Salsa Cycles Fargo Adventure Ride 2010

I love my Salsa Cycles Fargo 29"er. It is a perfect vehicle for the rider who isn't in a huge hurry, necessarily, and likes to explore the tracks less traveled. Those can be, but are not limited to, pavement, gravel, back roads, dirt, and single track. Recently I was again invited to participate in a "Fargo Adventure Ride" by Jason Boucher, the head honch of Salsa Cycles.

Jason Boucher of Salsa CyclesFargo Adventure Rides are basically an excuse for Jason to get out and explore around the Twin Cities area where he lives and set up a crazy route for Fargo Adventurers to come and try out with him on the appointed date. This years ride occurred on June 18th. One need not have a Fargo to join in the fun, but a Fargo is the optimal bike to use on these routes that Jason cooks up. They are always an adventure!

The Fargo Adventure Rides are always free and set up as a group ride where no one gets left behind. It is a nice, casual, low stress affair in those regards, but yet still a challenging ride physically. Kudos to Jason for hitting a perfect balance of these qualities on these adventures!

The 2010 running of the Fargo Adventure Ride was marked by slightly overcast skies, warm humid temperatures, and a stiff Southwesterly breeze throughout most of the day. There were 10 riders and the route was all we could have hoped for, maybe more than we imagined!

Starting out in the morning, our route took us out of the Twin Cities suburbs and quickly out into the surrounding countryside. It was shocking, actually, how quickly one can find bucolic scenery within a mile or two of suburbia. Gravel roads and fields of green! The morning part of our ride was fast, smooth, flattish, and fun.

Riding the morning sections of gravel.Soon we were far into the rural countryside south and east of the Twin Cities. Jason was stopping us from time to time and giving us some of the history of the area and describing some of the things we would would be coming across during the day. We would be able to suggest changing the route, shortening it, or even going into a surrounding town for lunch, should we feel like that. It was an "open ended" sort of ride, which made for a focus on fun, instead of a focus on, "gotta get there", which is a dynamic that can ruin a ride sometimes.

One of the more interesting sites along the route was the abandoned munitions plant, which was a World War II era installation that was meant for the production of artillery for the Allied troops. Funny thing was that it was never put into production, and the ruins of the installation have been crumbling away with the passage of time ever since.  There was an eerie air about the place as we went by it. Kind of a foreboding feeling. Definitely a unique experience!

The abandoned munitions plant as we approached it.The plant was stopped during its construction and was never completed. So it was weird to see concrete structures all alone, weird monuments to a work incomplete. I can't say as I've ever known of such a place. It definitely was cool to check it out.

Moving on, we were treated to some rustic double track, dirt road, and then we were back on to some classic gravel road until mid-day, when one of our group suffered a flat tire. We all took the opportunity to bust out our rations of food, relax, and get to know one another a bit better.

That's another feature of these Fargo Adventure Rides: You get to make new acquaintances and that is always a fun thing. We had commuters on the ride that had never been into the surrounding rural areas. We had hard core endurance riders, mountain bikers, and even a dedicated roadie dude. Everyone got along great, and there definitely was no "posing", no "pecking order" established here. Just a bunch of cyclists having a good time.

As it should be.

We decided to truncate the loop and we headed into a small, rural town for a stop at a convenience store. These are always one of my favorite things. A bunch of cyclists descend upon an unsuspecting convenience store dressed in our "outlandish gear", much to the amazement, and sometimes horror, of the local citizens. I wonder why folks find cyclists so unnerving. Maybe we're just so out of the range of normal for them that it seems incomprehensible that a bunch of grown men would be riding bicycles, covered in dust, and be up to any sort of "good". Whatever it is, I have witnessed this phenomenon over several years and in several states. Part of the fun of an adventure ride in the Mid-West, I guess.

Some miles of rough, bumpy grass track were ridden.Afterword, we traveled back into the country and we really got up close and personal with the land. The route Jason had laid out included several miles worth of XC ski trail, single track, and double track that was primitive, very rough, very hilly, and very remote.

One got the feeling out here that there were no roads and that you were plunked down in the middle of a pre-settled America. Wild and untamed like it used to be. It was a very cool feeling and something you definitely do not get riding road bikes or mountain bikes around here.

But that's what a Fargo Adventure Ride is all about. Being able to explore places you normally wouldn't think of riding. "Adventuring" is what I like to call it. Taking your bike and exploring just how far you can go on it and to as many places as you can find where you have never ridden. The Fargo is the perfect vehicle for such explorations by bicycle. You can kit it out to suit your needs and desires. From a full on bagged touring rig, to a lighter "bikepacking" sort of set up, to an urban commuter, or as a legitimate mountain bike. Whatever you have a mind to do, the Fargo is up to the task. As a vehicle to showcase the strengths of the Fargo, the Fargo Adventure Ride really drives this point home as you travel the route designed by Jason Boucher. Other bikes were on the ride, but most of their owners expressed a desire to be on a Fargo before we were through with the ride. That's a pretty telling thing, right there, I think, in regards to the Fargo's versatility.

A pile of Fargo bikes at the end of the day's ride.The Fargo Adventure Ride eventually wound its way through more woods, double track choked with shoulder high grass, mud puddles that spanned the trail, and of course, more gravel and pavement. We eventually found our way back to the campground where it all began earlier in the day. 60 miles of fun, camaraderie, and exploration.

So far the Fargo Adventure Rides have only been staged in the Twin Cities area. However; there is some talk of taking the concept "on the road" to other cities and areas of the U.S.A. I, for one, sure hope that this happens. It is just too good a deal to keep in one place. If you ever see that a Fargo Adventure Ride is taking place in your neck-o-the woods, I advise that you check it out. You'll have a ton of fun.

Better yet, don't wait for Salsa Cycles to do it, start your own "Adventure Ride" and get out there and explore your world by bicycle. You'll never know what you'll see out there unless you ride where you never have before. A bicycle is the perfect exploration vehicle too. Hope to see you out on a dusty trail somewhere soon!