Date:
11.06.2018
Altitude:
1886.5 ft (575 m)
Distance:
75.94 mi (122.22 km)
Total
Altitude: 75777.6 ft (23097 m)
Total
Distance: 3034.60 mi (4883.80 km)
Start
of my 7th week on the bike. Last week consisted mainly of
a loop through Minnesota in order to see Montevideo,MN. I didn't make
a whole lot of progress on the Northern Tier rout westwards to
Seattle, although I managed to make some westwards progress on
Saturday and Sunday. Still I wouldn't say that last week was a wasted
week, I got to see some great places and I'm still ahead of schedule.
This week I don't have any detours planed and will stay on the
Northern Tier route.
After
I had nice weather yesterday and did make really good progress due to
the wind, today didn't go as well. The weather this morning was not
really pleasant, after some heavy thunderstorms during the night.
Before I left in the morning I checked if there were any severe
weather warnings for the area and if it was save to be out on the
bike. There were no warnings so I went ahead and started my trip for
the day. It was still raining when I started this morning and it was
just getting worse. After a few miles into my trip, I could see a
wall of low hanging clouds in front of me. As I got closer the wind
increased and it started to rain more heavily. Regrettably today the
wind was not coming from the east but from the west/northwest, so I
had to deal with some strong headwinds. The headwinds slowed me down
a lot and I didn't make a whole lot of progress. It stayed like this
until about noon. Later the clouds started to disappear and it became
a really sunny day. When the sun came out, the wind slowed down a bit
and it got easier to cycle to Bismarck and I finally could make some
real progress on today's route. If the wind wouldn't have slowed down
a bit, this would have been a really tough day. Nonetheless, I have
to say today was a lot harder for me than yesterday.
Today
I stayed again on state highways and for a short stretch on US 83.
The traffic on the state highways wasn't too bad, which was good
because there was no shoulder to go on. On US 83 there was a lot more
traffic, but luckily the highway had a wide shoulder. Still I was
glad when I could turn off US 83 and onto a less trafficked state
highway. I still didn't had to do many turns until I reached Bismarck
and probably I could have done without a GPS again. But the GPS was
really helpful going through Bismarck. Just as during the last few
days, I didn't pass through any towns along the way so it was good to
carry enough food and water for the day. Otherwise the the scenery
was similar to the last few days with wide open farmland/grassland on
the side of the road. Only the terrain seemed to be a lot more hilly,
it seemed like it was a constant up and down. There weren't any
really long or steep climbs, but still it got tiring after a while.
Probably the wind and yesterdays trip didn't help either, my legs
felt quit tired anyway . It got more hilly, especially in the second
half of the route going to Bismarck. Today I didn't really pay too
much attention to my surroundings until about noon. I was just trying
to keep moving and deal with the wind and rain. But the second half
of the day I enjoyed very much and with the sun I was even dry again
after a while. At the end of the day my legs still felt quite tired
so I decided to stay in Bismarck for two nights and get some rest.
Conclusion
for the day:
If
your out on the bike, it is best to check beforehand if there is any
severe weather predicted for your route.
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