Today I really, really wanted to avoid a repeat of yesterday’s ride. I would do almost anything to avoid another day with the headwinds, the heat, and the humidity. So, I hauled my weary body out of bed at 5 AM this morning so I could take advantage of the cool, calm early morning air.

Except that it didn’t help. By the time it was light enough to ride (7 AM), the wind was already blowing at 10-15 miles per hour. When I reached Johnstown (10 miles northwest of Ainsworth), the winds were as fierce as yesterday’s. But, things were looking up nonetheless. There was some cloud cover and the wind was from the west southwest and I was headed northwest. So, it wasn’t a full-on, in your face headwind.

I reached Wood Lake (22 miles northwest of Ainsworth) in an hour and forty-five minutes. I stopped to rest and test my blood sugar (81 mg/dl). When I started again, I noticed the wind had shifted to the northwest and the sky to the west was dark with clouds.

The terrain was similar to the previous two days. That is, it appeared to be flat, but was actually a very gradual climb. Yesterday’s ride was a 500 foot climb over 68 miles, for example. Today though, that pattern came to an end. I started seeing the start of some rolling hills. Nothing big, but noticable.

Tomorrow is a rest day in Valentine. After that, we’re continuing our westward leg to Gordon, Nebraska. From what we can tell, Gordon is the next town west of here on highway 20 with lodging. Unfortunately, Gordon is 92 miles from Valentine. I’d rather not go that far in a single day, especially if these headwinds continue. So, when I got to Valentine today, I continued for 13 more miles to Crookston. Pat picked me up there and we drove back to Valentine where we checked into a hotel. When I continue riding after our rest day, we’ll return to Crookston to start.

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 24th, 2006 at 6:14 pm and is filed under The Dream Tour, Bicycling. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.