All good things come to those who wait...

Ahoy there!

Welcome to The Arctic Rider blog!

Last month I launched my Great Arctic Motorbike Challenge. If I'm going to achieve this mammoth challenge I need to get back to focusing on my next challenge, Arctic Ride Alaska: Riding the Dalton.

So where are we at with the ride planning for Alaska, which is now only 8 months away. Well I still don't have a lot confirmed but I'm holding out to see what options become available. Lets break it down.

• THE BIKE - This holds the key to the whole ride at the moment. I'm still in discussions with a major motorcycle manufacturer to provide me a bike for the ride. If it all comes together it would be a dream come true. As you can imagine though, this is a very complicated process and there is still a lot to sort out. If this doesn't come together, I'll arrange to hire a bike from Anchorage.
• THE DATE- I still don't know exactly the dates I will be heading to Alaska due to the bike situation. The plan is still to complete the ride in early June 2018. This way it I should miss the road repair season the Dalton but (hopefully) the weather will have started to turn and it won't be sub-zero for the whole.
• THE ROUTE - ...to get to the Dalton. This depends mainly on the bike. If the bike come through from the bike manufacturer, there are a number of places I may have to pick up the bike. Plan A would be from Anchorage itself, but this could be any of the big cities in the North West of the USA or Canada. 

Even though there is still a lot to confirm, I do have some things nailed on for the preparations for the ride which is really positive.

1. In mid-November I'll be heading to Motorcycle Live at the NEC in Birmingham to meet up with other bikers and promote my trip. If you are going to be there on the Wednesday and want to say hello, please get in touch via my Facebook or Twitter pages
2. In February I'll be heading to Argyll and to the MotoScotland Adventure Bike school to do 2-days off road training to prepare me for Alaska. This is going to give me a big indication how hard the ride is going to be. And hopefully the Scottish weather will play ball and simulate some of the conditions I'm likely to face in Northern Alaska (That's cold, wet, and windy for those who don't know).
3. Arctic Rider Alaska Raffle - In the new year I'l be launching the a raffle to support my fundraising. Big shout out to Devitt Insurance who have already agreed to donate a brand new helmet to the raffle. Look out for me announcing some of the other great prizes on offer and how to enter (all funds will go to the charities).

So there is a lot going on and as soon as the bike, date, or route are confirmed I'll let you all know.

If you'd like to donate to the charities, securely and safely, please visit my Virgin Money Giving page or click on the image below.

Thanks for reading, ride safe, and I'll maybe see some of you in Birmingham later in the month.

Gordon