Day 27 - Mitchell to Sioux Falls and Rest day

Breakfast was 6am and loading 6:30 at which point the sun was coming up.  Another early start due to expected high temperatures.  The literature told me that the amount of climbing was the same as the day before so I was looking forward to another fairly swift ride.

The queue for the luggage load is getting earlier and earlier.

The day turned out to be longer than expected and it felt like I was constantly climbing for the first 60 miles.  Certainly, the fact that it took almost exactly one hour longer to cover the same mileage as the day before indicated that and others I spoke to felt exactly the same.  The wind was mainly coming from the side so was not helping us either.  When I got to our very nice hotel (Comfort Suites), many of the rooms weren't ready so we had to hang about in the reception area.

Earlier, I had lost my balance by the roadside while pedalling off and toppled over (if you are used to cleats you will understand) so I have included these photo's for the sympathy vote!

 

Don, my part-time roomie found that the emotion of it all was too much for him and he conked out before waking up to do his pirate impression!

Later on we found a pub nearby called 'Old Chicago' which had an impressive array of beers on tap.  If you look very closely, you will even find Newcastle Brown Ale.

Working from the left is Gerard , John and his wife who was paying a flying visit, Beth, Steve and Tom.

I got up this morning to clean my bike and found a spoke that must have been broken yesterday so after doing laundry, I walked to an enormous sports store and bought 6 new spokes.  We have 6 new riders joining us so I went along just before they were to have their bikes checked at 4pm and actually replaced the spoke myself  (well, I have seen it done 7 times so far!!!).  Jim our trusty mechanic tightened it and true'd the wheel so hopefully I will be OK for tomorrow.

Lunch consisted of a chicken salad at Chili's and dinner was a beef salad at Old Chicago, accompanied by some flavoured water (Killian's Irish Red). Today's bargain purchase was a golf windcheater for $15,

size L which was a nice surprise.  Tomorrow's route has been changed a bit due to roadworks and although there is allegedly only 1300 feet of climbing, it looks very much uphill all the way to me.

Today's Stats.

Mileage - 72

Climbing - 1000 feet (yeah, right).

Time in Saddle - 6 hrs 20 mins

Average Speed - 11.4 mph.

Cumulative Stats For week.

Mileage - 673

Climbing - 19580.00 feet.

Cumulative Stats For Trip

Mileage - 1988.

Climbing - 67900.00 feet