T1 Day 31 (Keelin)

7/7/2023


Today marked one month of living off of our bicycles and at first, our one month anniversary seemed like it was going to be the best day ever. We were going to do another 100+ mile day (with less elevation) and we woke up in beds with a bunch of free honey stingers products!! Unfortunately there were no other cyclists at the Honey Hub Hostel at the same time as us, which we all laughed at in the morning because “we never see other cyclists!”. However, we had to eat our words about 25 miles into the ride when we started passing a whole slew of bikers moving west! One biker, a fellow woman, saw us and shouted “YAYYYYYYY, WOMMMMMENNNNNNNN” before continuing to pedal. We were perplexed by how light they were traveling despite telling us they started in Maine. Eventually we passed their very nice support van and learned they were cycling for Multiple Sclerosis awareness!


Before long we were 50 miles in and eating lunch peacefully at the first gas station we had come across today. We were all hungry but feeling good and ready to crush the back half of the day. Mid way through lunch I saw a speck of dark cloud and decided to check the radar (weather apps this morning had predicted some light showers around 4-5 pm but it’s was only 12:30 so I was confused). Extreme weather headed directly at us. Next town, 25 miles away. We got about 10 miles from town when we decided we needed to put our rain gear on. We then got about 4 miles from town before we had to pull over and seek shelter in the trees because of the hail that was smacking down on us… it really hurt! Right before we made the choice to pull over I could see how big the raindrops were on the pavement, I could feel the swimming pools developing in my shoes, and all I could say to myself was “right, left, pedal, pedal, push, push” over and over again. I have not confirmed this with Liz and Kayla, but I think I respond the worst to the rain. It lightened up, we made it to town, and sheltered in a gas station while we decided what to do next. We decided to let it pass and then push onwards the 30ish more miles we had. 


It was all fine for a little while (no rain)… then Liz got a flat. Speedy repair.

Then we were faced with a killer headwind for the last 15 miles. We alternated who lead the pace line to break the wind and who could draft in the back to conserve energy. Finally… beaten down and exhausted we arrived in the city park in Kindred, North Dakota. We went to the one restaurant in town for dinner and promptly got horizontal in our tents. At least we get to sleep in until 7am tomorrow !!!

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