Big Ride - Day 19 - Newcastle, WY to Rapid City, SD

By far my FAVORITE day of the ride. To begin this post I have to share a quick background story:

When I was 15 years old my family took a road trip to Mt. Rushmore and eventually to North Dakota to visit some family. While in the Custer, SD area we drove all through the Black Hills National Park site seeing before hitting up Crazy Horse and Mt. Rushmore. While on the Needles Highway I remember stating "Some day I want to ride my bike through this area".

It took about 12 years, but I found myself back in the area at the 40 mile marker for today's ride. After talking to some other riders, no one wanted to join me in doing an extra 60-70 miles, so I headed up 385 on my own to start biking some of the prettiest country side I've ever seen. I hit up Crazy horse first, which remarkably still has a TON of work to go. I really thought it was going to be further along, but it was great to see it starting to shape up over the past decade when I last was there.

It would be too simple to just bike straight to Mt. Rushmore, so I headed down 87 South to hit up the Needles, some of the coolest rock formations in the area.

Afterwards I cut over on CR-753 to ride up Peter Norbick Scenic Byway. The Byway rocks because it was 3 tunnels in the mountain that frame Mt. Rushmore. Unfortunately because of the lighting I couldn't get a good picture that captures the look. The ride was mostly up hill but so worth it. By far one of the most beautiful roads I have ever ridden on.

I hit the end of the Byway and turned on 244 to finally head to Mt. Rushmore. The climb was pretty tough but I was determined, knowing what the prize would be at the end of the climb. The 10% grade seemed even difficult for the cars, and I rode next to a bus that seemed to be chugging along with as much struggle as I was. When I looked up I saw a bus full of people clapping and cheering. At the top I was approached by a nice elderly lady who told me the bus was chanting "you can do it" as they rode past me, and she was proud to see I made it all the way.

At the top I promptly rode up to the far edge of the monument and asked the closest person to take a picture. The guy was nice enough to do so, and then asked if I was at Crazy Horse a few hours ago. It turns out the couple passed me while I was climbing a hill into that park. This theme continued as I got another lunch and was approached by numerous visitors who had seen me over the area. "Were you the guy flying up that hill by the Needles an hour ago?", "Hey, we saw you climbing up the switch backs about a half hour ago, where are you headed?", and so on. One nice couple from Iowa were real nice and I talked to them and their two kids for a good half hour about the trip, why I went off route, and how I got into cycling. Their kids seemed blown away by the idea of biking across the country and I could only think back to when I was their ages and met some folks biking across the state of New Jersey. It was one of the moments that inspired me to set the goal to bike across the country, so who knows, maybe I got the chance to spread that inspiration.

Leaving Mt. Rushmore I got to feel some of the 30mph winds as I fought to stay straight going down all the hills I climbed. I hopped on 16 and headed into Rapid City. I thought dinner was at 6:30 so I was shooting to make it in time. I got in around 6:45 after fighting several head and side winds and some even more climbs. Dan informed me dinner was actually an hour earlier and I missed it. No big deal though, I just ordered a pizza and coke and proceeded to chow down as I shared my stories with fellow riders.

Amped up from the ride, I was anxious to continue our going out tradition. Around 10 James, Sam, Rachel, Catie, Letty, and I hit up some of the local bars in downtown Rapid City. Ed, Austin, and Austin's girlfriend joined us for a little while at the first bar. After hopping around to 3 or 4 bars we headed home at 2:30am to find Nick and Noah up and galavanting around the lounge. Some white board fun and peanut M&Ms later and it was time for bed.

Best day on the ride so far!

Final Ride Stats

Mileage:

108.14 miles

Time:

7:38'51

Avg Speed:

14.14 mph

Max Speed:

40.7 mph

Photos

At Crazy Horse

Sylvan Lake

The Needles

Peter Norbick Scenic Byway

Mount Rushmore