(Pictures to follow!)
Average ground speed - 10
.2 mph.
Average airspeed - ~25 mph!
We awoke this morning and took our time getting breakfast, and breaking camp, so that Ann could be rested, fueled, and ready to ride. (She has been battling some type of cough/respiratory bug for the last four weeks.) But she was excited to start this adventure, so at about 9 AM we had everything packed up and ready to go. Chuck and Dave drove the truck, and Laura and Ann took the McIntyre rig, and we drove the 40 miles east to Beach where we would resume this ride/adventure. It didn't take long for adventure to strike! Along I-94, the cartop carrier on Chuck & Laura’s car came open, and cots, mattresses, sleeping bags, tent and rain fly flew out! Fortunately, there was little traffic and the items were recovered and repacked, and the latch was double checked! Shortly thereafter, we were pulling into the Flying J truck stop where we ended last year.
The wind was blowing strongly from the southeast
. The forecast had been 20 mph, and it was pretty accurate. Our route was almost exclusively east which meant winds off the right quarter and side. We weren’t very excited by this, but we don’t control the weather – God does! So we loaded up and by 10 AM headed out with both excitement and trepidation. Headwinds and side winds are tiring when you are pedal-powered.
Our route took us through the small town of Beach and onto Old US Highway 10. This mainly parallels I-94 through North Dakota. We rode past lots of rolling fields with occasional uprisings of rock showing old erosion marks. It was pretty, but would have been prettier with less wind. Our progress was slow (although Chuck and Laura - God bless them - said they were impressed with our speed)! They drove ahead and stopped at about 5 and ten miles to make sure we were doing OK. After thumbs up from us, they went on to Medora, where we were expecting to take a break.
We knew that today would have some hills, but the first part wasn’t bad – they were fairly gentle
. We stopped at the top of one when an older lady came out from her farm house, and we asked if the winds were typically from the Southeast. She said they are from every direction! We were making about 11.5 mph - disappointingly slow. But we were determined to continue.
There was a drainage to our right, and the railroad tracks ran along it, while the road we were on was off to the north side a ways. We had expected some downhill into Theodore Roosevelt National Park and Medora, (knowing that a climb out the other side would follow) but it never seemed to materialize. Headwinds turn downhills into work. After about 22 miles, we had to get on I-94 for a short time before exiting about 1/2 mile later for Medora. We had expected to be in Medora (using our more typical 14 mph average) before noon. But it was about 12:30 when we laid the bikes against the side of the truck and went into the camper to get out of the wind. With sandwiches to refuel us, we headed out again about 1:15 PM
. Given our slow progress, we told Chuck and Laura to go on to Dickinson and get the campsite, and we would probably be there between 5:15 and 5:30. (Four hours for 35 miles! That was based on a 10.5 mph average and some rest breaks.)
The wind continued to blow and we rode up the 6 miles of uphill out of Medora, mostly on I-94. Again, we expected some downhill after that, but it never seemed to come. Headwinds turn downhills into work. At about 36 miles we exited I-94 and took a break in the swale of the off ramp to get out of the incessant wind. Laying down in the grass brought some relief. We were tiring.
We returned to Old Highway 10, and started a continuing sequence of downhills followed by uphills, always with that south to southeast wind hammering us. Soon we met another (self supported) cyclist going west. He had started in Twin Cities (Minnesota) and was headed to Banff to meet with friends and ride the Great Divide Mountain Bike trail
. He has a lot of riding in front of him!
At about 48 miles we took a Coke break. Caffeine is great for bringing some energy for the last part of a ride, especially combined with snacks to keep us fueled. We stopped in the lee of a hillock that had been leveled to make way for the road, and got out of the wind some. We were very tired. It was nice not to have the wind howling in our ears. Conversation had been limited due to noise of the wind. We had not been able to hear each other well, let alone hear the normal nature sounds we have come to enjoy on our rides. The wind overrode everything. I took a photo of Ann spread eagle in the grass. (Later Chuck and I commented that we should title it "Road Kill". Ann preferred “Wind Fall”.) But Ann was determined to ride the whole way today, so after a bit of rest we mounted up again and trudged on. “Trudged” was what it felt like. Our training rides had been done averaging about 14 mph. Now, we were making maybe 10 – and we were slowly dying!
The last twelve miles or so took almost all we had
. Dave had been leading almost all day, with Ann getting some benefit drafting in his wind shadow. With about 3 or 4 miles left his energy reserves were dwindling and Ann became the “faster” (if you can call it that) rider. She led the way into the campground where Chuck and Laura had camp all set up, and there were showers waiting to revive us.
There were 4 unisex combination bathroom/showers in the building at the center of camp. Ann went around to one in the back, while Dave chose one in the front. Dave’s shower was almost too hot, while Ann’s was only tepid, and she came out clean, but definitely cold. She retreated to the camper, and warmed up while Laura cooked dinner.
After dinner we discussed our options for going forward. We clearly cannot do 60-70 miles a day under these wind conditions. The forecast remains for southeast winds the next few days. We will be modifying our schedule to deal with these conditions. It will mean being very flexible on all our parts, as to how far we go, where we stop, where we camp, etc. These will all be dependent upon how we hold up in these windy conditions.
A Hard Day's Ride
Saturday, May 30, 2015
Dickinson, North Dakota, United States
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