7-8-10 Day 33: McClusky, ND to Bismarck, ND: 65miles in 4:58 hours. Rt 200 west to Rt 41 south to Rt 83 south.
Today’s ride was a thing of beauty. Awesome sunny day, great roads impressive scenery and……a very, super, incredibly light headwind from the west. Yup, even a schlep like me who decided to ride east to west gets a crumb thrown my way occasionally. Today was that day. I got on the bike at 6:15 AM and let me tell you that it was a bit nippy outside. I had put away 3 of these peanut butter sandwiches on wheat buns for fuel to get me all the way to Bismarck. No coffee though despite the fact that this little efficiency had about everything you needed to make a Thanksgiving dinner inside – except coffee! So got on the road and noticed that the wind was just barely a hint out of the west, and with the chill in the air I was able to really put on some speed – 13-14 mph. Whoopee!
Yesterday when I had finished the day, I had gone to a little pub/grill called The Union to have lunch, and inside I had talked with several old timers having their daily coffee klatch. Well they took one look at me with all that lycra on and I just had to chuckle out loud. They gave me a bit of good natured shit about my cycling cloths, just like one of my participants in my fitness class does – yes you Jim – and I laughed along with them. Well, we got to talking about my cycling and the route through ND, and one of the fellows had told me than having made it to McClusky, I’d just have flat road all the way to Bismarck. And I think I mentioned that in my blog yesterday. Well, may be flat when you’re driving a car, but on a bike lugging 70 lbs, It’s anything but flat!
Nope. Flat to me means not shifting – ever! It means only getting out of the saddle because your behind is sore from pedaling in the same gear for so long and never hitting a hill or riser. Nope, this was definitely not flat. But I’m ok there. Hell, if I just wanted flat for 3000 miles I’d of done loops around a mall parking lot! So on Rt 200 west, it was gently rolling, with these little swales I’d have to go OTS on every now and then. Yet with the beautiful morning, I’ll take it. I passed pond and lake and pond and lake, just at the bottom of each and every swale. And I’d see these water birds that I’d never seen before, really beautiful birds. The ponds and lakes were just filled with them and their young paddling around in water that was reflecting blue sky and white clouds. Stopped several times for pictures.
It’s mornings like this where I feel such a zest for life, where I feel that my senses are heightened and I have this really deep appreciation for experiencing new places and new surroundings. It just brings out so many cool emotions. So I was just really digging the countryside and all the kind of exotic waterfowl I was seeing on my ride west on Rt 200. Make that 13 mile stretch in about an hour and then it was a turn onto Rt 41 south. Again, a road that the boys from The Union Bar and Grill said would be flat. NOT. But again, no big deal. Again, another just spectacular panorama of landscape laid out in front of me. It was just amazing how I could look up the road and see this two lane road just dwindle down to this threadlike little ribbon way off in the distance, dancing over swale after swale. And I swear that you can see for like 5, 6, 8 miles down the road in front of you.
And just as on Rt 200, at the bottoms of the swales are ponds and lakes teaming with waterfowl. Now some of these swales are not just little bumps that you pedal over. No way. Some are like 1-2 miles gently down, and then 1-2 miles right back gently up. Up and over, up and over, up and over, mile after mile. The section on Rt 41 south was really wonderful to cycle, and anyone who loves to ride a bike just has to experience riding across terrain such as this. There was really no berm, but the traffic was super light and everyone was very cool about giving me plenty of room. And I’ve noticed quite a lot here in ND that many folks are waving to me or giving me the thumbs up. I always try to acknowledge them with a corresponding wave, but sometimes when I’m OTS it’s not possible, so I kind of give them a head nod.
Now I had mentioned that you can just see forever in front of you in this area of Central ND, and just to test my theory on how far I could see, I noted a mile marker at one particular point, and way off in the distance I could see a water tower, which I surmised was in the town of Wilton. The mile marker read 10 miles – ten miles to go on Rt 41. And Wilton was at the end of Rt 41, and so was that same blue water tower. I found it amazingly that you can see like 10+ miles up ahead of you at the tops of some of the swales. Now maybe I’m just gushing on and babbling because I tend to do little mind games things like that with myself while riding solo. So sorry if this little piece of trivia was not really that interesting or pretty off the wall?
By the time Rt 41 deadended into Rt 83 at the town of Wilton, I was 3 hours and 40 miles into the ride. Decided to take a rest break at this super mega gonzo gas station/store. Got a 32 oz fountain coke and ice and went out and sat on a bench and relaxed. It was there that I felt like I could just go to sleep sitting in the sun and mellowing out. Really felt the legs to, as they were just kind of dead tired and lethargic. Probably has to do with 4 + days of riding into a headwind. I finished my soft drink and kind of did some head nods. That’s when I forced myself to get up, and get er done to Bismarck. By then it was round about 10 AM and the temps was climbing up into the mid 70’s. Not really humid, but nice and toasy. Put on the tank and my sunglasses and got it rolling down Rt 83 south.
This is a US route, and is separated dbl lane road with a monster berm on each side, just perfect riding again after a long hiatus from monster berm on Rt 2. With the light westerly wind I was able to crank it. And I mean I hadn’t been in the big ring for like 3-4 days – can’t remember when it was really. And it was kind of “swaley” on this stretch, but only once did I have to drop down in the middle cookie to climb on of the longer swales. Made just super time riding south to Bismarck, and arrived in the city just before noon.
My plan was to stop at a Subway despite the fact that Carol, my hostess for this stopover and a client of mine here in Bismarck, had told me in an email that I could grab some food and beer in the refrig when I got there. She would still be at work. But I really didn’t want to kind of just go into someone’s refrig, so I stopped at a Subway about 2-3 miles from her house, right at noon time. And this place had people waiting in the doorway to order. I mean it was just jam packed. Didn’t even get off of my bike. No way. That was an eternity of waiting in a line for food. So I just kept riding to Carol’s, thinking that maybe I’d pass another Subway on the way over there. But not to be. Not too far down the road I took the several turns and got to her house.
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