Photos of RRIBT courtesy of Grand Forks Herald

Several of our RRIBT riders reaching the border crossing into Canada

A RRIBT rider passing by a beautiful Canola field in full bloom, one of many found in Northern North Dakota & Minnesota and throughout Canada

Recap of Day 5 - June 22, 2007

RRIBT Day 5 Wrap-up

By Dean Schieve, RRIBT participant

The Food:
I think I was 13 years old the last time I ate six pancakes at one sitting, until the good ladies of Warren, MN, served up a hearty breakfast to the RRIBT riders on Friday—so that should tell you something about the quality of food along the RRIBT trail. Five bucks and all you could eat—pancakes, sausage and scrambled eggs. After leaving the Old Mill State Park campsite nearly 20 miles earlier and, as usual, against the wind, it was an energizing feast.

The People:
The story of the day was recounted during a conversation sprinkled with words of praise for the friendly people all along the RRIBT route—it happened earlier in the week in Gilby, where one very experienced adventurer was telling a less experienced rider that while he had met lots of friendly people during his many bike rides, the locals he had encountered during RRIBT had been particularly friendly…the friendliest ever…to the point that they would give the shirts off their backs for a stranger. Then, in preparing to leave the Gilby rest stop, the veteran casually mentioned that he’d wished he’d brought a jacket since the weather seemed to be cooling some…immediately a woman overhearing his comment said, “would you like to have my jacket?” and was intent on giving it to the stranger. Point made.

The Towns:
I had never been to Angus, MN, before; now I can say I’ve been there. Right out midst the brilliantly green fields, with the millions of wheat stems blowing harmoniously in the wind, making for an undulating sea-like panorama. Sherack was the only other town along the route, where neat tidy homes in town and country were the norm and quintessential red barns and white farm houses were frequently scattered along the way. The roads were good with few of the tar patch lines we’d become familiar with along the way. The run from Sherack to East Grand Forks was longer than expected (RRIBT miles explained below) so those of us toward the end of the stretched-out group were happy to see Gene Driscoll at the half-way point providing an improvised rest area from his car, refilling water bottles and handing out bars.

Casualties:
Truth in mileage was a casualty today, with the 48 miles cited in the RRIBT map increasing to 57 miles by the time wheels rolled into Sherlock Park in East Grand Forks. With time on their hands during the longer stretches of the road, some people were beginning to develop concordance tables recalculating RRIBT miles into actual miles. More sunburns—actually, sunburns overlapping sunburns—depending on the changing length of biking shorts worn on any given day. A number—lots—of the riders who had camped out overnight said they were victimized by mosquitoes…to this I say…we are in Minnesota, aren’t we.

The End:
A couple of lively bell-ringers and a local radio station welcomed the arrival of RRIBT riders to Sherlock Park. Subway provided a welcome repast at the end of the ride, with unlimited sandwiches, cookies, chips and beverages provided free of charge. One of the more experienced riders said RRIBT was “awesome” and some people were already making reference to next year’s ride. Some, on the other hand, were still in the recovery mode and just anxious for cool quarters and a hot bath to soak their sore derrieres. Some of us were collecting our “I survived the RRIBT Century” pin and feeling glad Tuesday wasn’t as warm as the 90-plus temperature at the end of the ride. No doubt all the riders were happy that rainfall during the ride was almost non-existent. Finally, a hallmark of a good bike ride is always the making of new friends or reconnecting with old ones—to this end, RRIBT seems to have been a great success.

Recap of Day 4 - June 21, 2007

A bicyclist's life on the RRIBT road

By Tu-Uyen Tran, Herald Staff Writer
Published Friday, June 22, 2007

OLD MILL STATE PARK, Minn. — This week, Dave Wrubel unexpectedly gained a wife and three teenage sons when a gas station attendant assumed the group of riders in the Red River International Bike Tour were part of a family.

The riders had met as strangers Monday but had become fast friends over the next few days as they hung out together and rode together in the 342-mile tour across North Dakota, Manitoba and Minnesota. That the Wrubel "family" isn't the only close-knit group in the RRIBT is an illustration of the intense camaraderie that develops in such tours.

In fact, the whole group of 109 riders is something akin to a tribe of nomads, wandering merrily across the plains.

Sometimes they congregate in little families as Wrubel and his friends Deb Hutson (the "wife") and the three high-schoolers (the "sons"), who include Gabe Olson and Kyllo Ronnie of Grand Forks, and Roland Sink of West Virginia. Usually, those of similar endurance rode together, the fast ones with the fast ones and the slower ones with the slower ones.

Sometimes the riders traveled alone, slowing to chat with other members of the tribe as they encounter them on the road or at mealtime.

As a reporter struggled down U.S. Highway 75, two different strangers approached, slowed and started to talk. They said things like: 'Hey, you're that Herald reporter!' 'How are you faring?' 'You slowed down a little there.' 'How long have you lived in Grand Forks?'

One stranger volunteered that her friends are up ahead but she couldn't keep up so stayed behind. Another stranger spoke of how he wanted to begin bicycle touring and was trying the RRIBT to do a shakedown cruise of his new touring bike. And then they were gone, as the reporter had failed to keep up.

Look ahead

Like nomads, the riders would gather at choice watering holes or oases. For a tired RRIBT rider, the small towns along the route are lush oases, where bikers refresh themselves, rest their legs and swap stories with the locals.

Yet the difference between oasis and mirage is oh so fine.

The town of Stephen, Minn., is but eight miles down the road from Donaldson, Minn. Not an especially long ride on the 71-mile Pembina, N.D., to Old Mill State Park, Minn., leg on Wednesday, but it frustrated several riders. The prairie being flat as it is, they could see Stephen sitting on the horizon as soon as they left Donaldson.

But, as one rider said, the darn thing never seemed to get any closer.

What was worse, that's where the town's ladies had gathered to serve homemade doughnuts and ice-cold lemonade under the hot sun.

The tribe looks after its members.

The bicycle mechanics are the smiths who win praise for their skill in fixing and fine-tuning RRIBT participants' machines.

On a recent evening, the young Andrew Knutson, a mechanic at the Ski and Bike Shop in Grand Forks, won accolades from onlookers for not only lowering a reporter's bicycle seat as requested but also, out of sheer enthusiasm, cleaning and oiling the chains and adjusting the brakes, too.

For the riders who can't finish the day's ride, the tribe has thoughtfully provided what's colloquially known as the "sag wagon." That's the car in which dead-tired riders are transported. It's not a name designed to encourage use.

At day's end, the nomads would gather in camp.

Like at the bonfires of old, the elders would pass on lessons to the younger generation.

That's how a reporter interpreted it anyway when Dave Sour told the younger men around him of his trick for beating mirages like the one at Stephen. Focus on a nearby terrain feature and make getting to that feature the goal, he said. When you get there, find another clump of tree or telephone pole and make that the goal.

When the younger men asked him how long he'd been touring, he said "since 1992." The respectful nods prompted him to crack: "Sometimes the gray hair gets a little respect."

At the gathering, the hardcore riders would boast like warriors, and their rivals would deprecate their efforts.

Tony Chu, a Grand Forks resident, joked that his friend Paul Knight was obsessed with riding 100 miles in a day, a feat riders call the "century." How obsessed? Knight was said to have ridden around and around in the parking lot to get the last three miles needed to make a century.

Knight protested that he wasn't really that crazy, to which Chu shot back: "That's why you only talk about it every three minutes."

Recap of Day 3 - June 20th, 2007

Two Countries on two wheels

By Tu-Uyen Tran, Herald Staff Writer
Published Thursday, June 21, 2007

PEMBINA, N.D. — With an excursion into southern Manitoba, riders in the Red River International Bike Tour made another checkmark Wednesday on the list of places they've ridden.

Organizers had hoped a tour that allows riders to check off two states and one country would prove attractive — and they were right.

"That was the No. 1 thing," said Dave Wrubel, a veteran rider from Columbus, Neb., who's previously toured 20 states. Bicycle touring is ideal because, he said, he gets to see different parts of the country, meet new people and stay fit. "It's like an addiction."

John and Teresa Swoyer, a couple from Andover, Minn., have the same bug as well, having been through 15 states so far. "We are trying to get as many states as possible," she said.

Perhaps surprisingly, riders were not put-off by the valley's flat terrain seeing in it both beauty and a challenge.

Several riders said they came away impressed with the landscape's rich colors.

"I can't believe how green it is," said Pete Nagan, a veteran rider from Neenah, Wis. The different varieties of crops fascinated him, he said, and he's managed to learn a lot from a fellow rider who farms in Cavalier, N.D., only a few miles from the tour route.

Teresa Swoyer said she appreciated the contrast between the bright yellows of flowering canola in Manitoba with the big red barns she saw there. And the fields in the valley are green, she said, so unlike the dry South Dakota farms where she and her husband grew up.

The hospitality didn't hurt either, with many valley towns putting much effort into making the riders feel welcome and well fed. Several riders recalled fondly the pastries and fresh doughnuts that awaited them early Tuesday morning in Gilby, N.D.

"It's unbelievable," Wrubel said. "I don't think I've heard one person complain."

But the tour also presented riders with a major challenge.

"The North Dakota winds have not disappointed," said Nagan. "They have lived up to their reputation."

That's kind of the point, though, he said, as riding into the wind is a lot like riding uphill all day.

Wrubel agreed. Unlike a windy road, he said, there aren't any mountains that are 20 to 30 miles long.

For some, though, the wind came as a bit of a surprise.

The Swoyers picked the RRIBT tour because they figured the flat terrain should make for some easy riding, Teresa Swoyer said. They'd never done a big multi-day tour before and wanted to take it easy their first time, she said.

It's flat alright, she said, "but nobody said anything about wind."

Recap of Day 2 - June 19th, 2007

By Dean Schieve, RRIBT participant

The Weather:
Well, let’s just say they weren’t calling the wind Maria (gen X and Y: google Clint Eastwood “Paint Your Wagon”). Snarly was one of the more polite descriptions (and it’s not even in the Microsoft Word dictionary). While the 20-mile-per-hour winds weren’t as strong as they were on Monday, the direction of the tour was north and slightly west—which meant into the northwest wind every mile of the route. While Mike Kellogg said he only sagged about 12 people on Monday, the number climbed to about 45 on Tuesday, with Tim Driscoll providing additional sag support. “Monday wore ‘em down, and Tuesday finished ‘em off” said Mike. Enough said about the wind…after all, we are on the prairie, which for cyclists has its advantages over the Rocky Mountains.

The Towns:
After leaving the Woodland Lodge at Turtle River State Park, riders rode 10 miles north of Highway 2 to Gilby, where the first rest stop was located. It’s fair to say that after 30 miles into the wind, riders were very happy to see the outskirts of Pisek—the second town and rest stop of the day. In addition to replenishing water bottles, locals provided directions to a famous community painting and commentary on the upcoming festivities celebrating 125 years of community existence. Ten miles further up the road, citizens at the Park River City Park did a great job representing their community, to the point where I wondered if they were all honorary mayors greeting the newly-arrived, nearly-exhausted and totally-hungry riders. It was in Park River that many riders decided they’d rather spend more time eating and sitting than riding, so the “sag wagon” was called into service in a big way.

Then it was straight north again to Icelandic State Park, with the ridgeline of the valley looking foreboding on our left. A welcome site, Icelandic is a beautiful state park with well-tended campsites, beach, museum and trails. However, for those choosing the option of the RRIBT Century, they faced an additional 26 miles of riding. Twelve of those miles were heading west, still into a strong wind, and another mile and a half was a climb out of the valley up a huge hill (I’d say small mountain) that had several switch-back curves to the top. Beautiful, if you’re driving a car—big, long and ugly if you’re riding a bike…against the wind. Then, after reaching the top, turn around and coast down the hill at 30-plus miles per hour and pedal a wind-aided 20-mile-per-hour run back to Icelandic. About a dozen riders completed the Century.

The People:
The camaraderie was great, especially in the face of adversity (see “The Weather” above). I heard comments from out-of-staters like “The locals are so friendly.” My response simply stated the obvious, “well, we are in North Dakota.” I’m betting the locals in southern Manitoba and northwestern Minnesota will present the same friendly demeanor. In addition to meeting people from Rhode Island, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Winnipeg, I became acquainted with lots of people from Grand Forks and other North Dakota communities. A couple from the Cavalier area farmed north of town, but actually camped with the rest of the cyclists at the Icelandic State Park Campground, much to the amusement of their friends and neighbors who greeted us at the local street fair. The street fair was arranged locally for the community to help celebrate the RRIBT experience. A shuttle bus ran continuously all evening taking riders back and forth between the state park and downtown Cavalier, where food was varied, plentiful and really good; entertainment at the street fair included area karaoke performers.

Casualties:
Lots of splotchy sunburns, some a hold-over from Monday. The husband of the woman who broke a collarbone Monday was back on the trail today. Stiff joints were not unusual, but nothing a well-earned sleep couldn’t help cure.

Recap of Day 1 - June 18th, 2007

By Mary Schieve, RRIBT participant

The first day of the first ever Red River International Bike Tour turned out to be a challenging and memorable one. More than 100 people took off from the Grand Forks Town Square and cycled some 60 miles to Turtle River Park via Thompson, Northwood, Larimore and Arvilla. The sun was shining and after weeks of too much rain, it appeared that Mother Nature was going to give us a break. From Grand Forks to Thompson, it was a pretty pleasant ride.

After a short break there, we embarked on the 25-mile trek to Northwood and that was when the trouble started. We battled strong, unrelenting headwinds all the way, with gusts up to 45 mph. A narrow shoulder and a fair amount of traffic, including some pretty big trucks, added to the adventure on that particular stretch. We found ourselves clinging to the road and our bikes when some of those big semis passed. When we finally spotted Northwood, it was a welcome site, although I have to say, those last few miles into town seemed to take forever.

After a lovely little stop and lunch at a local cafe, we were good to go again, ready to tackle the last three miles of headwinds, which if anything, seemed to have picked up even more during our break. It was also time to take out the jackets, as the temperature seemed to have dropped a bit. Then it was time to turn north on 18, and the difference was incredible. The winds were still high, and conditions such that we might have complained under normal circumstances, but it was such a relief to not have to ride straight into the wind that we felt we were on easy street. The ride to Larimore was pleasant, even though at times the sound from the wind rushing through the giant cottonwoods sounded like the roar of the ocean.

At Larimore, we turned east and pedaled past some of the day’s best scenery—the Larimore recreation area. And what’s more, with the wind now at our backs, we were able to enjoy it and practically coast. It was on this stretch that we encountered the few hills of the day, and again, the tailwinds, were welcome.

It was a day to remember. As North Dakota native, Louis L’Amour used to say, “when you’re in it, it’s trouble, but when it’s over, it’s an adventure.” This was an adventure. The headwinds were tough, but these cyclists will have some tales to tell their friends when the trip is over.

All in all, a great first day.