State number 6! We've made it to South Dakota and our second rest day.
Today was an awesome ride. It was one of those rare days when everything aligned. The scenery was beautiful, the weather was great, and I had amazing legs. I have no idea why I felt so good today. Maybe it was the almost entire pizza I had for dinner last night or the anticipation of a rest day, but I can tell you it definitely was not my breakfast. Sundance, WY is a very small town and we had to rely on the hotel breakfast, which wasn't the greatest. Luckily at mile 30 in Spearfish, SD we met up with a Trek Travel employee who handles all the logistics for our trip and she had some amazing muffins for us. After our brief rest stop for muffins we made the long slow climb through Spearfish Canyon. I highly recommend a trip through Spearfish Canyon. So many things to look at, a soothing river, small waterfalls, and amazing rocks.
For lunch we stopped at a park in Lead, SD that overlooked the Homestake Mine. Miners pulled more than 41 million ounces of gold and 9 million ounces of sliver from the mine over 126 years. We also saw the Vore Buffalo Jump where Native Americans herded Buffalo over a cliff. And we did a little cyclocross thanks to a torn up road.
Now for some dinner and rest.
Day 19 stats:
distance: 104.0 miles
elevation gain: 5932 ft
nutrition:
breakfast: brown sugar oatmeal, lemon poppy seed muffin, NuGo protein bar
lunch: large bowl of yogurt with granola, berries, and honey; 1 small coke
post-ride: 1 recovery drink, impossible breakfast sandwich
gels: 6
bloks: 1
52 oz skratch superfuel, 104 oz zym
other: blueberry muffin, fruit leather, 1 small coke
Day 20 details - Rest day in Rapid City, SD
planned distance: 0 miles
planned elevation gain: 0 ft