A full day of North Dakota bicycling. I’ve reached the end of the line and will drive back a bit before starting my next phase of bicycling to Colorado.

Yesterday was a good day for a rest day. There were off and on showers and temperatures in the low 60s. Linton is not large but had a restaurant open until mid-afternoon on a Sunday.

Today was a slightly longer distance but on good roads and not many hills.

A photo starting out. It was in the low 50s and the fog became worse for a bit before clearing by 9am. There is a small road 1804 that goes closer to the river. Five years ago when I also cycled Linton to Bismarck I took that road. This time I tried US 83 instead for 30 miles. I didn’t have as much choice since as the detour signs show, 1804 is closed west of Linton. As far as the tradeoff between the routes: 1804 has more short steep hills and 83 has a shoulder with corrugated grooves.

One of the side roads. You could see mud tracked from vehicles from these roads so rain would make them obnoxious to ride.

Coming into Hazelton where I made a short stop.

Flat tire, on the front again. I found the hole in the tire but the glass/wire wasn’t there anymore. I think my tires are getting well worn: two front flats a week apart and the under layer is starting to show in the rear.

Moffitt road. I left 83 and headed west at 30 miles. I met two cross-country cyclists on this section. They were making good distances, leaving Washington State on July 16th and were staying in motels. They had minimal gear.

Bee hives

Outside Bismarck was a few miles of trail. I passed the airport to go to the capitol.

Welcome to Bismarck

Made it! The capitol is 21 stories tall and the highest building in the state. Interesting that Bismarck doesn’t have much of a skyline other than this one building.

Obligatory photo.

After visiting the capitol, I rode back to this airport terminal.

Put everything in the rental and started driving south.

I am driving to Lincoln, Nebraska. Why Lincoln, Nebraska? Well it is a slightly longer story…

• My ideal choice would be Pierre, but Pierre is so small that the rental car companies don’t do drop-offs.
• I had arranged a u-haul instead, however ended up canceling that when the rain hit. The right choice (rain would have been miserable) but I didn’t want to add more time to the u-haul option
• I briefly thought I had a one-way, but last night when I cross-checked it seems it was only Bismarck to Bismarck – something must have gotten unchecked.

So looking around, Lincoln made the most sense since I’ve been there before and should enable a fairly straightforward bicycle ride of ~500 mile to Cheyenne mostly following the Platte River. I am working to get to Colorado by end of August in advance of a celebration of life remembrance for my father.