FARGO, ND
DAY 39 JULY 5 75.2 MILES
Work to eat. Eat to live. Live to bike. Bike to work.
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Each of the past few mornings have become a couple of degrees warmer so this morning, we were able to start without jackets. The stiff southeast wind had continued through the night and also remained with us all the way to Fargo.
After about 3 miles, we entered a town and the the bike trail ended. From then on, we were back on normal roads. Typical for a Saturday, traffic was very light and of very little concern.
The Viking Cafe in Fergus Falls came highly recommended and the large Nordic portions made it unique. Items such as super large pancakes with sausage patties that looked like large hamburgers combined to fill all of the tables and forced an additional 20 potential patrons to wait in line. We were fortunate to arrive shortly before the line started to form and no one departed hungry.
A group of 8 of us left the cafe at the same time and headed for Fargo. The tailwind combined with the efficiency of the peloton gave us speeds averaging in excess of 20 mph. My cycling computer registered a top speed of 30.5 at one point. We covered the first 40 miles seemingly in no time. The roads consisted of gentle rolling grades, not exactly hills, and our momentum from going down one grade would take us more than halfway up the next one before requiring a change of gears. With perfect temperatures, sunny skies and the tailwind, we could not think of any way the day could possibly have been better.
Incidentally, the word peloton comes from the French. It simply means a group of riders. Most of our aviation, automobile and bicycle terms originate from the French language. Indeed, the term bicycle is actually pronounced B-C-Clay'. I am fine with it as their words usually sound much better than ours.
When we crossed the Red River, we left the state of Minnesota and entered North Dakota. It is the 12th we have entered and, although we still must ride through this state, there will be only 3 others after this. Of course, it will take us 4 more weeks to cover these last 4 states.
Tomorrow is another rest day but we also have another service project. We will learn the details in the morning but again it is working at the home of someone with MS. At least, our legs will have a little rest.
Tip: Place thin, resilient insoles in your shoes to improve comfort.
