Day 6: Pierre to Chamberlain, SD

Mileage: 83 Miles
Temperature at start: 73
Temperature at finish:  94
Cloudy skys with clearing late in the day - winds light most of the day

So, every day after we've ridden, gotten our rooms, and cleaned up, the entire group of cyclists will meet in a designated area for rap. Rap is where our ride leaders, Mike Monk and Karen Bauer will go over the logistics of the next day's ride along with a few jokes tossed in (exclusively by Mike).

Ride leader, Mike Monk, conducting rap.

Today's route had three steep climbs, one located 25 miles into the ride and two located near the end. After a quick breakfast at McDonald's, Bob and I were off to Chamberlain! We quickly got into a paceline and sped through the miles coming into the first sag. For the cyclists going from Oregon to New Hampshire, today was a big day. It marked the halfway point in their long trip.

Shortly after this sag, Bob suffered knee pain and decided it was best to sit out the remaining miles in hopes of no further damage. I got in with a strong rider named Richard. He and I rode the last 55 miles together. We rolled through corn and hay fields and varying livestock and there were many, many cows. Wind was light and mostly favorable, and the pace was often over 20+ mph. The miles clicked by near effortlessly.

Early in the day

Only 25 miles left to go!

As we got to mile 70 we came upon the second three climbs. It looked pretty steep and long, but Erin yelled out as I rode by the encouraging news that "It's worse than it looks!". And it was. But the second hill was worse because it was all gravel due to road construction. So imagine having ridden 75 miles in the heat and then finish on a 1.5 mile climb @ 5-6% grade ... But it was an accomplishment when it was summitted. And the reward was a two mile downhill finish to the Missouri river.

Chamberlain is a small river town but it has a quaint old time feel to it.

Chamberlain Main Street

After we got our room we took a walk along the Missouri. Tomorrow is a relatively short day of 71 miles.

Erin and I along the Missouri