Whew! I just got back from an awesome week of cycling 450 miles around North Dakota with CANDISC! Here’s what it stands for:
CANDISC - Cycling Around North Dakota in Sakakawea Country
{a bicycle ride across some the greatest frontier of North America}
This is the second year I’ve been on CANDISC – and can’t believe I’m saying that I would love to do it again! This is the 6th year my dear Mom has been on CANDISC. What a trooper! 2nd year for my sis and 1st year for my sweet cousin, Apples. She was the best hill-climber on the tour!
Words to describe the week:
beautiful – hot – windy – hilly – fun – simple – exhausting – rainy – interesting – long – discouraging – challenging – rewarding – hilarious – spandexy – small-towny – freeing – relaxing – strengthening – eye-opening – awesome
This is a fully supported 7-day ride – which means we don’t have to haul our tents and bags on our bikes. They haul our bags to the next town for us. Then we camp outside each night with about 4oo other bikers in a park or school yard. Each community provides a meal and local entertainment. This can be hilarious and quite entertaining. Key examples from this year:
Berthold – demolishing an old grain elevator
(I love how they saved this “event” for the day CANDISC comes to town! Pretty sure we more than doubled their population.)
Kenmare – free movie in the cutest little theatre. The Twilight Saga – Eclipse
(I have never previously partaken in any of the Twilight nonsense until this day. Now I can firmly say I’m on “Team Jacob”…)
Crosby – Viking Women!! uffda!
Bowbells – the Mayor invited all 400 of us over to his backyard for appetizers. Who does that!? Very beautiful garden and yummy food.
Also, a sweet accordion band!
Glenburn – huge Applebee’s hot air balloon. A musical concert of sorts. And a lot of card playing.
Makoti – Threshing Bee tour. Tons of old tractors and stationary engines. Very cool.
Here are the official directions while riding on a trailer pulled by a tractor to the tour:
TO STOP DRIVER PULL ROPe + RING BELL if technical difficulties HOLLER VERYLOUD louder than tracter ROPE <—>
What we had for breakfast – Mom’s mixture – soaked overnight – chewy morning delight? buckwheat, almonds, dates, sunflower seeds, raisins
So…we once had a cat named Norma…and couldn’t resist.
I loved the beautiful fields of sunflowers.
Way to go ladies! It was a awesome week with you!
Interesting in riding CANDISC next year? Click on the link for more info!
Great summary on CANDISC, Hanna! This year's ride was by far the most enjoyable for me. I loved biking (far behind) you, Mary, and Abigail. It's all about life, love, and the pursuit of what's over the next hill.
ReplyDeleteI still think we should have stopped and taken a picture of the monster dead rabbit you rode your bike over.
Hey Montanans: Great job on the blog! Agree that the ride was a blast. Really enjoyed playing cards with you guys, even though it was daunting trying to attain the presidency!
ReplyDeleteThanks Dave! Glad you found this recap of CANDISC - it sure was a great week. We also really enjoyed the card game you taught us (although I can't remember the name of it!) Are you planning to go on next year's ride?
ReplyDeleteHello to Dave from Pennsylvania! I NEVER play cards (Could you tell?), but I really enjoyed that Presidents & @ssholes game. The whole week was great fun!
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