Wednesday, August 27, 2014
All Things Must Pass
I arrived in Rapid City by 3:00 PM. Drop off time for the rental was 4:00, so I took my time packing up and assembling the bike. I hung around the airport about an hour to wait out the sun and rode downtown to find a place to stay. I found sleep quickly, which was was good.
The next morning marked the start of my march into the Black Hills. My goal of Hill City was only 30 or so miles from Rapid, leading me to believe I would have an easy day. It was definitely easy, but only physically.
Now I'm not sure if I mentioned this earlier (and I don't feel like combing through to check), but I had been having trouble with a few of my middle gears. The trouble being the series of gears would slip due to what was described to me as the "finnicky" nature of 10-speed bikes. It was nothing more than a nuisance throughout the prairie and worsened only slightly into the start of the hills. As the hills grew larger I began to experience more issues, such as the chain popping off when downshifting between certain gears and an increased range of consistently slipping gears. This was bad news - two bike guys at different shops in different cities had explained to me that there was no easy way to fix this issue.
The Black Hills are a different kind of hills than what I had experienced thus far. Elevation ranges from about 3000ft in Rapid City to the 7242ft Mt. Harney, the highest point in South Dakota. The trail behind me hung out in the 1000-2000ft range.
On the outskirts of Rapid City the ride felt odd. There was more resistance than usual. I couldn't pinpoint the issue so I decided it was my legs being weaklings. A short while later the chain slipped. Shift. Slipped again. More slipping. Shift. Pop. Chain's off. Fix, pedal, pop. Fix. Adjust, Shift, shift, pedal. We good? Pop. No.
That was that. My theory is the weight was simply too much for the bike at those grades. The bike is designed for racing. People who race bikes weigh like 160lbs. This thing was not designed to have 230-250lbs sitting on the rear axle. Too much tension on the shifting mechanisms. Keep in mind I have no idea what I'm talking about. It didn't even have mounts for the rack, but it was what I had to work with, and did a damn fine job while it lasted. The nice thing is it works well without all the weight.
By the time I gave in to the inevitable it was too late to get a car. I spent the night in another faceless motel, rode the bike down to the airport, and got a car. And yes, I had to walk the bike up the hill the airport sat on. Only about a 1/2mi though. By noon I was headed out on my now road trip to Colorado.
More later. I'm tired.
Friday, August 22, 2014
To The Badlands!
Wednesday, August 20, 2014
I Cheated
And I'm definitely paying for it.
The trip to Eagle Butte taught me three things: the prairie is beautiful, the prairie is unforgiving, and the prairie gets boring fast. In order to make up for some lost time, and to avoid pedaling into the 85°F wind, I have decided to cheat.
I shuttled out of Eagle Butte towards Pierre. There awaited a car in which I was to drive to Rapid City. Fittingly, it takes more work to leave Eagle Butte this way than it would have been had I just rode.
Exhibit A: I was supposed to leave yesterday morning. The ride was canceled last minute.
Exhibit B: I was told my bike would fit in the shuttle. False - it does not. I had to leave it at the hotel, therefore I had to return to Eagle Butte prior to continuing on to Rapid City.
Exhibit C: Halfway into our trip to Pierre, the other passenger realized he was going to be late for his appointment... so we turned around. Had I been driving I would not have been so kind.
Exhibit D: Busses regularly leave Pierre for Rapid City. They will not, however, transport my bicycle. Thus the need for a rental car.
The bottom line here is that I am bypassing the badlands, though I will be driving through. I realize I am not prepared to camp in these areas, partially due to lack of proper experience, and a bit because hammock camping is not feasible out here. Seeing as I made it almost 600mi and am behind schedule, I'm happy with the plan.
After arriving in Rapid City, I will head south to Hill City. That's the area where you'll find them there monuments. From there it's more south on the Mickelson Trail through the hills and into Nebraska. I aim to arrive at the finish line by Aug 30.
Tuesday, August 19, 2014
Little Trek on the Prairie
Aug18
Monday, August 18, 2014
...Data
I'll be updating less frequently due to data usage restrictions. This will most likely be when I get to a place with free Wi-Fi.
I promise I did stuff yesterday, you'll just have to wait to find out what.
Saturday, August 16, 2014
Wakpala Powwow
Friday, August 15, 2014
Another shakedown
Thursday, August 14, 2014
It's so sad
Friendly Warnings
Wednesday, August 13, 2014
Aberdeen is still nice
Tuesday, August 12, 2014
Aberdeen
South Dakota
Sunday, August 10, 2014
The Northwestern Wind
- also found are snakes, turtles, skunks, foxes, mice, owls, raccoons, birds, ...
- I had to dodge a lot of road kill today
- tonight is a full moon
- this trip marks the first time(s) I have experienced numbness in my private regions.
- I read that that's normal and totally okay.
- there was a 300ft elevation increase over the course of 53 very flat miles. That's very roughly 1ft increase per 1000ft ridden.
- the wind in North Dakota sucks
- On this day in 1993 we were blessed with the birth of Olivia Rose Mulder
- HAPPY BIRTHDAY LIV!
Saturday, August 9, 2014
Halted in North Dakota
Well, I made it to North Dakota! Wahpeton, North Dakota that is. That's right, I crossed the Otter Tail Creek today. Yup.
Now I'm hanging in Wahpeton. There are storms due southwest of here so I'm staying the night. I got a crash course in tornadoes from a guy from Oklahoma, which is nice.
Otherwise there is much boredom. I planned on making at least 20mi more today - the distance to the next town - but mother nature is against that. That's cool cause there is a movie theater here, and TMNT just came out.