Pedal On and On...: Day 23

Rapid City, SD to Walls, SD

Distance: 58 miles
Time: 4.5 hr
Elevation Gain: 1,975 ft

We have a 5:15 am start time tomorrow, so this will be a short post.

Well the weather is still holding out out for us (mostly). We had overcast skies all day that kept the temperatures down, it was in the mid 60's in the morning and got up to the mid 80's by early afternoon. The winds shifted from the great tail winds that we were lucky to have for the past several days, to a headwind (10 to 15 mph) in the late morning/early afternoon. The headwinds slow you down, so I teamed up with Gary and Doyle and formed a pace line for the last 20 miles. We each took turns at the front of the pace line for ~ 1/2 mile at a time. The rider in the front expends more energy then the riders behind the lead rider.

Most of the route today consisted of riding up and down rollers. Rollers are small steep hills, 50 to 200 ft at 4 to 10% grade (or more), one right after another. I think ridding over rollers all days takes more energy then climbing over a mountain pass. We road through more green grassland that rolled throughout the country side with cattle on horses. We road about 20 miles on Interstate 90 that had a bad rough shoulder to ride on for the first 6 miles, than after that the shoulder got wider and smoother.

Today was all about getting to see the famous Wall Drug Store, we been seeing road signs for Wall Drugs for Days. Wall Drug Store is a HUGE old-time store and tourist trap that has almost everything you can think of, it draws people from all over the country, tour buses even stops there. I spent about 30 minuets walking through the different sections and had a Wall Drugs ice cream... you just gotta have ice cream when you bike ride like this.

Tomorrow is going to be tuff, 117 miles to Pierre, SD with a strong headwind.

Link to MY GPS Route