Bruce, South Dakota

Saturday, September 3, 2005/ Sunday, September 4, 2005 - Marshall, MN to Bruce, SD and back (150 miles by car....142 miles by bicycle round-trip)

We loaded up our sleeping bags, bug tent, food, etc. in the morning and dropped Sydney off with Kathy for the night, and then headed West on our bicycles! Supposedly, the wind was to blow SE, but for the first 12 miles, it was kinda in our faces @20 MPH! Once we were out passed Lynd though, we had a nice cross tailwind, and we watched some black clouds (carrying nothing but some cooler air) pass over us.

We stopped for a snack break in Arco...and while we were downing some PB & J sandwiches, I noticed some wild turkeys right near the old little chapel where we were eating. BIG turkeys, with little baby turkeys. As we got back on the road, there was a beautiful echelon of geese heading South in their graceful flight fashion...looking like cyclists! (Actually cyclists probably copy the geese!)

We rode until the road we were on became dirt...made a right hand turn on the last county road before the South Dakota border, and headed to MN 19, about 5 miles North. WITH THE WIND AT OUR BACKS! We flew! (20-25 MPH wind). As soon as we hit MN 19, we had maybe 3-5 miles to go until we crossed the border. Now we had a full on tail wind. Nice nice nice!

The areas we passed through were reminiscent of the infamous wind blown and barren VeloPromo races like Copperopolis, Patterson Pass, etc, including a 2 mile descent (which would be a 2 mile climb into the wind coming home!)

We were ready to be done riding and we didn't have good detail maps (not that you need one around here), and so the first sign to the Lakes that we saw, we took. The "tar road" quickly ended and we had about a 2 mile ride into the State Park in the dirt/gravel roads which are so common around here. (Think Leesville and you'll have an idea of the road quality).

We paid our $10, set up our tent and showered, before heading out to the "Beer Store". We'd hoped for some food too, but no such luck. Lucky we brought a couple of pounds of pasta and sauce. We did supplement our calorie depleted bodies with a large bag of Fritos.

We enjoyed a South Dakota critical mass bike ride of kids that rode their bikes around the camp. They had a lead car and a follow vehicle (Golf cart) which threw candy and such. (Dessert!)

Not very many campers in the tents only sites. Everyone had those Gucci camper-utility-vehicles..complete with TV and air conditioning (Why leave home?). Sigh. Anyway, it was nice for us roughing it types as there was all this room.

We slept at the foot of an ancient Indian burial mound, to the sound of low-humming bugs and a sky blazing with falling stars. We just have a see-thru bug tent, so it was breezy and cool once the sun set.

The wind never died down all night. We just hoped that the weatherguy forecasted accurately and that the wind would be at our backs going home. (Not a chance!) We drank Peet's, and ate Oatmeal and packed up to be on the road around 8:15AM. 25 -30 MPH HEAD/CROSSHEAD winds, for 71 miles all the way home. Sigh. This was hard work. My least-honed skills as a cyclist, right next to technical descending, is riding in the wind. I know there are some little riders who are good at this, but I just am not one of them. I need more power. At least mentally I am used to this now. (riding in the wind)

Anyway---I am LONG winded and instead of going into a play by play novel about how hard it was, know that it was hard, I made it home 15 minutes behind the power rider husband of mine (he waited for me at every corner...otherwise I would have been even further off the back!) we got home in time to read the cyclingnews action of the san Francisco race and un-packed and ate a bunch of food. The whole trip, including food and lodging and beer cost us $22.50! How cool is that!

I hope you had a nice Labor day weekend....