Mile 1695.1 - My second 'day off'

In the process of unloading stuff from the bike at the end of the night, I discovered the source of the snapping sound I had heard the afternoon before. My back rack, on the side supporting the pannier with all my food in it had snapped at a joint. The same spot on the other side had be torqued out of it's original alignment too. This lead me to a dilemma. There was a bike shop in Spearfish, less than twenty miles northwest. But, I also needed to figure out the camera battery issue, and according to google maps, there wasn't a real electronics store there. However, Rapid City, the largest city I had seen since Carson City way back when, had three bike shops and a plethora of electronics stores. It was, however 40 miles from Deadwood, with the breadth of the Black Hills between. I made my decision, informed the hotel I would be staying another night, and prepared for my second 'day off'.

With only one basically empty pannier on the still stable side of the rack, I started up towards Rapid City. The first three miles out of town was a climb, which annoying as it was, meant that the last three miles back would all be down. That's a fair trade.

At the top of the hill was one of my favorite street names I've come across so far, Upper Two Bit Road. Man, I wouldn't want to live on Lower Two Bit Road. That sounds substandard in every way. I'm reminded of a street way back in Placerville, CA that I keep meaning to mention. There I passed a Driveway Road, and from the moment I saw that, was hoping to find a Roadway Drive somewhere in the country to complete the set. I bet I'll come across it somewhere in Ohio.

The road went up and down through the densely wooded hills, though none of the grades were too bad, especially given the bike was about 60 pounds lighter than usual. I rode past cabins, biker burger joints, small farmsteads, North, Middle and South Box Elder Creek, and eventually found myself pointed down a pair of 8% grades into Rapid City.

In Rapid City, I found a bike path that paralleled the street I was riding on, along a park and a golf course. I came to the first bike shop on the map and went in to see if they had the rack I needed. Sure enough, they had one rack rated at being able to support 66lbs, enough for my needs, so I took it. I had a good conversation with the guys in the shop about my trip, the area around and what to see in the black hills. In the end, they didn't charge me for the labor to install the new rack, which I appreciated.

One issue solved, I set out to deal with the battery issue. A couple miles away in a strip mall was a radio shack. There was a best buy on the other side of town by the interstate, but if I didn't have to go that far, I didn't want to. Thankfully, the radio shack had a charger that would work with lithium ion batteries, so I was in luck. Also lucky, right across the parking lot from it was a Jimmy Johns. For those of you who don't know, I was the GM of one of two Jimmy Johns in North Carolina at the time (now there are more). Since abdicating Chapel Hill for the greener pastures of Brooklyn, I have suffered the withdrawal of my addiction to their sandwiches. Sadly, the closest Jimmy Johns to NYC is the other side of Philadelphia. Not worth the two hour drive. So I mostly get my Jimmy fix when I go back to the midwest. Well, the craving was satisfied today.

Having successfully addressed both problems I had, I started back up to Deadwood. Because of the proximity to Sturgis, there were a whole lot of motorcycles on the road. I feel an affinity between bikers and cyclists, for one thing, unlike car and truck drivers, we are always outside. Effected by the whims of wind and weather, we have to be prepared to add or drop a layer of clothing on short notice. In a car you just roll up your window and carry on, listening to your right wing hate talk radio or whatever.

So yeah, I make a point to wave at every biker who goes past me in either direction. I can easily pick out a motorcycle behind me, even in the middle of a pack of cars, and have gotten pretty good about knowing when they are about a car length behind me to wave over my shoulder without looking.

Anyway, I scaled the twin 8% climbs back up, back past the cabins and burger joints, past the entrance to Lake Roubaix (hard to pronounce, but what a scrabble word that would be if it were legal) and back up towards Deadwood. This is one of the few times where the state highway was better prepared for me than the US route. US 385, which I took most of the way there has parts with basically no shoulder, so I had no choice by the ride the white line. SD 44, on the other hand, had at least a 4' shoulder throughout. So thanks for that, SDDOT. Makes my life easier.

I made it back up to Upper Two Bit Road where a sign warned trucks about the 7% down for the next couple miles. It had started to lightly rain, and at this point the rain became more steady. Without really pedaling at all, I let gravity take me down the wet pavement and made it back to the hotel just minutes before a crack of thunder announced the storm starting for real. Glad I didn't sleep outside tonight.

So here my brother and I are in disagreement. He is keeping a 'clean' version of my route map and did not include my day off venture in Wyoming to the Fossil Butte and back. Also, he said that he wouldn't be counting the mileage between Deadwood and Rapid City because I was not advancing on my route. Well, my response is to welcome Dan or anyone else to cycle the 80 miles from Deadwood to Rapid City and back and then tell me it doesn't count. This is, after all, my game, and I am still in charge of making up the rules as I go along.

Day 22, 'Day Off #2', Deadwood, SD - Rapid City SD and back to Deadwood
84.0 miles in 6:30:48. 1695.1 miles total so far in 142:08:54 with a decent top speed of 38.1