This morning ride started from the KOA at the base of Devils
Tower where we had our rest day. It was
10 miles into Hewlett where the folks who had a hotel for the rest day
were. As Ed and I rolled through town I
had fun barking at the hotellers who were lined up for their breakfast outside
the local café. I also was able to
scare one of the new sectional riders with some loud barks.
It was kind of hilly
as we rolled along but it was generally downhill for the first 50 miles and the
wind which was out of the south was not a factor until around 10:00 am and we
were headed almost due east along a not too busy highway. It had a good shoulder and Ed and I made good
time. So Ed and I reached picnic at
around 11:00 which was at the 50 mile mark.
With only 40 miles to go we were in excellent shape.
After rolling out of picnic the road turned straight south
down this four lane concrete freeway.
The wind had picked up considerably and was straight into our
faces. We had about 15 miles to go down
the concrete freeway to the town of Spearfish.
The best we could do was 7-10 mph taking turns pulling into the wind. The temperature in the meantime was close to 90F
but out on the freeway it was probably over 100F . I spotted a tree lined drive
way and we pulled in a sat down for 10 minutes. It took over 2 hours of hard
grinding to get down to Spearfish were we turned into the Spearfish Canyon.
Ed and I pulled into a Safeway and drank a half gallon of
chocolate milk and got a little AC.
While there we searched for a shorter route into Lead and the only route
was down the freeway which would have saved only 2 miles.
We pushed on up the canyon which was a very pretty ride up
through this twisted canyon. However as
it was a constant 3% uphill grade with almost no shade and a constant head
wind. At this point we are making 8-10
mph. I stopped twice to dunk my head in
this stream which is flowing alongside of the road. It was tremendously
refreshing but the effects were only short lived and had decreasing effect.
The top of the canyon we are greeted by a 2.7 mile climb of
7%. Ed and I stop for a coke to
recharge. Time has worked against us as
it is now close to 3:40 Pm. We push off
and I make about 2 miles before the tank is empty and I have to walk the last 0.7
miles. The descent into Lead is welcome
however the wind grabs at the bike making it kind of skittish. A deer
runs out right in front of me and stops. I yell out as I am doing about 30 mph on
the descent. The deer sees me and bolts
out to of the way.
I arrive in Lead at 4:45 pm making the total time on the 10
hours to cover 90 miles and 5800 feet of climb.
I am too exhausted to post my blog or eat supper. I fall asleep during rider meeting and
crawling up the 89 stairs to where the tent is all I have.
It kind of reminds me of this quote “ We choose to do this
not because it is easy but because it is hard.”
Terry hot biker
5 comments:
Tough day, chin up.
Great longhorn shot...
Terry, you skipped supper? If I remember correctly from 2014, supper in Lead included an unidentified "processed meat product".
Keep up the good work.
Canada Ken C.
That is correct, Ken. I was eating dinner with Sue, who is a vegetarian. She asked what I was having and I told her I did not have a clue, but I told her that even though she was a vegetarian, I thought she would have been pretty safe eating it. In addition, there was no “pudding”, so all of us went to the store across the street and bought ice cream.
Coming out of Devils Tower, did you have trouble with the “road snakes” like in ‘14? Thanks for bringing back the memories, Terry.
Oops, forgot to sign my last comment.
Later, Earnie
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