Reconnaissance

The Marine Corps is the most elite branch of the U.S. military. They have the most stringent physical standards and the longest boot camp among the armed forces. The most elite units of the Marine Corps are the Reconnaissance units. In order to be accepted to a Reconnaissance unit a Marine must have a stellar record and undergo an extreme physical indoctrination. These Marines receive specialized training, including hours of swimming and running with heavy loads.

The mission of these elite Marines may seem simple considering the intensity of their training. Their primary function is to slip undetected behind enemy lines to collect information about the opposition forces. They conduct their missions in small groups and they make every effort to not be detected. A successful reconnaissance mission is one in which a shot is never fired and the enemy never knew they were being watched.

I set out for my first ride yesterday thinking that I would try some new terrain, I live near Russian Jack Park and I figured that would be a great place to start my mission. I rode along Muldoon Road to Northern Lights Boulevard to the East High footbridge. I was able to take the footbridge over to the Russian Jack trail system. The sidewalks and trails along Northern Lights and Muldoon were mostly free of snow and ice. I was studded up so I didn't have any trouble with the icy spots. Where I ran into trouble was on the Russian Jack trails where I lost traction on the slushy snow.

It wasn't until I was past the Russian Jack Chalet that I really started having trouble. The trails seemed to have well packed snow up until then. Once past the Chalet, I hit a couple of soft spots that required me to get off my bike and walk a few feet before I could find traction. I pushed on until I got past the tunnel under Debarr, and on the other side I found a sudden and complete loss of traction. I couldn't dig up enough motivation to keep pushing along the trail so I headed home without conquering my first new trail.

The moral of the story; do your reconnaissance. I drove down the Glenn Highway a little later in the day and could see that the trail was clear and dry. I saw several people taking advantage of the trail, not struggling at all. If I had driven by at some point this past week to check the conditions at Russian Jack I would have realized the trails weren't ready yet and I could have changed my plan for a more successful ride, the Glenn Highway trail for instance.

Kincaid vs. Bicentennial

I know I have yet to write a single trail description yet, but I thought I would go ahead and start the debate anyway. I've ridden in both parks, more so in Bicentennial than Kincaid. I haven't come close to riding all of the trails either park has to offer. In the case of both parks, there are a lot of trails to ride. Over the course of writing this blog, I expect that my opinions of these two parks will change.

With all that being said, my first impressions of each park are as follows:

Kincaid - Great if you're a skier.

This park is set up very well for the cross country skiers that frequent it during the winter. The trails are generally wide enough to allow room for the skate skiers, and then some. The trails are marked with directional arrows that allow the skiers to efficiently traverse the trails. This is not a park for mountain bikers. The trails are too wide to appeal to the single track fans. The Surfaces are too often grass, making pedaling difficult, especially with all of the steep grades in the park. One of the upsides to Kincaid is that the trails seem much less crowded in the summer (with people at least) than Bicentennial. It's also THE place to go in Anchorage if you want to see a moose. I've seen more in Kincaid and along the Coastal trail than I have anywhere else in town. Even with the upsides of Kincaid, as far as I'm concerned this park is better left for the skiers.

Bicentennial - The place to be for mountain bikers.





The best mountain bike trails in Anchorage (and maybe even in Alaska) are in Bicentennial. The surfaces are packed dirt and the trails tend be over rolling terrain, with less impossibly steep grades. There are lots of technical aspects to the trails, with roots, boulders, and fallen trees to navigate. There are sections of the park where the trails are too wide, too steep, and too vegetated for biking but the trails in between make it worth the trip. It's been my experience that Bicentennial has a more diverse user group than Kincaid (bikers, hikers, orienteering groups, joggers, equestrians, etc.)and the trails tend to be much more crowded (oh, and then there's the bears)... Despite the down sides when you consider the new sections of mountain bike trails constructed by the Single Track Advocates and the park's links to Fort Rich trails and Chugach Park trails, Bicentennial is definitely the place to be for mountain bikers in Anchorage.