June 23, 2017
Fergus Falls, Minnesota to Cormorant, Minnesota: It's Winds-Day, said Pooh!!
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Blustery, said the weather forecast. As a word it sounds benign, even quaint. Perhaps a way to describe a member of the English Parliament prattling on ... "He delivered a blustery speech that seemed never to end." The Yahoo Weather App, which loves to use icons instead of descriptive words, had the little symbol for appreciable wind ... straight lines which end in swirling curlicues. Another bit of quaintness. The National Weather Service deals in facts. They serve your weather up straight, no chaser. "Winds from the NW at 15-20 mph, with gusts to 30 mph. 30% chance of showers. High of 63." That's cold. And wet. And windy. Especially windy when you are riding toward (of course) the NW, where the wind is coming from.
But man oh man were we ready to leave the (not so) Super 8 in Fergus Falls. After making a camping style breakfast of instant coffee and oatmeal using hot water from the in-room coffee maker, we loaded the rigs, checked out, and wheeled the bikes outside. We were greeted by a rippin' NW wind, just as advertised. Whaddya do though? The only way to do the ride is to do the ride, so off we went. The first few miles getting out of Fergus Falls were to the east so the wind was helpful, even in town. But once out in the country and bearing north we started getting spanked by that wind. It was wicked! It was a quartering headwind that was almost worse than a dead on headwind, and we had to fight pretty hard to hold a line. We could have used an artificial horizon instrument as we were both canted about 5 degrees into the wind to stay upright. For Margaret it was a real challenge as she has about 80 pounds less ballast than I do. We took a break after 10 miles or so and she was pretty grimly stoic. "I'm pretty much at my limit here," she said. We nursed ourselves along and the miles leaked slowly by.
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As the day progressed the wind either abated a little bit, or we became accustomed to it. Things were seeming doable, until a two mile run on Highway 59 into Pelican Falls saw us being pelted by sheets of rain, shoved by a 30 mph side wind, with semi-trucks zooming by us at 60 mph. We agreed to caucus at the first coffee shop we would find, which turned out to be the Muddy Moose. A coffee turned into an apple/cinnamon scone, followed by a bowl of chicken dumpling soup, and an hour of warmth and wifi. We'd only ridden 30 miles and it seemed like 45, but instead of giving in we decided to push on to Cormorant, although the lodgings available were uncertain, and the prospect of camping in 30 mph winds was not high on the list. The lunch girded our loins and we were certain we could push on.
Two miles later a flat tire made us question that decision. Damn I hate flats especially on a loaded touring bike because you have to strip all the gear off the rig to change the tire. We crushed it though, and made the change in 15 minutes. Teamwork got it done.
We hit it again and slowly but surely reeled in our destination, which was a motel that may or may not be open, and may or may not have a room available. It was listed on the ACA map, but the phone number listed yielded only a phone message to call after 4 PM when the bar and grill opened. If it was a mirage we would be camping in the cold and wind, and after having expended most of our grit and toughness on the ride, we weren't sure if we had the gumption to face camping.
About two miles before the location of the motel we hit a scene from Dante. Major road construction with all the world class construction machinary you'd expect: Dump Trucks, Road Graders, and the like. At the start of it there was a pizza place at the side of the road so we decided to stop and gather some local intell. The upbeat young man running the bar was very helpful and he shared good tidings ... the construction ended just a mile up the road and, yeah(!) the motel was just after that. The motel is wonderful, all the things the (not so) Super 8 was not . We still decided to make dinner from our stash of freeze dried food with the in-room coffee pot because it felt right somehow. We face some slightly less potent winds tomorrow a ride to Fargo. Fargo ... Go watch that movie on Netflix. It's the best.
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Rose: Marg - dunking her apple cinnamon scone into her Mocha at the Muddy Moose in Pelican Rapids. Mike - Fixing that flat in record time
Thorn: Marg - The two mile stretch on Hwy 59 coming into Pelican Rapids .. Rain, traffic whizzing by at 60 MPH, wind roaring at 30 mph. Not liking. Mike - Seeing the mass of road graders and dump trucks and thinking we were doomed
Bud: Doing some art work tonight. Mike - Seeing Fargo tomorrow
Today's ride: 43 miles (69 km)
Total: 251 miles (404 km)
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