Riding into a Dust Storm

As we prepared to leave Fairbanks, the weather forecast for Delta Junction, our destination, had wind warnings with predicted sustained winds over 30 mph and gusts up to 50 mph from the south which meant massive headwinds for us. It turns out that this prediction proved accurate. What the prediction did not say was that the winds would be so strong they would create an intense dust storm.

The riding started out quite reasonably. While there were mild headwinds, they were not bad. In the distance, we could see the mountains of the Alaska Range. Temperatures were also quite nice in the upper 50s to lower 60s.

Here is a more complete view of the Alaska Range. I believe that tomorrow, we will be riding through a low pass in the range.

Much of the ride was a gentle climb.

The Richardson Highway follows the Tanana River upstream. The Tanana River flows northwest from the Alaska Range through Delta Junction to Fairbanks before heading west towards the ocean.

I appreciated every downhill today. My legs were sore from the 82 and 100 mile rides of the past two days.

Throughout most of the ride, the roadway cut through forest land. As a result, Much of the time we was not able to see the nearby river, lakes or the distant mountains.

At times, the landscape would slope away giving us a view of what was around.

We had lunch at Birch Lake which was 35 miles into our 75 mile ride. We had left Fairbanks later in the morning and had driven for 20 to 30 minutes to get out of the city. This combined with the slight climbing and the steadily increasing headwind meant that we did not eat until about 2pm.

After lunch, the winds really started picking up as we continued to follow the Tanana River. At one point, we came up to some significant construction where half of the road was closed for about 6 miles. I arrived just before the pilot truck was about to lead the cars through. I threw my bike into the back of the pickup and hopped into the cab. Most days, I would have been sad to lose the riding, but today I appreciated the respite from the wind and dust.

I mentioned at the start of the post that we were headed to Delta Junction. The town lies at the intersection of the Tanana River and the Delta River. While I typically think of river deltas occurring at the mouth of rivers, both of these rivers have the wide spread out mudflats with lots of river channels typical of river deltas.

While I do not know for sure, it is my suspicion that the dust storm we rode into was the result of the wind picking up the fine glacier silt along the mud flats of the delta.

The closer we got to Delta Junction, the stronger the wind became, and the more dust was in the air.

We crossed the Tanana River as we entered the V between the Delta River and the Tanana River. Off to our left was a suspension bridge for the Alaskan Pipeline.

Off to our right, barely visible through the dust, was the junction between the Delta and Tanana rivers. At this point, the winds were as strong as any that I have biked in. There were times when I would only be going 6 or 7 mph despite being down on my aerobars and pedaling hard. My mouth was filled with a fine grit from the dust, and my eyes were quite irritated despite wearing glasses for protection. I was very glad to finally get to our hotel.