Jamestown to Fargo

July 5, 2003

Westbound: Bismarck to Jamestown Eastbound: Fargo, N.D. to Fergus Falls, MN.

July 5, 2003: Jamestown to Fargo

Breakfast was nothing special, the weather was like a repeat of Friday, and I was underway reasonably early. Fargo wouldn’t require quite as much riding as yesterday, but it was still nearly a century away. Despite having done the 100 miles the day before, I felt pretty good. Conditions both days were favorable.

Eateries were not yet as common as I thought the growing population might suppport. I stopped at an interchange east of Valley City and found a restaurant-gas station combination. The staff did not seem at all welcoming for me. Was it my graying hair or was it my elastic pants? Whichever, I did get service and a really nice, albeit modest sized, hamburger, thin and grilled to perfection. Having gotten a little tired of dodging the rumble strips, I asked if old US 10 continued very far. It didn’t. So I returned to the highway and its distractions.

The Interstate’s shoulder is a different environment from the riding many cyclists choose. It generally is better pavement, except where degraded by rumble strips. It is a private lane giving many more feet of separation from the traffic. It was fewer opportunities for turning traffic. On the down side, it occasionally has more trash, and in the event of an encounter with a vehicle, the extra 15 mph compared to a country road might ensure fatal rather than disabling consequences. With pathfinding and traffic less significant threats, one invests most of one’s riding attention in watching for junk on the pavement.

The Interstate tourist, however, does need one specific skill: when approaching an off ramp, the bicyclist must be able to judge whether a vehicle will exit. Since the motor vehicle will approach the exit at five times the cyclist’s speed, one does not want to misjudge the driver’s intentions. I have found the safest choice to have been to ride the off ramp until I can be sure no vehicle can reach it before I cross over it and rejoin the shoulder. One time near home, I exited the highway myself and re-entered at the next ramp rather than take a chance crossing the ramp. One time in Oregon, I simply stopped and got off the bike until traffic cleared. When approaching an on ramp, the challenge is similar except that now the right hand mirror provides information about accelerating vehicles.

After lunch, I approached a special rest area reserved for truckers. There wasn’t much traffic but I followed my usual routine. When I could see that no vehicle could enter the lane, I turned gently back to the left to cross the exit ramp and to regain the shoulder. Unfortunately, I had not looked down at the pavement immediately under me. A repaving effort had left the exit ramp three inches lower than the shoulder at that point. My front tire could not climb that little wall, and before I knew what had happened, I was on the ground.

Because I had been riding at about 15 mph, there was real kinetic energy in my collision with the ground. Both hands were bleeding, I had road rash all along my left side, my shirt sleeve was torn, and I had decent wound/bruise on the inside of my left elbow. Having involuntarily ridden bike down, I had no injuries above the shoulder or below the knee. My luggage was fine but the ride hand mirror was broken and the handle bars were twisted.

It took a second or so for me to realize what had happened. The next thing I noticed was a small car stopped on the shoulder and the young driver approaching me to see if I was ok. It only took a few seconds to assess things. Once I could see that the wheels and I were both ok in generally, I could assure him that I would be able to continue. Then came the interesting part.

He told me that as he passed me he had waved and I had waved back but I had no recollection of any interaction. My psychology course had told me that the brain has a short term storage area, good for maybe 15 seconds in which it stores our most recent observations before most are discarded and the important thoughts are sent to longer term storage. When something important occurs, it can flush the short term memory away. Sure happened that day.

I thanked him for his concern and started to organize myself again. Adjusting the handlebars was easy. Rinsing my hands stung but was no problem. I spent a few moments trying to focus on where I was and what I sought to accomplish. My problem was that the bliss of the last day and a half was now gone and I was still maybe 40 miles from Fargo. If I had a nearby sag vehicle I would probably quit for the day. If I had other riders with me, I might have gotten some sympathy. As the intrepid solo tourer, I really had no choice. If I didn’t get back on the bike, I would have to sleep on the ground and then face the same choices in the same location the next morning. I got back on the bike.

After a few miles some of my trust returned. I didn’t push as hard but made reasonable time the rest of the way into Fargo. In a few places the road and traffic were more challenging, but those were lesser distractions. When I reached exit 348, I saw signs for several motels. As I checked out the reasonably priced properties, however, I found either they had no space or their only vacancies would require me to carry the bike upstairs. I rode towards downtown. Soon I reached the Kelly Inn, a nice property that promised broadband connection to the internet and was in the midst of a commercial center with attractive possibilities.

Having held a good speed for most of the day and not having actually lost much time to the fall, I had time to clean up and visit both the Barnes and Noble in the block behind the motel and the large supermarket across the boulevard before getting a very nice dinner at the adjacent “Grandma’s Saloon and Grill.” The visit to the Barnes and Noble was particularly important since I had finished both the Forsyte Saga and Lady Anna and needed a new book. I found Katharine Graham’s autobiography, “Personal History,” which kept me busy from this last outpost in North Dakota across Minnesota and Wisconsin and into Michigan. More importantly, the distractions took my mind of the fall.

93.9 miles in 6:20 on the bike for an average of 14.8 mph.

Back up to Glendive to Fargo

Westbound: Bismarck to Jamestown Eastbound: Fargo, N.D. to Fergus Falls, MN.