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.