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Alaska, British Columbia, Alberta ride in 2019?

2) Going on what I said above, we take a great risk when we travel in Yukon or Alaska. So you have a roadside assistance plan that includes 100 miles of towing? Haha! A breakdown could easily have a tow truck running a 600-800 mile round trip to haul your butt and your bike back to a motorcycle shop. And if you're heading up the Dempster or the Dalton, towing could cost you, well, let’s just say “megabucks”. And, breakdowns can be due to surprise things beyond your control, such as a failed fuel pump, voltage regulator, open connection inside a battery, etc. After completing this big adventure, I reflected on how very fortunate I was to have completed the trip with no mechanical or injury/health problems. These risks are something I’d more seriously consider before going back, having seen the situations, the place, and the conditions first hand. A mobile phone is useless between cities and gas station/roadhouses, so a Spot or a Garmin InReach satellite radio is a necessity. I used an InReach to communicate to and share my location with my wife back at home. It worked great. Fuzzy and Nuke also had InReach radios.

Thanks for the report;
Medjet offers short term policies for personnal transport with the option of bike coverage in case of accident (30days @$250 & $35 bike accident coverage). Would you buy that if you were repeating your trip?
 
Thanks for the report;
Medjet offers short term policies for personnal transport with the option of bike coverage in case of accident (30days @$250 & $35 bike accident coverage). Would you buy that if you were repeating your trip?

I don’t know if I would purchase the policy, but I’d think about it.

The chances of a crash in the Alaska highway environment are probably much slimmer than being in my home state environment. There’s very little traffic, very, very few side roads and intersections, and with care, I think it’s fairly easy to avoid animal collisions. The possible exception there might be the Cassiar Highway, where the cleared right of way is narrow and I’m told there are more animals present.

I went 13 miles down the Cassiar in a foggy, steady rain and cold temperatures. The pavement there is the most coarse of any highway I’d been on. I feared my tires would wear too rapidly to be able to get me home, and I just plain wasn’t having fun. So I turned around and came back home via the Alaska Highway. I’ll save the Cassiar for another day.

I do think the chances of mechanical breakdown are higher in Yukon/Alaska, with the rough surface pavement, intermittent mini washboard effect, and gravel roads causing a lot of pounding, shaking, and vibration in the bike. You also have the chance of sharp rocks slicing tires. One member of my party picked up a sharp spike in a tire after I had separated from the group. I heard it was plugged temporarily and a tire replacement stop was schedule.
 
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