TODAY'S TALES: 

Yawn . . . we woke early to load at daybreak so everyone could get on the road...117 miles is nothing to sneeze at to say the least.  Our conditions were just about as perfect as they could possibly be...northwesterly wind, relatively cool temperature, and easy navigation.  What could be better?  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 and maybe today they were the best.  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 Rapid City.  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.  It was nice for a change to be dropping out of the motel rather than climbing before our pancakes had time to digest.

Today we crossed vast, rolling grasslands and I don't think I've ever seen the landscape so green on any other ride.  They've had lots of rain this spring and summer and the fields are lush with vegetation.  Plus, 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...and the next rise would always be higher than the one they just crested.  That fact was a bit demoralizing and mind numbing at times, but much more interesting than the high desert we've crossed already.  At one point last year, 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 how mild temperatures and tail winds help 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...I think I said that about the Casper day this year.  Luckily, today was challenging, but without the extreme heat and headwinds it was very doable and relatively easy...and no one seemed to be hallucinating when they got in.  John mentioned he got in 4 hours earlier than he did in Casper...that's what wind will do to you.

Headwinds were not the case today as Karen and I cruised out of town and started to ramp it up for a "free ride" day.  This meant we didn't have any assigned duties today and we could hammer down and kick out the miles at will.  In spite of a flat, 6 areas of construction, and twenty miles of headwind when we turned north, we still covered the 117 mile challenge in well under 6 hours.  Hey, an effort like that deserved a milk shake and hamburger from McDonalds...my favorite post ride recovery meal.

Our third SAG was at a "city" park in the small town of Hayes.  When I say small town, I really mean just a small dot.  There's only a couple buildings on site...luckily one is a store which allows people to buy sandwiches and such.  A rider last year asked the lady behind the counter how it was living out here.  Of course the reply was, "We like it just fine."  Then a rider asked how many people lived in Hayes and the lady, using her fingers, answered, "Let's see, there's Jim, there's Martha... ."  She finally rattled off about 9 names and said, "That's about it."  I guess it's nice to know everyone in town by name.

Finally, as we coasted into town, we crossed the Missouri River and into the central time zone...home zone at last.  The only time we stopped for a photo all day was to record the event.  Also today we had "Poker Day."  Everyone put in a buck and got a card at luggage load and all the SAG stops.  Finally, they got their last card at RAP. 

Tomorrow we have a much easier day...but not much.  The riders are looking forward to shorter mileage day and hopefully we can keep the same luck with the temperature.  We've been fortunate to have less than oven temperatures so far...and we're not complaining.  This group is now a hardened cross country team who can look just about any ride in the eye and pedal it out with energy to spare.  We're closing in on another leg...just 3 more ride days and we'll be in Sioux Falls, but tomorrow we must first roll into Chamberlain.  Oh!  Tomorrow we cross the half way point...is it downhill from here?  See you then.

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