June 21, 2008 Grand Forks Herald News Article

Grand Forks Herald (ND)

June 21, 2008

Section: News
Page: A1, A3

'Fantastic'
Author: Susanne Nadeau; Herald Staff Writer

Bill Solem was the first of 82 Red River International Bike Tour riders to roll into East Grand Forks' Sherlock Park on Friday, ending the first tour he's ever pedaled on a high note.

Sherlock Park marked the end of the five-day tour this year … the event's second … and the riders were greeted at the park by event organizers and plenty of food.

Solem, an East Grand Forks police officer, had his own incentive to arrive early. He was scheduled to work an evening shift Friday.

So, the 50-year-old left the tour's final campsite in Argyle, Minn., about 6 a.m. He arrived at Sherlock Park about 9:45 a.m., crediting tailwinds for his speed during the largely southbound ride. "It was fantastic," Solem said. "We had about 10 miles where the wind was against us, but for the past 35 miles, it was with the wind."

Mike Kellogg, one of the event coordinators, said the touring weather this year "was so much better" that in 2007, which helped to improve upon that inaugural event.

Last year, headwinds slowed riders and people were picked up during the "SAG" (support and gear) wagon several times, Kellogg said. This year, he said, only two riders were picked up on one day.

Many returning cyclists agreed that wind not only worked in their favor Friday morning but posed fewer problems throughout the tour, which began Monday morning at downtown Grand Forks' Town Square. "It was fun," said Dale Gunderson, a retired doctor from Rapid City, S.D. It was his first bike tour; he heard about it when he spent time working at Altru Health System during the winter.

"It was nice, beautiful," Gunderson said. "The only tough part was all the trucks in Canada." RRIBT veered into Canada for one of its tour days this week. Tour riders spent the rest of the time pedaling through northeast North Dakota and northwest Minnesota.

Jane Heinz, 52, from Michigan's Upper Peninsula, said she had fun on her first RRIBT tour. But she's no newcomer to bike tours; she's been riding since her mid-40s and does several tours a year. "After the first day," she said, "it just got better."

Heinz said she was going to try to take the tour's Century Ride, where people have the option to bike 100 miles in one day. But "the wind picked up," Heinz said. She finished a shorter, 72-mile ride by forming a line with two other riders to block headwinds. "It certainly helped us get a rest, get us through that last 12 miles," she said.

Fifteen cyclists finished the Century Ride, according to Kellogg.

"There were a couple of people who'd never done it before," he said. "But they set their goals and they accomplished it.

They even got caught up in a rainstorm and refused a ride." For the most part, tour riders had sunshine and calm, but Wednesday night, while camping in Cavalier, N.D., there was a bit of rain. But the evening's fun wasn't spoiled.

"They took us inside a and played bingo," Heinz said with a smile. "I haven't done that before."

'Awesome'

Bunnie Novak, Fargo, said the farthest she rode before this tour was 35 miles. "I just bought a new road bike," she said. "I even fell off a couple of times, getting my feet out."

But for her first long ride, she characterized the tour as "awesome."

"The sponsors, the towns were awesome," Novak said. "Everything I needed, I always had along the way."

First-timer Solem called the week "a good experience. You meet a lot of nice people from all over." This from a man who rode the tour on the first bicycle he'd purchased in 30 years. "I wanted to do something different," Solum explained.


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