63 miles, 1604′ of climbing, (1405 tot) – to read from the beginning, click here.
It was a hard day all around. Started OK with everything drying out nicely, but once on the road, we encountered what we knew was coming but always hoped didn’t: Headwinds. Normal headwinds for ND, but we had mostly escaped them on this tour except in the early part of our ride in Ohio.
The terrain was still pretty flat, only exceeding yesterday’s ride with a 400′ gain vs. a 300′ gain over the last 20 miles. But the wind! In the high teens with gusts in the 30s. It was a slog all day and today, there were no little towns to stop in and get refreshed. We actually stopped at an Ag business on the highway and asked for water which the exceedingly disinterested receptionist pointed out in the conference room. “Thanks!” “Uh-huh.” It kept us going.
On days like this you’re hesitant to look at the mileage left so as not to get discouraged, but you do anyway, and yeah, it can be discouraging. However, you can’t pick the wind direction so it’s just a part of that day’s ride. On the way we met Alex going the other way. We stopped to talk and learned that he had been at the Honey Hub the previous couple of nights. The owner told him he might see us. He was reveling in his tailwind and commiserating with our pain, but he also told us that tomorrow was going to be in our favor and he’d have the headwinds! We’ll see!
Once we finally got to Gackle, Dana went to the local bar to scope out dinner and I headed for the Honey Hub bike hostel. From what we knew of the Honey Hub, the beds were first come, first served and I wanted to make sure we had a bed. No need to worry. There was a full bed and a single bed and I put my sleeping bag and some of our stuff on the full bed to claim it and then I went to join Dana at Dani’s.
At Dani’s we met Jake and Mike and learned that they were rodeo performers in their youths. I asked how many broken bones they had and Jake pointed to his sternum, arm, and pelvis — he was a bronco rider. Mike said, “None, I rode broncos.” “Ever gored?” “Nope, but Jake was.” Jake also tried bronco-ing, and a bull slashed his thigh open. That was the end of the rodeo for him. Hard lives. Both were married and divorced multiple times, and Mike was left $1M by his father, but his sister stole it out from under him. Let’s just say they don’t have a great relationship. Jake lives in Spokane WA and was here to visit Mike.
Dana had a fish sandwich and I had the special of the day, lasagna, while we carried on the conversations with Mike and Jake. While I went back to the Honey Hub to catch up on blogging, Dana stayed another hour with Mike and Jake learning their life stories. She thinks she wants to write a collection of the human interest stories she’s gathered on these tours. At the hostel, no other cyclists had showed up so we had the place to ourselves. Laundry, hot plate, refrigerator, shower, microwave and a nice, comfy bed. We had a good sleep that night, hoping for a better riding day tomorrow.
