Day 22

I was right yesterday when I said that we'd probably seen the best South Dakota has to offer.  It became painfully true during today's ride.  The route took us 20 miles east on a frontage road next to I90.  Then we turned due north for 33 miles before we went due east again for 40 miles to Pierre, SD.   When we crossed the Missouri River in Pierre we moved into the Central Time Zone.

The wind blew out of the southeast all day.  During the first and third legs of the route we rode into the wind.  The the morning it was a moderate blow, but in the afternoon it was gusting strongly.  The wind made for a long day.

The most disgusting part of the ride today was the multitude of grasshoppers.  In some sections of the route, particularly toward the end, they were so thick you couldn't avoid running over the masses.  The sometimes jumped up whacking you in the shins, arms, chest and face.  Occasionally they would land on your jersey.  The grasshoppers on the road were eating the ones that had be smashed by cars.  Wheat, corn, prairie, and cannibal grasshoppers were all their was to see today.

Mike and I are making a collection of all the H words that we hate.  They start with hills, headwinds, humidity, hail, heat, and hemorrhoids.  We're trying to fit peanut butter in there too, even though it doesn't start with an H.   Gatorade is getting close.  We drink it everyday.

I rode about 96 miles today and averaged right at 14 mph.  That gives almost exactly 200 miles in the last two days.  We only ride 74 miles tomorrow.  It looks like we may have headwinds all day. 

We have roughly 1545 cumulative miles so far.  We'll reach the halfway point for the Big Ride the day after tomorrow.