Day 24 – Christmas is coming...
Miller South Dakota, to DeSmet, South Dakota
I was beginning to think that South Dakota was the most monotonous state yet, and then today she threw a curveball in. The night was spent in the Miller High School, and about a dozen of us shared the air conditioned trophy room. I really miss the privacy and nightly debriefing with Ane in our little tent, traded for a room full of rustling and snoring, but after the previous hot night I jumped at the opportunity for air conditioning. Still, I didn’t sleep especially well, and was definitely not waking up too quickly.
The whole first thirty miles I was sleepy and my legs were just not working well for me. I was riding with Ane, Ben, and Sean again, and we decided about mile thirty that we needed a potty break at a gas station. Ane was the decision maker, and she made it a little too late and wiped out on the gravel when she turned at the last second. She’ll be bruised a little, but these silly falls happens to the best of them. Plus she had a lovely dust “racing stripe” down her side from it. Thank God we stopped here because Sean and I split a customary cup of coffee, and it made all the difference. Physically I was still a little worn out, but mentally I finally woke up. Even Ane was impressed by the turn-around. Guess I’m more addicted to coffee than I realized, and I definitely won’t be skipping it at breakfast again. So energized, I initiated a boys vs. girls friendly competition: who could get the most semi’s to blow for us. I can’t believe we lost that, honestly they were getting all pity honks.
Not five miles from the gas station we saw the flashing lights of a police car and ambulance up ahead. Now when you’re in the middle of South Dakota on a straight and flat country road, where you’re just as likely to pass one of us cyclists as you are a car, those flashing lights are a scary sight because you know that it’s one of us. As we approached the lights I felt the almost eerie unease that I used to feel on canoe trips when a plane flew overhead, in which case each canoe would stop pedaling in a dead silence to see if that plane was coming to tell us bad news from home. Bob walked out to us and explained that Dr. Hattler had fallen, no cars involved, by scraping wheels with another rider. From what we hear tonight, he’s going to be alright but it was a good fall. We cleared out of there as soon as we could so that we weren’t in the way, but it was a pretty sobering experience. He hadn’t even been in a paceline, and it was a serious reminder that despite all of the fun and games we have going everyday, we are always at risk for various hazards out there.
Around forty miles into our day today, we reached our halfway mark of the trip! After a leisurely lunch and photo op at the park, we prepared ourselves for the dark skies moving our way. Thus we’ve been 24 days and not a single stretch of real rain. That streak ran out today and then some. The lightning came first, off in the distance and heading right for us. It was spectacular, and dark skies and lightning started to envelope us. Rain began shortly thereafter, and got harder and harder until it was literally pelting. I couldn’t see any actual hail on the ground, but it sure felt like it with the wind hurling the rain at us like that. But it was thrilling. All of it. A few riders pulled over to wait it out, and that was probably the safer option, but we were having too much fun. Besides, we had rubber tires between us and the road, and Ben as our tall lightning rod if that wasn’t enough. When it finally blew over we had some fun pictures of us soaking wet at the waterstop.
The last fifteen miles weren’t so bad, but they were at a snails pace in the wind again. I was literally falling asleep. My apologies for so many comparisons with canoeing, but never imagined that I could fall half asleep pedaling just like I could on weary days paddling. Let me tell you, Ane’s bottom bracket was mesmerizing in my half-daze. Finally we arrived in De Smet, and we were so famished we headed for the nearest food place, which happened to be Subway. I asked for the manager, explained that we were 24 days into a cross country bike tour for the American Lung Association, that we rode out that huge storm, that we were soaking wet and famished, and was wondering if they’d be willing to sponsor us a meal. They were so sweet and kind, gave us all 6” meals, and it hit the spot in so many ways.
Camp was at a cute little city park. By the time I got my shower it was freezing, but if this is the first cold shower I’ve gotten yet then I feel like we’ve done well. Dinner was at a church nearby, with air conditioning cranked down to about 50 degrees I swear, and was served by the chamber of commerce. It was pretty good, with midwestern scalloped potatoes, plenty of fruit and cookies. I even stole two veggie burgers for the next day. Tom and Sean had a bratwurst war, trying to won up one another, and Sean won with a combined brat and hotdog total of seven. Gross. And hilarious.
I was beginning to think that South Dakota was the most monotonous state yet, and then today she threw a curveball in. The night was spent in the Miller High School, and about a dozen of us shared the air conditioned trophy room. I really miss the privacy and nightly debriefing with Ane in our little tent, traded for a room full of rustling and snoring, but after the previous hot night I jumped at the opportunity for air conditioning. Still, I didn’t sleep especially well, and was definitely not waking up too quickly.
The whole first thirty miles I was sleepy and my legs were just not working well for me. I was riding with Ane, Ben, and Sean again, and we decided about mile thirty that we needed a potty break at a gas station. Ane was the decision maker, and she made it a little too late and wiped out on the gravel when she turned at the last second. She’ll be bruised a little, but these silly falls happens to the best of them. Plus she had a lovely dust “racing stripe” down her side from it. Thank God we stopped here because Sean and I split a customary cup of coffee, and it made all the difference. Physically I was still a little worn out, but mentally I finally woke up. Even Ane was impressed by the turn-around. Guess I’m more addicted to coffee than I realized, and I definitely won’t be skipping it at breakfast again. So energized, I initiated a boys vs. girls friendly competition: who could get the most semi’s to blow for us. I can’t believe we lost that, honestly they were getting all pity honks.
Not five miles from the gas station we saw the flashing lights of a police car and ambulance up ahead. Now when you’re in the middle of South Dakota on a straight and flat country road, where you’re just as likely to pass one of us cyclists as you are a car, those flashing lights are a scary sight because you know that it’s one of us. As we approached the lights I felt the almost eerie unease that I used to feel on canoe trips when a plane flew overhead, in which case each canoe would stop pedaling in a dead silence to see if that plane was coming to tell us bad news from home. Bob walked out to us and explained that Dr. Hattler had fallen, no cars involved, by scraping wheels with another rider. From what we hear tonight, he’s going to be alright but it was a good fall. We cleared out of there as soon as we could so that we weren’t in the way, but it was a pretty sobering experience. He hadn’t even been in a paceline, and it was a serious reminder that despite all of the fun and games we have going everyday, we are always at risk for various hazards out there.
Around forty miles into our day today, we reached our halfway mark of the trip! After a leisurely lunch and photo op at the park, we prepared ourselves for the dark skies moving our way. Thus we’ve been 24 days and not a single stretch of real rain. That streak ran out today and then some. The lightning came first, off in the distance and heading right for us. It was spectacular, and dark skies and lightning started to envelope us. Rain began shortly thereafter, and got harder and harder until it was literally pelting. I couldn’t see any actual hail on the ground, but it sure felt like it with the wind hurling the rain at us like that. But it was thrilling. All of it. A few riders pulled over to wait it out, and that was probably the safer option, but we were having too much fun. Besides, we had rubber tires between us and the road, and Ben as our tall lightning rod if that wasn’t enough. When it finally blew over we had some fun pictures of us soaking wet at the waterstop.
The last fifteen miles weren’t so bad, but they were at a snails pace in the wind again. I was literally falling asleep. My apologies for so many comparisons with canoeing, but never imagined that I could fall half asleep pedaling just like I could on weary days paddling. Let me tell you, Ane’s bottom bracket was mesmerizing in my half-daze. Finally we arrived in De Smet, and we were so famished we headed for the nearest food place, which happened to be Subway. I asked for the manager, explained that we were 24 days into a cross country bike tour for the American Lung Association, that we rode out that huge storm, that we were soaking wet and famished, and was wondering if they’d be willing to sponsor us a meal. They were so sweet and kind, gave us all 6” meals, and it hit the spot in so many ways.
Camp was at a cute little city park. By the time I got my shower it was freezing, but if this is the first cold shower I’ve gotten yet then I feel like we’ve done well. Dinner was at a church nearby, with air conditioning cranked down to about 50 degrees I swear, and was served by the chamber of commerce. It was pretty good, with midwestern scalloped potatoes, plenty of fruit and cookies. I even stole two veggie burgers for the next day. Tom and Sean had a bratwurst war, trying to won up one another, and Sean won with a combined brat and hotdog total of seven. Gross. And hilarious.
posted by elizabeth at 11:14 PM
1 Comments:
Way to go, scoring Subway!
I love reading the blogs...they remind me so much of last summer and all the fun we had, too!
Keep up the great riding and the great writing :-)
Chris
BR 06
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