Book review: 'Joy Ride' by author Kristen Jokinen recounts her and her husband's epic bikepacking journey from Alaska to Argentina, with the endless hospitality of strangers providing a common thread along the way.
By Kristen Jokinen; Hawthorne Books, 2023; 290 pages; $19.95.
The Dalton Highway is one place to master the fine art of bikepacking. The trip through Alaska fills a disproportionate section of this book, as Jokinen recounts the rain, snow, winds, ice, mud, gravel, excruciating climbs, clogged water filters, frozen extremities, mechanical malfunctions, and other obstacles on their long journey to Fairbanks. Even for the well-conditioned, riding that road would be an accomplishment in itself. For the Jokinens, it was merely a prelude.
The couple entered Washington state via the San Juan Islands and headed to Oregon, visiting family before moving on. California passes quickly in the book, if not in the trip itself. Jokinen ruefully remembers the hundred miles urban corridor known as Los Angeles. But soon enough they cross into Mexico, and the storytelling resumes again.
Rather than take the coastal route, the Jokinens opted for the Andes. Beginning their climb in Colombia, they followed the continent-spanning mountain range nearly all the way to the southern tip. In Ecuador, they “climbed and climbed for sixty-seven miles.” On the cusp of Peru, with the option of heading for sea level or continuing upwards into the mountains, she asks Ville, “How bad could it be?” as they choose the high road.
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