In 1990 My friend and neighbor, Eric, asked me, as we had ridden bike together often, if I would like to go on the state-wide bike ride, TRAM (The Ride Across Minnesota), with him. TRAM is an organized bike ride of 300 miles in which riders’ gear (tents, sleeping bags, duffel bags) are transported to the next town by the organizers via truck, which is the norm for state-wide rides. TRAM is about 300 miles and the riders arriving later to the end town each day sometimes had to shower in cold water—not a pleasant chore. On one bike ride (not TRAM) we later-comers had to shower in steaming hot water as, somehow, the school in which we were showering had run out of COLD water. The water was so hot we could not stand under it and had to stand to the side of the stream of water and splash it onto us, which, as you can guess, made getting clean difficult. Some time ago organized rides started to use shower-trucks which set up in the finish town. These are much better as they never run out of hot (or cold) water, and most week-long rides now use them. Okay, back to TRAM.
Eric and I rode TRAM five times (1990—1994), enjoying each one. There are always sites at which to stop (the Sioux Interpretive Center one year) , food along the way, and friendly people.
One year (and then the next) we decided we did not, for some reason, want to follow the plotted route and decided to “rogue ride” for some miles each day. We would follow the recommended route for several miles, then find alternate routes so we could ride without other cyclists around us. Understandably, ride organizers do not want riders to do this as the riders could encounter problems while on their own, but as I explained in the Lambeau Field story, Eric and I have never been slaves to convention. It also helps that Eric can fix just about anything that might happen. Not being foolish, however, we always seemed to find our way back to the route for the food stops.
As I said before, there is a lot of fun to be found along the way and in the small overnight towns the people of which often put on entertainment and food booths, taking advantage of several hundred people coming to town hungry, and being just plain friendly. I have no doubt that if a rider had approached a food booth and discovered he or she had no money with them whoever was operating the booth would just give them the food. Of course, most of the other riders would have sprung for the bill, too. In one town we were treated by a performance of the local “Lawn Chair Drill Team” who along with being talented were very funny. In another town, there was a husband and wife band, he on the guitar and she on the violin, who entertained well into the night.
On one of the TRAMS Eric and I met a group of very nice ladies who, for some reason had dubbed themselves “Tour de Pork” (I never found out why and was too polite to ask) who were just plain fun with whom to hang around. We had several pleasant evenings sitting around a campfire sharing tales of the day’s events. They even went rogue riding with us a couple of times, something we wouldn’t allow just anyone to do.
There are many fun people on these rides and it is easy to find them and make friends. But you have to be a bit outgoing (a talent, I’ve been told more than once, I have mastered—having overcome my innate shyness). You can’t sit on your butt at your tent and expect the fun to come to you, you have to be willing to get out and find it (it won’t be difficult).
I rode TRAM again, in 2004, with another friend, David, who wanted to try a statewide ride and he also was impressed with the great riding, scenery, friendly people, and very nice small-town people in the overnights. This time I got a special treat added to the ride. I left my tent at 3 a.m. one night for some reason (you guys will probably figure it out quickly) and saw a spectacular display of the Northern Lights. I stood there enjoying the display as long as the mosquitos allowed and added it to my long list of favorite bike ride memories. I was a bit tired riding later that day but it was well worth it!
In 2007 I met Lee, a very nice, attractive, fun-loving, and adventurous lady who, to my pleasure, I am still dating (I’m hoping she reads this) who wanted to try a statewide ride, so we went on TRAM in 2009, having a great ride, as she is also friendly and outgoing. A funny thing happened one day at the end of the ride. She and I had gone to the shower truck and the women’s line was quite a bit longer than the men’s line. These trucks are designed so that the shower partitions, which are private, one-person stalls with shower curtains, can be moved one way or the other to accommodate the longer line. This can be done by the operator of the truck without actually going into the shower area and is done when the end partition is empty, so that a man doesn’t end up in the women’s side and vice-versa. Anyway, Lee entered the truck in the door marked “Ladies” but, as the shower partitions had been moved while she was in the truck, came out the door marked “Men.” The other guys in line had a good laugh as she approached us and she had one, too, once she had figured out what was so funny. Since then Lee has gone on numerous long rides with me (she is a strong rider) and, as far as I know, has never since come out the “Men” door of the shower truck.
