Day 19: State #5

81.64 mi max 42.0 6:09.58 avg 13.2 mph

Hi. My name is Chris. I'm 27 years old. And I spent fifteen minutes this evening digging through other people's soggy napkins so that I could recover my retainers.

Remind me again...why were retainers a better idea than keeping the braces on as I'm biking across the country?

The DRG starts off with a brief description of the route: "A challenging day with some great riding tthrough Custer State Park. Climb & descend 3000 ft in the Black Hills." That pretty much sums up the day.

For the first 50 miles or so, the climbs were pretty intense. A couple of times, I even broke 5 mph. I've got to figure out a way to embrace the uphills - if there's anyone who has any climbing tips, PLEASE give me some suggestions! Especially before we hit the Appalachians. We're not there yet and I'm already getting worried. That doesn't bode well!

At the top of one climb (near the main tourist trap entrance of Jewel Cave (meaning lantern tours)) Laura, Ronnie, Rick & I stopped to talk to a ranger, Todd, who was riding a spiffy road bike and had a really cool NPS cycling jersey. He told us that the fire that we saw had been caused by a female arsonist. She had flicked a cigarette into the woods and started a fire that destroyed 85,500 acres of forest. Currently, she's serving 10 years in federal and has 15 in state prison...not because of the destruction caused to the forest but because ONE building went up in the blaze. The logic is hard to follow.

We went over Galena Pass in Custer State Park, which was 5300', only a little less climbing than over the Continental Divide. The downhill was sweeeeeeeeeet. I love taking the curvy roads at ridiculous speeds, keeping up with the cars in the middle of their lane. There might have been buffalo in some of the fields, but traveling at 35-40 mph just doesn't allow much room for error...and since I wasn't really in the mood to become a human water balloon, I kept my eyes on the road.

The second best part of the whole day (after the descent through Custer State Park) was arriving before my roommate. It was the first time I've ever gotten to choose which side of the room I'm on. I know it's a small thing, but there is definitely something very exciting about having first-pick.

Eric C. and I played ping pong after dinner (and after I found my retainers). That is, we played ping pong for about 5 minutes before I made this amazing shot in which the ping pong ball bounced hard on the table, ricocheted off the wall, landed on the pool table, and dropped down into the chute...where, of course, we would have had to insert quarters to play and get ALL of the balls out. (Fortunately, the girl at the desk shook her head and said, "I've never heard that one before," as she gave me a new ball.)