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 17   Fargo, ND to Alexandria, MN 107 miles / 2,155 feet of elevation   Sun, cold and windy!   LIFE DRAINING HEADWINDS FOR 107 MILES!   No matter where we turned or what road / bike paths we found ourselves on, we had stiff headwinds all day.   This led to one of our longest days in the saddle, 8 hours and 18 minutes of total time (with food / water breaks).   (Our 19-20 mph average went to 13-14 mph.   Tough riding!) About 10 minutes into our day’s ride we crossed the border into Minnesota.  Here's Scuba Steve / Steve Miska putting the new state’s flag on the back of the van. Within 20 minutes of that we knew we weren’t in North Dakota any longer.   The road surface and shoulder area quickly deteriorated.   And the courteous, friendly drivers vanished.   I got yelled at twice within our first 40 minutes in Minnesota, “Hey, you’re supposed to yield – don’t ya know?”   (In a heavy Minnesota accident...
  Day 15   Bismarck to Jamestown, ND 106 miles / 3,542 feet of elevation   When we woke up this morning it did not feel like the official "end of summer” was two days away.  Outside it was a “wet cold.”  We rolled out of Bismarck on “bike trails” to avoid the Monday morning commute on the city’s street.  After warming up, our pace was quick which heightened the cold.  One way to describe this early morning cold is to think of that cold when you tuck your chin under your jacket collar to avoid the cold on your face – that’s the kind of cold we started with and it didn’t really warm all day. We traveled on bike trails past St. Mary’s College on the very outskirts of Bismarck and then we transitioned to country frontage roads where the only motorized vehicles we saw all day were pickup trucks and farm equipment.  These drivers seemed perfectly at ease with three guys on bikes in the far-right lane. Later in the morning, the cold temperatures best fri...
  Day 11   Grass Range to Jordan, MT   101 miles / about 3,300 feet of elevation (for those wondering, 7,268 calories burned this day)   We started day 11 at a highway intersection outside of Grass Range, Hwy. 200.   Hwy. 200 promised to be a less traveled highway and it delivered on the promise.   We saw few cars / trucks today and those that we did encounter had the nicest, most accommodating drivers we have seen.   If Idaho has the worst drivers we have met, Montana has the best drivers so far.   Thank you Montana drivers! My bike is fixed and running perfectly.   Here is a photo of what the derailleur should look like when fixed to the bike frame, not sitting in my hands like yesterday’s photos! Today was very cold, wet, raining (biting rain at times) but we had great roads to ride on so we hunkered down and finished the 101 miles in near record time for us.   I think we were driven to get out of the extreme cold.   ...