Day 19 Rapid City, South Dakota

It was with some trepidation that both John and I approached today's ride. Eighty miles from New Castle, WY to Rapid City South Dakota. We needed to climb to 5781 ft. Looking at the profile we would climb for the first half of the ride and then lose altitude into Rapid City. All told, we had to climb 3,491 feet, including a mile long 7% hill. That is a lot of climbing. As it turned out, today was much easier than we thought it would be. We did, in fact, climb all morning, but the climbs were not as severe as we feared. We have become better climbers, but we have also come to accept long climbs; we just settle in and spin, and spin, and spin...

After all that spinning, we were hungry and lunched at Sage Creak Grill in Custer, a delightful cafe with wonderful menu where we meet a woman who rides a tandem recumbent! Later we rode into Custer State Park. If you ever get a chance, you need to go to Custer State Park. It is gorgeous. Located in the Black Hills area, the topography is very different than the land 20 or 30 miles to the west. Gone is the red, sharp edged rock face that suddenly appeared in Wyoming. The boulders are rounded and black. Widely spaced deciduous trees are replaced by tightly packed pines. The deep green of the pine needles combined with the black rocks and soil leave little doubt as to how the area earned its name.

To sweeten the pot, the roads suddenly bent downward. We coasted over hilltops and around corners, through hill and valley, emerging from the park refreshed and exhilarated. The last leg of our journey was along highway 79, a four lane divided highway full of traffic. The road rolled into Rapid City, South Dakota, providing a final set of hills to be tackled before we arrived at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology. Upon arrival, I was interviewed by South Dakota Fox news. I've yet to see the broadcast, but I was promised that I would sound intelligent. I'm not sure how they will manage that : ).