Thursday 26 July 2007

Day 12: Thursday, 26 July

Gillette, WY to Rapid City, SD...[map]
That was smaller than I'd thought it would be...
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Mileage: 160miles, Start: 6:30am, Time: 11hr:15min,
Avg: 16.3mph, Rolling: 14.2mph, Climb: 6,500ft,
Weather: Cloudy, cool and rainy. Hooray!!!, Temp: 62-70°F
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Big news of the day - the weather has broken! We had proper English weather today. Was I happy. I think most of the others were happy aswell, although Gerry said it was cold, the Aussies were wearing overshoes and many rode the whole day in jackets. A few even asked me how to ride in the rain at breakfast! Laugh I did!

Today, on paper, looked quite hard, 160 miles, 6500 ft climbing. I didn't find it too difficult and finished well up at the front.

Quite a scenic day today, as we crossed into South Dakota and into the Black Hills National Park. Very pretty winding road through a forest, although a lot of the trees seemed to be dead. A fire maybe? It must have been a while back, as the grass was well established. We also visited Mount Rushmore and took pictures of the famous 4 presidents craved into the rockface. It was impressive, but was a bit smaller than I expected it to be. Oh well.

Upon leaving Mt. Rushmore we steamed through Keystone. Think Blackpool at its finest! And talking about fine places, we also passed through Newcastle today! Waye, aye, man.

Waye, aye, man!
Like Newcastle, only prettier...
Another day, another state.
Nice road, shame about the trees...
Ho, Hum.
At Mt. Rushmore.
Rapid City, South Dakota.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

English weather - ha. You should see it back here. The Thames is bursting it's banks - Pangbourne and Reading are on the news most days at the moment. And Gloustershire (Tewksbury) is under water. Something like 300,000 homes without drinking water for 2 weeks and more without electricity. Sincerely hope you are not getting this "English weather" - you'll be needing oars, not pedals.
Luckily Hertfordshire so far as missed the worst of it. Just a bit soggy.
Mx

Shaun said...

Yes, I've followed it a bit on the news here...