The Flattest Road We’ve Ever Ridden

Friday, June 05, 2015
Barnesville, Minnesota, United States
Enderlin, ND, to Barnesville, MN

Montana may be called "Big Sky" country, but in eastern North Dakota, there is nothing to block the full dome of the sky – no hills, no buttes or ridges, and hardly any big stands of trees . So “you can see for miles and miles…”

None of us slept really well last night, and by a little after 7 we were all up and getting the day started. Becca actually started her day with a 5 mile run at 6 am, but since she didn't ride bikes today that’s more understandable. Breakfast was our usual eggs, bacon, fruit, and donuts, and then we packed up the tent and all the Langworthy gear into the back of the camper. By 8:45 we were all ready. Rodney, Dave and I mounted our bikes, and Becca and the girls started off in the camper.

There was a short little rise going east out of Enderlin, and that’s the last real hill we saw all day until the freeway overpass at I-29 some 40 miles later! This is very flat country. Which would have made for a lovely ride if we hadn’t had a 10 mph headwind all day. Rodney soon figured out our riding plan – go as fast as we can without Ann having to work very hard. Which meant an average of about 13 mph . In the morning we did okay. We took a few pictures as we rode, and there were windbreaks of big trees to break up the fields. The road continued very flat and very straight.

After about 18 miles we took our morning break shortly after, sitting against the chainlink fence of an electrical sub-station where there was clean gravel and not grass/weeds. Then we rode on into the wind. It was a relief to turn north at 30 miles and ride the short distance into Kindred where Becca and the girls waited with lunch. It’s a nice little town; it even has a bike path up from the highway! We ate in the park next to the brand new swimming pool. The old one was condemned by the health department, and the city leaders decided the town needed a pool, so they built a new one.

We had a great lunch of sandwiches and snacks, and rested for nearly an hour. Then it was time to mount up again, ride back to the main road, and face the headwinds again . We were able to stop on the way out of town at a convenience store to fill our water bottles with ice and water; cold water is just a lot more satisfying!

We rode on eastward, almost immediately re-crossing the Sheyenne River. No hills down or up this time.   The guys took turns leading, or they rode side by side so I could catch a “double draft.”  But the headwind still was hard on all of us. Just before Comstock, we crossed the Red River and entered Minnesota. It really should be the Brown River, because that’s certainly the color it was today. We were all really thirsty, and were concerned about running out of water, so when we saw a woman out in her yard in Comstock, Dave stopped and asked if we could fill our water bottles. She was very nice, and took them inside to fill them with water from her fridge. We chatted a bit, and 2 boys on bikes rode up to ask where we were going, so we talked to them for a while, too. Really nice, friendly people.

Grateful for the water, we headed out for the last 15 miles . And they got harder. The winds picked up more. We stopped for a short break about 12 miles from Barnesville, not even sitting down, just leaning our bikes together and standing as we ate and drank. It felt good to be off the bike seat. I generally have little discomfort on my bike seat, but this year it’s been increasingly uncomfortable – muscle pain, not bone pain. And the guys were also hurting. For the last 6 miles, it was just put your head down and keep pedaling. About a mile from Barnesville, Dave pulled off and said he just had to get off the bike for a few minutes. I agreed! We stretched, as we do at every stop, and nobody said very much. Then we pushed on into town.

The motel was right at the intersection, and soon we were all in our rooms, taking wonderful showers and starting to feel better. There was no laundromat in town, so I washed out some socks, jerseys, and shorts in the sink, and we hung them to dry in the camper. By then we were all hungry, so we decided to walk the half-mile (according to the motel clerk) to Rene’s Drive-in where the food was supposed to be really good . About a mile up the road, we decided we would never be able to walk back – assuming we found the place at all – so Dave walked back to get the truck. Rodney looked up the drive-in on his phone, and it was another half-mile or more away, across the I-94 interchange where they were doing road construction. So we waited for the truck, and then we all waited for another 15 minutes in the construction line before finally pulling into the parking lot of the restaurant. And it was worth it. Really good burgers, fried chicken, and a great chocolate milk shake!

Full to the gills, we drove back, dropped Rodney and the girls at the motel, then Dave drove Becca and I to the grocery store. While we picked up things to re-stock, he went back to the library parking lot to use the internet. We joined him, put away the food, and Becca walked back to the motel while we finished up here.

Everyone is very tired tonight. Tomorrow’s forecast is for 10-18 mph winds from the SE. So guess what direction we’ll be riding? Yep, SE, heading for Fergus Falls to pick up the bike path. We plan to stay in Ashby, only about 50 miles from here. Shouldn’t be too hard, right???

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