Sunday, July 16, 2006
Day 27 - Sioux Falls, SD - July 15th 2006
Weather: Sunny 102 plus
Location: Sioux Falls, SD (From Mitchell, SD)
Miles per day: 71.7
Average miles per hour: 12.23
Total elevation climb: 1327 feet (not much)
Blizzards/Ice Cream to date: 19 (Heathbar - 8/10)
Flat Tires to date: 1
Well they say you are in South Dakota when .... 'the wind blows you into the next state'. Today, that was only going to happen if we ended back in Wyoming. Those nasty headwinds and sidewinds made for another tough day. In anticipation of a rest day, I had only one objective: 'getting into the barn' but it was not that easy. With a headwind, you have to pedal twice as hard and focus twice as hard to ensure you don't get knocked off the bike. With a 6 am start, we managed to pedal into the Sioux Falls Dairy Queen by 1pm.
Now, there have been four of us who end up last everyday. Our excuses are always quite good but for some reason, we get very little sympathy:
1- Simply out of shape for the trip (comparatively speaking of course),
2- Our obsession with photo shoots and ice cream at every opportunity,
3- Acting as the Animal Rescue Team saving birds, goats, turtles (or any animal) from the risk of roadkill, and
3- Bad luck with DQ and liquor store parking lot flats.
In spite of our plausible excuses, we have taken some abuse for being last. Of course, not one to get mad, we get even with madness..... Not March Basketball Madness but rather July Bike Madness. We have been scheming for weeks with our team name: 'THE FINAL FOUR' which was revealed at Route Rap. The Wolf Pack, 3 Amigos and Peletons can now see us coming.... Watch out, we are moving on up!
