Roll over America

Day 16: Benson-Maple Plane

Yesterday I wanted to get up and I felt quite fit, but not today. Didn't want to get out of bed and still very tired. Today was only going to be a 174 kilometer ride, so not such a long day. Because I demanded to much of my body yesterday I had some mild knee trouble today. During cycling it's not that bad. Just keep in mind to make nice circles with your feet. Tomorrow will be a short day with only 91 kilometers.

When I left Benson this morning I saw this sign at the liquor store.

Day 15: Aberdeen-Benson

This morning there was something typical Dutch at breakfast. Mary, one of the local people from Minneapolis, had brought chocolate sprinkles. Not that it was very helpful beating the tiredness from this morning, because the first two hours I could not get warmed up. I want to go back to sleep! To few hours in the night. My heart rate monitor also agreed I was kind of dead, because it stopped functioning. But after eating a Clif Gel, a bar and a gum I started to feel a bit better.

Day 14: Mobridge-Aberdeen

The past three days I've been riding with my iPod on. That way time passes more quickly when your riding on those long stretched roads. I want to look for some new earbuds because these are not very comfortable and they don't keep the sound out very well. One of the German riders has some kind of ear muffs to lower the wind noise.

Day 13: Bowman-Mobridge

Last night was cold and moist. When I woke up this morning the inside of the tent was all wet. On arrival at the camp site in Mobridge it will probably have a cause to dry. Seeing it was a bit nippy (around 13 degrees in the bike) I put on my jacket and put on the foam cover.

Day 12: Miles City-Bowman

On the previous camp site it was the mice who were stealing the snacks, but in Miles City it were the squirrels. Rob wanted to get some food for the day when he spotted now trying to open a Clif Bar. Fortunately there is enough for everyone.

We had a few short climbed today, but the route was mainly going downhill. The climbs are getting tough when you see the Chain Up Area signs. At the Chain Removal Area sign you can relax a bit more (also good to know).

Day 11: Miles City

Today was a rest day and after we had a great breakfast with egg, ham and a cup of tea I started to wash my cloths. Well… I threw it in with Marcel, Johann and Rob's clothes in the washing machine. After that I found some shade and read up on my messages on Google Reader. Some people were Skyping with the people back home. I IM'ed with my parents a few days back and chatted with a colleague (who will start working after two weeks holiday) and asked him if he could say hi to my colleagues monday morning.

Day 10: Billings-Miles City

I will never again complain about the quality of our Dutch cycle paths. Today I encountered a (fortunately  short) piece of road that was so bad that if I would have had fillings they would spontaneously jump out. And the cattle guard is a bit bigger than back home. The gaps are so big a small child could fall through. Just like the rumble strips, quite dangerous.

Some things still amazes me regarding their size. Big trucks, RV's that are towing a car behind them, trains more than 2 kilometers long and very big sprinkler systems that seem to be hundreds of meters long.

Day 9: Harlowton-Billings

Today was going to be a easy day. Mostly down hill and with only a distance of around 150 kilometers. The tiredness from yesterday is gone after a somewhat longer night (I got to sleep in until 6 AM). The first hour of biking went very well with a average of 37+ km/h. The route was easy to. Just go straight for 75 kilometers, take a right and go another 75 kilometers. Now that we have the Rocky Mountains behind us the roads will only get flatter and more straight.

Day 8: Helena-Harlowton

Yesterday I was to tired to write a long post. So I'll give a brief summary about what happened that day. First of all the mouse had moved from Josef's bike to mine. When I opened the lid I first saw that my paper bag which had my food had been opened from the side. He tried to hide under my seat and I tried to grab my camera. But unfortunately he ran away. He did however stole my Clif Gel, because the day before I bought two of them at REI.

Day 7: Missoula-Helena

Today a short update because it's quite late (almost 10 PM). We did a 225 kilometer long ride with a 7 kilometer long and hard climb to almost 2000 meters. After that we cruised with 50+ towards Helena. When we left the city there were a few small 'hills', the hardest being 3 kilometers long and a bit more steep than the other one. When we rushed down we came to a reservoir. On the other side of the dam our camp site was waiting for us, right by the water. Tomorrow a day without heavy climbing and only a bit more than 200 kilometers.