July 13, 1998 - Bismark - Jamestown

DISTANCE TRAVELED: 105.50

TIME: 9 Hours 30 Minutes

AVERAGE SPEED: 15.9 Miles/Hour

TRAVEL CONDITIONS: Very hot and sunny all day with a small wind that came from all directions at some point in the day.

ROAD CONDITIONS: The side roads all had inch-deep cracks just about every 10 feet, making the ride very bumpy. The highway was very smooth as long as you didn't hit the rumble strip. For 8 miles there was road construction where our side of the freeway was not only one lane, but we were put onto the other side of the road so it was a 2 lane road. The shoulder was very small so we rode on dirt for about 6 miles before we had to get back onto the road because of work that prohibited us from continuing on any further.

TERRAIN/DIFFICULTY LEVEL: Small rolling hills that were very easy to go over. Unfortunately there was not a tailwind pushing us, but a sidewind. But this was better than a headwind!

DAILY JOURNAL COMMENTS: I woke up at 8:00 after getting only about 6 hours of sleep. It was difficult to get up but once I got moving I was ready to try to complete the 5 hour century. (100 miles of cycling in 5 hours) I was finally able to leave around 9:30 after eating a bowl of Coco Puffs and a few Danish rolls. I started out with Matt, Tom, Katie, Tami, and Jen and we soon came to where we began to leave the city. I increased my speed but found that the wind was not good enough to allow me to make the 5 hour century that I had wanted to do. Matt and Tom went ahead and I stayed back. I rode with Jen for a while until she too went ahead. We finally met up about 45 miles into the trip at the first gas station and town that we had passed through all day. I bought a Powerade and stayed inside of the cool building for a while before continuing on. I rode for a few miles on a very bumpy road that didn't have any cars on it. Soon afterwards, the road turned to all gravel and I was lucky enough to find an on ramp to the freeway. I rode with Jen for a little while until we met up with Julie and Lana. Julie had gotten a flat and just finished fixing it as we rode up. We then went on for another few miles and Julie got a second flat. We fixed it with a patch but this didn't work either. We couldn't understand what was wrong so we gave her an extra tube and went to call the SAG so that she could be picked up. We rode on and called, but there was no answer. A little while later, we came to a rest stop and tried again. This time we were successful. We found out that Julie was on the road again and for some reason the flat was fixed with a new tube. We continued on and whenl we were about 15 miles from our destination, we ran into a construction zone. At this point, the road narrowed to one lane and then the left lane merged onto the other side of the freeway so that only two lanes of the original four lanes were being used. We had no shoulder since we were now riding on the westbound side of the road. Instead of using the road, we went onto the closed section where I let some air out of my tires and went for a dirt ride. It was hard-packed sand and rock so it wasn't too bad to ride on. After about 6 miles, we could no longer go on because of large machines in front of us. We were forced to go onto the highway where there were very few cars that actually had to pass us. After two more miles, we were finally back on the normal road and a little while later we exited the highway for the day. We all stopped at the local Dairy Queen where I had a cookie dough blizzard, which is similar to a milkshake. It tasted great and we soon continued on to the church where we were to stay for the night. After a little weaving on the streets trying to find the place, we arrived to a great dinner of chicken, salad, and rice. After eating quickly, we walked down to the local YMCA to take showers. The Y closed at 8:00 and we got there at 8:10. There was one person left inside who worked there and he was kind enough to let us in since he knew that we must be very hot. After a quick shower, I went back to the church and into a small side room where I was able to sleep by myself. I pulled out words to study and since I was very tired, about half-way through, I closed my eyes for two seconds. I fell asleep on my sleeping bag with my clothes on and fortunately woke up a few minutes later. I was all sweaty again and got up to get a drink of water and have a few cookies. After this, I got ready for bed and went to sleep at 10:00. Some of the other riders still had not returned yet!

TRIP ROUTE: Take Old Highway 10 until you go under the highway. Get onto I94 East and follow to Mandan. Get off and follow road into Bismark. Follow Main until S 3rd Street. Take a right and the church will be down the road a couple of miles.

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