Day 24
Seen about all of Wall, now it's time to pedal to Pierre

Yawn . . . we woke early to load at daybreak so everyone could get on the road before the winds picked up and the temperatures got too high.  With our predicted winds from the northeast, we were looking at a long day in the saddle...the temperature today was forecast to be really mild (80 degrees) for this time of year...we'll take what ever we can get.  On rides past, we've been in the 100s into Pierre . . . we are thankful to the temperature gods . . . they've had mercy on us all the way so far.  As it turned out, the winds were more from the northwest which gave us a nice push early in the morning and late in the afternoon.  I love it when the weather man misses a forecast like that.  After a hearty breakfast near the motel, everyone got on the road in good order and seemed to be in good spirits as they started to tackle a long, tough day.

The part of South Dakota we rode through today is much different from the terrain into Grand Rapids.  At departure, the sun was barely breaking the horizon as we started dropping and the cool morning air made the early part of the ride easy and enjoyable.

Today we crossed vast, rolling grasslands and I know you are tired of me saying this, but you would be hard pressed to find another area where the roads are as lonely and seemingly never ending.  Every time the riders came over a rise they were faced with another 10 miles of straight road that would disappear on the horizon before them . . . mind numbing at times, but much more interesting than the high desert we've crossed already.  At one point last ride, a motorist stopped by me while I was sitting on the side of the road waiting for the riders to come through.  He pointed out that we should be on another highway about 20 miles north of where we were to avoid the heavy traffic on highway 14 . . . the road we were on.  He probably sat there talking to me for about 10 minutes and all the time he was there, not one car passed by.  AS he left, I thanked him and thought to myself, "Why would they put a road up there if they have less traffic than this?" 

I really like riding in the wide open spaces and today was a great day both weather wise and scenery wise.  It's amazing what mild temperatures and favorable winds do to keep your attitude positive, but when I rode this day a couple years ago, I found it discouraging after 110 miles seeing the endless road ahead of me while bucking the relentless headwinds.  To say the least, it's days like that that make you look into your soul for the motivation to go on.  You learn a lot about yourself while pedaling into relentless terrain and winds . . . you also start remembering things that you haven't thought about in years like the words to songs you'd long forgotten, your second grade teacher's name and birthday, your child's social security number, or the score and details of the 3rd game of the 1967 world series.  You also wonder what you could have possibly been thinking when you signed up for a ride like this . . . maybe you ARE as crazy as your friends say you are.  But whatever goes through your mind, you pedal on, and eventually you reach your destination . . . tired, beat to a pulp, but proud of what you have accomplished and a stronger person emotionally and physically for your effort.  Now that this is over, you are ready for tomorrow's challenges.  Luckily, the day was challenging, but without the extreme heat and headwinds it was very doable...and no one seemed to be hallucinating when they got in.