« Previous | Main | Next »

Matanuska Valley

Mark Beaumont Mark Beaumont | 13:12 UK time, Sunday, 28 June 2009

For the last couple of days I have been crossing the Talkeetna Mountains in an area called the Matanuska Valley. Apart from a huge glacier this is mainly vast scrubby forest surrounded by mountains.

sized-hatcher-pass.jpg

Needless to say there has been a lot of climbing, which I was prepared for. What I wasn't prepared for was the freezing rain. It rained on my tent all last night and I kept waking hoping it would ease. Today a headwind made the hills even slower going than expected and by mile twenty had to stop, frozen through with the torrential rain.

Later today I heard that there had been a severe weather warning out for the area. Sure enough as I came off the high ground at the end of the day the rain eventually stopped but I have never ridden in such cold, wintery conditions at the end of June. It was pretty miserable and I will be glad to not do more of that!

Physically feeling good and starting to get my cycling legs back.

Comments

BBC © 2014 The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read more.

This page is best viewed in an up-to-date web browser with style sheets (CSS) enabled. While you will be able to view the content of this page in your current browser, you will not be able to get the full visual experience. Please consider upgrading your browser software or enabling style sheets (CSS) if you are able to do so.