ABBN22: Hot Springs to Rapid City, SD

Last night (and tonight) we had/have Versus for the first time so I’m getting caught up somewhat in the Tour de France.

I was surprised to learn from the itinerary that today’s ride had more climbing than when we went over the Continental Divide – and only slightly less than Teton Pass. Of course I know there figures are suspect at best. They come from software and a database of elevations. The projected number of feet climbed is almost always higher than actual, typically 10% to 20% higher.  But what is actual? I have both a bike computer and a GPS on my handlebars and both tell you how many feet you have climbed. But these don’t agree either. For today, the software projected altitude gain was 5,690. My bike computer reported 5,520 and the GPS reported 4,606. I record the more conservative GPS data. Is it correct? Who knows? And more important, does it make any difference?

Today’s ride was both beautiful and interesting. See information below about Crazy Horse Monument and Mount Rushmore. Leaving town there were two 7% hills but most of the climbs today were 5% or less so not much of a challenge. The only exception were the hills when we turned toward Mount Rushmore; there were some 9% climbs. And the last 10 miles into Rapid City were pretty difficult, primarily because of the headwind. (Most of the day we had a slight tailwind.)

We passed Crazy Horse Memorial but we were so far away that I didn’t get a good photo.  Photo on left is “planned”; the one on right is “actual”; both photos are from Wikipedia. The Crazy Horse Memorial is a mountain monument under construction in the Black Hills of South Dakota, in the form of Crazy Horse, an Oglala Lakota warrior, riding a horse and pointing into the distance.

The monument is being carved out of Thunderhead Mountain on land considered sacred by some Native Americans, between Custer and Hill City, roughly 8 miles (13 km) away from Mount Rushmore.  If this is ever finished, it will be 9 times as large as Mount Rushmore..

Mount Rushmore was much more impressive. Mount Rushmore National Memorial, near Keystone, South Dakota, is a monumental granite sculpture by Gutzon Borglum (1867–1941), located within the United States Presidential Memorial that represents the first 150 years of the history of the United States of  America with 60-foot (18 m) sculptures of the heads of former United States presidents (left to right): George Washington (1732–1799), Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826), Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919), and Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865).^[1] The entire memorial covers 1,278.45 acres (5.17 km²)^[2] and is 5,725 feet (1,745 m) above sea level.^[3] It is managed by the National Park Service, a bureau of the United States Department of the Interior. The memorial attracts approximately two million people annually.  I was surprised to learn that the monument was completed the year I was born. Shown on right is my photo, taken at the visitor center.

We had the second accident today. Coming into town, Vivian, the 18 year old who races bicycles, went down. I’m not sure exactly what happened. It was pretty treacherous coming into town, lots of uphill's and fast downhill's, the shoulder coming and going, pavement changing, bumps in the road. You had to pay very close attention. I think Vivian was trying to determine where to go and was surprised by a bump in the road. At 25 to 35 mph , things happen quickly. Apparently she’s not seriously hurt, just some “road rash”.

Tomorrow is an easy day; luggage load is not until 8:00 a.m.

 

Day	Miles today	Feet climbed	Hrs in saddle	Miles so far	Miles to go	Days to go
22	74	4,606	6.4	1,648	2,040	28

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo of me on left is from Mikes’ web site yesterday. The others are from today’s ride.