Day 31, July 8th, Bismarck to Pollock

Pictures: Kevin

Riding

Riding

Lunch with the Canadians

Lunch

State Border crossing into South Dakota

June

June's Toe nails

Syl passing out food

Dinasour bike racks

Another reason to take a rest day in Bismarck was to have fresh legs to attack the 94 mile ride to Pollock which has no services along the way. We filled up all out water bottles plus two 3 liter water bladders and headed through town. About 10 miles out we came to a section of construction. There were several vehicles and dozens of cyclist loading bikes onto two big trailer bike racks. The were a group of 40 Canadians from Winnipeg cycling 1000 to raise money for Habitat for Humanity. The amount they raised is enough to complete a house for a single mother and her 3 kids. We rode on through the gravel and dirt then met up with the Canadians unloading their bikes on the other side on the construction zone. They are a great bunch of people and were headed to Pollock for the night too. They adopted us. Carrying our gear and feeding us every 20k at their rest stops and inviting us to stay the night with them. Even with all the help we still struggled mightily against strong headwinds and big hills. It was after 6pm when we got to the High School where they were staying. We ate fish dinners with them prepared and served by local volunteers. Then went to the town’s bar surprised to see Fat Tire Beer on tap for $7 a pitcher. Having a blast with the other cyclists we soon drank the town dry of Fat Tire. We returned to the gymnasium to sleep just before another storm hit. Amazingly we kept dry throughout the last two stormy days.
The fund raising ride is in its 16th year and is called Cycle of Hope. Headed by a lively woman named June, the gaggle of cyclist travel 1000 miles along a different route every year generating donations of over $150K for Habitat for Humanity in Winnipeg., Manitoba. Their website is http://www.habitat.mb.ca/index.html I encourage you to donate to their cause; they helped us out tremendously.