Day 23 - Rapid City to Wall

Was supposed to be 58 miles with 1,600 feet of climbing; however, due to road construction, we did about 51 miles with 1,677 feet of elevation gain. 

The first 24 miles were pretty swift, not much wind, pretty level.  We stopped at the rest stop/SAG stop and the leaders put us in a holding pattern. 

Dave is a strong rider who has helped me out in the wind on days when it was really needed.

We were in a holding pattern because our route was under construction as was the Interstate.  So they transported us by van for about five miles.  Here is a clip of taking bikes off the van:

Regarding Wall Drugs:  Mr. Wall bought the drug store back in 1931 and there was not much going on in the town at that time.  The summers were very hot and the winters were very, very cold.  Mr. Wall's wife came up with the idea to give out free ice water in the summer time to travelers.  They put up bill boards to let the travelers know about the free ice water.  The travelers started stopping by in droves and the rest is history.  Wall Drug is now a store that is about as big as a city block.  The walls between the individual buildings were opened.  Pretty big place with a lot going on in the middle of no where.  If you would like more info, check out this link:  http://www.walldrug.com/

Going down the highway, it is much like South of The Boarder in South Carolina on I-95.  Anyone who has traveled up and down I-95 corridor knows what I mean; a bill board advertising South of the Boarder, or in the case of Wall Drugs, every mile or so, advertising Wall Drugs starting about 30 or more miles out.  And they still give out free ice water.

It was very hard to get these bill boards with the GoPro, but I tried:

They give free coffee and doughnuts to both honeymooners and US Veterans.

Stopped on the highway for a break:

Pop 818:

 

Day 22 - Hot Springs to Rapid City

The ride was supposed to be 73 miles with 6,400 feet of elevation gain.  However, I had a problem with my bike.  As a result, I ended up with about 32 miles and 2,900 feet of elevation gain. 

Just a few miles into the ride, we saw the prairie dogs.  If you look closely, you can see them.  But you can definitely see the burrows.  In the second video, you can hear them; and you can see them if you look for them.  They are brown.  They happen to look like big rats to me.

During the ride, we came across the biggest bike sculpture in the Midwest.

While the entire ride was up hill to this point, there was a major climb that started at about mile 27 or so.  As I got to the top, my bike was making a new noise; kind of like a tinkling in the drive train.  I got off the bike and could not really figure it out, rotating the pedals counter-clockwise.  I just could not see anything.  I did not see the chain rubbing the derailleur at all, although that is what it sounded like, the chain was rubbing something.  I could not find anything.

So I got on the bike, and headed down the big hill to the rest area/SAG.  Got down there and started to look at the drive train again.  Still could not find anything.

We went around the corner to a convenience store and stopped.  I got off the bike again and turned it over and and I immediately saw that part of the gear cable guide was missing.

The cable was actually rubbing the small chain wheel, the teeth.  That is what made the tinkling sound.  The ride leader spoke to the mechanic who stated he did not have such a part.  She then got on the phone and found a bike shop in Rapid City who had the part and said he could fix it.  As a result, my ride was finished for the day.  So I missed a lot of beautiful riding, and missed Mt. Rushmore.  But I was able to get the following when the van stopped to assist some of the other riders.

The leaders trucked me over to the bike shop and I am happy to report that the bike is fixed and ready to go for tomorrow morning.

Day 21 - Lusk, WY to Hot Springs, SD

About 94 miles with 2,900 feet of climbing

Today was a pretty good ride.  We either had a tail wind or no wind, but definitely no head wind.  And a lot of the ride was down hill.  We had 2,900 feet of elevation gain, but about 4,500 feet of elevation loss, a lot more down hill versus uphill/climbing.  We had a total elapsed time of eight and a half hours.

Just a few miles north of Lusk, the vegetation has significantly changed:

Stage coach stop.  This guy Michael was telling us all about it, then I got out the camera, see what happened:

South Dakota (SD) state line:

We had a grueling four mile climb.  The grade was between four to six percent.  It seemed really, really hot; by the time I got to the top, I was saturated in sweat.  I had to stop two or three times just to get my breath.  At the top, one of the SAG vehicles was at the top of the climb.  They gave me some ice for my bandana to put around my neck.  It was instant relief.  

The Black Hills of SD:

Here is a link for a longer video of a good part of the down hill into Hot Springs.  This was immediately following another 1 mile climb.  But because the climb was only one mile, it did not have the same debilitating effect on me as the four mile climb.  

I was asked to get some longer videos out there, so let's try this:  Hdere is a video of the aforementioned decent, I called this video, day 21 need for speed.

Finally, welcome to Hot Springs:

Day 20 - Capser to Lusk

This ride was supposed to be 107 and 3,200 feet of climbing.  However, major construction on the Interstate caused the leaders to transfer us part of the ride and we lost 14 miles, so I had 93 miles and 2,600 feet of climbing. 

When we were in the van, one of the leaders, Karen, who is pretty funny, was commenting on the Interstate.  So Wyoming DOT was fixing one side of the Interstate, as a result, two way traffic was on the other side of the Interstate.  There was no room for cyclists. 

On the side they were fixing, first it looked like brand new paving, and Karen was wondering why, out loud, we were not allowed to ride on the new paving; new paving for a cyclist is like a dream come true.  As we were traveling, the new paving turned to hard packed dirt.  Karen said we still could have rode on that.  Well the hard packed dirt lasted for a few miles, and as it went on, Karen commented that it might not be a good idea to ride on the hard packed dirt for so long.  Then Karen, goes, oh no, this might be a problem, you would need a good head of steam and a decent ramp to make it over the bridge that was completely ripped out.  Big hole, there was no way to get over that, hehe. 

Here is a pic of Karen:

We started the ride about 6:30 AM, rather pleasant morning.  But 93 miles takes me a long time to complete.  It took over nine hours of elapsed time to complete the ride.  As the day progressed, it got hot really hot.  One of the guys we were riding with, Dave got so dehydrated that he got dizzy.  We stopped at Three Sisters Restaurant and after a bit, he said he was feeling better.  If you can see on the sign, it says "if he is lopen, we are open."  The pie was supposed to be the best, I would say, not so much.

Here we are climbing up to the Interstate:

Here is another pic of a jackalope:

Someone mentioned that this was the first school house in Wyoming, not sure, but I will go with it:

If you look closely at the beginning of the clip, you can see the Lost Springs sign shows "Pop 4."  This was the lowest population sign we have seen so far.

Finally, arrived at Lusk:

Day 19 - Casper

Rest day today.  Quick update:

Biked through Idaho, seemed like, here today, gone tomorrow:

Wyoming is taking a lot longer to get through:

The line on the US map is now legible, since it has gotten so much longer:

The accountant in me cannot help it; By the Numbers:

Total trip miles:  3,690
Days of trip: 50
Miles completed so far:  1,315
Percent miles completed:  36%
Percent days gone:  38%

Total climbing so far:  55,510'

Since we were picked up at mile 109 yesterday, we missed out on the final 10 miles.  The head mechanic was gracious enough to take us out to where we were picked up yesterday to ride the final 10 miles in today.

I thought that this was pretty cool, the bike path went along the North Platte River:

Day 18 - Riverton to Casper

About 119 miles and 2,800 feet of  elevation gain.

The start of the day looked amazing:

The guy in the center is John Dobbs; he started riding with us in the mornings to start his ride.  He typically stays with us until we start to climb and then he falls behind. 

On the ride, we stopped to take the pic of the Boysen Reservoir, and he kept going. 

We passed him once we got started riding again and we did not see him the rest of the day, but heard he got in earlier than us.  Funny thing is, we never saw him pass us; never thinking he got a ride in.  Well, low and behold, we found out he got a van ride from the 2nd to the 3rd rest stop, about a 30 mile hop.  It just made that much sense once I found that out; I knew we were a bit stronger than him and I just could not figure it out.

The day started out really nice, seemed to be going really well.  Around mile 20 we stopped at the Reservoir and then when we got back on the bikes, the headwind hit us.  It was a really strong head wind that just really took our pace down from 14 mph to 16 mph to something like 10 mph, ugh, the day just got a whole lot longer.

Right after we stopped at the first rest stop of the day, we ran into a couple of guys named Dave and Evin.  We decided to ride together.  We pretty much stayed at a pace of a steady 12 mph, rotating every half mile, and it just worked out really well.  They were like life savers.  So now instead of having to pull for a half mile every mile, I only had to pull once every two miles.  The ride truly got a lot easier.  We rode together with them like that from about mile 35 to about mile 109.  I had another flat and they even waited for me to change the flat.  (Gonna put a new tire on the bike)  Really upstanding guys!!!

At mile 104, there were a lot of grey skies, but to the south, and Karen, one of the ride leaders said Casper was dry, that we could keep riding.  At 109, they scooped us up saying the storms were coming our way.  I will say we saw lightning, but never heard the thunder, so that means we were never in danger.  And it was raining pretty good when we were picked up. 

Proof of a small town:

We also saw Hells Half Acre.  The clip of the video said the buffalo killed themselves, that is incorrect; here is more info:

Hunters herded the bison and drove them over the cliff, breaking their legs and rendering them immobile. Tribe members waiting below closed in with spears and bows to finish the kills. The Blackfoot Indians called the buffalo jumps "pishkun", which loosely translates as "deep blood kettle". This type of hunting was a communal event which occurred as early as 12,000 years ago and lasted until at least 1500 AD, around the time of the introduction of horses. The broader term game jumps includes buffalo jumps and cliffs used for similarly hunting other herding animals, such as reindeer. The Indians believed that if any buffalo escaped these killings then the rest of the buffalo would learn to avoid humans, which would make hunting even harder.

Day 17 - Dubois to Riverton

Just under 80 miles with about 1,600 feet of elevation gain.  This was the fastest ride for me so far.  Satish pulled me for about 50 - 60 miles; anyone that knows me knows I am a draft hog.  Also, we had some tail winds, but some head winds also.  The key was we had a net of 2,000 feet of elevation loss, lot more downhills versus uphills, that is why it was by far the fastest ride for me so far during the tour.  In other words, FUN, FUN, FUN!!!

It was really cold this morning:

Pic from yesterday:

Dubois was a quaint, wild west town.  The sidewalks were wooden planks, just like in the olden days.  Dinner last night was not the best, but breakfast at the Cowboy Cafe was pretty good.

From the Wind River Indian Reservation:

Smallest town we went through so far: