Amazing!
That sums up my five-day Denali trip with the Senior Biker Babes. And it sums up how I felt on the last day as I biked uphill to meet the others. I had a huge smile on my face. My heart and soul were filled with joy. This is what I love. This is what makes me the happiest. Being physically active, riding my bike, in wilderness and natural beauty.
We had four days of incredible weather, no rain, no bugs, and mostly tail winds. The Alaska Range was out in all its glory. And I got to share all this with three amazing women. Amazing biking with amazing scenery and amazing women!
How the Amazing Senior Biker Babes' Denali Adventure Evolved
The idea for this trip started rolling from a meeting a year ago.
I met Lynn in the Washington, D.C., area at the end of my Bike Nonstop US bike race last summer. She is friends with my good friends, Elisa and Steve, who live in Arlington, Virginia. Lynn came out with Elisa, Steve, and Eric to bike with me to my finish. We spent time together after the race and I found out that she hadn’t yet biked in just three states, and one was Alaska. So, I immediately invited her to Fairbanks to show her some of the most scenic bike riding in the world and she answered an emphatic yes.
Then I started scheming. What other older women biking friends could I invite? I knew that our truck could hold four people and their bikes so I could invite two other women. I immediately thought of both Linda and Carolyn and reached out to them. Surprisingly, everybody was available to come the second week of June.
I wanted us to bike in Denali National Park for one day. I figured we could take the bus in as far as possible and then bike back out. That would give people the option to get back on a bus if the weather was terrible or they were flagging. Each bus can only carry two bikes so I knew we would have to start at different times, but that worked out well. We would send the slower riders – Lynn and Linda – on the earlier bus and then the faster riders – Carolyn and me – would try to catch them.
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| The Denali park bus with 2 of our bikes on the front |
I also wanted us to bike on the Denali Highway. I love biking that highway but it’s a one-way trip and the logistics of a shuttle allowing all of us to bike the entire 135 miles were daunting. I’ve biked on the Denali Highway at least a dozen times, so I really didn’t care if I did the whole thing. That freed me up so that I could drive the truck to our destination each day, then bike back to meet everybody and still get plenty of time in the saddle. And that would add flexibility since the truck could be a “sag wagon” if somebody didn’t want to ride the whole way each day.
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| Our truck as our "sag wagon" |
I also decided that this would be a glamping trip. We would stay in lodges and hotels, not tents. That would lessen how much gear everybody had to bring and would make sense if the weather was not great. I sent the itinerary to everybody, and they all thought it looked great.
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| Relaxing at our room at the Alpine Creek Lodge - photo courtesy of Lynn |
As the trip got closer, I got more and more excited. I love showing Alaska to Outsiders, especially when I know they will appreciate the beauty and wildness of our state.
Meet the Senior Biker Babes
Since we are all over age 65, we decided to call ourselves the Senior Biker Babes. Here’s the crew. (Except for me. If you’re reading this blog, I figure you know who I am. If not, read back on the posts!)
Lynn – age 76
Lynn is amazing. She has several Guinness World Records for being the oldest woman to have biked across the U.S., Canada, and Europe. Steve and Elisa, my good friends from Arlington, introduced me to Lynn a couple of years ago. Steve bikes with Lynn and let me know about her attempt to try and be the oldest woman at age 75 to bike the length of Europe north to south. I followed her blog on that journey in 2024 and then met her in person last summer. Unfortunately, she developed a herniated disc and lumbar stenosis last winter and needed back surgery 6 months ago. But despite that, she was ready to do this trip. Lynn doesn’t really like gravel but was willing to go outside her comfort zone.
Carolyn – age 66
Carolyn is another amazing older biker. I met her online while she was racing the Tour Divide the year after me in 2019. Unfortunately, her leg swelled up, causing her to drop out of the race. But during that, I reached out with some medical advice. We stayed in touch through Strava and Facebook and have talked a few times on the phone but had never met in person before this trip. Carolyn loves gravel and continues to do long gravel bike races, often in Minnesota, where she lives. She has finished countless races ranging from several hours to several days in length. She likes to push herself and see what she is capable of. She is a retired teacher, married with a husband who supports her biking endeavors, and has five grandchildren. Also, like me, she is a quilter. Carolyn was the strongest biker of our group.
Linda – age 72
Linda was the only “babe” I had spent much time with. I met her online when she decided to ride the Tour Divide in 2021. I gave her some advice and followed her journey during the race. She had to drop out due to a medical issue but then got back on the trail later that summer and finished her ride. (In case you’re wondering, my medical advice was NOT the reason Linda and Carolyn had to drop out of their races!) Linda and I have stayed in touch ever since. In 2022 she visited Eric and me in Alaska while her wife, who is supportive but not a big biker, did a cruise trip that ended in Fairbanks. During that visit, Linda and I biked and talked and became good friends. And in 2023, Linda joined Eric and me and a few other friends on a 7-day hut-to-hut bike trip from Durango to Moab.
Linda has been riding bikes since she was a teenager and doesn’t even own a car. She once worked as a roving bike mechanic and stays very active. She has been involved in gay rights advocacy, has fostered children, still works as a mediator, and has several other pursuits.
Have I mentioned how amazing these women are?
The Amazing Senior Biker Babes' Adventure
The day we drove to Denali it rained, but after that the weather improved. We had mostly cloudy to mostly sunny skies for our biking days. We never needed bug dope. We had light winds only, often as a tailwind. Really the weather doesn’t get much better than this for a trip to the Alaska Range. What’s the word to describe it? Oh, yeah: Amazing!
Denali National Park Road
We had a 43-mile day on the Denali Park Road after being dropped off by the buses at their turnaround spot before the Pretty Rocks bridge work. Linda and Lynn took the bus first and started biking. Then Carolyn and I followed. We biked at a good clip and finally caught up to the other two at the Teklanika River. Nobody saw any close-up big wildlife, but we did see caribou and sheep off in the distance. I really wanted them to see bears in Denali (preferably from the bus) but no such luck. However, Denali did start peeking out from the clouds as we made our way back to our truck. And we had a wonderful night’s rest in cute cabins along Carlo Creek at The Perch.
One of the cute A-frame cabins at The Perch
The Denali Highway
The next three days on the Denali Highway were superb. The first day was 67 miles to Alpine Creek Lodge. Lynn thought she might be too slow for the group so decided to get dropped off halfway to our destination. As the two of us drove up the first hill, we could see that Denali was out behind us, so we stopped for a photo. I had told Linda and Carolyn to stop and look back as they were biking, but they were so focused on that first climb that they never did! They missed seeing Denali! But fortunately, there were plenty of other gorgeous mountains to see all day.
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| Denali out in all her glory |
After I dropped Lynn off about halfway, I biked back to meet the other two then biked with them back to the truck. I then drove to the lodge, checking in with Lynn as I passed her to make sure she was okay. After parking the truck at the lodge, I biked back to meet everybody again. Linda was flagging in the afternoon after that long day. She was the last one to the lodge, but she recovered after a hot meal and a shower. Both Linda and I saw a fox that day but not much in the way of other wildlife.
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| Meeting back up with Linda and Carolyn on the Susitna River bridge |
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| Following a fox up the road |
The next day was shorter, but still a beefy 46 miles and it included the big climb to Maclaren Summit. Once again, I drove Lynn a short distance ahead before I headed to Maclaren Lodge and biked back to meet everybody. Lynn, after doing the summit decided she was done for the day, so she drove the truck to that day’s destination at Tangle Lakes Lodge allowing me to ride the rest of the distance.
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| At the Maclaren River before the big climb |
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| Maclaren Summit sign - not actually at the high point and covered in so many stickers that you can't read it anymore! |
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| Evening hike on the tundra |
It was fun to reconnect with the owners of Tangle Lakes Lodge, Dave and Tawnia and their son Trek. Eric and I had done a trip there in spring of 2025 with some friends, and Eric wrote a story for the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, which had increased their spring bookings. I highly recommend staying at their lodge. They are the best hosts and their pizza is great!
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| Our cabin at Tangle Lakes Lodge |
The last day was a quick 22 miles with a long 10-mile fun descent at the end. But I drove the truck to the end at Paxon, which meant I first had a long climb back up to meet everybody. We met at a rest stop lookout. I got there just before the others. We all stopped for a group photo before the final descent. We finally got a little rain but not even enough to stop and put on rain jackets. After packing up the truck, we drove home with a stop at the Buffalo Center Drive-In for milkshakes. And, of course, a stop at the Santa Claus House, because you got to do the tourist thing with tourists! Then it was a flurry of packing up bikes and washing clothes before everybody was off on their way home or to their next adventure.
Things Just Clicked
Despite us not really knowing each other well, we had a great time over our five-day adventure. We all had different biking speeds but worked out the biking without any problems. We were all flexible, accommodating, and worked well together whether it was packing and unpacking the truck, deciding where to eat, or who was going to share rooms and beds. We laughed and told stories and had so much fun together. Some people act as though older women are irrelevant, but they obviously don’t know this group of senior women! We may be older, but we aren’t done having fun and adventures. I would 100% do another trip with these women! These Amazing Senior Biker Babes!
