"Waiting on the World to Change"

I take back everything I said about the mountains; the wind is worse. It is absolutely draining, daunting, and never-ending. I know that doesn't sound like a very positive note to start this journal entry on, but in a way, it is... I don't think I have faced a mental challenge quite like this in my life, and it feels pretty awesome to know that I am overcoming it. I keep telling myself, and anyone who will listen, that a lot people bike across the country and only a few do it the hard way, and we get to be a part of that group now.

After the build day in Duluth, it was time to hit the road again. We climbed out of Duluth and saw some of the best scenery we have seen on the trip so far. I personally got great satisfaction out of the climb because I have heard horror stories about it, but after what we did out east, it wasn't that bad. The rest of the ride to Grand Rapids wasn't all that eventful, just the beginning of the headwinds that will torment us the next 3 weeks. Grand Rapids is also the birthplace of Judy Garland, so if you ever need a "Wizard of Oz" fix, Caryn, it's not that far away.

From Grand Rapids we headed to Bemidji, MN, home of "Babe, the Blue Ox." This is when the winds began to eat away at my soul. I'm only being slightly dramatic there. The bright side of the long day and slow speeds was that there was a lot of chit-chatting all day and that makes the miles go by so much quicker. I probably shared far more about myself than anyone cared to know... We also met two cyclists that day that had started in Vancouver on July 1st and were headed to Quebec City. They told us they were averaging about 15 - 17 mph without road bikes... Oh how I long for a tailwind.

Next up on the list of cities was Crookston, MN. We left early that day to try to beat some of the winds and boy did that backfire. When we left the church it was barely 50 degrees and there were wind gusts up to 40 mph. That day warranted a nine person pace line, which isn't very fun, but makes life so much easier. The ride that day was 90 miles of flat, windy, uneventful terrain and it was hard to imagine that this is what we were going to be doing for quite some time. I think it was this day that the "what doesn't kill you will make you stronger" and "when you're going through hell, keep on going" mantras started to get thrown around.

After 90 miles and 8 hours on the bike, we then had to do it all over again, plus 30 more miles the next day. I was more than a little bit nervous for the longest ride day of our trip. Everything started out fine that day, it was kind of just more of the same. The day started out chilly and then warmed up, and I left my jacket on too long and got a bit overheated in the afternoon, which was not a fun experience. As a result of that, the last 10 miles were pretty painful, but people slowed down with me and I was able to finish a 117 mile bike ride. 117 miles, that is just crazy! I puked immediately after the ride, had horrid stomach cramps the rest of the night, and essentially thought I was going to die, but it was still worth it to say that I biked 117 miles across the windiest state in the country. Even thinking back to that feeling now makes me wonder what I am going to do with myself when I get back to my "real" life... It's going to be hard to top what I am doing this summer.

There are a couple more days in North Dakota that I am skipping, but apparently nothing too exciting happened because I can't think of anything to write about in regards to those days... It could also just be me being lazy, oh well. Tomorrow we head to Teddy Roosevelt National Park to camp, and lord help us, lets hope it goes better than our last camping experience.