Biking From Sidney To Duluth

When I was in medical school I thought I was a big adventurer when I rode my bicycle from St. Paul to Duluth. That was a 165-mile trip on the back roads of Minnesota. I have a 95-year-old friend who made a bicycle trip that makes my trip pale in comparison. Perhaps you know him. His name is John Bock. In 1937 he took his single speed wide-tired bicycle on a 700-mile bike trip from Sidney MT to Duluth MN. I learned about this trip from John himself and from reviewing postcards that he sent home during this period. This is his story. I hope you like it.

John was digging beets (by hand) back in the fall of 1937 when he decided to go on an extensive bicycle trip. He planned to visit relatives in Minnesota and Iowa, enroll in business school in Missouri, and have an adventure. Unlike today’s organized bike trips, there would be no support vehicles or fancy equipment to help him. It was just John and his bike. He did bring a loaf of bread and a jar of peanut butter with him for sustenance. And he slept in road-side ditches along the way.

When he got to Devils Lake (about 300 miles into his trip) John started to have second thoughts about his bike adventure. In his postcard home (on 9/7/1937) John told his mom that he “may sell [my bike] and take train into Duluth. Wind against me too much.” And so it is with many of our goals in life. But John didn’t give up. He kept on pedaling along, despite the wind, and soon crossed the state line into Minnesota. A few days later he wrote:

“Stayed at a cabin at Bemidji. Going isn’t bad. Think [I’ll] be in Duluth Saturday.”

It took nine days for John to bike to Duluth. He felt “swell” to have made it. When he got there his Aunt Edna gave him a bar of soap and a towel and insisted that he “wash up in the creek.” After nine days of biking he apparently needed to freshen up.

John’s aunt and uncle took him sight-seeing on the North Shore of Lake Superior. They also drove him and his bike south past the big city of Minneapolis. From there John got back on his bike and continued on his way to see relatives in Iowa. Once he was in Iowa John sent his bike back to Sidney, got a ride to Chillicothe, MO (where he attended business school) and started at his studies. He stayed in school there for eight months. It was at that time, however, that he decided that he “didn’t want an office job.”

When John was just about out of money he bought a bus ticket for home, headed back to Sidney, and got on with his life. He had an uncle that taught him about carpentry. “I decided that wood was for me,” John said. In 1940, he signed up for the Army. He spent five years in the South Pacific. He feels fortunate, however, that he “never shot anybody, and nobody ever shot at me.”

In 1945 John resumed his woodworking career. He worked for the Foss Cabinet Shop. Later he became an independent cabinet maker. In 1949 he met Hilda, who was a school teacher. They got married in 1951. They have three daughters. Their progeny, I have been told, are quite smart. John credits Hilda for that. There are two lawyers and a doctor in the family – among other gifted and talented offspring. But their determination seems to have come from John – who incredibly rode his bicycle from Sidney to Duluth in September of 1937. The rest, as they say, is history.