Lbrean wrote:
has anyone done North Dakota in August? Is it a good ride? Given the low population density, I'm assuming the trafic is pretty sparse. Any info would be appriciated.
In 2002 we bicycled the Lewis & Clark Trail (before the ACA route was published). We rode from St. Charles, MO (across the River from St. Louis) to Seaside, OR. We had very hot weather all the way. A bank thermometer in Chamberlain, SD read 111 degrees! My husband listened to the radio at night and in the morning and noted record daily highs or near record highs every day. We had a few nice tailwinds as well as some nasty headwinds. We entered North Dakota on July 5th on Highway 1806, Lewis and Clarks return route (more or less) in 1806. We followed the west side of the Missouri River from Mobridge, SD through the Standing Rock Reservation to Fort Abraham Lincoln St. Park, near Mandan, ND, a very long hard 106 mile day! From there we went on to Stanton, Killdeer, Watford City, and Williston (layover day July 11th), before heading out on Highway 2 into Montana.
In 2003 I headed west from Seaside, OR to Portsmouth, NH with another tour group. We went across South Dakota in early July. It was hot, but not as hot as the previous year. We fought some nasty headwinds.
In 2004, I joined some friends on a cross-country trip from Anacortes, WA to Plum Island, MA. We followed US 2 all the way across North Dakota. It was much cooler than in 2002. The locals told us thats why we were having all those nasty headwinds&
I really enjoyed the Dakotas. I expected them to be hot, dry, and brown. I was surprised by how much green there was, although the green might be gone by August!
In general there was very little traffic. In places the Adventure Cycling maps sent you off US2 to avoid traffic, but as I saw it, what there was of heavy traffic (and crummy roads) was places where ACA put you on US2, because it was unavoidable without a huge detour. In addition, there was a Wildlife Refuge along US2 almost the whole way across North Dakota. We saw all kinds of birds!
If you are worried about riding in traffic, I recommend taking a Bike Ed Road I course. Courses are listed on the League of American Bicyclists website:
http://www.bikeleague.org/programs/education/ and
http://www.bikeleague.org/cogs/calendar/.