Day 35 - Road construction

Day 35 - Park Rapids to Hill City, MN - 71 miles - 1457 feet of elevation gain

We always start out with the best laid intentions in the morning, but invariably something comes up and pushes our start back by minutes. This morning it was a flat tire, I might be off on my count but I believe this might be 5 or 6 for this particular bike. Once it was fixed we gathered for Lee’s quote of inspiration and prayer. Today’s quote: “This is a wonderful day. I’ve never seen this one before.” By Maya Angelo

Our first 20 miles or so were on a rail trail and it was awesome! A smooth paved surface away from traffic is a morning dream. Monny was greeting fellow trail users with a “top of the morning to ya!” So the two of us devised a plan to greet people with different greetings as we passed them. Like “Cheerio!” or “Good-day mate!” or “Bonjour!” We had fun with it, not sure if any of the passers noticed or wondered about our greetings.

After the trail we hit some roads with terrible shoulders. Not sure why so many areas neglect the shoulders, but it really affects cyclists. These areas aren’t really known for road cycling, perhaps if they had better shoulders more people would be out riding (guess it’s like which is first the chicken or the egg).

For a while we rode with no shoulder. It wasn’t ideal, but when there is only one road you just go. There were sections of route 200 under construction, which is why there was no shoulder. When we were stopped at a lake vista point, a road construction supervisor pulled in asking about our route. He advised that we not continue biking for the 6.9 mile section in the direction we were heading due to the road construction. So we loaded up the bikes and drove beyond the construction, then unloaded the bikes and continued on. The rest of the way had much better shoulders and the traffic was light.

We rolled into Hill City and our motel a little before 3pm. There was a slight change in that they moved the room for DeNise and myself about 3 miles away. We had planned on cooking dinner in our cabin. We were able to stick to the plan, it just involved shuttling people to and from our new pad. DeNise pre-made breakfast so they could warm it up in their microwave ovens instead of shuttling the group back to our place for breakfast. These are the extra logistics that keep us running, and keep me from getting other things knocked off my list. Oh well, there is always tomorrow! While we were at our place, the boys were checking out the lake on kayaks and canyons. It sounded like they had a great time.

We have two more ride days until a rest day. I think everyone is feeling the fatigue of passing the 2000 mile mark and some are dealing with some saddle area issues. This is the 3rd quarter and the end isn’t quite in sight yet. The mental game will continue to be the battle on the bike. Off the bike it will be the fatigue, sharing a bed and room, and the aches of the body that can come in and discourage someone from pushing on. These are the times that develop grit!