The Rise Up Ride: Day 20, Rest Day Best Day
Date: 12 May 2021
Start Location: Rapid City, SD
End Location: Rapid City, SD
Distance: 0 km
The New York Cycle Club jersey proudly hanging on the fancy solar clothes dryer on the side of the house was a sure giveaway that Bob and Pat were harboring a possible liberal from back east. The discussion going on over coffee inside was proof that this home was a bright blue refuge in a State awash in conservatives. After several weeks with a buttoned lip, I was flapping up a storm in good company and relieved to ask WTF is going on with South Dakota. They can't figure it out either.
Bob, a retired Postmaster, worked his USPS network tracking down the lost "express" envelope that was taking "pony express" to South Dakota. Tom and his Mom, Pat, and I lunched and shopped downtown. My new bag liner should keep me warm when the temperatures fall as the road rises up into the mountains. The town has bronze statues of US presidents on each corner, as in, "walk past Herbert Hoover, take a left at Eisenhower and if you get to Obama holding Malia's hand, you have gone too far."
Bob and Pat invited me to stay at their home through the weekend so I could leave my panniers here, turning my truck into a sports car for hammering up and down the iconic bike roads around Mt Rushmore and north to Spearfish. Tom and I worked out my cycling routes through the Black Hills for the next two days, and Bob insisted on playing local tour guide the next day at the Crazy Horse and Mt Rushmore monuments.
Tomorrow we are off early to look for wildlife in Custer State Park, and after touristing around huge granite sculptures, I'm climbing big hills and riding back to Rapid City.
