Find out more about our PPP rides HERE.
All reports by Monica (unless otherwise noted).
07/01/2026
My Philosophy Is That Worrying Means You Suffer Twice.
Oooooh that’s such a great quote. It was just my husband and I tonight, and the weather was more suited to a cold beverage than climbing a hill, so we decided to forego Farmers Loop and ride around the airport to Black Spruce Brewing.
06/25/2026
Where the sidewalk ends…
We had 5638489583733 on the ride last night… 4 cyclists and the rest were mosquitoes. While we initially started out trying to have a chill, social ride, after we collectively donated a pint of blood to the state bird at our first stop, we decided to just keep riding.
The flaw in our plan was that we would eventually have to stop, because Murphy Dome Road (the paved part) comes to an abrupt end at the top of a REALLLLLY big hill. It topped out at about an 11% grade, and I am not faster than mosquitoes. At the top, we took the fastest selfie we possibly could, and then took off riding again.
The downhill was much more enjoyable than the uphill! The rest of the miles just flew by, and we were able to regroup at the bottom of Murphy Dome and enjoy a nice water break and chat without the mosquitoes. From there, it was only a couple miles back to our vehicles.
06/18/2026
I did this dam ride and all I saw was a dam
We had 4 riders tonight as we headed out to Chena Lakes. We rode all the way down to the dam, took a nice selfie, and then headed back towards the park entrance.
We decided to ride back on the road, which was delightfully smooth and fast. A nice, cold beverage sounded good after such a warm ride, so we headed over to the Alehouse for a pint.
Another 20 mile ride tonight.
06/17/2026
Chena Lakes / North Pole Alehouse
We had 4 riders tonight on this beautiful evening. We rode out to the Chena Lakes bike path, which was redone recently and is in awesome shape. We rode past the lake park turn off and then headed for a bit of gravel riding before turning back.
On the way back, we headed through North Pole and stopped off at the North Pole Alehouse and enjoyed a nice cold pint.
We ended up with a total of 20 miles tonight.
06/11/2026
I scream, you scream…
Two of us tonight, and we made the executive decision to take the Parks Hwy out to Ester and get some ice cream.
Well, we earned it! We battled such a headwind on the way out there, at times we were doing less than 10mph while pushing some solid power! It was brutal.
The ice cream was delicious, and with some calories and sugar to help us out, we headed back toward town. Thankfully the wind didn’t switch directions and we enjoyed a phenomenal tailwind. It was at least 10 minutes faster on the way back than it was on the way out.
06/10/2026
Goldhill Express
I don’t know if we could have asked for better weather for the ride last night. The two of us discussed the route briefly before leaving Alaskaland, and decided to do Goldhill Road first and then come back on the Parks Highway. We figured that way we will have earned our drinks at Ursa.
One thing Ursa can’t be accused of is being light on the pours. We found the last slivers of sunlight (they really should put the deck on the back of the building) and enjoyed a Cosmopolitan and a Mai Tai.
With the hard part of the ride behind us, and properly fortified with vodka and rum, we had just one last big hill to tackle to get out of the Ester Valley. It was a nice 17 mile ride (I ended at 21 as I rode from downtown to Alaskaland and back after the ride)
05/28/2026
Neither rain nor hail…
Well, we rolled the dice on trying to beat the rain, and we lost. Badly.
We left Alaskaland / Pioneer Park, and tried chasing the sun and hoped to avoid the rain as much as possible. That plan lasted about 2 miles. Then the hail started.
We ended up hunkering under a bridge for about 20-25 minutes hoping the rain would let up enough so we could get on our way. It wasn’t happening, so we decided to sprint the short distance to Humble Roots and ride it out there.
Once the rain let up a bit, we headed back up the bike path to Alaskaland and called it good.
05/27/2026
Surely some sunny summer weather is on its way soon?
We had 6 riders (7 if you count a super adorable little passenger) on our ride out to Mushers Hall and back last night. We hoped that we could completely avoid the rain, but unfortunately we had a few sprinkles towards the end of our ride. Nobody melted, so that’s a good thing.
As we sat under the overpass on Peger to shelter from the rain for a minute, a few of us Zwifters reminisced about the joys of indoor riding.
🦟 You don’t ride right into a giant cloud of gnats and end up with some in your nose or mouth
🌧️ While it might look like rain on your screen, you don’t actually get wet
🦮 You don’t have dogs trying to knock you off your bike
The rider in front of you doesn’t kick up rocks with their tires from the gravel spots on the bike path
⚠️ You don’t have to worry about cracks in the sidewalk wide enough to grab your bike tire
Despite these real life events, it’s still fun to get out and ride with your fellow cyclists.
05/21/2026
Another cloudy and cool evening, but 3 of us braved the weather and were rewarded with sunshine at the end!
The Badger Rd bike path is so flat and smooth (except for some gravel at intersections), we were able to just fly. I rode 20 miles, Jon had a smidge over 21, and Suzanne ended at almost 24 (but she rode from her house to meet us so that’s how she snuck those extra miles in).
We had some headwinds at times, but thankfully nothing too awful or prolonged.
Next week we are back to meeting at Alaskaland / Pioneer Park, and our route will be to ride out Farmers Loop to Mushers Hall and back. Wednesday and Thursday nights at 6pm.
05/20/2026
Despite the cloudy skies and the cooler temps, we had 6 riders come out and ride. Not a single drop of rain hit us! Our youngest rider even had a PR for his longest ride yet.
We are back in North Pole tonight riding on the Badger Rd bike path. This is a great route for all levels of riders as it is a nice flat out and back. Ride for 45 minutes at your desired speed and then turn back. Our riders did between 6 and 18 miles last night.
05/14/2026
Another beautiful day in paradise
Our 5 PPP riders on Thursday had a fantastic ride. The sun was shining, the bike path was smooth, and we had yet another ride with no mechanical issues.
I can highly recommend the Pinnell Pineapple cider… it’s just perfect for lovely sunny evenings.
Next week we will be riding out in North Pole, along the Badger Bike Path. It’s a great route for all levels of riders; you just ride for 45 minutes and then turn back. Hope to see you there!
6pm Wednesday and Thursday.
05/13/2026
It’s a small world…
The clouds rolled in a bit last night, but it stayed warm and we didn’t get a single sprinkle. So that makes it a perfect night to ride in my book.
There were 4 of us when we left Pioneer Park / Alaskaland, and we set out on our adventure. Our pace was a little leisurely at first, but then we really picked up speed flying around the airport.
Before we knew it, we were pulling in to Black Spruce for our mid-ride stop and a nice cold beer. As we sat there, relaxing and soaking up the nicest day of the year so far, we had one more rider join us. And we saw at least one other familiar face. The bike parking was plentiful, and it was a lovely way to spend the evening.
If you are feeling even the smallest amount of FOMO for missing the ride last night, don’t worry, we are doing it again tonight!
05/06/2026
Nothing can stop us now…
PPP kicked off their ride season yesterday with 5 vibrantly intrepid riders and one super adorable passenger.
Despite the wind and cool temps, we had a wonderfully chill ride. We had to reverse our planned route due to the annual Water Walk also using the bike path along the river as we didn’t want to interfere with all the walkers and runners (and we didn’t want them to interfere with us riders).
We also had to detour slightly as the underpass of the Peger Rd bridge has approximately 8” of water covering the bike path… I definitely recommend avoiding it until the river level comes down.
PPP rides are Wednesday and Thursdays starting at 6pm.
