Well, the rain didn't stop until about 8:30 am after raining all night long! We started the morning by going through the slow process of drying out all our gear, especially our tents. If we roll them up wet, they will get mildew and smell. So, we took the time to set the rain fly out into the sun until fully dry. Needless to say, we got a very late start out on the day. I think it was at least 11am by the time we left camp. We had about 1mile of pedaling through the dirt/gravel road before we got to pavement. It wasn't as bad as we had thought it might be, but definitely a bit mushy.
We are just over 100 miles from Fargo, ND. Our original plan was to travel half-way to Fargo and we had decided that there were two options for stopping - both camping. One was about 50 miles and the second about 62 miles. Both options were at very small town city parks and descent stops right on, or close to the route. But Jake and I were feeling strong and both looking forward to a good shower, nice bed and good food. So at the last convenient store stop, we made the decision that we'd try to make it to Fargo, but with the late start, we were short on time. We had about 3.5 hours of daylight and about 45 miles left to get there. I think a bit of our motivation was also to log at least one century during this adventure, so we decided to go for it - all the way to Fargo. See you later, Minnesota. We enjoyed you!
The terrain was mostly flat and we had a side-wind from the north. The route is mostly due west. We kicked in pretty hard, worried about getting into town after dark. I can speak for myself, I started gassing at about 85 miles and relied on drafting Jake (who was a machine). I'm super impressed with how strong Jake was during this whole ride. As we approached town, we called a hotel reserve a room. We pedaled into town and to the hotel (my cycling computer had logged 99 miles when we arrived). But, when we went inside the hotel, they said there was a delay between our booking and their hotel filling up - there were no rooms available. So, we called around some more (by this time it was fully dark) and ended up at the Radisson hotel downtown Fargo. The location is great and the hotel is nice. There are plenty of food options all around us. But for tonight, it was late and we had a pizza delivered to us.
Section #5 is complete!
Good work guys!
ReplyDeleteLooks like it was a pretty ride yesterday!
ReplyDeleteSounds like an outstanding day!
ReplyDeleteInteresting, Bonnie and I stayed at a downtown hotel in Cheyenne for same reason - the other major chains were booked. Turned out to be more historic.
ReplyDeleteVery impressive century gents! Way to go. Hope you managed to get a late check out?:-)
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