Day 22 Hot Springs-Mt.Rushmore-Rapid City

Miles:  73.80         Terrain: Grasslands, hills, Mt. Rushmore, more hills
Depart:   6:42 AM      Arrive:  4:06 PM
Riding time: 6:46:52
Average Riding Speed: 10.9

            Today’s GarminDownload and Map (for cycling data junkies)

Today's Ride

The Monday trip from Hot Springs to Rapid City, SD was the first real “sightseeing” trip of the tour.  While it involved over 5,700 feet of climbing (the most of any tour day so far) as well as wicked crosswinds, the most important thing was where we went.  First was a climb through the Wind Cave National Park.  A few people were lucky enough while traveling through the preserved grasslands to see one of the park’s several hundred buffalo/bisons.  Unfortunately I wasn’t, although I did see a deer and lots of prairie dogs. 

Rather than integrate the photos into the narrative as I usually do, I'm placing them all at the end which makes it easier to upload them--especially since I have 9 pictures to go along with this blog post.

After leaving Wind Cave, we had a sag stop in the town of Custer at mile 31, before beginning the big climb of the trip.  Next was the Crazy Horse Memorial…a large head of the famous Indian chief carved out of a rock.  I did not have the time to take the tour to get a straight on look at Crazy Horse’s face, but did get to see it from the side.  From there, the next destination was the highlight of the day—Mount Rushmore!  Another tough climb brought us first to the view of only George Washington.  As I then headed up toward the Mount Rushmore  visitor area, I saw three white vans parked at the side of the road.  From a distance I thought I made out on the door of one of them the logo of my alma mater—Ohio University. And indeed that’s what it was.  There was a group of 17 junior, senior and graduate geology students from the classes of professors Damian Nance and Greg Nadon. They were in the first week of a month-long geological tour of Mt. Rushmore, Devil’s Monument and several other locations that I don’t remember.  We had a good time talking for at least 20 minutes before they pulled out and I continued to climb.  The view of the four heads of Mt. Rushmore was amazing, inspiring and the scenic highlight of the tour. 

After a fast descent into the touristy town of Keystone it was then more climbing to get on the highway to Rapid City.  After several rapid descents, made tricky by the strong crosswinds, and a final two climbs, it was a late afternoon arrival to end the ride.  It wasn’t a fast day, but it was a wonderful day of sightseeing by bicycle.  While I usually go down the descents at a pretty fast rate of speed, the cross winds today caused me to lose a bit of my nerve.  Several times I felt like I was going to be blown off the shoulder.  But just like everybody else (except for one of the ABB guides who actually got blown over), I held the bike in line and made it safely. 

Tomorrow is a short day—only 58 miles.  I thought we were done with riding on the Interstate, but part of tomorrow’s ride will be on the shoulder of I-90.  The short day for our trip to Wall, SD (home of the famous “Wall Drugs”, a Midwest chain of drugstores, means that we don’t have to load our luggage on the van until 8:30, almost three hours later than today.  Finally, there was one other thing special about today.  Happy Birthday Alan!

Prairie Dogs

Deer?/Elk?

Riding Down the Road in Wind Cave Park

Crazy Horse Memorial

Guess who this guy is!

George Washington

Ohio University Geology Class Expedition near Mt. Rushmore

Mt.Rushmore

Keystone, SD