Bicycling the Lewis & Clark Trail
New Town to Garrison, ND

Tuesday, August 10, 2004
Distance Cycled: 75 miles
Vertically Climbed: 2,140 feet
Average Speed: 12.0 mph

We woke up to very threatening skies today. The weather channel said that the temperature was 48 degrees and the wind was from the north at 10 miles per hour. The chance of rain was 30%. We rode 19 miles and stopped at a Cenex gas station at Parshall. We had hot chocolate and a cookie or a sandwich. We were just getting ready to leave when it began to rain. We decided to sit in the warmth of the gas station and wait out the rain. After ½ hour the rain finally stopped and we put on rain covers to keep our shoes dry because the water on the road would come off the tires and spray onto our feet.

We were now going south and the wind was pushing us along at a real nice pace. We were able to go up the hills at 10 to 15 miles per hour where we were going up similar hills at 6 to 8 miles per hour. It was great for 14 miles and then we turned east. Now the wind was slightly behind us but mostly from the north. It still assisted us going up the hills. However the sky again got very dark and it began to sprinkle on us. We continued on and in about 5 miles it began to rain so we stopped and put on the rain covers over our shoes. The further east we went, the more it rained. It did not rain hard but it rained steadily. After a while we got out of the rain but everything we were wearing was wet. We were also cold and in the middle of the rain storm the wind shifted from NNW to NNE and now we were fighting a headwind again. Our speed slowed down almost 4 miles per hour. We had a headwind for the rest of the day.

When we reached the Bed and Breakfast where we are going to spend the night, I inspected the tires on the bicycle and found that the big glass cut on the back tire was starting to bulge even though the cut did not touch the tire cord. The front tire has over 4,800 miles and shows a lot of wear. I got on the phone and ordered a front and rear tire to be sent to Mandan, so that I can replace both tires during our next rest days. While I was ordering the new tires, Mary Kay and Jan were washing all of our wet and dirty clothes. We ate supper at a malt shop a couple of blocks from the B&B.