Hot and Dusty July 13

Today's ride was originally scheduled for 42 miles however we rode some back roads which turned it into 62 miles. We back tracked out of Lead back up the huge hill into town, before we turned on to a side road. We rode the side road though a couple of small towns, before we hit the gravel section of the route. There was 10 miles of gravel roads. It was a hard packed surface with pea gravel on it. The road was either straight up or straight down. The straight up part was a grind away business at 6 mph. The straight down part was 10 mph as you didn't dare go faster than that in the gravel. Although there were not that many cars every time one passed you, ate dust for 10 minutes. I was glad to get off the gravel. Picnic was at the 34 mile mark at this beautiful little lake. I could have hung in there forever eating this great fruit salad. However there were still miles to ride and a lot of hills to climb. It was starting to get hot and I knew I needed to get rolling. At the 50 mile mark we reached the freeway and turned toward Custer, where we are staying. The freeway was concrete and had these perpendicular groves cut into it, I assume to prevent hydro-planing when the road is wet. However it made the road extremely noisy. You could hardly think. The whine from the tires was deafening. The was now right into our face and a person had to work as hard as you could to keep going. Added to the noise and wind was the fact that it was all up hill. We were headed up towards the Crazy Horse Memorial which is being carved into the side of the mountain. This was started thin 1945 and is still under construction. The face is done and his out stretched arm is roughed out. However there is a lot of work still to be done. One of the riders said that she saw it 10 years ago and it looked the same.
I was the first into camp. Martin was right behind me. Fortunately Greg had just finished unloading luggage so Martin and I sat and ate some pretzels I had picked up.

We are staying at the Custer High school which is on the far edge of town. It is a brand new facility and very nice. However there is no Internet and it is a long way into town. Feeling just bushed I think I will have a lay down instead, of walking into town.
Lets ride
Terry