July 10, 2023
70 miles
1,467 miles so far
Happy Birthday Sharon and Meghan!!
We had planned for a quick breakfast at The Busy Bee and an early start, since we had a 70 mile ride ahead of us. As we were readying our bikes outside, we met Steve, a pilot from Rapid City, SD who was in the area hiking with his daughters. He was very interested in talking about our trip and said that we would love our ride through the Black HIlls and especially Spearfish Canyon. He gave us his cell phone and told us that he was off for the next six days and to call him if we needed anything. Good Samaritan of the day! After breakfast an older man who had ridden his mountain bike to breakfast also wanted to talk - he gave us some good advice which was to take HW90 to Gillette rather than any of the routes we were considering. He assured us that the traffic was generally very light between Buffalo and Gillette and that it would cut a lot of miles and some elevation off our day.
We took his advice and rode HW 90 all the way. There was a rest stop around mile 30 which we planned to stop at to refill water bottles. The first 30 miles were perfect. A tailwind had been ordered up for Sharon’s birthday, and the views of the snow-capped mountains behind us as we rode out of Buffalo were beautiful. We had been making great time when we pulled off for the rest stop. There we met Dianna and Carl from the Eugene, OR area who were heading to the Black Hills to do some mountain biking. They too gave us their contact information and asked if we could share the blog we were keeping. Another man approached us and handed us three cold bottles of water - another Good Samaritan.
When we pulled back onto HW90 everything changed; the tailwind turned into a headwind, and the traffic increased pretty dramatically. Shortly, I noticed that my rear tire had gone flat. Sharon and I are now tied at two apiece! So, I got some more practice on the side of the highway. The temperature had also risen well into the 80s, and then we ran out of water.
We only had a few miles left when we found a convenience store and loaded up on water and chocolate milk.
We checked into the La Quinta in Gillette, and celebrated Sharon’s birthday at Frida’s Mexican Restaurant which was just what we needed. I racked up some serious IOUs today!
View of the Big Horn Mountains heading out of Buffalo, WY
Changing landscape heading toward Gillette, WY
Birthday girl at Frida's!
Comments