Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Onward to Bismarck

7-7-10 Day 32: Fessenden, ND to McClusky, ND: 61miles in 5:24 hours. Rt 15 west to Rt 3 south to Rt 200 west.

Another fairly early start today as I got on the road at 6:40 AM. I’d scarffed down some bagels with peanut butter that I’ve been carrying for my “efficiency breakfasts” and had some motel do-it-yourself coffee. My bike friend from yesterday had told me to just continue straight across Rt 52 on what he called Old Rt 15, though it wasn’t marked at all. The morning was nice and cool, almost too cool for my hands, as they were a bit chilled for the first 30 min of the ride. The wind – it was ever so slightly blowing out of the west. But I knew that in a couple hours it would be in it’s full glory again. So that first stretch west on Old Rt 15 was gravy in that I was at least spared from battling a headwind from the gun like yesterday.

I had this 15-mile stretch of road damned near to myself. Felt really awesome to be out there just me and the road and the early morning. The road was flat as paper, and I could keep it rolling at around 14 mph, though in the morning, first thing on the bike I tend to just soft pedal to warm my legs up, so despite the lack of headwind, I really tried to keep it mellow. I’ve found that it takes me a good 30 min to one hour to get my legs warmed up on something like this – riding cross country day after day. They’re usually kind of stiff and a bit sore first go in the morning, and hammering out of the gate is just not the way I like to get the day going. That’s when my legs tend to mutiny on me and I get all these ghost pains in the knees, hips, and ankles.

So I kept it mellow up to the jcn with Rt 3 south. And I had this berm from heaven, just awesome stretch of road for another 15 or so miles. The bike guy from New Rockford had told me I’d hit this long gradual climb on Rt 3, and as soon as I got on the road, way up ahead, round about 2-3 miles I saw what he was talking about. I just kind of loomed out there on the horizon for tens of minutes. And when I hit it, it wasn’t like climbing a mt or anything, but it was just this long grind up, with one false summit after another. Must have taken me a good 20-30 min to get this thing surmounted and then it was just a flat stretch into Hurdsfield.

Next was the jcn with Rt 200. And west I went. Now by this time the wind had picked up to about 10-15 mph headwind. As I said, I’ve noticed that as the day goes on the wind gets more and more furious. Made the decision to ride on to the town of Goodrich and then take a brunch break. So on I went, and let me tell you, this was one gnarly stretch. Don’t believe that it’s flat out here in Central North Dakota. NO FREAKING WAY! I hit so many rollers on this stretch, and then add in the headwind and I was just creeping along. Same old MO right? Riding west – getting worked by the headwind. What else is new? By now I’m pretty resigned to the fact that if I can maintain 9-11 mph, I’m in utopia. You just cannot go any faster while pulling 70 lbs of gear.

But there’s a downside to just spinning into the headwind – and that’s the pressure on your rump! When you apply pressure to the pedals you thereby take pressure off of your butt. But spin, and apply less pressure to the pedals, and your butt ends up taking a beating. And that’s been the case with me for days on end now. So I end up having to ride 1-2 miles in the saddle and then get out of the saddle and ride for 5 or even 10 mins, at the same speed as I was pedaling in the saddle, just to take the pressure off of my butt. So my average today once I started to go due west was about 9.5 mph. And that got me to Goodrich where I was planning on having a coke and sandwich. But I pulled into town rather than stay on the truck bypass, and there was nothing there. No store, no gas station, nothing but some houses and a few commercial est. that had nothing to do with food.

That’s the problem with doing an itinerary at home on your desktop computer and just kind of googling and mapquesting routes and places. Sooner or later run into places like Goodrich where there are just no amenities. Good thing I had a plastic coke bottle that I saved and filled with extra water for occasions such as this. So I still had plenty of water, and my next stop was my final destination – McClusky. There were no towns of any significance on the way. No choice but to just keep riding, so I exited town and proceeded west on 200. And then I saw this just massive low angle climb that seemed to roller coaster up, swale after swale, for miles, as far as I could see. So just for *^&$%^# and giggles I looked at my trip time, and started climbing, in the saddle, out of the saddle, on and on and on. And at the beginning I picked this point way the hell up the road, almost on the horizon, that I would use as my finish point, hopefully at the top of the climb. So I began climbing, up and up and up. When I finally topped out I looked down and saw that I’d been climbing for over 40 min. And this is NORTH DAKOTA!

Four hours in, at just prior to 11 AM and the headwind was in full force. It had just every so subtly gotten harsher and harsher each and every hour until it was just bending the weeds and crops down in a big way. Another hour of riding on way less hilly terrain and I got to the town of McClusky. My options were few, and as I’ve said, that’s part of the strategy of riding out here – timing your final destinations right. I was just around 60 miles in, and to go for Bismarck would be another 60 miles. So it took me over 5 hours to go 60. Shooting for Bismarck would be an 11 hour day in the saddle. My closest town with amenities prior to Bismarck is Washburn, which is 40 miles and definitely out of the way for my ride to Bismarck. Everything else is likely just what I found in Goodrich.

So McClusky was it. Found yet another efficiency and got settled. This one has pots and pans and silverware. So no need to go out and hit a restaurant. Nope, went to a little grocery and bought some Ramen noodles and some frozen dinners to put in the microwave. Do my own cooking tonight! I’ve been told that the rest of the way to Bismarck is pretty flat. Hope so, as I’ve got a solid 60+ mile day tomorrow. Looking forward to a potluck dinner tomorrow night at Carol’s house with the Bismarck tri-gang in attendance. Should be a really fun evening. My air card is JUST barely working right now, so if I cannot post this tonight, that’s why. This is the first instance where my reception is ZERO bars, but I was able to eek out a couple of emails. Skye? I tried, but just an impossible situation there. Hope this isn’t a sign of what’s to come in Western North Dakota. All the best……Pete

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