Fargo Reunion Ride- Part 1

A Weber grill, wood fire, and beer. Adds up to trouble sometimes!

The Fargo Reunion Ride, (name determined by Jason Boucher, who instigated this), was set to go on Friday October 28th, from near Northfield Minnesota. It was a ride to gather together those that would have been able to come that had done past Fargo Adventure Rides, or anyone that wanted to come along. The other reason, and probably the main reason for the ride actually, was to celebrate Jason Boucher's birthday. As Jason himself put it, the Fargo and its development was the reason for several of his friendships through the years. So it only seemed appropriate to him to have a bit of a "Fargo Adventure Ride" as part of his birthday. Oh....and Friday was actually Jason's birthday, so that was why I left on Thursday afternoon to arrive in Northfield for the next day's ride.

Myself and my family are friends with Ben Witt and his family, and Ben had asked if we would come up and stay with them in Northfield, which is a short distance from where the ride was to start in Nerstrand. We arrived late in the afternoon, so we had some time to hang out Thursday evening.

Well, Ben has a Weber grill turned fire pit, only, you know......elevated. So, anyway, after some barbecuing, and after a few beers, my brother MG comes along. He was staying with Martini, another old acquaintance of mine. MG shows up with Martini at Ben's place and brings a bottle of Templeton Rye which disappeared. Really fast. I blame this for the following actions of the evening of Thursday, October 27th, and these actions definitely affected the Fargo Reunion Ride.

It seems as though some talk of a night ride was being brought up, and after a short but enthusiastic deliberation, we were found with helmets on and lights ablaze. I'm not clear on the origins of the ride or the purpose, or the destination. I was just following along. Next thing ya know, I misjudge a curb and I am endo/face planted on the grass near a skate park. This is less than a block from Ben's place, by the way. I was a bit dazed, but I seemed okay. Since I was last in line, no one knew I had crashed. As I picked myself slowly up off the ground, and tried to remount my bicycle, I heard that awful sound of a bicycle smashing against the cement, and a loud "oof!" followed by voices of concern. As I reached the bouncing, blazing bubbles of LED light, I noted we were all on our way again.

Somehow or another, I managed to snap off this pic with my iPhone during the infamous night ride.

We then found ourselves going up a steep dirt path, then out on to a tree topped hill, and the open sky. I knew we were on one of the college campuses, and we all stopped to chat. I had no idea why we were hanging out here, but suddenly I was aware of someone moving toward us.

An African-American woman in an official looking uniform with a shining badge was strolling up the hill and into the midst of us. She asked for "college ID's". Ha! Well, we were soon dispatched and we complied immediately. Back down the hill from which we had come up, (I think), and then a sudden stop. Ben had wiped out. I had no idea what the matter was. I noticed my BarYak "wing extension" had been flopping around. huh! Guess I broke that bit. Meanwhile a bit of commotion surrounding Ben was going on. I took my phone out, (apparently, I didn't find the image until well over a day or so later), and snapped a pic, then stowed the phone back again, wherever I had put it. We then went back to the home of Ben to discover that I had crashed, MG had biffed it in the skate park, and Ben had wiped out, cutting open the skin on both hands on the digits.

Ben had also rung his bell pretty good too. Apparently in the same crash coming back to the house. That almost kept him home the next day. Well, not only that, but the drinking and staying up too late, which also affected several of the rest of us. Whoops! I was pretty banged up as well as MG. We both were bruised and hungover. Not a good way to look at the beginning of a ride of the Rawland Route, which isn't necessarily easy by any stretch of the imagination.

I awoke Friday to a quiet house with two hours to get to the ride start. I got ready, albeit I was in quite the fog, if you know what I mean. Ben was pretty slow to get going, and when Justin The Younger showed up, he was a bit concerned about our arrival time at Nerstrand. That'swhere we were to get by 9:00am. Well, no need to worry. After a quick stop for some awesome bagels, we were off and made it there by 9:02am. Fashionably late.

Next- The Fargo Reunion Ride- Part 2