The Rise Up Ride: Day 13, Not Much Lycra at the Reliance Municipal Bar
Date: 5 May 2021
Start Location: Ft. Thompson, SD
End Location: Kennebeck, SD
Distance: 51.34 km
Time: 3:12
Total elapsed: 4:47
Elevation: 332 m
Today's ride was the fourth of five shorter rides after the planning and knee recovery day in De Smet, South Dakota on 1 May. Rolling out of town that next morning, I rode cautiously, hoping against hope that rest, yoga, ibuprofen, and well wishes were enough to heal my knee. Gaining confidence over the days, today I pushed hard, jumping out of the saddle, and torquing my way up the increasing number of hills. Everything works fine and tomorrow, at the KOA Campground, I'll plan out longer, tougher pitches between overnights heading through the Badlands and up into the Black Hills.
After hot oatmeal and a "Monster Cookies" carried from the Sweet Grass Eatery. I climbed along the top of the Big Bend Dam and then up above the Missouri River to attack the prairies to the west, and to the south through Reliance, and to the west paralleling Interstate 90 to Kennebeck.
My lunchtime destination was a rustic, rough hewn, and "biker-friendly" place called the Reliance Municipal Bar, which sounded like providing a watering hole for the ranchers was a required city service. Now, "biker-friendly" in South Dakota does not mean me, as friends have warned me as I pedal closer to Sturgis. But the locals were friendly if not welcoming and the burger, with fixins, was top drawer.
South Dakota never took the virus seriously. Vaccine hesitancy is more than just political, but a "meh" solution to a problem that most folks (and their Governor) never considered a big deal. Why get a cure for something that never existed? So, it was a relief to see the "Masks Required" sign on the office door at the KOA, knowing that I was in a safe space for breating, and as I sussed out later, to talk politics.
I like KOA campgrounds. It's my form of glamping: still in a tent, cheaper than a motel, but there are bathrooms, hot showers, a laundry room, and the RV-people emerge only occasionally to walk their dogs and to ironically comment that, "you're carrying a lot of stuff there." Yeah, right.
