Riding the Americas

by Alastair Humphreys

  He knew there were risks in adventure. He thought about them before he began and he took care. But if you want to do difficult, exciting things in life then you have to carefully but regularly test what you are really able to do. You have to learn to think whether a risk is worth taking, or if it is just silly. You need to figure out how to take a risk, so that it doesn’t hurt you. And you need to be brave, trying out things that you previously felt might be too hard. If you do these things often, you’ll start to understand that you are capable of more that you ever imagined. You really are. We all are.

  After days of hard work Tom was tired, but the raft was almost finished. He had tied several logs together, making a raft big enough for both himself and his bike. He could sleep on it, too. Tom made oars from wood, and stocked up with food (lots of bananas) and drinking water. A crowd of people helped him launch the heavy raft into the water and tie down the bike and equipment. Then they gave the raft a big push out into the river. He was off!

  “Three cheers!” they shouted, smiling and waving. “Good luck!”

  Although the crowd had been warning Tom about all the things that might go wrong, they knew that mostly they had just been giving themselves excuses as to why they were not going on exciting trips like Tom. They were all actually a bit jealous as the raft drifted out into the current and began floating merrily down the stream.

  “Hip, hip hooray!”

  Tom was very proud of his raft. He thought that it deserved a name. He decided to call his raft the Tom-Tiki. He had no map of the river, but then neither did any of the brave early explorers who rushed here seeking gold. At least he knew that somewhere down the river there would eventually be a town. And he was on his way!

  Tom pulled hard on the oars. The Tom-Tiki was enormous, and working the oars was difficult. It didn’t take long to become red and sweaty and for his arms to ache. When he got tired on his bike he would just stop riding and sit down for a rest. So he decided to try the same thing on the river. He put down the oars. And that was the moment that Tom really, really began to enjoy his rafting adventure. Because even when he was not rowing, the raft kept moving, pushed downstream by the river current. He realised that, unlike cycling, on a raft you can just relax and you will still keep moving. It was a very easy way to have an adventure. He settled into some serious lying down and relaxing. This was the life! Yukon Ho!

  For 10 days Tom travelled down the river aboard the Tom-Tiki, drifting around the edges of the forest fire. Sometimes there were islands. He either steered around them or, if it was late in the afternoon, tied the raft to a tree and stepped onto the island to camp. Camping on an island is really fun, something Tom could never do when he was on his bike. He also liked the islands because being on an island felt a little bit safer than the riverbank from the bears he saw daily.

  Moose sometimes swam across the water with only their heads showing. Their huge ears were pinned back as they strained against the current. A beaver swam towards its jumbled lodge of branches and mud. Scared by Tom’s approach, the beaver slapped the water with his tail and disappeared in a dive down into his underwater home. Bald eagles sat in treetops watching the world and looking for fish. Above the water, colourful dragonflies hovered and whirred. And under the water were racing, muscular salmon, but Tom never managed to catch one for his tea.

  He did not see another person, road or town while drifting along the river. He was alone in the wild, seeing exactly the same sights as the Gold Rush adventurers a century ago. Because Tom didn’t have a map, he had no idea when he would arrive at Dawson City. He hoped that he would not miss it whilst having a little nap and end up drifting all the way to the sea!

  It was a happy moment when the Tom-Tiki rounded a bend and there was Dawson City, hugging the right bank of the river. Tom paddled across and clambered ashore. He was excited to see people again, to sleep without being nervous about bears, and to stock up on fresh food. Once he had unloaded his gear, Tom gave the raft a push back out into the river, where it caught the current and headed downstream. The Tom-Tiki had a long journey ahead, drifting gently and quietly on its own, all the way to the Bering Sea. Tom was sad to see it go.

  Alaska: The Final Road To The Midnight Sun

  It felt good to be back on the bike after the lazy days of raft-sitting and watching the world slide by. Ahead lay yet another road. But it wasn’t far now. This was the final road to Alaska. The end of the Americas at last! At the thought, Tom pedalled very fast, revving up speed and singing loudly to himself. Singing loudly was not just fun, it also meant that bears would not be surprised by his sudden approach, so it helped keep him safe too.

  Alaska is part of the USA even though it is separated from the rest of the country by Canada. He dug his passport from the bottom of the pannier, where he kept it safely stored. The guard looked silently through the pages of Tom’s passport. There were so many different stamps in there from all the countries Tom had cycled through. When the border guard reached the last page of the passport, he flipped back to the beginning and studied the whole thing again. He had a strange look on his face.

  Tom watched him, quietly. Was there a problem with his passport? Was the guard about to tell Tom that he could not enter Alaska? He had only just battled round the forest fire. He began to feel nervous.

  The guard looked up at Tom.

  “Young man,” he spoke seriously. “Have you travelled all the way from Patagonia to Alaska? Have you really?”

  “Yes sir,” answered Tom.

  “And have you come all that way on your bicycle?”

  “Yes sir. And on a sailing boat and a raft.”

  “Well, in that case, I think you had better come inside and have a great big piece of cake. Congratulations! Welcome to Alaska!”

  Tom was a very happy boy. His journey through the Americas was almost complete. And he loved cake. This was a good day!

  Alaska is absolutely huge. You can fit the whole of Great Britain easily into Alaska, yet there are only about as many people living in Alaska as in the town of Leeds in England. So Tom still had a long way to ride. He was going to ride to the far north, all the way to where the road ran into the Arctic Ocean. He wanted to cycle until there was no more road to ride.

  Tom loved the ride along that long empty road, remembering how many months it had taken to get here from Patagonia. He thought about all the people who had helped him get this far. He remembered the times when it had seemed too hard or too far or too hot or too cold, and how close he had come to quitting. He felt proud to have kept going.

  Everywhere in the world (except on the equator), the sun sets later in summer than in winter. The further away from the equator, the lighter the summer evenings become. The sun sets later each evening and rises earlier each morning. As Tom headed further and further north, the sun was setting so late that he usually went to sleep before it even set. And dawn came so early that he would wake up to bright sunshine streaming into his tent.

  Eventually, heading north, you cross a line where on the longest day of the year, the sun never sets. This line is called the Arctic Circle. On June 21st, the summer solstice, the sun doesn’t drop below the horizon at all. It just goes round and round the sky. It never gets dark. The night that Tom crossed the Arctic Circle he sat outside his tent writing in his diary and reading his book until very late. He wanted to enjoy the midnight sun and watch the sun sliding low across the sky but not actually sinking out of sight. When you cycle round the world you can stay up until midnight anytime you want: you don’t have your Mum or Dad to make you go to bed!

  The boy loaded his bags with enough food to last for 10 days. Ten days was how long it would take to reach the Arctic Ocean and there would not be anywhere on the way to buy supplies. But the end of the Americas was almost in sight! The hills were steep and he had to push as hard as he could on the pedals to keep moving up the track. Sweat poured down his face, mixing with dust
until he was absolutely filthy. It was tough work, but Tom enjoyed the way Alaska was throwing up a final challenge. He didn’t want the end to be easy. He wanted to earn his reward. Even the downhills were tricky. He couldn’t zoom down them like he usually did because there was a big risk of skidding and crashing on the loose gravel.

  Tom cycled past Mount McKinley (also called Mount Denali), at 6194 metres the highest mountain in North America. He was boiling hot, but the mountain itself was covered in snow. It was an impressive sight. Maybe one day he’d come back and climb that mountain, he thought. He had now cycled alongside the highest mountains in Africa (Kilimanjaro – 5895m), South America (Aconcagua – 6960m) and North America.

  Sheep scrambled high above on the scree slopes; caribou and muskox grazed on the valley’s grass; and yet another grizzly bear trotted across the road. Approaching the last big climb over the Brooks mountain range – called the Atigun Pass – Tom passed the final tree. From here all the way to the North Pole there were no more trees: the weather was too harsh for them to grow this far north. After this mountain pass, for thousands of miles in every direction, was nothing but flat, boggy grassland, called tundra. The small, deserted road would lead Tom towards the ocean and the end of North America. He rode for days, thinking back over all the adventures he had had, until one exciting day, ahead of him, he spied the grey waters of Prudhoe Bay.

  He had done it! He was there! Tom pushed his bike down to the water’s edge, ready to celebrate in his favourite way: a double-sized banana sandwich. This was followed by a quick swim in the Arctic Ocean. It was a very quick swim because it was freezing cold and because polar bears are often seen around here. He didn’t want his celebration to end by becoming lunch for a polar bear!

  Tom was amazed that he had just ridden 17,848 kilometres – all the way from that signpost at the bottom of Patagonia to the very top of Alaska. It was so far for one boy to have ridden! And he had been so worried.

  Here, though, is Tom’s secret, the secret that can make any normal boy or girl do something really amazing. Tom had a big dream – to cycle all the way up the Americas as part of his adventure round the world. Having a big dream is important.

  But just having a dream is not enough. Tom also did the most important thing of all – he began. He started small: just climbing onto his bike and starting to pedal north. That’s easy, it’s tiny, anyone can do it. But it’s also the hardest thing of all: thinking small so as not to put yourself off, starting small, but making sure you actually begin. The rest will follow little by little.

  Think big. But start small.

  And, with that, Tom settled down on the pebble beach beside the Arctic Ocean to treat himself to one more banana sandwich. He had ridden a long way now – from his home all the way through Africa and now up the Americas. But he knew that there was a long way to go before he arrived back home again. He still had to cycle all the way across Asia before he became the boy who biked the world …

  Get ready for Part Three!

  The Boy Who Biked The World: Riding Home

  Keep up with Tom as he cycles across Asia on the final leg of his adventure round the world. Skid along as he cycles through the snows of Siberia. With temperatures dropping as low as -40 degrees (much colder than a freezer), you’ll be shivering as you read.

  Smile as Tom relaxes in a steaming hot pool in Japan, sharing his bath with some surprised monkeys! Discover the weird and wonderful foods of China - foods that you definitely won’t find in your local Chinese Takeaway!

  Join Tom as he follows the Great Wall of China towards the mysterious lands of Central Asia where he will encounter the Gates of Hell, craters in the desert that blaze with fire day and night. He’ll have to find a way across the world’s largest inland sea before he can get back to Europe. And, of course, he’ll be eating his favourite banana sandwiches wherever he goes!

  As always, Tom will discover strange and amazing sights. He’ll meet a host of fun characters, and learn lots about the cultures and countries of the world along the way.

  Share Tom’s excitement as the end of his adventure draws closer as he arrives back in England and pedals back towards his friends, his family, and all the people in his school who never believed that Tom could ever cycle round the world.

  About Eye Books

  Eye Books is a small independent publisher that passionately believes the more you put into life the more you get out of it.

  It publishes stories that show ordinary people can and do achieve extraordinary things.

  Its books celebrate ‘living’ rather than existing.

  We are committed to ethical publishing and try to minimise our carbon footprint in the manufacturing and distribution of our books.

  www.eye-books.com

  About the Author

  Alastair Humphreys is an adventurer, blogger, author, motivational speaker.

  Alastair’s quest for adventure began young. Aged eight, he completed the Yorkshire Three Peaks challenge and at 13 he did the National Three Peaks in 24 hours! At 14 he cycled off-road across England.

  At university, Alastair trained to become a teacher. But adventure took over! Alastair has now cycled round the world, raced a yacht across the Atlantic Ocean, canoed 500 miles down the Yukon River and walked the length

  of the holy Kaveri river in India. He has run the Marathon des Sables, crossed Iceland by foot and packraft, rowed across the Atlantic Ocean, and walked across the Empty Quarter desert.

  More recently Alastair has been encouraging people to seek out adventure close to home. The ‘microadventures’ idea saw Alastair named as one of National Geographic’s Adventurers of the Year.

  Alastair is always blogging and tweeting about his adventures, big and small. Visit his website www.alastairhumphreys.com to see what he is up to and follow him on social media.