We were all packed up and ready to depart the Cyclists Respite by 5:45 am. My last check was to make sure my cyclometer (bike computer) was working properly. Problem. It was missing... I went back in the room and looked around. Nothing. Damn it. Ended up dissecting my gear trying to find it. Nothing. Bill and Sandy were going through my stuff again as I went back to search the room again. Well whatdoyouknow. It was sitting in plain sight on the arm of the sofa. Sleuths we are. So 30+ minutes later we leave. Now that was frustrating. My bad. At least it turned up. Essential for a journey like this.
The day was going to be long. 74 miles. No places to stop at along the way for food or refreshments. So, we just have to bring it all with us. Besides food, I had 2.5 quarts of energy drink, 1 20 oz Diet Coke and 3 water bottles filled. Supposed to be hot today so hopefully it'll do the trick.
For being so late it sure was dark. Turns out it was super foggy! Condensation was so bad I couldn't see out of my sunglasses! Had to stop and take them off. Condensation was pouring off the brim of the cap I wear under my helmet. Crazy! This continued for miles. An hour into the ride we ventured putting sunglasses back into position. I certainly didn't want to provoke the sun into coming out. Cloudy days are ideal for long rides.
As I was riding along on one of the bumpy roads I have decided that I need to make a correction to yesterday's post. I described it as "bump. Bump. Bump." It should've read "Bump bump. Bump bump. Bump bump." Why you ask?? Short answer. Two wheels. One bump for the front. One for me back. So it goes. 😎
We decided to stop for lunch around 11:30 at an abandoned gas station. We got to sit for this meal. We typically stand by our bikes and wish we had shade. Shade wasn't necessary since it was still cloudy. After lunch we were still 30 miles or so from our destination.
Around the 50 mile mark the terrain got interesting. We swooped into Little Yellowstone valley. Top speed of the day @33.3 mph! Of course that meant we had to crawl up the other side. And so it goes. After that it was pretty smooth sailing. Not a lot of up and down. Light winds. Good shoulders. But the sun soon showed up to bring on the heat. We reached Enderlin by 2. I'm not sure exactly how long we were actually riding as I forgot to reset my computer.
We actually tried to get a motel room since it's so hot. Nothing doing. Booked. So we're staying in a municipal park. Bill and Sandy cooked up a steak and fruit salad. How can I lose!
Tomorrow we head for Fargo. The outer limits of North Dakota! There's a super cool bike shop we plan to visit.
Thanks for following.
Cheers!
Kim
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