Day 25

Ask my wife, sometimes I'm 53 going on 16.  Yesterday is proof.  Yesterday I did something stupid and it nearly cost me the Big Ride. 

Yesterdays ride was a short one.  We were into De Smet by 1 pm.  And that was because we took two rest stops plus a lunch break.  We were all a little bored and looking for something to do.  The Little House on the Prairie town didn't offer much. 

So I challenged some of the young studs to a 3 v 3 soccer game.  One of the guys had a mini-soccer ball and there was an open field w/goals next to us.  The biggest mistake was chosing the teams.  I ended up against a college hockey player from Vermont, a track star from the Univ. of Kansas, and a guy who just missed making the national finals in racketball. 

To make a long story short--I got hurt.  I sprained my knee.  It didn't feel so bad at the time, but later that night, following a bathroom break, my knee completely went out from underneath me as I kneeled to get back into the tent.  It hurt like hell.

So I sat in my tent and cursed my stupidity.  I really thought that I was going to have to miss a day.  It would be bad enough if I went down in the line of duty.  I could hold my head up if I was sideswiped by a little old lady in a Winnebago.  But no--I was out from playing barefoot soccer in the park.

So I sucked down some anti-inflammatories and stewed in my tent until daybreak.  As the pain meds kicked in I noticed that it only really hurt when I flexed my knee past 90 degrees.  I don't do that when I ride.  There was hope.

As we packed up our gear and readied for breakfast I babied my left leg.  It felt better--I just had to stay away from deep knee bends. 

When we started riding I could feel some tightness, but no pain.  I knew we had another fairly easy ride today.  It was 78 miles, but fairly level and we had a tail wind.  I usually don't get that kind of break.

To make a long blog short, I rode easy and I felt OK.  I had a few pains when we pulled hills, but nothing that would keep me from riding.  I think I dodged a bullet.  No more soccer.

We entered Minnesota today.  The scenery in South Dakota improved dramatically as we approached the state line.  The eastern edge of South Dakota is filled seems to be endless fields of corn and wind turbines. I think Minnesota felt sorry for South Dakota and lent them a few of the 10,000 lakes near the state line.  Either that, or Minnesota has so many lakes that the spill over into South Dakota occasionally.

We're camped at a high school in Tyler, Minnesota.  We were fed by an organization called TU-PHAT.  I have no ideas what it means.  Mike and I stopped at a tavern for a beer after dinner.  The barmaid and the locals we not friendly and pretty much ignored us.  So much for my intoduction to midwestern hospitality.

My buddy Tom sent me a question asking whether or not we are getting funny tan lines.  I lined up a couple of models to show you.  I also took a picture of my hand to show the hot-dog finger tan lines that we're developing from wearing cycling gloves all the time.