Climax

August 21, 1999

I rolled out of bed rather late today, and I wasn't sure what was in store for me on this last weekend before classes resume. I had no plans and was afraid it would be rather boring. Around 11 or so, I decided I was going to bike somewhere. Anywhere; it didn't really matter. I flipped on the the weather channel, winds were about 9 mph from the SE. That encouraged me to ride somewhere to the Southeast, so I would have a nice return trip. I dug out my map and decided I would head to Climax, MN. I didn't really know how many miles it would be, but I knew it wouldn't be more than 100, so I packed a few cookies, a spare tube, and a lot of water on my bike and headed out.

The route I chose went a little east of East Grand Forks on US Hwy 2, then turned south on MN highway 220. Doubts began to surface in my mind as to the feasibiltiy of the ride once I got out of East Grand Forks. It was hot. Not only that, it was extremely humid. I was sweating buckets and the two large bottles of water on my bike were emptying fast., Upon turning south on MN 220 I realized it was going to be 27 miles of nothing ahead of me, with a headwind.

I considered pedaling along 220 until I could turn west and cross back into North Dakota near Thompson. That idea was scratched when I realized that my ND map, while it did have a little of MN on it, it did not have any of the county roads. It was not apparent to me which turnoff I should take to get back to Thompson, so I stuck to the original plan of cycling to Climax. Further down the road, I was frustrated to see a detour sign, pointing me off of 220 onto a road that was not on my map. I thought to myself, this detour could add 20 miles! A bridge was closed six miles ahead of the detour. Then I thought to myself that I really didn't have to be back at school any particular time, and cycled east along the detour. This detour took me to a small town called Eldred.

When I reached Eldred, I really wanted something cold to drink. Coming into town, I saw a church and a couple of large grain elevators. I was just praying for a pop machine or c-store, but Eldred is very small. Then I saw Vern's Service. It looked abandoned, with it's Mobil sign tilted and gas pumps missing, hockey sticks plugging the holes to the tanks that lie underground. I was certain it was deserted, but decided to ride by anyway. After all, there was one pickup sitting out front. As I pedaled by the window, I saw three people sitting inside. I opened the door, wondering if they were open for business. To my surprise, Vern's Service was still in operation. Vern doesn't sell gas anymore, only convenience items such as cold pop and ice cream. The woman behind the counter told me, after selling me a can of Mountain Dew for a mere $.50, that Vern's Service was closing up once the tanks had been dug out of the ground. Too bad, I thought. I inquired as to the distance to Climax, as I only had a general sense of the distance. The two elderly men at the table behind me debated for a few seconds whether it was five or six miles, but I told them that was accurate enough for me... it was actually closer to six.

After guzzling my Mountain Dew, I asked for a garbage can in which to toss the empty can. One of the men at the table told me to set it on the counter and that he would take care of it. Vern's service was a nice little stop. I hopped on my Schwinn and continued south to Climax.

Upon cycling into Climax, I was very happy to discover a Cenex C-Store. I had some pizza and a drink and continued on my way. Thank God for Cenex! The annoying part is that I didn't get very far before I saw the bridge that caused the previously mentioned detour, just on the west side of Climax. I stopped at another small c-store and showed the man my intended route. He promptly told me how I could get around the bridge by going about two miles on gravel roads just North of the town. He also informed me I could have continued south and ignored the detour that took me to Eldred, as with the short jaunt on gravel I could have avoided the bridge. How was I to know? Oh well, at least I got to see Vern's Service before it closed.

So once again, I mounted my bicycle. This time, heading west and noticing a slight tailwind for the first time in the trip. My knee, for the first time in the trip, began to ache a little bit. I was dissapointed in my knee, as I had only gone about fourty miles at that point. Soon, I was crossing a bridge over the Red River back into North Dakota.

After a while, I was at the intersection of the road heading west from Climax and Hwy 81, which heads straight north to Grand Forks alongside I-29. I was stopped at this intersection.to dig my map from my pocket and estimate the distance to Grand Forks when a guy stopped his car and asked me if I needed to know where I was. I told him what I was doing, and he was surprised I had ridden so far. Then I got on my bike and continued north.

The rest of the ride was rather uneventful, and I sped along with a nice tailwind. Stopping to rest was very unpleasant, with the extreme humidity and hot sun. The breeze I created on my bike felt nice and cool.

Once I got into Grand Forks, I dodged road construction and eventually made it back to campus. I was extremely hungry by that time, and relieved to get some food and a shower.

The ride covered 76.5 miles and took almost exactly five hours of pedalling at an average speed of 15.3 miles per hour.

I had a good time. It was tough because of the heat, but it's nice to be out there doing something. Maybe I'll go biking again tomorrow. Who knows.