Fargo, ND. I just completed the Tour de Cure, one of the many organized charity rides to defeat diabetes. The route was simple: a square of four 20-mile legs followed by a 10-mile 'tail' into Minnesota. And, it was flat: the only time I had to climb was the overpasses over interstate highways.
As with all the rides in the Great Plains, wind presented a challenge. In this case, the wind was forecast to blow from the East, and instead came in from the West. Our first leg was a westbound leg early in the morning. Winds are light in the morning, so we missed a headwind at the start. This was followed by a southbound 20 miles in which we struggled with a crosswind. As I've said before, crosswinds can be nearly as challenging as headwinds.
But, from mile 41 to mile 61, we were propelled by a powerful tailwind, and most of us flew down the road on 'afterburners'. It was like getting on board a moving walkway at the airport -- even when I coasted I was doing 15 miles per hour. The northbound leg was another crosswind grind, and brought us close to the start with less than 80 miles completed. Thus, we added an East- West out-and-back across the Red River into Minnesota. Going East, we could bomb down the road again. But, once we turned around, pushing the final 15 miles into a stiff breeze drained everybody's battery.
I left early to be sure to finish by the organizers' stop time (3PM). Little did I realize that they made and announcement to recognize me at the group start. Thus, when I mentioned my 50-century project at one of the rest stops, several riders said, "So you're the guy! They were looking for you."
I hate being rude, and I appreciate their good intentions. But, I've found, if I don't leave early, I end up doing the ride pretty much alone. Nobody else, it seems, does my leisurely 60-year old pace. But, I appreciated the enthusiastic cheering squads at the rest stops and at the end of the ride. Lots of pom-poms and, of course, cowbells!
As most flat rides, there is not much to say in the scenery department. Farm followed farm, all of them huge. Occasionally, there would be horses. Roads in this part of the country go to the cardinal directions of the compass. Only the railroads get to go on a diagonal. The country is so open, that you can see all 120 cars of a freight train in the distance. (Okay, to help pass the time and the miles, maybe I did count the cars on the freight train while I was riding.)
This is Burlington Northern Santa Fe country. Union Pacific doesn't go anywhere near North Dakota. Add to that, the occasional short line such as the Red River Valley & Western. I saw lots of BNSF traffic. At one point near the end, I was racing to a crossing as a BNSF train was approaching (from the distance). I realized that I was increasingly likely to make it across before the gates closed. This made no sense -- with a headwind at mile 91 I am NOT faster than a a speeding locomotive! It turns out, the engineer must have had a stop signal, as his train coasted to a stop about 200 yards from the road.
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