Rapid City, SD → Interior, SD → White River, SD → Ainsworth, NE

South Dakota is not exactly a road bike friendly state--at least not the roads we were on. However, the genuine and friendly people we met at every juncture more than made up for it.

After being thoroughly beat up on gravel side roads and few rumble-strip filled miles on the I-90 shoulder (all in effort to avoid several thousand feet of additional climbing were we to pedal through the Black Hills) our bikes needed serious TLC.

Rapid City was our last opportunity to change out Kate's rear tire until at least Omaha. All of the jarring on my bike resulted in a super loose front fork. To make matters worse, we were tackling a massive headwind that would result in a late arrival, well after all the Rapid City bike shops would be closed. During one of our rest stops I called ACME Bicycles and explained our situation to a guy named Trent. Not only did he have everything we needed, but he offered to drive over and open up the shop whenever we finally rolled into town.

Trent kept his word. After we arrived into town at 8pm he drove back to work to sell us some tires and also grabbed his tools and fixed my bike at no charge.

We woke the next morning in Rapid City to clouds and mist. The weather was cool, almost cold, for once. However, the perfect morning riding air was spent on maintenance. Kate’s tire boot wouldn't be sufficient for the rest of the ride, and since neither of her tires had been replaced in the six years since we bought her bike, we figured it was probably time to replace both. Good thing too, because we removed the front tire and discovered a tiny but devilishly sharp stone that had worked it's way through the rubber and was poised to puncture the tube inside. I also discovered that my rear wheel was bent up and rubbing hard on the brake once per revolution.Thankfully, another bike shop was able to tune-up the spokes within about five minutes.

The day's planned riding looked easy on paper--75 miles to the Badlands with less than 2,000 feet of climbing. Maybe we could get there in time to do a ride through the park, though the late start made it unlikely. With the repairs finished, we finally hit the road around noon and quickly figured out that we would definitely not have time to ride through the park. The headwind felt worse than Billings. At the rate we were moving we'd be lucky to make it before dark.

We took a quick break fifteen miles in at a 100-year old railroad camp turned bar/restaurant/gas pump. The new owner indicated that these buildings were put up every 20 or so miles while the railroad was being built. That building was one of the only ones still standing and continually in use.

We relished the human interaction before diving back into a tough and isolated 40-mile stretch toward the Badlands. When we finally reached Scenic, SD over four hours later the little convenience store on a street with shuddered old western saloons was a sight for sore eyes. Kate and I walked in out of the heat and promptly filled our arms with all the junk food we could hold: ice cream sandwiches, powdered donuts, frozen ice sticks, payday bars, packaged sandwiches, chips, and Gatorade. After consuming all of this, we loaded up again for the road.

It was well after 5pm, we had 30 miles to Interior and a 17-mph headwind. The establishments would likely be closed when we rolled back into town, if we made it town at all. With stuffed panniers we trudged on.Under normal conditions, Kate and I take turns leading every five miles. The person following gets a slight rest while drafting behind. With the wind situation so difficult we started switching out every 2.5 miles.

As one positive note, the sunset over the Badlands was beautiful. As darkness fell we could see the lights from Interior and knew we'd make it into town.The next morning we set our sights south, through the Pine Ridge Reservation and the rural South Dakota hills. The logistics of pedaling oneself through a country void of water and food can be a challenge. After talking to a few locals who worked at our campground we learned of a grocery store on the reservation 30 miles in to our 75 mile day.

It turns out having enough provisions for that last 45 mile hilly stretch was not our primary concern. Instead, it was the seams in Hwy 44. Every 20 to 30 feet the road had separated from itself and left rather large gaps. On steel framed bikes, skinny tires, and hard seats this was not ideal. But we agonized through it bump by bump until we arrived into White River, SD.

Friday we headed for Nebraska. To our pleasant surprise, we discovered we had our first amazing tail wind since the ride from Garyowen to Broadus, MT. We ended up covering 100 miles on our way to Ainsworth, NE and even had time to stop for milk shakes and mountain oysters--the latter only because Kate had never heard of such a thing and it seemed an appropriate welcome to Nebraska.