BJORN TO EXPLORE
BJORN OLSON IS THINKING ABOUT POLAR BEARS. HE’S THINKing about hypothermia and frostbite too, and also sea ice levels, but mostly, he’s thinking about polar bears.
“I’m used to black and brown bears, but polar bears are a different breed. They’re more predatory and carnivorous,” Olson says. “This will be the first trip I’ll carry a gun.”
Olson is walking me through the nuances of his next big ride, which will cover 850 miles along the northwestern edge of Alaska—a route that rolls along the beaches and permafrost cliffs that separate the westernmost ridges of the Brooks Range from the Arctic Ocean. Few people have ever set foot on this particular landscape let alone ridden a bike across it.
