Day 18 - Mitchell SD to Worthington MN

Ride Stats:
Distance: 136.7 Miles
Climbing: 3,468ft
Ride Time:  8:18
Temp:  64-81

Today was a much easier day than yesterday.  It was a cooler day with tail winds at the beginning and end, making this much faster.  The final 30 miles were were cruising along at 21-25 miles an hour with only moderate effort.  Thunderstorms were in the forecast with a 90% chance of hitting us.  We could see the storms, but we were blessed that they moved around and did not hit us.  We had a few raindrops for only about 5 minutes.

The terrain is all flat farm fields, just like home.  So I did not take any pictures today, except for the progress map below.

It is hard to believe that we have covered as much grounds as we have.  Two weeks from today we will finish.

The back to back riding days are taking a tole on everyone to one degree or another.  This ride is a huge physical challenge.  I started to have early stage symptoms of Achilles Tendinitis in my left leg. Fortunately, one of the crew members is a PA and is very helpful in dealing with this matters.  I am icing every hour, taking ibuprofen,  and will start taping tomorrow before the ride.  Hopefully all of this will keep this issue in check.

Pictures from today:

Wow - hard to believe that we have covered that much ground.

Day 17 - Murdo to Mitchell SD

Ride Stats:
Distance: 145.7 Miles
Climbing: 3,350ft
Ride Time:  9:21
Temp:  57-97

Today was a tough day.  We had cross winds and some head winds all day.  One of our team members had a minor medical episode a couple of hours into the ride and had to stop riding and call for a pickup.   In addition, another team member had two flat tires after riding a segment on the interstate.  So, my team fell well behind all other tour riders and tried to play catch-up the rest of the day with quick turns at Sag stops & lunch, along with pushing the pace to the extent we could.  We ultimately caught the tail end of other riders close to the finish.  It was surprising that we were able to make up the time.

The rider with the medical episode later decided that it would be in his best interest not to continue with the transcontinental ride.  So we have lost 2 of the 5 original team members this week.  Some other riders have joined our group, which is a big help, but we really hated to see 2 good riders that we had a lot of fun with leave the trip.

All of us were completely wiped out after today's ride.

The landscape in eastern South Dakota slowly change from hills and plains to primarily open farm field with some rolling hills.  Since it looked so much like my home turf I did not take any usable pictures today.

Day 16 - Rapid City to Murdo SD

Ride Stats:
My Garmin died during the ride today.  The following are from our cue sheet:
Distance: 146.9 Miles
Climbing: 4,180ft
Ride Time:  TBD
Temp:  62-96

God had mercy on us today.  We had tailwinds for the first half of the ride, with a light cross-wind for the last half.  We had a lot of rolling hills, but the ride was a gradual descent for most of the day.  Longer miles, but much easier riding.

Today we rolled through the plains of South Dakota, then the Badlands, then back to the plains.  It is starting to look a lot like the Midwest with big farm fields.

We saw a fair amount of wildlife today - Prairie Dogs, Buffalo, Badgers, Deer, Horses and some Goats.

My posts will be very brief as we now are riding long days with big mileage.

Pictures from today - Riding through the Badlands:

Day 15 - Custer to Rapid City SD

Ride Stats:
Distance: 45.8 Miles
Climbing: 3,271ft
Ride Time:  3:20
Temp:  57-82

Today was a well earned active recovery day.  We became tourists for most of the day, visiting the Crazy Horse Monument (carved in side of a mountain) and Mount Rushmore.  We generally took our time and rode easy to Rapid City.  We arrived in time to catch up on things we needed to do (laundry & naps).  And yes, we had strong headwinds again, but with the shorter mileage it did not drain us.  All of us are feeling much better.

We had a voluntary weigh in after yesterday's ride.  Many riders are losing significant weight.  This morning the tour operators emphasized the importance of making sure we are eating enough and staying hydrated in order to survive the tour.  Over this ride I have turned into an eating machine, easily consuming 2 - 3 times what I normally eat.  A big breakfast, lot's of snacks at our 3 Sag stops, a big lunch on the rode, then a healthy size dinner, has helped me maintain my weight within about  2 pounds of where I started.

We are loosing one of our team members, Jim, who is leaving a couple of days early to handle some business matters.  He was effectively the leader of our group, fun to ride with and will be missed.

Not much else to report on today, so just see the pictures below.

Tomorrow we start high mileage days (140 range), so I may be more sporadic on my posts.  In one week we will cover all the remaining distance between here through Wisconsin, then have a rest day to take the ferry across Lake Michigan.  If I can physically handle this week with higher mileage, then I know I can handle the final legs.

Pictures from today:

Crazy Horse Monument

Mount Rushmore

Lots of progress over two weeks

Black Hills Forest

Day 14 - Gillette WY to Custer SD

Ride Stats:
Distance: 116.4 Miles
Climbing: 4,616ft
Ride Time:  8:49
Temp:  60-79


I am a day late with this post because today was the toughest day of the entire tour.  On paper, the ride stats did not look bad, but had a fair amount of climbing.  We were greeted with a strong headwind the entire day.  Our group of 5 banded together with 3 other riders which helped with the pace line rotation.  With our legs shot from the Big Horn Mountains and yesterdays headwinds, today was just brutal.  At times we were held to 6 mph on the climbs and 12 mph on the flats.  Time between rest stops seemed to take forever.

After we crossed the South Dakota border, the winds slowed some and the last 20 miles through the Black Hills was much better.  We crawled into the hotel, grabbed a quick dinner, and collapsed to rest for another day of riding.  Fortunately tomorrow will be a much shorter ride as we visit the Crazy Horse Memorial and Mount Rushmore.

The terrain was mostly rolling hills and plains through the eastern side of Wyoming.  Crossing into the Black Hills area of South Dakota, the hills became steeper with lots of pine trees.  Watching the changing landscape is one of the aspects I really enjoy on this trip.  While today was tough, I never get tired of immersing myself in God's creation.  It is a real blessing to be able to do so.

Pictures from today:

Our Team crossing the border

Starting the day heading out from Custer

Plains & Hills

Entering the Black Hills

Black Hills

Day 13 - Sheridan to Gillette WY

Ride Stats:
Distance: 109.2 Miles
Climbing: 4,442ft
Ride Time:  7:30
Temp:  60-105

Today's ride was really difficult after yesterdays big climb over the Big Horn Mountains.  We had less climbing, but strong headwinds plus the heat made the day very tough.  Our legs were dead going into the ride, so we lacked the punch needed to move forward at a decent pace.  Tomorrow is forecast to be very similar, so may be touch in the saddle.  Over this past week five of us have banded together to ride as a group - Jim, Courtney, Anni, Jim and me.  We all have complimentary abilities, work well together and enjoy chatting and bantering back and forth.  That has really helped on days like today.

The landscape changed from mountains and plains to hills and plains.  Just took a few pictures today.

After a long hot day, when I walked into my hotel room I was greeted by hot air.  Must have been close to 90 in that room.  The maintenance guys worked on it without success and ended up replacing the entire unit.  I am finally cooled down as I write this post.

On Sunday we will visit Mount Rushmore, which I am looking forward to.

Today's pictures:

Our team heading out for the day - Jim, Courtney, Anni & Jim

The wide open plains.  Hard to see the hills with this shot.

Day 12 - Powell to Sheridan, WY

Ride Stats:
Distance: 123.1 Miles
Climbing: 7,513ft
Ride Time:  8:32
Temp:  59-98 (68 at summit)

Today was a very long day, so I will keep this post short.  I can summarize the entire day with one word - Wow!!!

We climbed the Big Horn Mountains.  The scenery was spectacular.  The climb very difficult (grades up to 14%) to an elevation of 9,430 (still some snow banks up there)..  Then we were rewarded with a spectacular descent.  The descent was fast and technically difficult at times (3,600ft drop in 13 miles)..  I took a video of the entire descent but could not safely take pictures.  If I have time to extract a couple of pictures, I will update this post.  The video is too big to post.

Pictures from today:

Beginning the climb - Looked very intimidating

Getting close to the submit

Even higher

The Summit

Still have snow banks up here

Another from the climb

Last one from the climb