July 16, 2018 Pierre to Miller SD

Today’s ride from Pierre to Miller was routed for 88.9 miles with 1739 feet of climb.  However Auzzie Bob and I decided to take the short cut. This reduced the ride to 71.9 miles and 730 feet of climb.  The programed route went along the Missouri river which took you along way south making a 90 degree left turn to the north and meeting up highway 14 which runs directly from Pierre to Miller.  Bob and I simply rode up highway 14. 

The router who planned the route tried in vain to convince me that riding two sides of the triangle were of the same length as one side.  When I failed to believe this he then resorted to claiming that by deviating from his planned route I would bring about a form of bicycle Armageddon, thus ending all cycling planet wide.  You can see in the above example of one of his arrows that the lack of symmetry in the arrow displays his lack of grasp of basic geometry.

So after a much delayed breakfast I bolted out the door to meet Bob who was staying at a hotel.  The climb out of the Indian Learning Center was a lot longer and steeper than I had anticipated and I wound up being 10 minutes late.  Nevertheless Bob was still waiting and with the day's climb essentially over we were off. 

Unlike claimed, the shoulder along highway 14 was excellent.  As my memory serves the planed route along the river had no shoulder and you were right out in traffic for the first 65 miles until you met up with Highway 14.  

The morning was very nice and cool at around 70 f with some good cloud cover keeping a lid on the heat. Cruising right along we stopped at Blunt which was about 23 miles in and had a very nice breakfast burrito which was all egg and meat with no potato. 

 We stopped again at Harold where we pulled into an old time garage with gas pumps.  The owner/mechanic came out an we chatted with him while drinking some cold sports drinks.  He had the most magnificent view of the prairies.  He said that the horizon was 14 miles off and you could see 14 miles in 360 degrees.  As I took a picture he told us that one person who visited his garage had called it the world’s biggest picture window.  I believe it.  The sun on the golden fields was magnificent.

At our mile 48 we met up with route mile 64 and there we stopped and I had a second burrito.  As I sat eating the flashing sign showed that the temperature was no up to 85 F and sure enough the south wind which we have experienced started to blow.  So the last 25 miles we had a good cross wind.  

Bob and I rolled in well ahead of the rest of the group so we went to find a burger and a beer however the only place open in Miller was a pizza place which had huge slices of pizza for $2.00 and included a fountain soda.  It was really nice pizza and a special treat as I have not had pizza this trip.

Bottom line is no bike Armageddon. The shoulder was the smoothest we have had this entire trip.  Bob and I had a great day together. We beat the heat and the wind.  I even found a prize for awards night on Friday (sorry no spoilers).

Terry