Yesterday we had a long 117 mile day from Wall, SD to
Pierre, SD. There was a light headwind but the weather
was good and everyone felt quite good. The only
problem was that after the long day we lost an hour
due to the time zone change. It seemed to catch up
with a lot of people today.
The weather was beautiful today, cool and clear.
Unfortunately, the road was not in good condition and
then when it improved we hit a strong headwind. It
made our 84 mile day to Chamberlain, SD seem much
longer. That, along with the lost hour seemed to take
a lot out of everyone.
However, about 25 miles into the ride we hit the 1/2
way point in our journey. Something like that gives a
big psychological lift. Spirits are high among the
group. Aside from the headwinds, the weather gods have
been on our side. Biking South Dakota at 80 degrees
instead of 100 degrees makes a big difference.
South Dakota is an interesting state. The scenery can
be beautiful. There are rolling hills and thousands of
acres of wheat fields. There is farming on a massive
scale.
It’s interesting that as you travel the Snake River
Vally in Idaho you see huge farming operations but it
is all irrigated. They are growing corn, potatoes and
a lot of water intensive crops. Traveling South Dakota
we have been roughly following the Missouri River
which is quite massive. Yet, the farming is all dry
farming. It is mostly grain. I don’t know much about
agriculture so I don’t know why that is.
I had a questions about flats (flat tires). Flats are
the curse of bicyclists. Because of the light, narrow,
high pressure tires, flats are all too common. We
carry spare tubes with us for on-the-road fixes if the
tire itself hasn’t been too damaged. The mechanic in
the support van helps with flats and can change a
whole tire. We mostly travel on the shoulders of the
roads and they tend to have a lot of objects that can
cause a flat such as broken glass, metal objects,
holes in the pavement, rocks, thorns and other things.
There is a cause of flats that I wasn’t aware of until
this trip. You have seen pieces of tires that have
shredded (mostly off of trucks) along the side of
highways. The problem is that the steel belts in the
tire also shred and leave tiny steel wires. If your
bike tire picks up one of these it will work it’s way
into the tire and puncture the tube. The wires can be
so thin that you can hardly find and remove them. If
you don’t find it and just put in another tube you
will have another flat very soon.
A number of us have had 1/2 dozen flats already. The
guides keep a sheet of how many flats each of us have
had. Also, on a trip like this we will all probably
wear out two sets of tires. The stones and rocks on
the roads and the shoulders are hell on the sidewalls
so its possible to ruin even more tires.
Tomorrow we have a 70 mile ride to Mitchell, SD. Then
we are off to Sioux Falls and our third rest day.
