactly like when i crested again past the other side just down half a mile i could see again just being out in that terrain it's so wide open and it's so kind of i mean you don't see power lines for the first 450 miles at all any power up there is from a generator it's wild there's nothing developed anything that is developed is either for the pipeline or department of transportation to maintain the road that's it it's really unique for that [Music] yay [Applause] hello congratulations thanks for the sign we also have some chocolate for you if you take joshua yeah definitely thank you how are you doing we're great what are you up to we came out here to see you oh thanks for coming yeah can i get a quick picture is that okay yeah of course can you stand right there you're a little shy so we're at cold foot camp and um last night sleeping there's a big storm with super windy and rainy and all my gear got soaked including my down sleeping uh bag so i'm drying it in a dryer i don't care if everything else is wet but that if it's wet it's not warm and then i can't sleep tonight so i'm gonna take like another half an hour here to let it dry and i'm drying out everything else too at that time with my chain got four cookies to go and a bunch of breakfast that i put in ziploc bags to take with me yeah i'm not hungry but uh i know i just have to keep eating and the girl's name's at again like atticum pass and right when i got over at again pass today that's when the sky cleared up bye have a great time the second day is especially south of cold foot is really really hard it's like a roller coaster just super steep climbs and then straight back down and then straight back up and you just see these walls of gravel and the trucks have to like keep a really high speed just to have momentum to go up um and i mean i was trying to do the same thing on my bike you know i was just like try i was just with my eyes on the road i was like don't touch the brakes just don't touch the brake [Applause] so cold i'm getting a brain freeze it's been like tons of real punchy climbing that i was dreaming of this water because i've been out for a couple hours super thirsty so uh that was very motivating so set up drink a gnarly protein shake and sleep for four hours and then probably get up around 2 30 or so and um i mean at this point i'm like five miles from the yukon river and then from there 60 miles to the end of the dalton i have to go pee over here [Music] so [Music] morning low what time is it morning it's uh 309 the dalton highway is definitely the hardest part of it that's the hall road the ice road trucker road it's incredibly steep and punchy and hard and muddy when it's wet and the road is 415 miles so i'm like there more or less here valdez i actually i'm just about uh halfway getting food is really the biggest challenge on this route it's very limited i don't have like a method of oh i have to eat this much every hour i just eat when i feel like you need to eat which i mean inevitably you have to eat a ton of food [Music] what did you just eat little uh haagen-dazs bar that's all melted got a little on my jersey growing up in alaska people would refer to it as the hall road as if it was like kind of this barren ugly land and i think quite the opposite i think it's exceptionally beautiful [Music] so i made it to delta junction i was i mean my originally my goal was to get to north pole today and then it went another 82 miles so i'm just super happy with that had a great day on the bike happy to finish the dalton happy to get through north pole though it was really tough ride everything's good okay [Laughter] [Music] i've actually only ridden this stretch i think one other time and add a bottle of whiskey so i was riding just south of myer lake lodge and i saw another woman pulled over on the side of the road with like kind of a bike packing set up and i was like oh cool another cyclist because i'd only seen like two other cyclists the whole time up to that point [Music] how's it going good how's it going good i'm olivia oh my god so olivia juarez is one of the two recipients of uh the lil rides alaska scholarship that i hosted this year i basically i had to pick two to get the full scholarship where they got all the equipment bike bike packing gear camping stuff a stipend to make their trips happen um and that was olivia so one of the two was there how are you how's your trip it's awesome yeah let me take a look at your bike yeah i'm stoked oh my god this is so cool where's your friend she had to go home she had really really bad um asthma and allergies like it yeah well look at you you're just doing it oh my god i'm running into you this is just unreal i know everybody's like wow this state's so huge in here that's just incredible oh my gosh i know small world this is unreal i'm just like i'm just gonna be just look how beautiful this spot is too what an amazing place to meet yeah this is super super cool [Music] just outside of glen allen and this is probably my last resupply 117 miles to go to the finish that way okay that's so cool are you gonna finish right tonight yeah okay hope that's the last construction site [Music] [Applause] we got some rhubarb crisp and white claw oh yeah we made some oh dang that sounds really good yeah are you guys doing good [Music] welcome to 69 miles we're hanging out a party huh yeah yeah we live here and we heard you were passing by so we had to come cheer you on damn this is really good i don't it's not probably oh my god this is the best she just pulled out of the oven like a half hour ago dang friends and fairbanks that are going to be so jealous they should be at mile 69 [Laughter] [Music] the thing about alaska is that it's hard there aren't that many people it's remote distances between places are really great you do have a level of safety because you are on a road there will be some traffic people watch out for you if you're in like bad shape they'll they'll offer to help you know it's like everyone here knows how hard it is um and we all kind of have to stick together to keep each other safe all right wow that's pretty cool poof good job leo yay done so the fkt on the transalaska pipeline took me three days 18 hours 47 minutes and that was a lot faster than i thought i would do it i thought i'd drive in four or five days and i felt great on the bike last night i didn't stop to sleep because i just wanted to finish and it was definitely worth it super happy to be done my little mini cake oh my god oh that's pretty cool my plan is to take my shoes off and um go to bed tired [Music] what'd you wish for a hot shower after i finished my ride there was an article in the local newspaper and it said the one thing we do know is wilcox is faster than crude oil and i thought well what does that mean and it said at peak production in 1988 the oil would start in prudento bay and arrive in valdez four and a half days later and then i rode it in three days 18 hours so i beat the oil down the pipeline it was definitely an adventure with you know hard weather hard conditions very remote looking back on it it was equally challenging and fun you know i really pushed myself i felt really good on the bike and i also just had a blast out there i was just having a great time

Channel: Rapha Films

Views: 116,720

Rating: 4.9509954 out of 5

Keywords: rapha, rapha gone racing, gone racing, cycling, lael wilcox, lael, wilcox, ultra cyclist, ultra cycing, alaska, alaska pipeline, fkt, fastest known time

Id: oHEN9WpVayc

Length: 21min 11sec (1271 seconds)

Published: Mon Sep 27 2021