Joe Green's Bike Adventure

  • Hanging up my Spurs in Dickinson for a Day 5-24-24

    I spent Friday, 5-24, in Dickinson and mostly off the bike, where I had a chance to rest and take my bike to Steffan Saw and Bike to try to fix my cranky front derailleur, which won’t reliably get into my lowest gears. I spent 90 minutes or so at the shop, where Jason did…

  • Learning to Eat New Things 5-23-24

    I know you’re going to want to hear all about my 50-mile ride today (Thursday, 5-23), but before I get to that I thought you might be wondering how the town where I stayed last night, Glen Ullin (pop. 807), got its name. Thanks to some quick Internet research, I learned that the town was…

  • Making Excuses 5-22-24

    In the blog entry for yesterday (5-21) that I posted this morning, I promised to let you know after breakfast whether I decided to visit the Salem Sue giant Holstein that towers “large and in charge” over New Salem. I had a great breakfast (thanks to Mitch Grade, one of the owners of the Metropolitan…

  • No Dak is Not as Flat as it Used to be 5-21-24

    On Tuesday, 5-21, I picked up my bike from Lance’s Cyclery in Bismarck, where Lance overhauled it during the slow winter season. Despite my careful (or so I thought) pre-trip planning, while there I picked up a couple of things I forgot, like water bottles! I had remembered to bring biking gloves, but somehow had…

  • Getting Ready to Ride Again 5-19-24

    Our son Billy will be driving with me to Bismarck, N.D. tomorrow (Mon., May 20), where I will be reunited with my bike at Lance’s Cyclery. From there, Billy will head home in the car, and I will head west on the bike. I’ve been spending a lot of time yesterday and today getting packed…

  • Bismarck: It’s Not Just Something You Eat 9-21 and 9-22-23

    No, of course “Bismarck” does not just refer to something you eat (a jelly doughnut). It is the state capital of North Dakota and, with 73,622 people, the second-most-populous city in the state. But both the doughnut and the city are named after Otto von Bismarck (1815-1898), a Prussian statesman who was the First Chancellor…

  • Mom Would Not Approve of This 9-20-23

    Today I rode a bike on the shoulder of an interstate highway (I-94) for the first time in my life. North Dakota is I believe the only state where this is legal, and so it is definitely an anomaly, but even the Adventure Cycling map series makes some use of the shoulder on I-94 west…

  • Perfect Day on a Bike 9-19-23

    After serving up a healthy and delicious bowl of hot oatmeal, Paul dropped me off as planned to finish my climb out of the Sheyenne River Valley at the start of my 60-mile ride to Jamestown, N.D. I am happy to say that though it was a jolt to start the ride with some uphill…

  • Heading West from Fargo 9-18-23

    On Monday (9/18), I rode about 72 miles from downtown Fargo to Little Yellowstone Park west of Enderlin, N.D. (pop. 885), where I met Paul, elder brother of our friend Elizabeth in the Twin Cities, who took me to the nearby town of Kathryn, N.D. (pop. 64, including Paul), where I spent the night in…

  • Forgone in Fargo 9-16 and 9-17-23

    Sometimes life makes us search for excitement, but other times, it comes to us unbidden. I experienced the latter in Fargo this weekend. On Friday night (9/15), I got a text message from the Jasper Hotel where I am staying warning me not to be alarmed about the sound of an explosion in the morning.…