Today I am parked under the ubiquitous Chinese elm shade tree w/ an frozen gel pack wrapped around my upper inner left thigh w/ the purpose of shutting off muscles that are trying to compensate for a past torn rectus muscle. The left knee structurally is also complaining.
Thursday I drove deeper westward in North Dakota. As I neared the intersection of rt 200 and 85 petroleum extract rigs populated the highway. I am over the Bakken oil field that has been producing oil conventionally for years. Activity has jumped because of the introduction of fracking for the oil locked in the rocks. Oil rigs, oil pump pads, oil workers in swarms of pickups, tractor trailers hauling to and from the sites. The workers are so mobile that they are living in their small pull behind campers, no trailer parks, just a small sea of door to door white campers. Place is plugged.
Thurs I camped @ the CCC XG which is the northern terminus of the Maah Daah Hey trail, the southern end is outside Medora 100 miles away. My purpose of being here was to ride the 100 miles in 1 day, ride, not race although the event was all about the race. I secured a campsite ahead of the Friday night crowd of campers.
Friday i drove the 48 miles south on rt 85 sharing pace w/ all kinds of oil associated rigs. Jennifer @ Dakota Cyclery ordered a pair of Ardents for me that I needed to put on my bike b4 the race. They would not snap onto the beads w/ floor pump pressure like the Continentals did, I used shop air. new meat is impressive. I ate a single serving of ice cream for carbo loading.
Tires on drove 60 miles to Watford City past the CCC XG for the pasta supper and racer meeting. Great spaghetti feed. Nick the young organizer, addressed the crowd. 80 riders signed up, 60 actually rode. Great organization that he did w/ help of a small army or relatives that he could ask favors of.
Prior to the dinner I parked in the shade @ a ranger station. I walked in to use the rest room. No one was at the desk. I walked thru the bldg to the rest room. I saw no one as I exited the building. Outside I heard a voice asking me if I needed any help. I said I was good. He saw my rig and bike and asked me if I was racing tomorrow. we chatted about that for a few sentences. i asked him his connection to the USFS, he is the district ranger. I then bombarded him w/ questions seeking to understand the USFS role.
After dinner it was high tail back to XG for sleep in preparation of the 4:00AM meeting and 5:00AM dark thirty start.
Alarm went off @ 3:45. Comfortable sleep escaped me as I thought about the tomorrow’s ride. How would I rdie? how far could I push myself?
Race start @ 5AM. Yesterday i set the alarm for 5 to learn how dark it was and what time light would be bright enough to not need lights. About an hour. I thought about starting @ first light and not need a light because I was only riding for FUN(!?). I put on my low lumen light I carry in my pack for unplanned after dark rides back. I started my ride moments after the racers took off. My light just wasn’t bright enough. I had no perception of depth. I had trouble finding the orange pin flags and surveyor ribbon used to mark the trail as it competed w/ cow paths. Nick copiously marked the trail w/ said items only to have cows graze them away, he learned from a rancher that cows dig the plastic. For a short while a rider rode behind me w/ brighter lights that really confused me as his lights created a shadow of me and my light was not bright enough to light what his didn’t. Glad when he pulled over.
I wanted to do this ride to ride the entire trail. Previous rides netted me 2 rides this side of the Little Missouri river and 1 closer to Medora. I missed viewing scenery for an hour. I ride it because my GPS says so. After daylight and miles later I recognized what i had ridden previously. I made aid station 1, 23 miles in, that was staffed by volunteers. Great support. I have been on both sides of the table as a aid station support and as a consumer. Life is good both sides.
Maybe 10 miles before aid station 2 the above muscles started cramping in spite of consuming electrolytes and 2 shots of mustard. I raised my seat hoping a different leg stroke would eliminate the cramps. No such benefit. At the bottom of each left leg pedal the muscles teased me w/ full on cramping. I was getting toasted.
I pushed my bike up a switchbacked hill arriving @ Aid station 2. I was done. Fortuitously a massage therapist was waiting for her husband. She diagnosed what was happening and suggested treatment, hence the ice pack.
Now the 3 other riders who bailed waited for several hours in the shadeless sun for the shuttle to take us back to CCC. We were so far back off paved road, how far? way back. maybe 45 mins of gravel road driving.
Dinner time drop off @ CCC. The 3 riders dashed, I remained as the only rider in the camp ground. I went to bed just after 10:00 and the first shuttle from the finish line had not arrived. temps @ night have been cold enough for my favorite down blanket. I dropped like a rock; I fell asleep listening to the Mariners baseball game.
Today most of the riders packed up and left almost b4 i got out of bed. I did B-fast then drove back to Watford City for a final race event and to claim my drop bag stuff. I chatted w/ Nick complimenting him on his event. This event will rise up there w/ the super ultra endurance races.
I rode 51.13 miles in 6 hrs 53 mins, climbing 5943 feet in in the Badlands burning 3,234 calories.
This part of the Badlands is spectacular. There are places on the roads and trails were you are higher than the jumbled peaks below you. You can be on top or be be @ the bottom. View to the horizon.
My plan now is to dilly dally across Montana for some rest days traveling the I-90 corridor.
The midwest has the scads of like black house flies. My van is a moving haven for them. Some bite my bare legs right @ shoe height. I wore socks that some bit thru. When the sun goes down they cease activity and start back up when the sun is up and the temp is warm enough.
While driving west of rt 200 I drove thru several swarms of flying insects. My van was a lean mean killing machine clear cutting the air of whatever these insects were, leaving their wet remains smeared on my windshield. I stopped @ a gas station to clean my windshield. I found crusted remains of the unknown insects which turned out to be grasshoppers.
