Pedal On and On...: 7/10/11

Saturday, July 16, 2011

Day 27 - Hot and Steamy

Mitchell, SD to Sioux Falls, SD

Distance: 73 miles
Time: 5.5 hrs
Elevation Gain: 1,198 ft

We had an early start today due to the expected high temperatures and humidity, I was on the road by 6:30 am. We started the day with ridding through a steamy ground fog and although it help keep the temperatures done, it was very muggy riding with 100% humidity. It was in the mid 70's at 6:30 am and the ground fog burned off after the first hour of ridding and the temperatures started to rise. It got into the mid 90's by early afternoon. There was a slight head wind blowing which also helped keep yourself cool while ridding. We road on back roads through flat farm land all day with corn, soybeans, and wheat being the dominate crops. Many of the crop fields had huge areas of standing water, ponds, and even swap land from all the rain that this area had this year. We road past some farm houses, but they far apart and there was a sea of corn fields in between the farm houses. There were a few small towns sprinkled along the route that were not much more than a gas station and a corner store.

I had my first flat today, I stopped to help another rider with his flat and when we were finished and I started riding my tire went flat. One flat in ridding over 2,000 miles on all kinds of road surfaces, is not bad.

Tomorrow is a much deserved rest day!!

Link to My GPS Route

Front Camera View

Rear Camera View

Front Camera View

Rear Camera View

Front Camera View

Rear Camera View

Front Camera View

Friday, July 15, 2011

Day 26 - The Corn Palace

Chamberlain, SD to Mitchell, SD

Distance: 73 miles
Time: 5 hrs
Elevation Gain: 1,168 ft

We didn't have internet connection last night so I posted day 25 today, see the achieves.

We had a break with the weather today, we expected high temperatures with high humidity. Instead the temperature stayed in the mid to high 70's all day due to cloud coverage and a few light rain showers. We road through more rolling hills, open ranch land with green pastures and cattle, and through many hay fields. The ride was easy compared to the past couple of days and except for the long climb out of Chamberlain the route was mostly downhill. A lot of the roads were very rough or uneven with cracks every 20 ft that jarred my knee making it a bit painful to ride. The highlight of today's ride was the trip to the Corn Palace, just a few miles from our hotel. The Corn Palace is a huge building near the center of town that is covered with murals depicting an facet of lifestyle of South Dakota. The murals are made with corn, grain, grass, oats, straw, and wheat. The tradition of the Corn Palace dates back to 1892.

Tomorrow we have another 70 mile day and we ride to Sioux Fall, SD. We were told to expect a hot humid day tomorrow and to hydrate well tonight.

Link to My GPS Route

Front Camera View - The climb out of Chamberlin

Front Camera View

The only sun we had all day

Rear Camera View

Rear Camera View - Jeff and Karina

Rear Camera View -

Heavy rain that only lasted a few min.

Front Camera View - Storm Chasers

Rear Camera View - We road right passed the storm

Rear Camera View

Rear Camera View - Uneven pavement

Rear Camera View - Jan and Jeff

Rear Camera View

Front Camera View

Front Camera View - Trying to find the Corn Palace

The Corn Palace!!

Downtown Mitchell

Pedal On!!

Day 25 - Half Way Home!!

Pierre, SD to Chamberlain, SD

Distance: 84 miles

Time: 8 hrs

Elevation Gain:

I forgot to mention that yesterday we crossed the Missouri River and the central time zone.

Today we meet another milestone for this tour; we have crossed the half waypoint in both miles and in days. It’s hard to believe that we have been ridding for 25 days and have cycled 1,936 miles. The temperature was in the high 60’s at the start and the mid 90’s by early afternoon. The temperature is expected to go even higher over the next few days and may get into triple digits. We road through early morning fog that help keep things cool, but that soon burned off leaving us with partly cloudy skies and raising temperatures. The wind was blowing at 15 to 20 mph and it was mostly a headwind. We stated our day by ridding along the Missouri River. The water level of the river is at an all time high and has flooded thousands of acres of land you can see trees that use to be dry land almost completely submerged. The landscape alternated between rolling hills to flat land and back to rolling hill. We had three big climbs today, and after yesterday’s slugfest and with today’s headwinds, there were hard to climb, I had one speed – slow, but climbed all three. After about 25 miles and the first climb we left the Missouri River and rode through flat ranch land that had more high power towers and lines that I have ever seen in one location. At about mile 80, the route brought us back to the Missouri River and into the town of Chamberlain, our destination for the night.

Tomorrow we have an early start to try to beat the heat. We ride 72 miles to Mitchell, SD.

Link to My GPS Route