Dad called just as I was getting out of bed with a birthday wish.

Bought propane: 5 gal which seemed high for time between last refill. Pay attention

Off on route 10 to Detroit lakes and Maplelag.

Cross wind of small velocity really blows the Sprinter around. Real handfull to drive: No asleep @ the wheel.

Drove into Calloway, where the plains meet the forest. Starting to see slight ripples in earth’s crust.

Find Maplelag which is a XC resort done up in old railroad motif. Numerous cabooses are used for sleeping rooms. Lots of other fine buildings also.

Find Jay, my permission contact. He gives me a run down on the bike trails. 7 mile lap and 1500′ per lap.

Headed out: first real taste of midwest forest riding. Tight twisty rooty, rocky, & dark. Trails again milked the elevation w/ side hills & ups and downs. Some open sji trails to fly down or grunt up.

Good skill acquisition trail. 2 hrs, 2 laps 13 miles about 1000′ per lap

Epiphany: Trails on public land out West go somewhere. Trails on private land just go around. Ride what ya got and do good with it and you get a mountain bike ride albeit mountains nowhere in sight.

This picture captures the essence of the riding:

Body armor has a different use here.

Looking out over a silted lake becoming a meadow. Note skyline:

Got a shower in the great facility before leaving.

Drove down the road to ST Cloud, MN staging for WI ride. Found small strip mall behind gas station X road from grade school. Hunkered down for the night.

My dirtbag campsite selection needs some work: During the night I was awakened by a garbage truck emptying containers behind the strip mall building where I was hunkered down. At least is was quieter than a locomotive and shorter lived.

Bought 5th of Talisker for Bday. ND charges sales tax on top of retail price. Quality Scotch appears to cost the same or more everywhere.

Diesel down to $4.04.

Made Jamestown and searched out Pipestem trail. Took truck route in which distorted directions. Decided author meant Jamestown reservoir and drove to Wildlife bldg to ask trail instructions. I was told, wrong res dude.

Found XG just beyond Wildlife, hot water showers.

Drove to Pipestone Res, meant Bob Martin between his departures. He gave me a trail map and talked about trail. Said he heard it was 1 tough course. Right, I’m here in Flatland USA with no hills or rocks so how could this be tough?

Took off. First thing I mistook the start of the course and rode some of it backwards. Mowed Grass trail tread with some exposed dirt out in the open and some bare dirt in the trees. There is 1 hill side and the course made the most of it traversing up down and across it making the most of maybe a 70′ elevation change. 8 miles generated almost 1000′. Ornery designer stuck several 20% grade climbs. Non tech but way cardio. If you are passing thru and looking to stretch your legs, ride it. I learned that the trail area is about 1/2 mile wide by 1 mile long. Too bad you can’t see the GPS data from the ride.

Hit XG, manager let me play like I was never there for a free shower.

Met Ken Gardner, the care taker of the Pipestone course, and asked him about MN rides. He gave me Island Park Cyclery shop and told of the most fun ride in MN. I called the shop and learned it is Maplelag near Detroit Lakes. Destination for tomorrow and MN ride. Ken and I talked about the course, of course. Complimented him on how well laid out it is, he said tghat guy who designed it moved on. Rick V would appreciate the design.

Drove into Fargo, drove thru town, & found park along perhaps the Red River. Nice dirty brown. Looks like there was a recent flood. Remnants of either a cycle cross or mtn bike race in the park. Somebody designed  what appears to have been a tight twisty course in the grass. Fixed dinner.

Left park after dark looking for a dirtbag spot as this one was right on the tracks again and beleived that it was closed after dark although I never saw a sign to that effect.

Found a spot in a dark office bldg parking lot. See how I sleep.

No pictures today. I wonder which visage is more difficult to get your mind around: A person from the mountains experiencing dead flat land or a flatlander getting up into the mountains? This land is so flat that if you emptied a bath tub of water on the ground, it would stay right there. Lawn billiards. Looking forward to a broken skyline.

From last night:

Found spot W of town on West River Road by a corral but right along side railroad track. Nice spot but trains passed with too much noise. Fixed dinner. Internet speed was way slower than town. Needed to research MN, IA, MI, & IL rides and needed speed. Drove back into Medora, found quiet parking lot but right beside track again. I told myself that it is just a noisy train and because the van shook just meant that I had to dig deeper into my slumber. Didn’t wake up for any trains.

I did wake up to loud whooshing sounds. Looked outside and saw about 8 hot air balloons burning their propane heaters to get airborne.

Fixed Bfast. Walked into town (3 blocks away) to public restrooms, no growler hole dug in asphalt this AM.

Off back W on I-94 to Belfield to go N to Little Missouri Nat Grassland for a section of the MDH Trail at Magpie Camp. About 10 miles of good gravel road driving back among oil wells.

Before I left 2 bike groups visited but they were going S and I am going N.

Take off riding cow pathes and slopping thru cow pies or picking lines around them. MDH trail is just organized cow trail riding. The better riding was yesterday on the Buffalo Gap trail which is a bypass trail aroung teddy’s NP where bikes aren’t allowed.

Rode 9 miles N & turned around after a little more than an hour of riding. No point continuing. After the first several miles the trail idea is the same and the cow shit cumulative. Round trip 18.9 miles with 1800′ vert climbing.

Geology is this was an inland shallow sea that drained away. Strata after strata in soft rock:

Spot & trail marker and horizon: both keep on going.

Trail cuts in & out of small drainages. Soil is really unstable & heavy rains created new lines. To the FS credit the trails appear stable.

Cows. Tom, you want an opinion: America eats too much beef, it will kill people and ultimately destroy our environment from stealing water from the downstream ecosystems, destroying riparian areas, compacting the soil contributing to erosion, and taking the land out of crop growth. Too many business people producing more beef and hay than the market will support so subsidies are spent to keep them in business producing more surplus.

Drove back road E towards Bismark, my resupply point for today. Back roads are less populated and slower but lack towns & grocery stores. Couldn’t find a shower after my ride.

In shopping district of Bismark. Need to find a quieter place for sleep.

Cougs got creamed by Cal.

Tomorrow is Minnesota. Getting harder to find rides along my proposed route.