Biking to Oregon: Day 5 - Car(e) Free

I packed up camp and headed back across the street to get breakfast from the same restaurant I ate dinner at the night before. With a good stock of water and clif bars, I joined the paved bike trail after breakfast to begin a day that would be mostly flat with no highways or roads shared with vehicles to worry about. The paved bike trail went northwest and ended in Fergus Falls, which was 112 miles away and where I aimed to stay that night. Looking back on this day, it made me realize how much more accessible bike touring would be if people could ride throughout the country on what I was experiencing this day in Minnesota. Paved, flat bike trails with towns every 7-10 miles.

I stopped in Alexandria to go to a bike shop to see if they could help me clean my drivetrain. I rode 200-300 miles per week in the weeks leading up to my bike trip, with routine bike cleaning every week. With me being almost 500 miles into my bike trip with no bike maintenance, my drivetrain was starting to look disgusting, although I wasn’t sure if it was actually affecting my performance or efficiency on the bike.

I stopped by Alex Bike Shop and asked if they had some brushes and degreaser that I could use. They said they clean all their parts in an ultrasonic cleaner, so they had no brushes to lend. But they did have some rags and a degreaser they let me borrow. I went back outside and attempted to clean my drivetrain.

The rags became black with dirty bike grease, but my drivetrain didn’t look much better. I figured it was better than nothing. After returning the degreaser and rags, I tried to hand the owner a $5 bill as a tip for their generosity. He declined, but asked if I could leave a good review on Google Maps in lieu of a tip. I agreed, and then he offered to give me some energy bars and gels since they were about to go past the “best by” date. I thanked him but declined, having just filled every orifice of my bags with clif bars and peanut M&Ms from a gas station.

There was a steady wind out of the west that day, but the bike trails were mostly protected by the trees. I continued northwest and had a difficult time sitting for more than a couple minutes. Something had to be done to make it better. There’s no way this would be sustainable as I felt I had only begun my journey.

As this would be my fifth night on my trip, I decided it was time for a hotel to allow me to air things out in the privacy of a hotel room. I texted Abbey, who had previously offered to book me a hotel if I needed it. Her line of work results in getting a lot of hotel points, and she has always been so helpful to book hotels for me. Abbey responded with the confirmation of a hotel in Fergus Falls.

When I arrived in Fergus Falls, I stopped at a Walgreens to get more sunscreen and find some remedies for my butt situation. Abbey recommended bath salts, but they only had large quantities that I wouldn’t be able to realistically carry on my bike. I decided to get a new tube of Neosporin as a temporary measure.

After checking into the hotel, an immediate shower was in order before ordering a pizza from Dominos. A local restaurant is usually my preference, but I was keen on staying in for the night and opted for whatever option delivered food the fastest. I left a review on Google Maps for the bike shop, and posted to Instagram as I've been doing every day. I called it a night, feeling spoiled with the hotel room to myself.