Path to a parks plan — Soldotna issues draft parks, trails master plan

File photo by Jenny Neyman, Redoubt Reporter. A runner in the Kenai River Marathon heads down Bridge Access Road with the mountains flanking Cook Inlet behind her.

By Jenny Neyman

Redoubt Reporter

If you live in the Soldotna area and are recreation- or activity-minded, chances are you’ve thought at least one of the following:

It’d sure be nice to have longer stretches to walk along the Kenai River.

It’s too bad the Unity Trail doesn’t continue through Soldotna, so we don’t have to walk, run or ride a bike right alongside the Sterling Highway.

I wish there were an indoor place to walk, or some turf on which to practice soccer before the snow melts.

It’d be great if teens had more maintained, supervised places to hang out and recreate.

Can’t someone do something to make the Sterling-Kenai Spur highways “Y” intersection less of a pain for pedestrians and bicyclists?

Or the big one — it would be so great to get back and forth from Kenai Peninsula College and downtown Soldotna without having to go all the way around Kalifornsky Beach Road to the Sterling Highway to the David Douthit Memorial Bridge over the Kenai River.

Well, Soldotna, that wishful thinking is on a path to being granted, with the Soldotna Parks and Trails planning process nearing completion. After reviewing past planning efforts, meeting with stakeholder and user groups, conferring with partner agencies and organizations, and soliciting input through a public survey, Casey Planning and Design has released a semifinal, 75 percent-complete draft Soldotna Parks and Trails Master Plan.

An open house will be held from 4 to 8 p.m. Thursday at the Soldotna Sports Center, where the public can view the draft plan and its recommendations, ask questions and provide feedback. The draft plan, map and associated documents also will be available on the city of Soldotna’s website. The plan is open for review and public comment through May 10. Planners will contact season-specific recreational user groups over the summer — which might not have been thoroughly represented in the survey conducted this winter — for more input, then submit the plan to the city council for approval next fall.

“We want to keep it at a level of ‘What about?’ As opposed to, ‘Why didn’t they?’ At this point it’s still dynamic,” said Andrew Carmichael, city of Soldotna Parks and Recreation director.

Trial and air — Skate, bike culture taking off in area

By Jenny Neyman

Photos by Jenny Neyman, Redoubt Reporter. Gaden Ames does a backflip high over the Soldotna Skate Park during the third annual Soldotna Bike, Skate and Scooter Challenge on Sept. 29.

Redoubt Reporter

The math hardly seems worth it: Weeks, months to even years of hours-on-end practice where even the slightest hair’s breadth of a mistake can have painful, bruise-forming, skin abrading, bone-jarring repercussions. The expense of fixing, replacing and upgrading gear that is constantly taking a beating. Putting up with stereotypes presuming delinquency and suspect moral character, simply because of a chosen activity.

All in pursuit of a payoff that lasts a measly fraction to a couple of seconds — the time it takes to execute a spin, grind, tail whip or any of the other tricks a rider of a bike, skateboard or scooter can dream up.

But what a ride those few seconds entail, whether it’s the first tentative

KC Hordemann lays his bike sideways off a ramp during one of his runs.

attempts to dislodge wheels from ground, or launching 20 feet in the air to bend the bounds of gravity with a soaring superman or back flip. And landing, upright, ready to build up more speed and take off again.

The rush of speed, the whoosh of being airborne, the tight control over grip, limbs and wheels, the sense of accomplishment of executing a maneuver that’s taken tens, hundreds or thousands of wipeouts to achieve. Sometimes, that’s

Gaden Ames does a foot jam tail whip during one of his runs.

all there is — effort and achievement playing out as a solo soundtrack. But more and more often at the Soldotna Skate Park these days, there are other riders around to witness both the battle to learn a trick and the accomplishment of nailing it.

And on Sept. 29, a communitywide, all-ages crowd wrapped around the installation of rails, platforms and ramps at the skate park for the third annual Soldotna Bike, Skate and Scooter Challenge, with not only cheers of encouragement for the riders, but food, T-shirts, trophies and the clear understanding that what these kids do is as challenging as it is worth supporting.

A Trail Called Life: Summer malfunction — Rolling with bumps, brakes on the trail

By Dante Petri, for the Redoubt Reporter

I hate the summer-to-winter transition from the quick-and-easy lubing up of a chain and airing up of tires on a bike before heading out for a ride, compared to the much more laborious task of waxing, prior to skiing.

It’s true, pre-ride prep is far quicker than pre-ski. That being said, I was reminded

Photos courtesy of Dante Petri. Mountain bike components breaking on the trail might be a part of the sport, but a broken frame means it’s time to head to the bike shop. This 2004 Marin East Peak met its match outside of Fruita, Colo., in spring 2009.

this summer by how much maintenance goes into bikes compared to skis when looked at in the big picture. Specifically, into mountain bikes.

This past winter was the first year I ever had what I might call a “ski mechanical.” Ultimately, this amounted to a busted boot and, a few days later, a busted binding, on a set of hardworking skate skis that were halfway into their fourth season and should have been retired a season and a half prior. They were well-traveled and worn down, and I made the wise and rewarding choice of replacing them with a new set of skis. I couldn’t have been happier with them. End of story.

If I did the same thing every time I had a significant mechanical on one of my mountain bikes, well, I’d probably have to get at least a couple new bikes a season.

From a Trail Called Life: Battle of the bonk

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By Dante Petri, for the Redoubt Reporter

Photo courtesy of Dante Petri. Resurrection Pass is in full bloom this time of year, and the trail is ripe for riding.

This is my favorite part of the ride.
It’s raining, barely 50 degrees out, 8 p.m., and I’ve been on this bike for the last 9 hours and 30 minutes. Yup. Been here a few times, all right.

My co-adventurer today, Brian, and I started this morning in Hope, and rode up and over Resurrection Pass to Cooper Landing. The trip south to Cooper saw the skies break apart, the sun come out and the mercury rise to 65. On the south-facing benches above Swan Lake, wildflowers bloomed vibrantly and the trail was in the best shape I believe I have ever seen it. Lots of people were out, doing different legs of Resurrection and Devil’s Pass trails or various out-and-backs. It felt social, in the most remote sense.

Sometime on the way back to Hope, though, high stratus clouds moved in, and with surprising speed, a thick and angry bank of clouds rolled over Russian Mountain by the time we left the northerly shores of Juneau Lake. As we began to climb the benches above Swan Lake, the first spitting raindrops started to fall and as they came down with more intensity, so did the temperature.

To compound the gloom, the long distances and a mechanical glitch had caught up with Brian, who soldiered upward nonetheless. Knowing conditions were going to get worse, but not knowing exactly what that meant, I nervously told Brian I had to keep moving as we entered the alpine, or I risked getting hypothermic. Leaving a buddy behind in the backcountry is never good, but the cold was catching up with me every time I stopped. Brian understood, as he devoured a sandwich. I think. Either way, he found a second gear and a remedy for a derailing rear derailleur, as every time I looked over my shoulder and back into the enveloping fog, he was never far behind.

State of having no regrets — Cyclist finishes 50 centuries in 50 states in 50 days with mountainous ride to Soldotna

By Jenny Neyman

Photo by Jenny Neyman, Redoubt Reporter. Cindi Rauch gets a hug from Jerilue Hopley at the Soldotna Visitor Information Center on July 10, upon completion of her goal to ride 50 centuries (100 miles) in 50 states in 50 days.

Redoubt Reporter

Cindi Rauch’s bike ride July 10 would be enough to count as a major achievement for most folks. The diminutive, blond, 60-year-old rode 110 miles from Girdwood to Soldotna over 3,642 feet of elevation gain — parts of it into a stiff headwind — all the while dressed a little thinly to mitigate the chilly weather.

That exertion, alone, could warrant a giant congratulatory feast with an extra helping of pride, yet that was a mere crumb in the larger goal Rauch had dished up for herself.

Rauch has spent about three months — 50 days, to be fittingly precise — riding a similar distance in every state. It was her 50 centuries in 50 states in 50 days tour, meaning: ride 100 miles in a different state every day for 50 straight days.

Alaska was the last state of her tour, so as she coasted into the parking lot of the Soldotna Visitor Information Center around 3:30 p.m. July 10, she not only was finishing her ride for the day, she was completing a massive goal that had been over a year in the dreaming, scheming, planning and accomplishing.

“I feel great. I’m glad that it’s done. It was just beautiful. This was a great way to end it,” she said.

Rauch, of Vancouver, Wash., started the riding portion of her journey in Hawaii at a minute past midnight May 21. But in many ways, the actual pedaling has been the easy part. The planning and logistical end of the endeavor has been much more difficult and time-consuming.

The idea to do the trip came about more than a year ago. Rauch has been an avid cyclist for about 10 years now, since a knee surgery forced the former physical education teacher to give up her beloved racquetball and find an activity that was kinder to her joints. She and her husband, Bill, got into bike touring when they rode through the San Juan Islands for their 30th anniversary.

In 2005, Rauch biked across the U.S. alone.

“I guess I’m just good at doing hard things,” she said.

Particularly — dreaming up difficult goals, having the wherewithal to begin them and the tenacity to see them through.

“I thought, after I rode across the country, I might park the bike in the garage, but I didn’t,” she said.

She heard of Dean Karnazes, who ran 50 marathons in 50 days in 50 states.

“I saw that and thought, ‘I wonder if I could ride a century (100 miles) in 50 states in 50 days?’ So I started playing around with a map to see if I could route it and not have so far to drive at the end of the day. ‘How would I do Hawaii, how would I do Alaska?’ And it just started coming together,” she said. “I didn’t want to be 80 years old and regret that I didn’t do the things that I wanted to do.”

Bridge Access to get better for bike riders — Club promotes painting project

By Jenny Neyman

Photos by Jenny Neyman, Redoubt Reporter. Young bike riders wait to cross the Sterling Highway at Binkley Street in Soldotna during a family bike safe event May 12. Bicycling is become more and more popular, raising interest in projects to improve safety.

Redoubt Reporter

The idea, advocates say, is a no-brainer — add some high-visibility paint to the shoulder of Bridge Access Road and Warren Ames Memorial Bridge over the Kenai River to make motorists better aware that they’re sharing the space with bicyclists.

“That Warren Ames Bridge is so bad for bikers. What we would love to see happen is just some kind of an orange line drawn along the side of it so motorists are aware they’re sharing the road with pedestrians and bikers. We don’t want to change any traffic patterns, we don’t want to move anything — we just want it more differentiated. Of course, in our mind, it’s just a little paint. How hard could that be?” said Tami Marsters, of Sterling, a member of the Peninsula Change Club that is pursuing the painting project.

The reality, however, is that Bridge Access is a state-maintained road. And when the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities is involved, it can sometimes feel like local wishes get tangled in red tape.

“It’s not so easy because dealing with the state takes a long time — that whole chain of command. We knew from the beginning that it was not going to be an easy process,” Marsters said.

The Peninsula Change Club — dedicated to increasing physical activity in the community — and the larger People Promoting Wellness group, with which the club is affiliated, endorse the idea. All the bicyclists the club has spoken to think it’s a great idea. Governmental representatives in the community have responded favorably, as well, she said.

But even if everybody and their brother — and, in this case, their mayor and local DOT representative — agrees it is a great idea doesn’t guarantee swift, or any, action.

“Everybody we talk to says, ‘Oh my gosh, yes, we need to do something there.’ We offered to paint it, we offered to buy the paint — whatever we could do to make it happen, we offered to do it. But I think the whole chain of command with the state just takes a long time,” Marsters said. “My first thought was, ‘I’m just going to go paint it in the middle of the night, but I knew that probably wouldn’t be a good idea.”

Cycling through recycling — Nikiski youth rescues, repairs, redistributes junk bicycles

By Joseph Robertia

Photo courtesy of Boatright family. Daniel Boatright, of Nikiski, works on a bike in his garage. He’s rescued and repaired more than 40 bikes.

Redoubt Reporter

While some teens are content to mow lawns, bag groceries or flip burgers at a fast-food chain to make a couple of bucks, Daniel Boatright, a 14-year-old from Nikiski, is an entrepreneur in the business of bicycle repair and refurbishing other people’s two-wheeled rubbish.

“It started about two years ago when I got one from the dump,” he said.

Pulling in with his parents he saw a typical sight — items left off to the side of the trash bins that someone no longer wanted but thought someone else might. From appliances to furniture to, in this case, a bicycle, this is a common occurrence at the Kenai Peninsula Borough’s transfer stations.

“It’s very common to see a bike off to the side. People throw them away because a chain will break or they’ll bend a fender. It’s really wasteful,” he said.

That’s not how the boy was raised, according to his mother, Kirsten Boatright.

“It’s a throwaway society, but we’ve always recycled — newspaper, plastics, cardboard — and I’ve tried to teach all of my five children that through the years. When their sweatpants would get holes in the knees, I’d have them turn them around and keep wearing them, and even with our meals, we always make something out of the leftovers. There’s no wasting at our house,” she said.

On the path to happier, safer trails — Committee to plan for trails expansions into the future

By Joseph Robertia

Photo courtesy of Heidi Hanson. Heidi Hanson’s bike shows the result of an encounter with an unaware motorist on the Unity Trail near Save-U-More on Kalifornsky Beach Road. A new committee has been formed to consider ways to expand, maintain and increase the safety of trails in the Soldotna area.

Redoubt Reporter

Heidi Hanson, of Soldotna, enjoys feeling the breeze blow through her hair, fresh air filling her lungs, and the natural high that comes from exercising on her bicycle after work and on her days off.

But riding through town is not always such a carefree, beneficial experience, as she found in July.

While on the Unity Trail bike path riding past Save-U-More on Kalifornsky Beach Road, she approached an outlet for vehicles and saw one exiting, so she stopped to let the car pass. She’s learned from experience that it pays to be careful.

“People are in such a hurry to beat traffic that they either don’t look to the right when going to pull out, or if they do see you coming, a lot of times they’ll try to beat you to the path,” she said.

Not wanting to risk being struck, she pulled up on her bike and stopped so that the vehicles exiting could have the right of way. But despite her awareness, the driver didn’t look both ways before pulling out and made a tight turn onto the highway.

“I was sitting at the intersection and he looked to the left, but not to the right where I was. He turned into me and hit my bike. The front end, forks and tire were mangled,” she said.
Hanson was injured, but due to being a defensive biker, she was lucky not to have been hurt worse than she was, she said.

“It was a scary thing. Had it been 6 inches more it would have hit me directly on, but as it was I jumped off. I rolled my knee and ankle and got some road rash, but I was lucky I didn’t get dragged with the bike,” Hanson said.

From a Trail Called ‘Life’: Different paths to summer

By Dante Petri, for the Redoubt Reporter

Photo courtesy of Dante Petri. Kjell Risung, left, of Kenai, and Brian Walsh, of Anchorage, ride through a blooming avalanche field along the Russian Lakes Trail in Cooper Landing this past June. Colorful summer scenes like this don't last long in Alaska, and are sometimes harder to catch than the salmon swimming in nearby rivers.

It’s been over three years since I last raced a mountain bike.

And three years later, with a heavier bike, possibly a slightly heavier body, and a whole heck of a lot less fitness than I had once, I finished the same way I did the last time I raced, in May 2008: Did not finish, though for very different reasons.

In three years it sure has felt like a long fall from the fall of 2007, when “Myrtle (the Broken Turtle),” my somewhat less-than-affectionate name for my not-always-so-trustworthy glory-hog bike, and I whizzed around the East Coast collegiate mountain bike race circuit picking up a few top-three placements and even a well-earned win. That was sort of a two-wheeled thesis defense at the time for my otherwise short-lived competitive cycling career.

It was a stinging sensation I felt in mid-August this summer, though, when a group of toothpick-thin, Spandex-clad bike racers from Los Anchorage smoked the heck out of me and my lungs right off the start on an afternoon race in a park just on the outskirts of the city.

This summer has been my first “real Alaska summer.” The word “real” is, of course, clutch in this phrase. 

Falling for a good ride — Randonneurs roll through central Kenai Peninsula

By Joseph Robertia

Photos by Joseph Robertia, Redoubt Reporter. Chuck Mangold, of Anchorage, waves to a motorist as he passes through one of the more colorful portions of the Kasilof leg of the Kenai Backroads 200-kilometer bicycling event hosted by the Alaska Randonneurs on Saturday.

Redoubt Reporter

Autumn can be a wonderful time to immerse oneself in nature’s magnitude. On Saturday, several bicyclers from across the state let their cares drop away like the falling golden leaves during a 200-kilometer trip around the central Kenai Peninsula.

“It’s been so beautiful. It should really be called the ‘fall colors ride,’” said Jim Kaszuba, of Chugiak, one of 18 riders taking part in the Kenai Backroads 20 hosted by the Alaska Randonneurs.

Randonneuring — French for rambling — is a style of self-supported, long-distance cycling that emphasizes camaraderie over competition. There are no prizes for first place, as in a race. But the events are timed to allow participants to challenge themselves, whether conditioning for commuting to work by bicycle or training for a competition like a triathlon. This weekend’s ride was allotted 13.5 hours.

“Whether a tourist or a racer, there’s a place for everyone in randonneuring,” said event coordinator Kevin Turinsky, of Anchorage. “Every event is set up for people to run hard, or take a few stops along the way to eat a burger or get a drink.”

Pedal power — Kenai cyclist rides into super status

By Jenny Neyman

Photos courtesy of Kevin Turinsky, Alaska Randonneurs. Kirk Louthan, of Kenai, rides into Paxson in a 600-kilometer randonneuring ride June 27, 2009. Louthan achieved Super Randonneur status in 2010, meaning he successfully completed a 200-kilometer, 300-kilometer, 400-kilometer and 600-kilometer ride in one season.

Redoubt Reporter

Around the time Kirk Louthan pedaled through Moose Pass on June 5, his focus on Summit Lake Lodge, 27 kilometers up the Seward Highway, went from next destination to desperation.

He was that perfect mix of irritations that creates a motivation-sucking slurry of misery — cold, wet and tired with no way to immediately remedy the situation. He had already come a long way — cycling about 250 kilometers from Anchorage to Seward and back through Moose Pass — but still was facing 150 kilometers to get back to Anchorage. And he was starting to doubt whether he could do it.

“When you’re definitely miserable and you can’t deny it — that’s the hard part,” Louthan said. “I was going through Moose Pass and I couldn’t wait to get to Summit Lake Lodge. All I was thinking about was just getting to Summit and stopping. But I couldn’t make it. I stopped at a pullout pretty close to Summit Lake Lodge and just let it out, just started bawling and admitted it to myself that this sucks.”

As unpleasant as that experience was, the fact that Louthan can only think of a few truly lousy moments in the 1,500-plus kilometers he rode in events this summer, and the many more kilometers put in training, speaks to a few things:

• His luck in equipment, that his getting-worn-out, in-need-of-a-tuneup bike didn’t give him any more trouble than an easily fixed flat near Potter Valley on a 300-kilometer ride from Anchorage to Eagle River.

• His ever-improving expertise in preparing for long-distance rides, to find the balance between bringing enough food, gear and clothing to be functional, yet not so much to be overloaded.

• And how well-suited his personality, level of motivation and athletic persuasion are to this sport, called randonneuring. Despite that one meltdown outside Summit Lake Lodge, the sport overall is anything but miserable for Louthan.

“I just really love cycling. It just feels good. It feels like I need to express how much I love it by riding long distances,” Louthan said. “Randonneuring is like, it’s all you, and it’s just you, and I think that’s kind of cool. It’s like doing something with your own willpower, basically.”

Air apparent — Youth go big in skate, BMX bike challenge

By Joseph Robertia

Photo by Joseph Robertia, Redoubt Reporter. At left, Jake Graham, of Soldotna, wows the crowd with a backflip during the inaugural Soldotna Bike and Skate Challenge on Saturday. The trick lend to him placing first in the competition for his age division.

Redoubt Reporter

The scene looked like a cross between a shoot for a John Hughes film, an energy drink commercial and an X Games competition.

Teens dressed in fluorescent-colored clothes, oversized sunglasses and trucker hats swigged back 16-ounce cans of sugar and caffeine while waiting to ride their skateboards or modified BMX bicycles.

They nervously laughed with each other before taking their turns to ride, and attempted to stay warm in the 30-degree temperatures. As cool as the air was, though, the adrenaline surging through their veins and the fire of competition burning within helped keep warm and sharp the nearly two dozen athletes who had come to participate in the first Soldotna Bike and Skate Challenge on Saturday at the Soldotna Skate Park.

“I ride every day, for five to six hours a day. I feel like I’ve worked hard for this and put in the time,” said BMX athlete Jake Graham, of Soldotna.

Competing in the event was not something anyone could just jump on a board or bicycle and do with success. Like any traditional sport, freestyle skateboarding and BMX riding requires hard work, practice and perseverance, and the vertical disciplines of these action sports are perhaps the most extreme manifestations. It takes not just skill, but cool nerves to ride the U-shaped half-pipe ramp that stood roughly 10 feet tall on either side. And these athletes didn’t just ride the ramp, they blasted off it, seemingly defying gravity as they performed a multitude of tricks midair.

“I moved to Alaska when I was 10 and that’s when I started riding,” Graham said. “I’m 18 now, so it’s taken me this long to get some of these tricks

Photo by Joseph Robertia, Redoubt Reporter. Travis Bittick, of Soldotna, concentrates while riding at the top of one of the half-pipes during Saturday’s competition.

down.”