Day 27. Bismarck
108 miles 2,680 feet
I planned an early start expecting a long day. The motel breakfast was better than most, and better still because I met fellow cyclists Joe Culpepper, amd Guy Wyche. I also met Pam, Guy's wife, who is driving the sag wagon for the 2 of them and birding as she goes.
From the cyclist perspective, North Dakota is different in the west and east. The west has more vertical relief, with river valleys and eroded canyons. The eastern part of the state is flatter in part because of the Red River Valley of the north, part of the glacial Lake Agassiz. It is actually a glacial floodplain which is why it is so flat.
Today I biked the western half, ending in Bismarck which is the beginning of the flatter half. It was beautiful biking, with little rain. green and yellow fields and a gentle tailwind part of the day. I had to negotiate one closed road necessitating crossing I-94 (in a slow 40 mph 2-lane construction zone). It may be that Adventure Cycle is aware of this. They offer web updates to their maps. I make good mileage i part because there was a gradual elevation loss—on average I was going down hill, but in the see-saw pattern of earlier days.
The Adventure Cycle route into Bismarck is wonderful. You drop from rolling hills to a flat plain without much traffic, join a bike path that crosses the Heart River on a protected bike lane, travel through a quiet boulevard in the south of Mandan, then join a long bike path that passes through parks and crosses the Missouri in another protected lane. At the end of the bike path, my motel was across the street.
I wanted to reach Bismarck and I did—exhausted after my longest trip of the tour. I lost an hour crossing to Central Time so arriving at 6:30 was actually 5:30 pm Mountain. After a dinner of Chinese food I am writing these entries and going to sleep.
There are many ways other than solo, self-supported touring. Guy, Joe and Pam exemplify one alternative. A young woman I met yesterday was biking sans panniers; her mother was driving along the route with her gear and did not bike herself. Another couple I met yesterday traded off driving and e-bikiing and are doing the Northern Tier in sections over several years. Another approach is what Doug and Diane are doing: She has an e-bike and he does not.
I planned an early start expecting a long day. The motel breakfast was better than most, and better still because I met fellow cyclists Joe Culpepper, amd Guy Wyche. I also met Pam, Guy's wife, who is driving the sag wagon for the 2 of them and birding as she goes.
From the cyclist perspective, North Dakota is different in the west and east. The west has more vertical relief, with river valleys and eroded canyons. The eastern part of the state is flatter in part because of the Red River Valley of the north, part of the glacial Lake Agassiz. It is actually a glacial floodplain which is why it is so flat.
Today I biked the western half, ending in Bismarck which is the beginning of the flatter half. It was beautiful biking, with little rain. green and yellow fields and a gentle tailwind part of the day. I had to negotiate one closed road necessitating crossing I-94 (in a slow 40 mph 2-lane construction zone). It may be that Adventure Cycle is aware of this. They offer web updates to their maps. I make good mileage i part because there was a gradual elevation loss—on average I was going down hill, but in the see-saw pattern of earlier days.
The Adventure Cycle route into Bismarck is wonderful. You drop from rolling hills to a flat plain without much traffic, join a bike path that crosses the Heart River on a protected bike lane, travel through a quiet boulevard in the south of Mandan, then join a long bike path that passes through parks and crosses the Missouri in another protected lane. At the end of the bike path, my motel was across the street.
I wanted to reach Bismarck and I did—exhausted after my longest trip of the tour. I lost an hour crossing to Central Time so arriving at 6:30 was actually 5:30 pm Mountain. After a dinner of Chinese food I am writing these entries and going to sleep.
There are many ways other than solo, self-supported touring. Guy, Joe and Pam exemplify one alternative. A young woman I met yesterday was biking sans panniers; her mother was driving along the route with her gear and did not bike herself. Another couple I met yesterday traded off driving and e-bikiing and are doing the Northern Tier in sections over several years. Another approach is what Doug and Diane are doing: She has an e-bike and he does not.
Breakfast companions Joe and Guy
This is what North Dakota looks like
In the distance it looked like Big Ben. I was actually an unexpected Benedictine Abbey in a small town
Crossing the Missouri River in Bismarck
