Cycle Across America – Day 54

Brookings to Marshall

83miles / 1,965ft climb

It is Paul’s birthday today.

We suspect there are not many 62 year olds cycling across America and we now have two on our team.

We changed our plans yesterday and did a longer cycle to allow a shorter day cycling today.

However, the best laid plans and all that….. For the Andersons, our 61mile cycle turned out to be 83miles long. It took three hours longer than anticipated and we climbed 500ft more than planned. It was a mere 72miles for the Broekmans.

Probably best not to provide the detail but the Anderson boys will understand exactly how this situation might have occurred based on their experience of family walks over the last two decades. Our route ended up looking something like this.

Suffice to say we all reached the hotel before dark and managed a few beers to celebrate Paul’s birthday but a little more jaded than we had hoped and with tensions running a little high.

In other news, we left South Dakota and started our route through Minnesota. We are exactly halfway through our mileage, having each passed the 2,250mile mark.

Thankfully we have done more than half the total climb and we can look forward to some flatter rides around the Great Lakes.