Skip to main content

 

Day 16

 

Jamestown to Fargo, ND


106 miles / only about 1,400 feet of elevation!  WIDE OPEN ROADS!

 

Joe put together a reworked route that kept us off any major highways and the backroads and frontage roads he chose rivaled any ride we have had to date.  These roads were new, recently repaved and not trafficked. 

 

When we left just after sun-up, we had blue skies and wide-open roads.  Our early pace was brisk and we were quickly in and amongst “windmill” farms, which we enjoyed for many miles.  As we rode, with no traffic, we heard the gentle “whooshing” from the 120’ blades on these 150’ wind turbines.  At times the turbines stretched as far as the eye could see to the horizon. 


After riding through these windmill farms, the countryside (still with no traffic) gave way to corn crops, some flower and soybean crops – all ready for the upcoming harvest. 



These wonderful views, along with the beautiful weather and riding conditions, made for a perfect day of riding.  The new, well-maintained farm and fronted roads we were riding on were so soft that we renamed some of the roads; Tempur-Pedic, Sealy Posturepedic and Sleep Number!  Riding on these roads was like riding on mattresses!


At mid-point in today’s ride, Joe asked me, “Do you think anyone lives in this state because we haven’t seen any traffic in 90 minutes?”  People do live here and they are the nicest folks we have come across – all waved or waved back at us.  If you are looking for a great place to ride, go to North Dakota, the back roads for riding and the people who live here are both wonderful!


Popular posts from this blog

   Day 1   “They’re baaaack.”    That’s right, the same guys that spearheaded the RAA I (“Ride Across America I”) three years ago, Bob McCullough, Joe Geivett and Carl Forsberg are headed out on RAA II, this time the Northern Route across America. As you may recall, in August 2018 this group rode from San Diego, California to St. Augustine, Florida over 27 days, with a rest day in Austin, Texas.    RAA I was about 3,055 miles.    RAA II (who’s idea was this anyway, Bob?) is from Anacortes, Washington to Bar Harbor, Maine, our route is 4,251 miles.    One never has an appreciation for how much wider America is on its Northern border than its Southern border – until you map a bicycle route.    Due to scheduling considerations (the “vocation” as opposed to the “avocation”), we will ride from Anacortes to Minneapolis, Minnesota this year and pick back up in Minneapolis and ride to Bar Harbor this time next year.    (We hope to get a spectacular “New England Fall.”)    The first leg of RAA
  Day 7   Whitefish, MT to Summit of “Going-to-the-Sun Road (Glacier National Park)” 80(+) miles / 5,000(+) feet of elevation gain; many 6-8 grade climbs, few 16 grade (real, real steep!)   [Think of those yellow truck warning signs at the top of a hill with a black truck pictured descending with a warning for a 6% grade!   Some of these climbs were almost three times that grade – this truly was the “going to the sun” road!] Glacier National Park, MT, just outside of Whitefish, MT, was commissioned in 1910 or so and this road was built in the 1930’s.  This road is still considered one of the engineering feats in our nation’s history!  For those of you who enjoy the outdoors or viewing the overwhelming vastness of huge, panoramic vistas, this place is a must see on your bucket list.  It is hard to describe the majesty of mountain views and riding your bicycle among those peaks which were etched millions of years ago by glacial movement.  You feel very small but part of a much bi
  Day 12   Jordan to Glendive, MT 106 miles / 6,300 feet of elevation (multiple rollers!) / some portage due to significant road construction   Our very sunny but very cold day began in Jordan where it was 36°.   Couple that temperature with our early morning speeds of between 18-20 mph and that makes for a very cold start to our day. However, we had wide open, no shoulder but also no traffic, roads to ride on for the first 51 miles.  These first 51 miles consisted of a series of “rollers” where we got progressively higher in elevation.  We would climb a bit, descend, giving away some of that climb and then, climb higher the next set of rollers.  This is not something you would even think about if you were driving this highway but on a bike, you cringe each time you descend only to see the next hill looming in the distance!  We had literally no traffic for this first half of the day and that made these rollers enjoyable and fun.  After we stopped for our mid-day food / wate