Diary

Mileage:  74.3 miles (120.37 kms)

Elevation Change:  5463 feet (1665 meters)

Weather:  cool, cloudy, some light rain

Morale:  had fun taking it easy

Incidents:  experience life at the back of the pack

Daily Summary:

Today’s elevation profile is for real, so we had to work a lot harder than we were in the mood for.  Very tired from yesterday’s hard effort, we were determined to take it easy today and be tourists.  We were the last cyclists out of the hotel at 7, and after the first hour had gone all of 11 miles (yesterday we were at 20+!).  We stopped at every historical marker, and went slowly and enjoyed the scenery.  (There was more to look at today then in the last week combined!)  We cycled through the Windcave National Park, the Custer State Park, and the Black Hills National Forest.  The highlight of the day, of course, was Mount Rushmore, where we met up with Christopher for awhile.  We had lunch in the next town, where the cinnamon rolls were so big we split one four ways!   Coming out of the Black Hills we zoomed down into Rapid City.  The view was amazing.  We looked out across the plains and it seemed like we could see all the way to Lake Michigan.  Rapid City is the biggest town we’ve been in yet—60,000.  Tomorrow we have an easy 60 miles to Wall and Wall Drug.  (We’ve been seeing signs already for days.)  Christopher has a single bike set up and is going to ride to the first SAG tomorrow with some of the staff.   The weather is supposed to clear and start getting hot again.

 

The first photo is of the Crazy Horse Memorial which is decades from being finished but which will be pretty amazing once it is.  Then you see the three of us in front of Mount Rushmore.