Philip to Pierre SD July 16 2022

 

Philip to Pierre SD

July 16 2022

Last night was a huge lightning storm.  I lay in my tent and watched as the bolts of lightning flashed for at least a couple of hours before falling asleep.  I think that it then rained most of the night as I awoke a couple of times and it was raining.   At about 4:00 am I looked at the radar to see where the rain was and the radar had the rain ending about 5:15 am.  I was worried about what rain gear to wear, but with it ending a couple of hours before ride time maybe I could escape.  The rain was good as it would take some heat out of the system. The radar was right and the rain stopped at 5:15.

I was on the road at 6:55 Am and with 87 miles to go I wanted to make as much time as possible before the afternoon heat and winds came up.  We were also entering Central Time so I would lose an hour. 

The route was straight east for 25 miles, straight north for 25 miles and straight east for 37 miles. The first east leg was very nice with a good shoulder and no wind.  The rain had cooled it down to around 65F so it was a very pleasant ride.  Being a Saturday morning the traffic was very light and I made good time.  When I got the north leg temperature was getting up and so was the wind.  Fortunately the wind was out of the south so it was a bit of a tail wind.

Most of the way had been a lot of ups and downs where the ups and downs were about a half mile in length.  No matter how hard you raced down the descents you always wound up grinding up the last part of the climb.  

Just after I made the last turn and started east was picnic which I had made by 11:00 AM.  It was clam chowder which was excellent.  I didn’t linger as the clouds looked really threatening and I had elected to bring only a light jacket.  However as I pulled out from Picnic the wind came up and was now out of the East North East at around 15 mph.  The highways department had been out and put down this really rough chip seal.  Making 10 mph was a tough slog. The wind blew the cloud cover away and the temperatures went to around 95F.  My early arrival was no longer possible.

As I crossed the Missouri river I changed my watch to Central time. 

The entire tour is staying at the Ramkota Inn in Pierre SD.  It is a beautiful hotel and conference center. It is by far the nicest place we have stayed in so far.

So ends week four of the tour. 

Terry