June 19, 2008 Grand Forks Herald News Article

Grand Forks Herald (ND)

June 19, 2008

Section: News
Page: A3

RRIBT Rounds Day Three

Author: Joseph Marks; Herald Staff Writer



Bike tour makes stop in Cavalier, N.D.

CAVALIER, N.D.-Last year's Red River International Bike Tour, or RRIBT, was Lonna and John Hillis' first long-distance bike ride, and they were so committed to it they camped with the other bikers in the Cavalier, N.D., schoolyard rather than decamping to their own home and a comfortable bed just a block away.

The Hillises didn't make the bike trip this year because John was feeling under the weather and Lonna didn't want to ride alone. But if they were destined to spend the tour's Cavalier night at home, they decided it was only fair to invite the bikers who did make the trip over for a bonfire, s'mores and a case of wine.

"(Last year) there were always little clusters (of riders) out there, so we wanted to get everyone in the same spot at the same time," Lonna said.

The couple was planning for 100 people in their backyard, Lonna said-the roughly 80 riders camping at the schoolyard plus a few blocks' worth of neighbors. She'd just returned from buying provisions about 5 p.m. Wednesday: about six packs of marshmallows and as many chocolate bars, she said, plus a case of Beringer wine.

"When it's over, it's over," she said of the wine.

Mary Haugstad, who works in the radiology department at Altru Health System, has logged significantly more long bike rides than the Hillises have-about 20 years of them.

Haugstad and her friend, Sherwin Schoppert, a retired budget analyst for the Air National Guard in Sioux Falls, S.D., who goes by the name "Chopper," are looking at this year's RRIBT as a conditioning ride.

The two plan to set off on the July 4 weekend for an 800-mile ride from Anacortes, Wash., to Shelby, Mont. From there, Haugstad will hop an Amtrak home, but Schoppert plans to continue alone all the way to Grand Forks, about 1, 600 miles in all.

Haugstad spends most of her vacation time on a bike, she said, only breaking the pattern for the occasional cross-country skiing trip in the winter. She biked her way from Louisiana's gulf coast to the Canadian border in 1999. And she and Schoppert, who she met on a bike trip in 2004, plan to follow the majority of Lewis and Clark's route, in reverse, from Astoria, Ore., to St. Charles, Ill., next year.

"People ask why the hell I do this, but it's just an addiction almost," she said. "It's just a feeling of freedom because you're totally self-sufficient. It makes you feel good when you're done. A shower always feels good then, and food tastes better, too."

Erling Oscar of New Rockford, N.D., is another RRIBT rider who can't come close to matching Haugstad's years on a bike. But, for a three-month veteran, he has an impressive record.

The avid runner pulled a hamstring muscle last fall, which can take as long as a year to fully heal, he said. Oscar managed to run in the recent Fargo half marathon, he said, but he refused to disclose his finishing time, which he described as embarrassing.

At the urging of a friend, Oscar invested about $800 in a new bike and equipment and set out on a 215-mile group bike tour through Ohio in May. After RRIBT concludes, he already has plans for two more such tours.

"Yeah," he said. "I've jumped in pretty hard."



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