Rich and I have pretty much finished up our tour of North and South Dakota. Rich met-up with his family today in Yankton, SD, and will be spending a couple of days with them prior to starting the RAGBRAI ride on Sunday.
This segment of my ride, which started in Williston, ND on July 8, has been very hard on me. We ended up doing much longer days (mileage-wise) than I usually do, and this caused me to experience a great amount of leg-muscle fatigue and sagging spirits. The increase in mileage was due to my having set a schedule based on highway maps, as opposed to the Adventure Cycling route map that we used. Adventure Cycling routes take riders off of the primary and secondary roads onto meandering and hilly roads, and greatly increase the total miles and difficulty of the daily rides. Add in quite a bit of camping and I was not a very nice person to be around ... my apologies to Rich.
Eye of the beholder ... due to my mental state, I did not find most of North Dakota and South Dakota to be a visually attractive area. In contrast, Rich said he thought the entire ride was beautiful. Kind of tells me that how we feel greatly affects what we see ... I will have to make sure that my feelings in general are positive toward life.
The next two days will be low mileage days, getting me to Sioux City, IA in time to participate in the annual RAGBRAI ride across Iowa. I think my legs should be back in good shape by Sunday.
The adjacent picture is of a Catholic Church located in Marty, SD. The structure is stunning, both inside and out. It was built in 1942 at a Catholic boarding school for the children of tribes in the Midwest. The stone was quarried and shaped in Indiana, then shipped to South Dakota. Usually the first thing you see when approaching a town is the water tower. In this case, the spire of the structure rose to much greater heights than the water tower. Pretty amazing structure ... sitting out in the middle of a reservation.
Major rain storms hitting this area today and tomorrow ... we got drenched riding into Yankton today (but it is a warm rain). Hope to stay dry tomorrow.
I will have about 2700 miles in this summer's ride when I reach Sioux City, then another 400 miles or so after RAGBRAI. Hopefully my legs and spirits will be such that I will head farther (further??) east in early August.
Great picture, it seems as though the eye of the beholder, also has an eye for photography. Sounds like your hitting the mentally tough portion of the trip...which may happen after 3,000 miles! Although the back roads are adding mileage to the body, when you look back at the trip...they will have provided the beauty you'll remember forever. The only eye-candy you'll get riding the freeways is the the silver pin-up gal on the back of trucker's mudflaps. The RAGBRAI will help with the wind resistance, so maybe you can regain some strength while drafting through the corn fields. Keep up the good work, the journey's more than half done...
ReplyDeleteEye of the beholder, yes I guess so. I found North Dakota a little more beautiful than SD, owing to heavier recent rains, more greenery, gorgeous flowing fields of wheat, canola, and flax, and the hundreds of duck ponds everywhere overflowing with birds, frogs, turtles, cattails, etc. People in both sates are exceptionally friendly.
ReplyDeleteI guess we got a pretty consistent dose of Dakota winds, especially 20+ mph headwinds during the entire 64 mile segment between Minot and Pick City. It seems that 3 days out of 4 they're either crosswinds or headwinds, so when they are helping we learned to take advantage of them.
I must mention one other day, the 64 mile day between Pierre and Fort Thompson, SD. Started mid-morning in sweltering heat, and it just got hotter as we rode. Each of us were carrying about 1 gallon of water, but we soon were rationing it. Stiff crosswinds, with a headwind component. The kicker - no shade to be found, just endless miles of blazing sun, wheat, and soybean fields. At the 40 mile mark, we finally found a stand of cottonwood trees and stopped to gather what was left of our wits. Eight more brain-dead miles to a convenience store at Mac's Corner - Gatorade never tasted so good. Then another 12 miles right into the teeth of a 25 mph hair dryer. I was nearly delirious when we finally made Fort Thompson. Officially 106F, avg 50% rh - and you thought it was hot just in Phoenix. One tough day.
But that day only served to magnify the great days: camping along beautiful shores of the Missouri River, rolling through river valley cornfields between Pickstown and Springfield, flying along US2 with a tailwind toward Minot, rising to a lake-water bath at the South Shore off Fort Randall Dam, french toast breakfast in the beautiful little town of Stanton, ND, the daily anticipation of an "arrival beer." You were correct that these experiences are difficult to describe to my family, but the memories will last forever.
Randy, this being my 1st self contained tour, you taught me a huge amount about camping and cycle touring, sometimes by word, but most often by example. I was concerned about being such a camping greenhorn - but actually started enjoying the tent routine. My 2 week 840 mile trek with you was great every minute, this includes all the good and all the not-as-good. It was a privilege to have joined you for it - thank you so much man. Already looking forward to another tour in the future, and hopefully we can ride again together.
Got my cell phone back after having left it in Pierre! So I will give you a call to link up in Sioux City, or elsewhere on the Ragbrai route. I'm hoping you can get a good recharge in the next few days before the ride starts. Just think - no panniers, plenty of food, and a continual draft all day.
You are right on about tiredness affecting perception and feelings. A good night's sleep...or two...makes all the difference. Keep those posts coming.
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