Two Wheeling West

Back on the bike in ND

Posted by Andrew on July 7th, 2009 -   

I think I picked the perfect spot to get off the train in ND and start riding again!  Most of eastern ND (at least up north) is flat and looks pretty much like Indiana blanketed in wheat instead of corn.  I was up early on the train to watch the wheat fly by - I woke the guy next to me so he didn’t miss his stop, and the woman across from me decided to start snoring at 5 AM.

Anyway… got off the train in Minot and watched two guys try and run after the train when it left them in the station.  They were warned to stay close - we were an hour late and the conductor made it very clear that the stop would be a short one.  One train a day through this area, so I hope they enjoyed the coffee they absolutely had to  get!  After I laughed at them shuffling toward the train, I realized that I left my mirror (helmet mounted) on the train.  Damn, off to the local  bike shop.

Val’s Cyclery is great, and I ended up with a better mirror, gave my extra bungee cords away to another tourer, and got the last two Northern  Tier maps from someone else.  They also warned me against following the maps west (they were going east), and  suggested I take route 2 straight to Williston instead of the back roads.  There are several few small oil wells in the area with none large enough for a pipeline, so they haul the oil around in trucks.  The trucks must use the ACA maps as well - apparently the route is littered with them.  Route 2 has a nice shoulder, well graded, and traffic is certainly fast, but has been good to me so far.  The only car that got close to me was a school bus#$%!

This part of the route doesn’t have many campgrounds, or towns, or people, or much of anything, so I stopped in Stanley, ND for the night.  I used the Internet for a few minutes at town hall, had a chat with some people about the weather, then headed north to find a quiet corner of the town park.  Surprise! Other tourers!  Alan and Grace are on a 4 month cross-country/visit friends trip, and Laurie is headed west from Michigan.  We all shared mac and cheese, chips, steamed asparagus, and plenty of beer - good times, I’m glad I ran into them!  We’re all in Williston for the night after being rained on all morning - time for food, laundry, more food, and some rest.

56 miles yesterday, 72 today + whatever we ride around town, and possibly 90 tomorrow.  I feel great and could have covered more miles during the last two days, but purposely kept it low to take it easy on my body.  So far, so good!  I plan on gradually ramping back up to 80-90 per day, weather, terrain, and campgrounds permitting.