THE RIDE ACROSS MINNESOTA (TRAM) July 2026
- Aug 6
- 18 min read
I rode my first TRAM in the summer of 2020, when my sister bought a tandem and convinced me to take a week of vacation to do this charity ride with her. The ride was for Multiple Sclerosis, a great cause – my parents great friend Peach Robinson had been living with MS since the 1960’s and I saw what a debilitating disease it was. However, a week to do a charity ride? I told her I would do it once!!
She had probably done it 4 years already by that point, and her little town of Breckenridge MN had amassed a team of about a dozen characters – a local sunflower seed farmer, a beet farmer, the town attorney, a funeral home operator, a helicopter pilot, a harmonica wielding psychiatrist, several business owners, a couple of nurses, one lab tech and a priest! It turned out to be so much fun that I went back again and again.
Part of what drew Sandra to purchasing a tandem was that she’d met these “Tandem Guys” Jeff and Jim on previous rides and had fun drafting along them as they rode very fast. On our first ride in 2020, she was disappointed that they weren’t on the ride that year. But in 2021, the ride started in Breckenridge, and she was delighted to introduce me to them and show them her white Cannondale tandem. We rode together each day, and the guys began hanging out with our group in the evenings as well – most evenings, gathered around my parent’s VW camper van eating snacks and drinking cold beer. So even though we didn’t actually start dating for a few years, I consider this year’s TRAM to be the 25th anniversary of when I met Jeff Tews and my life was exponentially changed!
TRAM became like “summer camp” to us and we built many strong friendships. Most people we’d only see on TRAM, but others that we’d bike with at other events in MN and see more frequently. Originally, my mom had been recruited to look after my sister’s kids while she was riding, but in 2001, my mom joined our team and rode her trusty old Schwinn the 400+ miles (I thought she was old at the time, but she would have been 62 years old, three years younger than I am now)! My dad signed up as a volunteer medical assistant at rest stop #2 – bending a few rules like allowing people to help themselves to the Advil on the front seat of his van, or dispensing gin-soaked raisins which he said were good for sore knees! It was always extra fun to have my folks along on our adventure.
Eventually, I left my sister’s tandem and starting riding with JT, and we rode TRAM every year until 2016, with the exception of 2013 when JT and I were biking across the country! We’re not really sure why we stopped riding after 2016 – I think we planned adventures with our hiking gang and then just got out of the routine. Last year, we were visiting my sister and Matt in St Paul, and met up with Mick and Maureen, another TRAM couple that we’d known for years. They were still riding every year, so we made a plan to get it back on the calendar and do it again this year. The route went through several little towns that we’d been to many times and always enjoyed: Park Rapids, Wadena and Pequot Lakes.
SUNDAY JULY 26, 2026 Menagha
We drove across northern MN from our Wisconsin lake home, arriving at the school in Menagha for registration and packet pickup. It was a hot day, and we were assessing shady spots for our tent as we pulled into the parking lot. As soon as we got out of the car, we were greeted by Darryl and Jeanine, longtime TRAM buddies who were both teachers from Mankato. The were sitting in their chairs in the shade by the ball-diamond, talking to a longtime TRAM volunteer Kurt, who drives an old RV with a “Born Free” sticker on the side and is part of the safety team. All of a sudden, the years fell away and we felt like we were right back to routine. However, the MS staff have all turned over in the time we’ve been gone, so that was a change to get used to – meeting the new staff, and to them, we were just “new people.”
Because of the heat (94 degrees but breezy), the school officials announced that it would be okay for anyone who wanted to sleep inside the school tonight to do so. We said we’d take our chances with the heat – too many MS 150’s sleeping in the gym with hundreds of strangers! We did spend some time sitting in the air-conditioned cafeteria though, and I was amazed by the amenities of this school in small town MN, and what a contrast it was to the schools that hosted us when we were hiking in Costa Rica in January!
Our friends Mick and Maureen appeared; they’ve traded in their tent for an adorable tear-drop camper, and it was fun to tour that and see up close and personal what a fun option that is compared to tent camping. They will trade off driving to the next town, and whoever is driving will ride their bike along the route backwards to meet up with the other. By the end of the week, JT thought this was an amazing option (we have an appointment with the Vestibule Camper manufacturer next week in MN). I thought our tent was really comfortable with our inflatable queen size mattress, pillow and sheets.
Darryl, being a former teacher, declared there was no drinking allowed on school grounds in MN, but I’m from WI, what do I know? We gathered our chairs around the little camper and drank wine, beer and had a few snacks. Maureen is an amazing baker and has a “cottage” baking business where she bakes breads, rolls and bakery items for her local customers and a Thursday market in Hastings where she and Mick live – so she had some yummy bread that went well with the cheese I had brought! Mick’s daughter, also Maureen (he calls her Beaner or M1), arrived and she will ride with us most days as well but will stay with her sister-in-law in Park Rapids. She rode as a teenager about 30 years ago, and she would occasionally visit Mick on TRAM so we’d met her a few times before and it was fun to see her again. Our little group was also joined by Brian, another guy we’d met over the years that hung out with Darryl, Jeannie and Maureen and a few others before our groups kind of merged into one. Brian lives in Moorhead, in Sandra and Matt’s old neighborhood. His TRAM claim to fame was suffering and surviving a heart attack in Lanesboro on TRAM many years ago (he, Mick and JT now have common heart attack stories to compare).
Some ladies from town brought the fixings for a pulled pork dinner, pork, beans, coleslaw, cookies and a bottle of water for $10 each, so we went into the school lunchroom and had dinner there.
After dinner, the gang was headed back for more drinks, but we grabbed our cribbage board and went inside the school to play a few games in the AC before heading out to our tent for the night. As usual, I was armed with ear plugs and a sleep mask to help ensure a good night’s sleep!!
MONDAY JULY 27, 2026 Menagha to Park Rapids
I was awake just after 5am, I read for a bit, then got ready for the day. It took us about 30 minutes to pack up, which I thought was great as it’s been a while since we’d done that. I was still doing some sorting of what to bring in the bag that’s traveling on the UHaul truck, versus what didn’t I need that could stay in our SUV for the week.
We headed inside the school where ladies were selling muffins and coffee - ugh - started the ride with muffin belly. There were not many people around as most had already headed out when we rolled out of the parking lot at 7:25am.
There are only about 250 registered riders, quite a contrast to the more that 1000 that used to ride “back in the day.”
We headed out onto the rolling hills and heat. It was about 15 miles to the first rest stop, and we only passed one rider the whole time – another contrast to the old days, but actually that was kind of nice. We had a quick break, then headed out. We saw Darryl, Jeannie and another woman they’d taken under their wing, a woman named Dawn who lost her husband after a protracted cancer battle and was now riding on her own.
The next segment had great roads, smooth surface, rolling hills, lakes and farmland. Going up one hill, a single cyclist passed us. Formerly, JT liked to think we were the fastest riders on TRAM with our tandem, and he had this “no sustained passes” mantra. I wondered if it was still in place, and figured it was when he downshifted and moved his hands to the drop bars on the next downhill. We played “cat and mouse” with the single rider all the way to the next rest stop – he’d pass us on the uphill and we’d fly past him on the downhill. At the rest stop, we met him and his friends (Andy, Dave and Tom) and enjoyed chatting with them.
From there, the rest of the ride was down the Heartland Trail to Park Rapids – a trail we’ve ridden dozens of times before and know well. Andy went out fast, but we caught him as we were coming into town and rode together to the fairgrounds, so we were successful with the “no sustained passes” rule. We rode 51.24 miles today, with an average speed of 14.6 mph and elevation gain on 995 ft.
Over the years, we always camped in Skoe Park on the edge of the Fishhook River in Park Rapids. All day, I’d been looking forward to jumping off the dock into the water as I’d done so many times before. I was heartbroken to find we’d been relegated to the fairgrounds on the edge of town – hot, without much shade. We’d finished the ride about noon, and staked out what would be shady spots later in the afternoon on the edge of a large pine tree. Nearby was an electric hookup for charging our devices and so M&M could run the AC in their amazing little camper.
Maureen, ever the perfect hostess, made us Arnie Palmers with sun tea that she’d brewed and lots of ice – it was the perfect refresher as we all regrouped and tried to decide what to do with the rest of the day. Hunger took hold, so we piled into M1’s large SUV and she drove us the few blocks to Main Avenue. We went into Revel Brewing, where we had beers and JT, Brian and I split a large meat lovers pizza. The others went to “Minne-soda” looking for a burger, and we met them there later for ice cream cones.
Back to camp, Yoga was going to happen at 4pm. Even though I had a full belly, I rolled out my mat and joined in. The heat made it feel like “hot yoga” and the biting flies made it anything but relaxing, but it was good to stretch as we rode hard today! Afterwards, I went to the shower truck, where it was as hot as a sauna and the biting flies followed me there too (hated to do it, but I sprayed myself with DEET repellent after the shower).
The evening Announcements were held in a small open seating area near where we were camped, and they were weak, poorly attended and not very enthusiastic. The newer MS staffers sure didn’t inherit the fun attitudes and spirit of the former staffers (Jody, Maureen and Teri). There I saw Lynn, a woman Sandra knew well who hangs out with San’s old friend Harvey who was supposed to be here, but Lynn said he was just going to come on Thursday for a bit.
It’s such a different vibe with so few people, but it motivates us to branch out and meet others. We are missing members of our group that are no longer riding, some that are no longer with us.
We lost our friend Jim Blasko in 2015 to Lymphoma. He was our loyal sidekick, tucked in besides the tandem keeping me company. He was always up on TRAM gossip, meeting new people and linking us to other groups of people. Even though he’s been gone for over ten years, I still expect him to be back there drafting our bike.
A more recent loss is that of Father Stan (although he always said TRAM was his vacation from the priesthood and people should just call him Stan). He had a wry sense of humor and a quick wit. My parents were close to him as well, and every year we’d take a photo of my dad (Geo) and Stan sitting in the door of the VW enjoying a cold beverage.
TUESDAY JULY 28, 2026 Park Rapids to Wadena
I was aware the tents around us were packing up, but I kept my earplugs in and snuggled into the bedding for a while longer. By the time we were pulling on our bike clothes, camp was empty!
We packed up at rode out of the fairgrounds at 7:30. We thought we’d go to McDonald’s for a quick breakfast, but I’m guessing good help is hard to find in Park Rapids!
We left town at 8am, which is when the route technically closes. We pulled into Rest Stop #1 with the Road Marshall “Sweep” right on our tail! We had a brief stop, then pressed on. We didn’t pass our first riders until we’d ridden 20 miles, just before Rest Stop #2. The day was foggy / overcast until about noon, which helped keep the temperatures down.
Today’s ride was mostly flat, but a bit on the boring side - no towns and up/down variety of the roads.
We fortified ourselves by drinking Pickle pops at the rest-stops, and I grabbed a few packets of “Bee Ups,” which were a gummy candy made out of honey. I’d give one to JT and give one to myself every couple of miles – he was better at sucking them, which I tried to do, but mostly ended up chewing them!
The last ten miles were agony for us both. We are in good physical shape, but our butts were so sore from not enough time in the saddle. We tried to think of songs we could sing to distract ourselves, but we couldn’t come up with the right tunes or all the words. I finally pulled up Jim Croce’s greatest hits on Apple Music and played the music off the speaker on my phone – upside down in JT’s jersey pocket. With the speakers in our helmets, it worked well and the miles clicked off as we worked our way through Leroy Brown, Rapid Roy the Stockcar Boy, Roller Derby Queen and Workin’ at the Carwash Blues!
Just after 1pm, we pulled into Sunnybrook Park, that we know and love on the outskirts of Wadena. M&M had staked out a shady spot with electricity, so we dropped our bike there and staggered to the luggage truck to collect our bags. Maureen was there with cold drinks, so we unpacked our camp chairs and relaxed a bit before setting up our tent and heading off to the shower truck.
We all wandered down to the pavilion where the Lion’s Club was serving brats and corn-on-the cob, but no beer(!). We suffered through with water. After we ate, I suggested we walk to the DQ for dessert as we often did in Wadena, but JT was pooped, so we jumped on the shuttle bus for a ride to town. We were delighted to find the bus was being driven by former Wadena mayor, Wayne – who for so many years delivered cold beer to us while we were in line at the shower truck, and sometimes sang in the evening with the band! Wayne was a great tour guide as he drove the little bus through town.
Back at the park, we sat in the shade with a nice breeze and drank some wine while we played a few games of backgammon. JT was on a streak of winning, so I turned my seat over to Brian so he could get beat by JT a few times. The band started playing, and although we couldn’t see them, it sounded great in our little camp.
We rode 61.78 miles today, with an average speed of 15.2 mph and elevation gain of 711 ft.
WEDNESDAY JULY 29, 2026 Park Rapids to Pequot Lakes
We were up a bit earlier today. I’d heard they were serving breakfast burritos at the pavilion, but by the time we were packed, it seemed the park was emptying out so we headed out 2 6:53am figuring we’d just eat snacks for breakfast at the first rest stop.
The morning was foggy, with a sort of smoke-like tinge that was probably from the Canadian wildfires. It was a bit cooler without the direct sun, and we enjoyed it very much. Heading into Rest Stop #2, we passed Brian, and he rode with us for a bit. We left the rest stop together and rode the rest of the ride together. He alternated between drafting behind us and riding beside us chatting. It helped pass the time and not think about how sore my butt was, telling him stories about our business and our travels. He’s a retired Social Worker, and having worked primarily with seniors, he could really relate to most of our stories!
I continued my routine of dolling out “Bee Ups” every couple of miles, and handed them off to Brian at regular intervals too. It seemed that he liked to be taken care of!
We approached the Gull Lake and Nisswa area, which was familiar from recently attending a grand-nephew’s wedding there. From Nisswa, we rode the Paul Bunyan trail the last ten miles into Pequot Lakes, where we camped in the city park. We got there about 12:30pm. It was a great location with lots of trees and power outlets on the depot that serves as the Chamber of Commerce, but the shower truck was placed nearly a quarter-mile away – and it was soooooo hot!
We set up our camp a bit away from the M&M little RV, in a shady corner. Brian, Jeannie, Darryl and Dawn joined us there, so we had a little compound. After we set up the tents, we went to the RV for iced Arnold Palmers again – helping us get the energy we needed to keep walking to the shower truck!
In the early evening, Jeff and I were hungry so we went across the street to the bar, which was packed. Some fisherman shared their table with us and we chatted with them while we enjoyed burgers and beer. After that, we walked to the DQ on the other side of the highway. We were joined by a guy named Ron that we met a few days ago. He’s a Minnesotan who lives in Tennessee, but is moving back after a failed relationship – he was a little awkward to be around.
We walked back to camp and to the little bandshell for the brief and not very exciting announcements. That was followed by a guy who’d been hired to perform for us tonight – pretty good singer / guitar (he fussed a lot about the humidity getting his guitar out of tune). I felt bad for him as there were only about 20 people listening to him. We tipped him well, then headed off to our tent for an early night.
We rode 63.82 miles today, with an average speed of 14.9 mph and elevation gain of 1043 ft.
THURSDAY JULY 30, 2026 Pequot Lakes Loop
I’d hoped the group would be more relaxed about getting an early start today, but that wasn’t the case. More than anything, people probably want to get going to beat the heat.
Today’s route was a loop, so we didn’t have to pack up and move camp today. We got dressed and ready to ride, and joined Brian (and many others) at the coffee shop across the street for breakfast sandwiches – first (and only) great breakfast of the trip! Sandra’s friend Harvey (84 years old) was there so it was fun to catch up with him a bit.
We were fed and riding just before 7:30am. It was another warm day, but the riding went fast as we were chatting with Brian as we rode all day. Not only our stories, but a story of him getting hit by a car on his bike 3 years ago – broke all the ribs on one side, punctured a lung, broke a leg. He was very fortunate to not have been killed, and endured a helicopter ride to the hospital, several surgeries and a long recovery. Whoa! Scary stuff.
There were just two rest stops today, and we didn’t linger long there – just a few snacks, refilled water, packets of Bee Ups and on to the next stop. We arrived back at our camp just before noon. We’d all discussed that it was too hot to nap in the tents, but I pulled the sleeping bag out of our tent into the shade of the oak tree. Others followed suit, and we had a group nap for about an hour – just like we used to do in kindergarten!
We headed to the shower truck, and then back to the coffee shop where we bought cold drinks and sandwiches and lingered there until they kicked us out when they closed at 3pm. Another former Mankato teacher, Bill, arrived that afternoon just for a visit. Bill used to ride and hang with the Mankato group, and he was a real strong and fast rider. He got some kind of blood cancer and became too ill to ride. I remember him visiting the group probably ten years ago when we’d last ridden – by then he’d had a stem cell transplant and did not look good. He looked great this year, and was in very good spirits. He’s not able to ride again, but I’m guessing with the time gone by and as good as he looked, his prognosis must be good!
The gang headed to the bar to have dinner and beers, but we were still full from a late lunch. We sat in the shade and played some backgammon, then headed to the RV where the gang had gathered for drinks and stories.
At 7pm, we walked over to the little stage for announcements and the team competitions. It was well attended, and I saw familiar faces there from long ago that I hadn’t seen all week, which seemed strange. They rolled the team competitions into one night, rather than spreading them out through the week: Team T-Shirt, Team Poems, Team Songs. It was fun to see that many of the teams from long ago still exist:
· Cyclops - three generations represented on their team
· Pirates in Tight Pants
· Tramalot
· Cutters – who are changing to “No MSing Around”
Most of the team poems and songs were very clever, and we had some good laughs.
Afterwards, we said good-night to the RV crew and headed off to sleep – the heat and the miles really taking a toll on us!
We rode 43.87 miles today, with an average speed of 14.9 mph and elevation gain of 832 ft.
FRIDAY JULY 31, 2026 Pequot Lakes to Menagha
We were up early with everyone today. There had been some rain on the tent about 4am, and I was delighted to find when I stepped outside that the tent was drier than it had been the previous mornings just from the dew. I hate packing up a wet tent!!
We were packed and headed to the café, only to find that it wasn’t going to open until 7am (they’d opened earlier for us yesterday). Bummer, but we weren’t starving and I no longer have my caffeine addiction, so we just started riding before 6:30am.
Shortly after we started riding, it started raining very lightly. For once, the heat wasn’t a factor. We got to rest stop #1 at about 10 miles, and ducked under the awning while we ate granola bars and bananas and I stuffed my pockets with Bee Ups. Before we headed out, I put on my rain jacket and the shower cap on top of my helmet. It rained harder as we rode the 18 miles to the next rest stop, and we were glad to see it was at the old church camp where we’d had a break a few days before and they had the snacks inside. A few days ago, it felt like a musty, unpleasant stop. Today, it was paradise. Not only our usual snacks, but there were homemade bars and hot coffee, and plenty of chairs and paper towels. We took a one-hour break there!
Most of our gang came and went while we stayed there, but Brian hung out with us and rode the rest of the way with us. The rain lightened up and eventually stopped, which was nice.
Menahga came into site, and we crossed the finish line at 12:15pm
We rode 53.71 miles today, with an average speed of 14.8 mph and elevation gain of 887 ft.
We got to the car, parked the bike there and headed to the line of people waiting for pizza. We each grabbed three slices of pizza and two cookies and headed into the school, where we were joined by our gang (minus Mick and Maureen who were headed to Mercer WI for tomorrow’s Loon Ride and didn’t ride at all today).
Back outside, we took apart the bike and stashed it in the car, then found our luggage inside (nice that it wasn’t out in the rain). Despite the rain, the bike was in really good shape and fairly clean. We cleaned up and changed clothes, said goodbye to our TRAM friends, and hit the road. Rumor has it that next year’s ride will be ever further north in MN, which we love, so perhaps we will ride again next year!
We were down to 40% charge in our SUV, so we headed south to Wadena hoping to charge there, which didn’t work, so we grabbed Blizzards at DQ, then headed south to Alexandria – a bit out of our way, but we knew we could find a dependable Electrify America charging station there! The drive home was tough – we were both exhausted, so we changed drivers frequently, we were constantly hungry, and our last three hours were driving in the dark with very heavy rain. We arrived home just before midnight!!
We slept past 10am on Saturday, then took most of the rest of the day to unload the car, do laundry and stash all the gear. We fought off hunger pains and exhaustion most of the day as well. Happy to be home with all the creature comforts, but really glad we had this adventure. Besides the fun new memories, it was so wonderful to relieve all the great times we’d had on previous TRAM rides.
Comments