Day 25 Journal Pierre, SD to Chamberlain, SD

I biked 85.5 miles today. What a difference a day makes! After 3 people were in the ER for some saline yesterday, and a couple of falls and the majority transported in from the 85-mile mark – today was an entirely different day. We are a wonderfully resilient group of hardy souls and bodies. When we started pouring into the breakfast room at 6:00 AM this morning, everyone looked all fresh and all were ready to get right out there and roll on. It was an 85-mile route for us today. The wind Gods were not so angry today. The sun still was a cooker though and the thermometer on the bank as I rolled into Chamberlain, SD at 12:30 PM read 100 degrees!!! There was a thunderstorm about 4:00 AM this morning, and when we started out I had my rain gear with me. I could see rain pouring down off in the distance, but figured it was moving out and away. We never got a single drop on us. At the first SAG wagon I pulled out the rain jackets and put them into the ‘drop box’ and they were hauled in for me to reclaim here at the motel. Chuck talked to me at breakfast and thought it would be a good idea if we rode near each other --- seeing yesterday the heat can get you in trouble fast it is a good idea to be riding near another person. We go about the same speed and we both wanted to get into Chamberlain before the blistering heat of the afternoon. We had a nice tailwind for about 20 miles, and then a cross wind which wasn’t nearly as strong as yesterday. We saw a small store at about mile 48 and stopped for a bottle of V8 juice and filled the bottles with Gatorade. It was a good break and gave us a whole lot of energy to keep on truckn’. The scenery was mostly cattle ranches and hay crops with some corn and soybean crops here and there. There were 3 killer hills today, one being 3 miles from Chamberlain. As we started up this 10-13% grade that went on for about 1-½ miles it was SO HOT because the wind completely died as we entered the climb. I took my water bottle and doused myself head, arms, neck, and legs. Just cooling down the body temp makes a huge difference. Chuck and I kept yelling back and forth, “We can do ANYTHING!” as we slowly mashed down on our pedaling and kept our eyes fixed on the top of the hill. This was about 80 miles into the ride, so we were getting tired, and very hot – but we sure had our spirits high today and sailed right on up and were rewarded with a 2 mile 6% grade downhill all the way into town. It was a beautiful ride along the wide and green/blue Missouri River today. There were times when we were not in sight of the river, but often we were climbing the bluffs and getting a gorgeous view of the river that made today’s ride really grand. Soon as I got in I could hardly wait to get to the café by the motel, Casey’s. It had pie to die for. Genuine, made there, made from scratch crust. But I had a difficult choice to make. The bread pudding was also made right there and it looked so good. I had some of that warmed up. I think I’ll go back now and get a piece of pie “to go”!

Tomorrow it is Mitchell, SD. Home of the Corn Palace. A 70-mile route is planned. But the weather will stay up there in the upper 90’s again. Looks like we will have a NW wind, and going east that will be great.

Road Kill: 1 tumbleweed

Bananas: 3