Grand Forks Herald (ND)
April 28, 2008
Section: News
Page: A1, A2
Tourism
Red River International Bike Tour Starts June 16
Author: Tu-Uyen Tran; Herald Staff Writer
Get those leg muscles into shape, the bicycle gears greased, the tires pumped and be ready for the second annual Red River International Bike Tour!
Maybe it's a little too soon with snow on the ground and nippy winds in the sky, but registration has opened for the June tour, which takes riders around the northern part of the valley in five days.
It's called "international" because you get to loop into Canada for half a day.
Last year's RRIBT-pronounced like a frog's croak-drew 109 riders from around the nation and Canada.
The Herald is one of the tour's major sponsors, along with Scheels, Alerus Financial and SimmonsFlint.
This year looks to be the same or a bit better, according to RRIBT chairman Mike Kellogg. So far, 40 have signed up, about the same last year at this time, he said.
Riders still can dillydally until a minute before midnight June 14 to sign up. That's a little more than a day before the tour starts on the 16th.
Bicycle touring is tourism on bicycles, and riders are supposed to go at their own pace and stop to visit different attractions. In practice, there are many riders for whom it is a personal race to go as hard as they can. They even reveled in the wind, which offered a challenge equivalent to a really long hill.
This year's route is shorter than last year's, at 290 miles instead of 316 miles. Those who want to do what's known as a "centur."-going 100 miles in a day just to say they did-will again get that option with a century loop.
Route planners wanted to give riders a break from the familiar prairie terrain by taking them through the rolling hills of the Walhalla, N.D., area on the second and third day of the tour.
Another difference this year is riders will stay in small towns, camping in city parks and high school football fields, according to Kellogg. Some riders said they felt isolated camping in state parks last year, he said.
When the riders did camp in town last year in Pembina, N.D., many enjoyed visiting local residents at nearby watering holes. In the state parks, they kept company with hungry mosquitoes.
Many towns that hosted pit stops last year asked to do so again, Kellogg said, though route planners could not accommodate all.
If this year's pit stops were like last year's, riders can expect plenty of snacks along the way, from bananas to homemade donuts.
The route starts June 16 in East Grand Forks, goes north to Oslo, Minn., before crossing the bridge into North Dakota. Riders will camp in Park River, N.D., on the first night; Walhalla, N.D., the second; Cavalier, N.D., the third; Stephen, Minn., the fourth; and be back in East Grand Forks the fifth.
Copyright (c) 2008 Grand Forks Herald
