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How far can you go from One promising candidate
is Highway 75, which runs North-South parallel to Interstate 29 roughly
tracking the Best of all: There is a
Jefferson bus service coming back from |
Friday, August 27, 2004
”If you want to hear the
Gods laugh, tell them your plans!”
On a recent visit at the Island Park Cycles
bikeshop in
I had a busy week at Microsoft with lots of
performance reviews – the last of which kept me in the office on Friday until
after 5:00pm. I had followed the weather report for this weekend for several
days. As this was going to be the last August weekend and I would be out of
town for the following Labor Day weekend, this was perhaps the last chance to
go really far this year. The days are already 2-3 hours shorter than when I
rode to
The weather was overcast and light rain on Friday,
with a forecast of generally sunny and dry on the weekend, light N wind on
Saturday switching to SSW on Sunday. While this sounds like a great recipe for
a two-day out-return ride with both days tailwind – like my trip to
Saturday, August 28, 2004
“Where should we ride on
Saturday? How about
Long-distance biker rule #1: If you want to go far,
leave early. For
I had also mounted a battery-operated front light
to show the way and help me avoid obstacles on the road. The moon was almost
full, and was helping quite a bit between some cloud fields for the first
couple of hours prior to setting around 4:30am. I had ridden through the entire
night before – but that was some 20 years ago with my friend Andi trying to
cross the Austrian Alps heading to the
The usual trepidation when you start something BIG:
This is crazy! Is this really happening? How will it go? What will give the
most trouble? My legs, the back, the neck muscles, or – most critical for
endurance sports - the brain? I leave at 12:00am sharp.
I see only a few cars in the Friday night city
traffic and wonder what they may be thinking of me – coming back late? or
starting out early? After a few miles I cross the Red River into
At least it is not too cold with 58F (14C) and I
start riding in shorts. The cloud cover prevents it from cooling much further. For
a long time when looking back I can see the halo of
There is practically no traffic. When I stop every
hour for a quick 5 min rest, I just sit down in the middle of the road, which
attracts less mosquitoes. Unfortunately there is hardly any wind, so no
tailwind sailing like to Winnipeg last year L At times it all seems a bit unreal when I think about what I’m doing
out here instead of sleeping in my bed at home – a separate reality. The clear
night sky never fails to amaze me. Once the moon sets around 4:30 it is
completely dark and the milky way shines clearly. I crane my head to gaze at
the stars while on the bike, but have trouble riding in a straight line when
doing so.
My best stop is at 3:00am in Breckenridge/Wahpeton
{[2] in route map}, where a friendly hotel receptionist of the only place open
lets me in and offers me free lemonade and some company. When she asks where
I’m heading, I get that startled look of disbelief I have seen so often on
long-distance rides. I will see this look on many more faces throughout the
day…
Letting my mind wander to all kinds of thoughts I
am often amazed how quickly the hours are passing by. The full hour always gives
a short-term goal to look forward to, something as simple as having a few
minutes to rest and nibble at some cereal bar. And eating will be important, as
I will be literally covering 200km before breakfast today!
As expected I am struggling with low morale
sometime between 4:00 -5:00am. It is cold, first fatigue sets in, you haven’t
had any sleep, no shops are open in the towns along the way… In
The 7:00am picture sees me posing in the bright
morning sun. As expected, the morning sun feels great! The first tough part of
the ride is behind me.
Half an hour later I arrive in Ortonville/Big Stone
Lake [4] just short of the 200km mark.
“Honey, could you make an
extra pancake – I rode 200km before breakfast!”
I stop and have breakfast, recharging myself and
the iPod battery. The 3 pancakes are some of the biggest I’ve ever had. I
struggle to finish them and keep thinking that with the pasta from yesterday
evening there should be no shortage of calories and carbo-hydrates for a while.
Again some short conversations with other guests in
the diner leading to that dazzled look on their face… Out on the road again at
8:15am it is still brisk and I freeze for a couple of minutes until sun and
muscles warm from outside and inside. The “official” 200km mark rolls around at
8:30am just as I’m on a bridge over a railroad line near Odessa, where Hwy 75
turns South again after going East for a few km.
On the following long straight-away I start to feel
some frustration about the lack of any noticeable tailwind. No push from
behind, already fatigued legs, and there are so many more miles to go! I also
have a bit of a stomach ache – maybe it’s from the large quantities of food,
the unusual time, the crouched position bending over on the tri-bars, or simply
all of the above. I stop for minutes only in
On the next leg down to Canby (near [5]) I am
struggling big time. I have been riding some 10+ hours, the average speed is
lower than usual, there is no tailwind and there are also more hills here. And I
haven’t even reached the half-way point to 
Near the nicely renovated Lund House I find a public
park and decide to stop for a longer 30 min break. While this puts me behind
the 100km / 4hrs average schedule, I feel it is the right thing to do.
Much to my delight the next leg is much more
pleasant to ride and my fatigue and stomach problems are gone. Even though
there is still no tailwind, I can keep much better speed going up the many
little hills and riding under some textbooks cumulus clouds just feels good
again.
I am positively surprised. It confirms what my
friend Frank told me once during a motorcycle trip when the going was tough
(due to driving in heavy rain at night): Just keep going steady and remember
that the bad times usually don’t last all that long and will give way to some
good times again. Well, definitely true for me today. In addition to my
recovery, there are first gusts of noticable N wind which also help to
accelerate my cruising speed. The 300km mark rolls around at 1:00pm. Only three
times have I gone further, and never has there been so much daylight left at
this point. Every now and then a quick pit stop gives a chance to stretch and
assume different body positions.
There are several wind generator farms in the hills
here. Most of them are spinning - slowly, but at least they’re spinning and
pointing in the right direction. I’m approaching
The next stop is Pipestone. I have reached 350km
and need to make a decision about whether to “bail out” to
There was also some road construction listed on Hwy
75 as listed on MapPoint which concerned me. But the locals tell me that there
is no road construction going on, which helps me make the call: I decide to
just go for it – this is the day of the all-out push South!
Soon the 400km mark is beckoning just behind
Luverne [7], where Hwy 75 intersects with East-West Interstate 90. Like in a
competition against former incarnations of oneself, I am now up to only one
other ride where I went farther than sofar today. I stop for another power-nap.
It always takes discipline getting up again after just 5-10 minutes, but there
is simply not enough time in the day to rest more… I call my wife Tannaz to let
her know my status since this is one of the few areas with cell-phone coverage
(Interstate corridor). I pose for a picture next to the Interstate
intersection.
More gatorade, cereal bars and nut-mix to prepare
for the next leg. Mentally I now break the rest of the still considerable
distance into three more manageable sections of 45 km each. Between those I
plan to rest for 15 minutes. During the second section it will get dark and
then it’s going to get very tough…
But first there is the 400km mark at 5:23pm,
similar to the time I arrived at the same mark on my
The next little town is Rock Rapids. I detour a little
bit to get to a grocery store and buy some more bananas. Your body has a way of
telling you through cravings what’s best to provide next! I eat a total of 9
bananas today, among the many other things – long-distance riding a ka Monkey-business!
After Rock Rapids I experience to my dismay that
Hwy 75 does no longer have a shoulder, only loose gravel on the sides. That is
unfortunate and potentially quite unsafe, depending on traffic and light of
day, as bypassing vehicles may come dangerously close.
Yet at the moment the evening mood is quite
pleasant, with warm yellow sunlight and beautiful rolling hills to all sides.
If only it could last a couple of more hours like this… My next highlight is
the 440km mark rolling around just prior to 7:00pm, which represents both the
first of the last three (mental) sections, as well as my personal best for a
single-day bike distance. This deserves a break, laying barefoot in the grass
next to the gravel shoulder. I’m in party mode, my body and brain serving up
some more endorphines.
Whatever happens now, tonight it is going to be a
new personal best distance. I keep thinking: This may very well be the farthest
single-day bike ride of my entire life! It’s an interesting notion; not often
do you think that it is the single best <insert your activity here> day
of your life! In any event, this thought gives me extra motivation to put up
with the agony of the endless series of hills grinding up in low gear on one
side, rolling down to get up out of the saddle on the other side. At 7:45 pm
the sun is about to set, so I stop for the last-rays-of-sun picture.
While the sun is setting in the West, the full moon
is rising in the East. A few remaining clouds are glowing in the last warm red
sunlight. It would be nice to just stop and watch for a while, but then I am
pressed for time, as crazy as it sounds. There is a simple reason: The bus
schedule! From previous phone calls I learned that there is a bus leaving
I take the sunglasses off now. There are so many
mosquitoes in the air it feels like a soft sandstorm piercing your skin. At one
point a larger insect bumps into my helmet, then falls onto my left thigh and
bites/stings! I immediately wipe it off, but it keeps on stinging for several
minutes thereafter (and will still be red & itchy next morning). Not only
is the road narrow, it is also in really bad shape with lots of bumps. And then
those hills – relentless!
At 480km the daylight gets so faint that I can no
longer read the odometer. Welcome back to the dark side of riding… The next
hour is the most stressful of the entire ride. More traffic in both directions;
I’m in constant fear that some vehicle may not see me or not care enough to
slow down. A few close drive-bys suffice to put me in a state of high alert and
fear. Other than this last stretch Hwy 75 is really ideally suited for this
type of riding: wide, smooth surface, little traffic due to the near
Interstate, mostly flat. It seems that towards the end Hwy 75 is reversing on
all the above accounts. I start to feel like a zombie – tired, hectic, scared.
On the upside, adrenaline is the most powerful of all boosters, so I don’t feel
any soreness at all for a while.
Finally I reach Le Mars at 495km. I am happy to see
Hwy 75 widen to a 4 lane divided highway with concrete shoulder! I stop at a
Subway to get a sandwich and prepare for the last of the three (mental) sections.
It’s funny how you play those little games of setting yourself arbitrary, but
fixed goals, with discipline and reward, to divide and conquer.
Before heading out for the last 40km I put on long
pants and shirt again. The first km are tough. Sitting still for just 20 mins
made my leg muscles tighten up and the sweaty jersey chills me to the bone.
When you’re tired, you freeze more. It really puts me to the test to keep
going. But then it happens: The 500km mark is up at 9:42pm!
Sweeeeet! No time to celebrate yet, though. There
are still another 35km to ride, which will take 1 ¼ hour. More number games go
through my mind, and a little while later I realize that in less than 1 hour
this extreme endurance test will be over! I hope nothing goes wrong at this
late hour, no flat or other problem. There would be very little time to react
and still catch the bus.
On the outskirts of
At the first gasstation I ask for directions.
Luckily I was on the right track and it’s no more than a few blocks from here. Minutes
later I reach the Jefferson bus terminal in downtown
It is 11:07pm. Unbelievable! It is done! The trip
in numbers:
·
On the road:
23 hrs 7 min.
·
In the saddle:
18 hrs 15 min.
·
Trip distance:
536 km (333 miles).
·
Average speed:
29.4 km/h (18.4 mph).
If I catch that bus, I’m back in
But there is a wrinkle in this plan: The terminal
is closed! Nobody there. A displayed schedule in the window confirms the
12:05am departure, but without the terminal open I can’t buy a bike box and
thus not board the bus! I roll around a couple of city blocks to get a feel for
the neighbourhood. Restaurants, hotels, shops, etc. But before I know it it is
midnight and I don’t want to miss that bus…
I wait for 1 hour with nobody there except two cab
drivers who care enough about my bike to stop, have a cigarette and chat a bit.
Did I mention the funny look on peoples faces when you answer their question:
Where do you come from?
Then the bus pulls in to pick up any would-be
passengers. My fear turns reality – no bike allowed on the bus without bike
box! And there are no empty boxes in the storage room to which the driver has a
key, neither does he have any on the bus itself. So here I am after 23 hours of
pedaling and stressing to catch that bus and with one whiff – “sorry, it’s our
policy” - the driver destroys my hopes of returning overnight and getting some
well-deserved sleep! Holy-$@#!.
Sunday, August 29, 2004
”How about riding back
with the bike!” [Cab driver when asked what I should do now]
What do I do now? The next bus runs at 7:10am, but
the terminal won’t open until noon! So without getting a bike box from
somewhere pronto I will not even make it back to
Well, at least I have 6 hours, so I’m not exactly
in a hurry. But tired! Now that the excitement about reaching the goal and the endorphines
are wearing off and give way to the unexpected disappointment of having to let
the bus leave right before my eyes, I am so tired I could fall asleep standing
upright. A little sight-seeing has me stop at some interesting waypoints like
this mosaic on the Wells Fargo bank building.
From the cab drivers I learned about the nearest
24/7 store: A Walgreens just 3 blocks away. So I ride over there, roll my bike
inside – wouldn’t want to let it outside unlocked anyway – and ask some
friendly staff about a bike box. They sure don’t sell bikes at Walgreens, thus
no bike boxes. However, the guy checks the backrooms to see “what else is
there”. And as luck would have it, he comes back with a fairly big cardboard
box. The thing looks like you could fit a small refridgerator in it, not at all
flat like a typical bike box. This will be close. I quickly take out wheels,
saddle and handle bar to see whether it might fit. And indeed, with some
fiddling, the entire bike disappears into a card-board box originally designed
for some diapers or stuff! I am hugely relieved and thankful for the guys
passion to dig out a box from the backroom at 2:00am on a Sunday night.
Sometimes there is compassion for the fellow man – ahem, bikerider.
For a short moment I’m thinking I should have
thought about this 1 hour ago, then I might be sitting on the bus now. But the
past is the past, and the adventure is now with the future, not before with the
could’a should’a would’a.
Now what to do with the next 5 hours? Well, there
is a Perkins 24/7 family restaurant right next door, and I’m still hungry. So I
haul the box over there and get some food - the first hour is “planned”. I am
surprised how many people come in for dinner in the middle of the night.
I decided against a hotel – what’s the point if you
can only sleep there for maybe 2-3 hours. Plus the cab drivers re-assured me
that this is a safe neighborhood. In the morning the sun is here before the
bus. At the time of this picture, I had had 3 hours of park-bench sleep in the
last 48 hours. I badly needed a shower and some serious rest.
I ride up the elevator to the top of the parking
garage in this transportation building and look around the downtown area.
So there is an upside to have missed the bus:
Getting to see a bit of the city and of course driving back during daylight! So
I catch a glimpse of the
We change buses once in
The bus ride is wonderful. Mostly blue skies,
endless miles on the Interstate, farmers harvesting, trees swaying in the
strong South wind (would have been a good weekend for an out-return 2 day ride
with double tailwind!). The bus engine is gently rumbling on – no more forcing
oneself to getting up and moving on, just relaxing to the tunes of my iPod I
take in the rugged beauty of the Dakotas.
With a few stops along the way the bus takes
exactly 6 hours to get back to
Anyway, around 2:00pm I’m back in
The final 10 km or so I ride very slowly and
“carefully” putting my weight on the saddle, often riding standing up in high
gear. My legs are doing better than I thought, but my crotch isn’t. At 2:50pm,
less than 40 hours after I left Saturday midnight, I’m back at my apartment.
After the first order of business – shower and
brushing teeth – I clean the bike on my balcony and start typing this trip
report. I have to get the bike in due to a big thunderstorm bringing an intense
rainshower.
As I re-read these lines after finishing, I re-live
the 536 km one more time, remembering all the highlights, already forgetting
much of the suffering. What a gutsy adventure it was, round-tripping down to
As a parting thought: It proved possible to top my
previous personal best (440 km) by over 20% without any significant wind or
special preparation. The mind is a powerful thing. Sure your body needs to be
in good shape and you need to provide plenty of “fuel” along the way. But your
mind determines your true limits. How close is this to my full potential on a
perfect day? 500km may be the limit for now, but imagine a day with wind like
on the