Wes Malinchock

I felt well rested waking up in Circle, Montana after our shorter 50 mile ride the day before. We had breakfast at a gas station in town and hit the road around 8 am. Unlike the day before, we were expected to have a pretty solid tail wind all day. However, I was a little worried about doing a 90 mile day after we had two short days previously. We were also all starting to get a pretty fatigued from being on the road so long since our last break day.

Fortunately, the tail wind came as expected and we had a pretty easy time pedaling the first 40 miles. For the next half of the day we would be on the interstate which worried me a little bit. I had ridden the interstate before in Wyomong on my 2013 bike trip and although the hills were more gradual and the shoulder was wide, we got a lot of flat tires from debris in the shoulder and truckers were generally pretty rude. I guess the interstate culture here is much different, because I was very surprised to find how pleasant riding the interstate was today! Although, I did get one flat tire, the shoulder was very nice and the truckers seemed happier to see us there than sharing the back roads we had been on so far! Plenty of cars and trucks gave us a friendly honk and wave as they passed, which was a nice morale boost for us as we baked in the 90 degree heat.

Before I knew it we were at the North Dakota border and just three miles away from our destination town of Beach, ND. When we got there we found what I had called a "classic bike trip town" that featured a nice shady park next to a pool that we were able to use to cool off and a restaurant bar. Towns like Beach are exactly what I think of when I remember my 2013 bike trip, and when I look back on this trip I'm sure it will stick out to me as another perfect bike trip town.