Keystone to Interior: The Badlands

There were a few milestones today,
It's a year today since I smashed my final assessment at UWE
It's a year today since The Old Police Cottage was no longer our home in any way

These gave me plenty to think about on the long ride.

It's also a month today since I flew from Heathrow to Portland
And at some point today we passed the 1500 mile mark for the ride.

BOOM!



We left the Keystone Holiday Inn express around 8am.  The first 20 or so miles to Rapid City was great, small steep ups and downs, winding roads to manage the undulations and nicely wooded, the Black Hills of South Dakota.  Storming up some of the hills made me feel parts of my lungs other hills couldn't touch, but then I was reminded we are still above 4000ft in altitude, so maybe that had an effect.




As we got within 6 or 7 miles of Rapid City the route got less scenic, but there was a good gradient in our favour, even if roadworks and a crappy hard shoulder were not.  We collected ourselves at a Starbucks on the corner of something and St Patrick.  Having never been a Starbucks customer I refrained, apart from a refill of my water.  Not sure if it's really that important witholding my custoim, I've been to McDonalds, Burger King, KFC, used Amazon and more alcohol companies than I care to mention.  But i missed one coffee... hooray me!




So Rapid City, in my brief encounter, not very happy with it, we may have missed the interesting centre with it's many statues of presidents, but the outer parts are as uninviting, soulless and sprawling as any other city we've ridden through thus far.  Given the time for reflection in the future I will look more into the reasons for this, state planning, federal planning  market forces, constitution, The American Way?  but for now I will continue my ride.
[After writing I read this article imagining the future of land use, it re-hashes a lot of the same old predictions around, density, urbanisation, climate change dealing with population growth, and is mostly from an American perspective.  But there's a whole bit about "urbanism 2.0, or Heartland Villages" yeah I thought this kind of stuff sounded vaguely possible, from my study in Bristol when studying planning, but having seen and ridden through the all pervasive sprawl in the slice of the states we've covered so far, I just can't see it happening in the majority of places.  Dense urban living isn't the American dream in the wide open spaces of the West.}




Once out of the city limits we had a sweet 5 or so mile section of highway that was dead straight.  The hard shoulder was ridable and there was a tailwind.  Dreamy.  There were four of us out front and though not caning it we made good time.  A stop off at the corner shop (no corners anywhere near) to re-group again and grab some supplies from rubber ducky and the next meet up was in Scenic in another 20 or so miles (62 for the day).  Apart from a brief stop to get the van outta some muck I was in the mood to storm the highway.  And I did, bashing the pedals and still soaking it up.




As I went over the crest of a small gentle hill the badlands appeared.  I 'had a moment'.  Bloomin' awesome. We stopped to get some scram at Scenic, A cool little ghost town in the Badlands.




I've been looking forward to this part of the trip: the long straight roads, the scenery, the openness  the skies, probably since I'd even signed up for this adventure.  It's awesome.  I dunno where I got my love of these open roads from, except the movies.  But with the views and the exertion I'd put in earlier was good to have that space to let my mind wander when I gave it a chance.




Another example of trying to take too many pictures of something I should just be watching.  But i watched a fair bit too.  It seems the EPS (Excitable Puppy Syndrome) may have returned.




And finally:

There's been some chat of top ten Westerns.  So in order to get back to the original intent of this blog... here's a list of ten Westerns:

• Blazing Saddles
• The Good, The bad, The Ugly, (also representing the whole dollars trilogy for the benefit of brevity)
• True Grit
• Ravenous
• Dead Man
• Back to the Future III
• The Three Amigo's
• Once Upon a time in the West
• High Plains Drifter
• 3.10 to Yuma, take either one.

Deadwood to Keystone & Mt. Rushmore

Woke up this morning and guess what...

Yup, Still raining.

Popped down for breakfast.

Stocked up on Chocolate Bacon and Bacon & Maple Donuts.  I love America.

Headed off from the Deadwood Gulch Gaming Resort around 9.30 in the 'sweeper group' a little while after the first group.  There was a lot of doom and gloom about the ride today... "oh it's all uphill..." "oh it's going to rain...." "oh it's going to snow..." and so on.

My chest was heaving the first uphill which lasted for about 4 miles out of the hotel, but think I have to blame having polluted my body so badly on Sunday night.  The rain actually held off not long after we got out of town.

Was a pleasant ride all said, undulation hills, lots of pine forest.  Had a break near a reservoir where the store owner kindly provided us with coffee and I devoured my Bacon Donut.  It was a bit chilly on the downhills or when we weren't peddaling.




We rode on to Keystone.  Again pretty pleasant ride, gentle pace.  Lovely cruise down into the town, straight through and back up the other side for a 2 mile climb up to the Mount Rushmore memorial and visitors centre.

A few pictures.  Then storming back down into the hotel.  I was in my rapha 'city gear' being 3/4 length shorts and lapelled jacket so I was warm (and stylish) around the monument.  Getting past 45 mph on the decent passing a bunch of Harleys in that clobber was quite a proud moment.




So, things are well.  Had a few laughs, went for a bike ride, didn't get drenched, saw a national monument, ate bacon products, had a dip in the spa.  Listened to some tunes.  Pretty good day all round.

Though I am tired.  Think my 'excitable puppy syndrome' has run it's course, where I've been running around like a wide eyed excitable spaniel for the last month at all the sights and sounds.  I don't want to get complacent and treat any of this as 'normal' but the couple of days bad weather, combined with an almighty hangover and the general exhaustion form all the physical exertion caught up.  Lets see what the rest of the badlands have to offer.

Deadwood Rest day

It's still raining.

Drinks & Dinner Last night.

Still raining

Meeting this morning

Still raining

Laundry

Still Raining

Trip into Deadwood  (the Deadwood Gulch Resort is a couple of miles out of the centre)

Still Raining

Lots of tat but no particularly good gifts

Still raining

Visited the Museum

Map of the city of Deadwood

Still raining

Back to hotel

Still Raining

Dinner

Still raining

Off for a bike ride tomorrow.  60% chance of precipitation!

Map with part of our route so far.  America is BIG.

Sundance to Deadwood

Very quick one today.

In short:

It rained.

Saw where some Buffalo died

Sheltered in a coffee shop

Rode into Deadwood

It's still raining.

Off to check out the slots.

Gillette to Sundance

Leaving Gillette was no sweet sorrow.

Not just because of inclement conditions arriving.  Or the lame-ass smoke smelling, damp room motel.  Or from the strange BarBeQue diner the night before.  Or the fact that we were leaving for only the second time of the trip under overcast skies.

There was something more about the power capital of the nation.  All along our journey we've been seeing and hearing these mile long trains heading back out to the Oregon or Washington coast.  Being a bunch of brit tourists they've been an interesting point of interest, more than the 08.17 from Basingstoke to Waterloo least ways.  But most of these trains are full of coal from the open cast mines in Gillette.  Being carried out to be shipped across to China.  So they can make a load of plastic plates and cups, and clothes and toys and everything else, so it can be shipped back around the world, and chucked in holes in the ground as big as the ones being made by the mines.




You can have your Portlands and Missoulas and Bozemans and so on, nice liberal 'eco' (for america at least) cities but the reality is that they're more reliant on this 'dirty' side of the economy than they'd like to know I'd imagine.  The reality of that part of the economy is most evident when popping down to Wal-Mart this morning for supplies.  The endless expanse of concrete and stores and car parks and signs and drive-thru everything.  The place that the placelessness reminded me of the most was Dongguan in China.  The place that a lot of the crap sold in these outlets is probably sold.  It's a lifeless, draining place.  And I hate to bag out places where otheres choose to live without spending a reasonable amount of time assessing them properly, but really don't feel that Gillette is the place for me.  But it does have its uses I suppose.



So sufficed to say the whole group were happy to put Gillette behind us.  We cruised out passing by the mine and trains, as mentioned.  I was working on my whole cowboy act by bringing up the rear and making sure the herd got to our destination safely.

Pretty good riding conditions all said, overcast, cool enough to need to work.  The roads got quieter.  After our coffee stop the views got better too.




Stll plodding along.  After lunch a few of us took a detour to Devils Tower which broke up the day nicely.  With the levity of me shaving and dressing like a wannabe cowboy I think the mood lightened quite a bit.




We set off and with some tunes playing had a very chilled ride back into Sundance, though with a couple of creeping hills to shock the weary limbs, but team morale seemed to improve as the sun came out and we worked together into town.




Sundance was a slight disappointment for a Saturday night, so I think everyone's looking forward to a night off tomorrow before a rest day after a long hard week with all sorts of challenges.  I know I am.  Hoping for can-can dancers, bar brawls, and more assorted western fun.  We'll see.

Oh, and here's a little image to give an idea of our progress so far:


View Progress at 18 May in a larger map

Pretty good I'd say.  Staggering in fact.

Buffalo to Gillette

Here's the now ubiqitous Movie Digest:



There's a brief explanation on the you tube vid itself as always, but here's a bit more.

I started the day (after holiday inn breakfast) with a shopping run with TVM aka Wilson aka Tom to get supplies for the troops.  Was met by this sign at the iga:



And isn't it always?

So we loaded the van and caught up with the group.

I had 15 miles under my belt now, the first bit of cycling was tough on the legs after yesterdays challenge, but caught up with the group and there was a nice bit of cheerful highway banter whilst taking in yet more changing and stunning vistas.




After about 10 or so miles for me we stopped in Clearmont for 'coffee'.  I chilled and fired off a postcard or two before we headed on our way.

The mood of the group was quite subdued after the exertion and euphoria of such a challenging day yesterday.  Not to mention that we've been tackling some pretty big miles over the last few days, and after the lulling into the ride of some very straight forward rides, the ongoing effort is taking it's toll.  My thighs were screaming at me every up hill.

The ride was generally gently undulating, but it felt like more with all the previous effort.   I was really enjoying myself though.  This was always going to be tough, and when else will I get views like this again (um, tomorrow apparently!).




After trying to resolve to myself that i'd ease up on the highway pictures, i find I just can't help it.  This is what I'm on this journey for, and still just soaking it up!

But the pace was slow, with head winds and tiring legs.  I stayed to the back, was it to help take the wind, or because I could do no more.  Who knows, but I'll take the helpful slant any time :)

After lunch things changed a little.  I'd been riding alone for a while soaking it all up.  Sarah & Tom caught up on me and I was happy for some chat, but we were all tired and slightly in our own places.  Shortly after Sarah had a stack just behind me.  Pretty sure it wasn't my fault, I herd a yelp and tried to offer comfort as best I could.  Commotion over, the team straggled off along the road towards Gillette.

This is where things got interesting.  Thunder, Lightning, Hail and everything else.




It started with a few excitable lightning bolts, which I tried catching on camera.

I failed.

I'd gotten to the front of the group, as in post-lunch riding my chivalry leaves me and I ride to get home.  As the landscape changed and we came closer to the open cast mines of Gillette (The largest in the USA) the skies got moodier and moodier.  It made me think of Isengard, as the rolling hills earlier in the day put me in mind of Rohan.




And then it just got silly. Hail stones, flippin' big ones n'all blasting down.  Winds whipping up, tumble weed blasting along.  It got pretty hairy.




I have to admit, I kinda enjoyed it a little bit.  I knew i wasn't too far from town and where I was going, I was in good enough shape to get there.  And once I saw most of the rest of the gang were making their way safely then I could rest at ease.  Shit, it wasn't ideal by any means, but "Adventure is not adventure without adversity."  We've been blessed thus far, so ridiculously.. And long may it continue.  But this little weather induced upset along with minor injuries should be healthy to remind us of the enormity of the task ahead.

Fatigue will pass eventually, we're a strong group and I'm just making sure to enjoy every rotation of the ride.  No matter how it hurts.

But oh what a week!

Right....
So daily updates take over with all the uploading and whatnot.  SO a few thoughts for my future self to think about in future posts for less eventful days, if they come along...

• Dereliction
• Say no to meth
• Sprawl
• Endless Sprawl
• So much space
• Conservative (republican) wyoming
• Service
• Contradictions
• Got a quarter buddy?

Wyoming

If my last post was Big Timber...

Then this was from

Big Timber to Laurel:

I had to join late due to a dodgy tyre.  Hanging around outside the motel listening to Bill Hicks for a while.



Joined the ride for a 'gentle' 30 mile blast into town.  Rest up and a press call.



Bit of shopping, as seen in the video above.  An army marches on it's stomach after all, and Portland to Portland rides on theirs.  It's been established that 'packed lunches' or picnics are far more economical, generally tastier and more convenient.

Big day out of Laurel to Greybull.

It was long, and hot.
I had some excess energy from the day before due to the short distance.  Caned it quite a bit in the morning. Eased off for a bit.  And after lunch was pretty much flat out into Greybull.

And though for some the monotony of highway pictures may be a bit much... i just cant resist them






We passed over into Wyoming mid way ish too



We still made it in time for me to get to the attire shop to get me a cowboy hat.  Then a nice convivial meal in  Lisa's and a fine G&T.
Route planning with Desmond after and an early retirement before being eaten alive by mozzies.

Greybull to Tensleep

After a ride in excess of 100 miles in high heat the day before a mere 56 miles was barely worth consideration.
My legs were very weary the first bit out.  But got into the rhythm and was enjoying some sweet soul music and good weather and some tasty clif bars.




We stopped for breakfast, unconcerned about the fact that Grant had tore off on his own.
And a hearty breakfast it was too.




I'm still pretending to be a cowboy.  Well until we got into Tensleep and then there were real cowboys.  'part from them bein' out tendin' to thar cattle and brandin' dem an' all.  But we got in nice and early.  I spent some tome in the Ten Sleep saloon using the phone and internet.  We returend there to eat, and after wandered to the Big Horn Bar as they'd furnished us with free beer tokens in order to celebrate Robert becoming a grandfather.  Not everyone took up the offer of free beer.  But I did, and tasted a very lovely Wyoming Whiskey too, or two.  The locals were entertaining, seemed a little perplexed at our arrival.  Conversation didn't exactly flow smoothly, but was a nice evening.  And off for an early night.

Tensleep to Buffalo, WY

OK,  This is me now.  What a day's ride.  Starting off around 8 am.  On the first bit out I was feeling the whiskey and beer and pizza from the light before (Pizza was the best shout though).

But the views along the scenic highway were really something else.




After 10, or maybe more, miles there were a few switchbacks and it started cooling down after a very sweaty ride up.




Then just keep on peddling.  There was more snow, and altitude.  Legs were weary but kept on grinding.  Stopping for teh odd picture, and many false peaks.




There was a refuelling stop a couple of miles from teh top of the pass.  Then a proper re-grouping at the top.




The decent was incredible, but not all the way down.  We'd gone over the highest point of our whole journey, but that doesn't mean to say you don't have to climb here and there again.  The little climbs were totally sapping .  But I had my tunes and just went as slow as i needed to.  I make up for it on all the downhills with my extra weight anyway.  Reaching a max speed of 48.5 mph today.. wooo, coulda broken 50 if it weren't for a slight headwind.

Just an incredible day.  A few moments of real euphoria, after some horrendous struggles on the way up.  On one of the particularly fast descents with the snow capped rocies beyond the forests ahead I though "I don't like it when people say" ____ is better than sex"... but maybe this is"

I think I may retract that statement, but it was a flipping awesome day.  The way down wouldn't have been anything if it weren't for the climb up.  Unlikely to have a day riding like that again any time soon.  But new and different challenges await ahead.



Notes to self:

• I will try and vary the pictures, highways can get repetitive
• Mike a chart of the ride stats for me
• Keep up day to day updates
• Um, maybe less pictures of myself, and more of others, yeah.
• Shave

3 Week Summary

It's three weeks since I arrived in Portland.  It's felt like a whirlwind.  We're caught in a little bubble and with perpetual motion it's important to take stock.  I've mentioned this a number of times in previous posts, but here is my review so far from my point of view.

Team

With David 'Hollywood' Taylor Leaving today it's the first change in the core team.  There have been a few people come and join us for a day or two, but there is still a core team which will continue to change as others work the ride around other commitments.  David will be missed by all.   He's one of the strongest  riders and has some great banter.  I've always found him to be good company and apart from the slight complaint about my snoring we've got along just fine.  Was quite emotional saying goodbye, more than I'd expected.



The team dynamic is working better than expected.  Some friendships form stronger than others and there are differences of opinion and character, but it is certainly an interesting aspect of this adventure.  I've been saying all along that it is essentially a collection of individuals undertaking quite an extraordinary adventure.  We all have differing backgrounds, aspirations and abilities.  But bringing them all together is a very rewarding experience.  I think for me one of the biggest down points of the team is that any group of individuals when put together do not always exceed the sum of their parts.  I think for us it's sometimes the simpler things such as getting dinner or regulating the nature of end or start of day briefings   But I think it's pretty fun being along for the ride as we sort this out.  My style may be too flippant sometimes, and maybe I shouldn't be so reticent to stake my point of view a bit more forcefully sometimes, but it's only ever an issue when everyone is tired, which is to be expected as we acclimatise to the physical and mental rigours.

Accommodation

I still find it quite extravagant to be staying in motels all the way, but it's amazing how used to a little bit of luxury you can get, and what happens when the standards drop a little.  Ovando has to have been the best yet.  It felt like a proper little guest house, and imaginations could run wild pretending to live in a bygone western era.

Food

The novelty has worn off a little.  Going from eating meat once or twice a week to red meat every meal is a bit much.  Not sure if I'm burning off more than I'm taking on yet. But there are perks.  When breakfasts are cooked to order I'm a sucker for pancakes and syrup.  The most amusing thing is generally when we walk into a local restaurant or diner en-mass and seeing how the various establishments deal with this ravenous bunch of British wanderers.   And how we deal with the food and service on offer.

Fitness

Apart from my own dodgy hamstrings fitness across the group is good.  We're brushing off 60+ mile rides nonchalantly.   But with a couple of 100+ milers coming up there is a certain mental barrier with every milestone distance.  I'm in the fortunate position to be generally fit enough that I can ride anywhere in the group.  Though it's often dictated by my mood, often I'll start the day near the back making sure that everyone is still in the group, but quite often I do feel the urge to race off and give my legs and lungs a bit of a pounding.  But by no means can I pick and choose when to beef up the engines.  I think my slightly excessive appetite helps with my energy levels though.

Research

This is where the most work will be required.  There were certainly some fascinating conversations and observations to come out of our time in Portland.  There have also been a few interventions noticed along the way in the larger cities such as Missoula and Bozeman (though no coincidence that these are also university towns)  There is a certain amount to learn from the day to day riding, but this is a very different experience form the focus of helping create a 'cycalised city'.

My hope is that when we start approaching the focus cities that the group dynamic and fitness will be restored so that we are in better shape to make good assessments and immerse ourselves in  the cycling experience of these cities.  Some positive pointers about our planned route are that Chicago, Minneapolis, Pittsburgh and New York in particular (as well as a host of other American cities) were name checked as rolling out initiatives that are exceeding the momentum of activities in Portland.

Until we have made thorough assessments first hand and through interviews with cyclists and the movers and shakers in these cities it isn't really possible to draw any conclusions, and as much of this trip has shown in so many other ways, to make predictions now as to the form of our findings would likely be largely futile, and possibly negate a large part of the rationale of the whole trip.

Predictions

every day is full of predictions: "the weather will be..." "Tomorrow will be hard" " When we get to _____ it will be ..." "Let's meet at _____ for lunch" and so on.  In my opinion right now we are predicting too much and not necessarily planning enough.  We know what works and what doesn't and there is trepidation that everything has gone so smoothly so far that things will change.  But there is a big mental challenge here to get over the enormity of the task.

Digital Connections

Well there's the website, The Portland to Portland blog, you tube, flickr, facebook, twitter, and that's not counting the online presence of many of the group members like Peter's personal You Tube, Nic's Blog, Sarah's Blog or of course, mine (which I don't think i need to hyperlink to do I, as you're actually reading it now).  My flickr and then twitter, twitter, twitter, twitter and twitter.  Then there's Garmin and Strava.  So we're pretty well covered on that front.  It's amazing the digital trail we're leaving, compared to how a trip like this would have been previously.  Most significantly though is the way that the route was coordinated and is managed digitally.  I am pretty much totally reliant on others and internet for day to day orientation.  Which is a bit strange for someone who loves maps and navigation so much.

I do have a suspicion though, that like the weather bubble we're travelling in the social media aspect is primarily for our own benefit, being able to get back and track our own progress at the end of the day online, after having experienced it for real, but maybe that's just me?  It's a general modern dilemma though isn't it.  Along with the fact that the scenery and challenge is so massive, and continuous that it takes some sort of documentation to keep track of everything that's going on.  Let's face it, as much as I've read of Lewis & Clark recently we are in 2013 now, and not 1806, maybe they used to pass notes and sketches around the campfire too?

But if for nothing other than me in a few weeks time, here's some of my choice digital content: