Cycle Across America – Day 42

Hill City to Rapid City – Sunday 29th June

41 miles / 2474ft climb

Setting off for Rapid City today, Caroline and John had planned a route taking us via Mountain Rushmore. As we have become accustomed to, there were the inevitable hills and the option of an ‘off-road’ adventure!

Thankfully, these two local ladies encouraged us to remain on the road rather than take the off-road option.

The road was a longer but more predictable route and we experienced another stunningly beautiful ride traversing the, still in use, steam railway track which weaved its way through the hillside.

A brief stop at Keystone, one hell of a hill and we were at Mount Rushmore.

There, that was so much easier to write it than it was to ride it but we were rewarded with an informative, educational and interesting couple of hours learning the history. Although, after the hill climb, I must confess to nodding off during some of the talks!

The rain that we knew we might encounter in the afternoon started as we headed back down the hill. Think 35 minute climbing up, 3.5 minutes descending!

Stopping for some lunch, we waited for a while for the worst of the rain to pass and we set off for Rapid City. With another 25 miles to go, we inevitably had to stop a couple more times to shelter from the worst of the rain and thunderstorms. We also had a few more hills to climb but the views were gorgeous and we made it to our hotel in the early evening more than a little wet and more than a little weary.

Over dinner, as usual, we reviewed the route for the next couple of days. Throughout the rest of our ride through South Dakota, we expect many long stretches without any facilities, so we need to plan ahead very carefully in terms of ensuring we carry sufficient food and water with us.

Long story short, we have rejigged the route for the next 100+ miles, lengthened one of the days in terms of mileage and have a hugely welcome but unexpected extra day in Rapid City tomorrow. I’m reluctant to call it a rest day as in reality it is more of a bike maintenance, supply stock up, organisational sort of day but it is still very welcome indeed!

A bit of accommodation reorganisation needed in the morning but we retire in the knowledge that tomorrow will be a lot more relaxed than we originally thought and we have the opportunity to be very well prepared as we cycle through a sparsely populated few hundred miles over the next week or so.