TDK Day Four

Seriously, I hope to finish blogging about the tour before I start training for next year's cycling season.

Word around camp was that the day would start with easterly winds and rain. So Bonnie, Mary Jean and myself thought that we'd probably sleep in a little bit and see how the weather was. They thought that maybe we'd be able to start at 8 a.m. I slept in until 6 so that I could allow for plenty of time for the crankies to work their way out of my system and so that I could pack up my tent, etc. And, I wanted to go and get breakfast. Plus, I wasn't really certain when Mary Jean and Bonnie would want to go so I needed to be ready and waiting.

It looked yucky out, though it wasn't raining. I went to breakfast, biscuits and gravy and eggs served at the auditorium. Bonnie called and said they were ready to go. I went to meet them at the gas station. Oh boy, it started to mist and sprinkle.

The ladies said that they had heard that the wind wouldn't shift until 4p.m., so we might as well start making our way east. By the time we left the gas station, it was raining steadily. We formed a little three person pace line.

None of us ever got close enough to each other's wheel to truly be drafting, but I believe that it helped break the distance up a bit mentally and it helped bust up the breeze a little. Also, it seemed to be easier to see out of one's glasses when you were in the second or third position.

Five miles out, we stopped. That wasn't fun. We were all wet and the breeze was steady and we got cold. Mary Jean called her husband to be on standby. We considered going back to Highmore. I really wasn't interested in dealing with that weather. The headwinds to Chamberlain weren't fun, but at least it was sunny and pleasant otherwise. This was worse. While at the front it was very difficult to see anything. Rain stung my eyes. We were on Hwy 14. Traffic mostly got over, but it was still a little nerve racking. We decided to make our way to Ree Heights, another 6 miles down the road. A motorcyclist had been going up and down the highway checking for riders. He said that there'd be coffee and a bit of a shelter.

We did stop there a bit and had snacks. Ultimately we thought that we could press on to Miller, another 11 miles or so down the road. We'd each been taking turns at the front for a mile. That was only a little over 3 turns for each of us. Mary Jean's husband would meet us there. And, someone at the stand said that the rain was moving east anyway. As long as we didn't ride too fast, we'd end up on the back side and out of it.

On our way the rain let up. Then we noticed that the grass wasn't moving too much. We hoped that the wind was shifting directions. Our spirits picked up. As we got closer I thought that if I could dry out a bit in Miller, then I could probably continue on.

There were a lot of people in the school auditorium. There were people who were waiting for a bus to take them to Huron. Someone said that there would be scattered storms all afternoon. The sky to the north looked dark. Mary Jean had decided that as long as she'd called her husband to come and get her, she should maybe hang out with him.

Bonnie and I waffled back and forth. We didn't really want to get caught out in the rain again. Especially if it should happen to be worse. By the time that we got on the road, there weren't many left in the auditorium. We decided to press on for Wessington. We could call Mary Jean and her husband if we needed help.

The ride was actually pleasant with a tailwind. The shoulder was even paved. However, just past St. Lawrence the shoulder turned to gravel. Bonnie was just ahead of me, I got over to allow her to merge onto the road. She merged just as she'd gone onto gravel. But, her bike got up onto the road sort of at a parallel instead of cutting up onto it, I think. She wipes out. I'm practically right next to her. In my head I'm freaking out, envisioning that I'm going to go over top of her. I was able to swing out and around her and got stopped without going down in a mix up. I'm immediately worried. My last accident was a year ago, though the memory of a broken clavicle was fresh.

Fortunately there was no traffic behind us. And an approaching car from the opposite direction stopped when Bonnie was on the ground to see if she was okay. She was. She was able to collect her stuff and stand up. I hoped that nothing severe happened, but was ready to make the phone call. The fall knocked the wind out of her. I told her that she did pretty well, both times that I'd fallen off of my bike I'd broken something. This incident was still new and this news was not as welcomed, I don't think. :D

Bonnie did get back on her bike and we continued on to Wessington. She asked what my broken collarbone had felt like. I told her, "Well, I sure the hell wasn't back on my bike riding again, that's for certain." I guess that comment wasn't entirely necessary, but it was true. She said that she felt tightness across her chest.

We got to Wessington, she decided to catch a ride with Mary Jean and Butch. The weather was still holding up, so I continued on. I stopped in Wessington and got a chocolate milk. The hoodlums from the Ride with the Kernel day were there. :D I know that I've read blogs and forum posts by many of these people. But their identities still allude me.

One of them, Brian, asked if I was going to join them. I said that I would ride with them as long as I could keep up. I did chat with Brian for a little while on the ride. But like a mile out of town they picked up the pace and I said I'd see them down the road. I saw them a few other times on the tour and they are a friendly group.

The sky to the North and South never did look friendly. I made it to Huron without incident and walked across another nasty set of railroad tracks. They curved across the road and I didn't like it. I ended the ride thinking of nothing but zesto's. But, I ended up being too lazy to even ride my bike two blocks away to Dairy Queen. I wanted instant gratification and ate the food at camp. Later I did walk with Brittany to Dairy Queen so that she could get a blizzard.

I put my tent up in a building. It was nice enough to camp outside, but inside was a sure shelter. I thought about just rolling out my sleep pad and bag and skipping the whole tent thing. Though, it ended up being really nice to close myself off from the rest of the world for a bit.

I enjoyed chatting with people and listening to music in the host towns. I wanted to go and hear everyone else's war stories... But, really the whole week is sensory overload. And I just needed to shut some of it down for a little while.

71.94 miles, 5:38:48, 12.7 mph.