THURSDAY, AUGUST 16 – James spent night in Nisswa, MN

FRIDAY, AUGUST 17 – 65 miles ridden today! He stopped in Bowlus MN for night. He is off of trails now and riding on roads.

Nisswa elevation, 1,230 ft

Bowlus elevation, 1109 ft

SATURDAY, AUGUST 11 – James started biking from Grafton North Dakota. His leg started to ache severely, but its hard to keep a good man down!! He bought leg wraps, and is taking his time building his endurance back up. He rode 44 miles and camped in a quiet city park in Alvarado Minnesota.

SUNDAY, AUGUST 12 – He rode 49 miles to St Hilaire. After a day of heat, he drank 1 quart of chocolate milk, 1 quart of orange juice and 1 can of V8 juice.

He’s starting to see hills again.

Grafton ND elevation 830 ft
Alvarado, MN elevation 810 ft
St Hilaire MN elevation 1,089

James spent last night in Langdon, ND. He is going to bike to Cavalier where he’ll meet up with friends. They’ll bike with him to Grafton, ND. He’s going to fly to Idaho to meet up with family for some time camping with them. He plans to resume his biking adventure around August 10.

Langdon elevation 1,1611 ft
Cavalier elevation 886 ft
Grafton elevation 830 ft

One of the highlights is talking with the people he meets.

TUESDAY, JULY 24 – Clothes dry a little slow in the rain. Rode 91 miles on Highway 5 with wide shoulders and easy biking, James made it into North Dakota. Correction on the town he stayed in. It was Bowbells. He camped in the city park that had restrooms and a swimming pool.

BowBells, elevation 1,962 ft.

WEDNESDAY, JULY 25 – Nice cool morning at 54 degrees. Rode another 91 miles with a tail wind. James stayed in Bottineau, a college town. The park there had mostly RV’s with nice showers.

Bottineau elevation 1,637 ft.
Just over 10 miles south of the US-Canadian Border
Home to Dakota College at Bottineau

THURSDAY, JULY 26 – Weather pattern is pretty much the same. North west wind. James biked 60 miles to Rock Lake, a small “rustic” town.

Rock Lake elevation 1,545 ft

James camped last night in Westby Montana. He is a couple of miles from the North Dakota state line.

Westby elevation 2,103

For those that have been following James on his bike ride, one question that has come up a number of times is whether his bike is equipped with electric assist. James chose not to use any electric assist for this ride.

TUESDAY, JULY 17 – James did 88 miles. He spent the night in the park at Rudyard, MT. He asked a woman about the park and she told him to come back later for ice cream which he did. Her husband is a retired farmer. James enjoyed visiting with them.

Rudyard elevation 3,114 ft

WEDNESDAY, JULY 18 – 84 miles today. He enjoyed the benefit of a tailwind for part of the day. He stopped in Harlem, MT. There was no cell phone service there.

Harlem elevation 2,365 ft

THURSDAY, JULY 19 – 89 miles today. James stayed night in Hinsdale, MT. He enjoyed cooler temperatures. He’s finding the small towns he rides through are set up for bikers. He talked to bikers from Britain today. They started in Boston and are headed to Seattle.

Hindsdale elevation 2.169

He’s noticed a lot of train traffic that runs both day and night. Also he’s glad to report his ankle is doing better!

FRIDAY, JULY 20. Breakfast was served in a place that only offered one dish. This morning it was french toast. The folks there were very friendly and talkative which delayed his start. He bucked a headwind all day and after 47 miles, stopped in Nashua MT.

Nashua elevation 2,064

James spent last night (July 17) in Cut Bank Montana after an 85 mile ride from Essex. His ride smoothed out with straight road and the scenery changed to wheat fields. He could see a grain elevator roughly 10 miles in the distance.

Essex elevation 3,875 ft
Cutbank elevation 3,773 ft

His ankle is still bothering him but he is applying ice between rides.

James has made it through the hills and the mountains to the town of Whitefish, Montana (July 13, 2018). His total elevation climbed so far is 34,517’. His top speed has been 48 mph! What a ride! The lowest would have been 3.2-3.4 mph. Total miles ridden so far has been 675. The Phoenix has handled well at the speeds mentioned above. James often hears, “cool bike” and sees “thumbs up” from the passing observer! Today, the ride will take him 10 miles down the road to Columbia Falls. His ankle has been giving him fits, so it needs a bit of attention and rest.

Whitefish elevation 3,028 ft

James Nichols is continuing his cross country ride after taking a break on Friday and Saturday, July 6th and 7th. He resumed his ride at the border Washington and Idaho (Newport, WA) and spent the next night (July 9th) at Libby, MT. All is going well so far! James had some trouble with the Seavo seat causing him pain in the back side, so, he took some material off of the back of the seat pan, which fixed the problem. He is now back on the road with no pain!

In a correction to the comments about Paul Hatch, he was unable to get adjusted to the Phoenix for the 2018 Fuller Center ride, so he is riding his regular diamond frame bike. Cheers to you Paul for trying! Hope it works for you next time!