When they got back we continued watching Wimbledon and while I was enjoying a relaxing day, I had my suspicions that we may be underestimating the 30 miles between Rapid City and Sylvan...since they are called Black Hills.
Fred offered to take us to Cranky Jeff's bike shop downtown to get our cleats on our sandals fixed so we rode into town with him rather than give up the miles we had climbed last night. Cranky Jeff is appropriately named because he runs the shop on his own and has plenty of business because the man is a master mechanic. Still its an endearing kind of cranky. After making the permanent decision to add lock tite on my cleats I felt better about not having to worry about them coming loose which is essential to climbing hills (at least for an admittedly slow rider like me).
We headed back to the house and I swapped out the old Brooks saddle for the new softer lycra WTB saddle I purchased from Jeff. Instant relief but it did take a bit to adjust to the give of the soft saddle.
After eating lunch with our hosts we packed up and finally headed out around 1pm. An immediate climb into the pouring rain greeted us but so did our first taste of the gorgeous views of the Black Hills which made it all worth it.
Then I realized my rear brake was broken. It still worked but after squeezing the brake it would not go back to its original position and the line would slack. I new this would be a problem in the mountains and we might not hit a bike shop for a long time so I pulled over and called Fred who offered to come pick us up and take us to Cranky Jeff's again.
While I was calling Fred, a young overweight guy pulled up next to us in an SUV. I thought he was offering to help but he was mouthing, "get the (*expletive*) out of the road," through his window. We weren't on the road and it was a street with no traffic but I didn't know what he was saying because he wouldn't roll down his window. He finally did and while Jared tried to explain our situation I finished my phone conversation with Fred. The guy then drove 20 feet to the next driveway and turned around to head back past us. By this time I was off the phone and luckily he left his window down so I took the opportunity to try and get him to step out of his vehicle by yelling, "what's your problem?" He kept driving a few feet before it registered.
"What are you talking about man?"
"You don't have anything going on in your life do you?"
"Dude I was just saying good luck with your trip."
"Whatever man, you don't have anything going for you. Just get out of here."
I could have been meaner, should have been kinder, but sometimes you get sick of people in their cars and you have to snap back.
We headed back to Jeff's and he quickly discovered that my previous mechanic had used gear cable housing for brake lines so I needed a new cable and housing. Jeff dropped everything to fix it for me, explaining that if a guy rides halfway across the country he deserves special treatment. I thanked Jeff and put some of his stickers on my panniers and bike before snapping a picture with him.
Then we were off and as I said earlier we had to give back those miles of climbs. A steady grade hit us for basically all but the last 3 miles into Keystone where we hit a huge steep downhill. Getting out of Rapid at 4pm proved to be a mistake as I had to adjust my saddle several times while climbing 4mph.
We finally reached Keystone at 8pm and were right in the shadows of Mount Rushmore but only halfway to Sylvan. I decided it best to look for a ride in because running out of daylight and climbing on narrow roads seemed unsafe to me. I called my brother who found a friend named Angel (how appropriate) who was willing to pick us up.
As we rode in her truck I realized we made the right decision as the roads winded through narrow passes. If we hadn't been hit it would have been a miracle.
We finally arrived at the employee dorms where my brother greeted us around 11pm. I didn't care, I was finally with my brother, the moment I had waited for since Bellefonte, PA. To be honest I may have quit the trip in order to pursue other things with my time pretty early on because for a good stretch of the trip I was not having a good time and had all but decided I would enjoy church softball and a summer job far more. Knowing I could see my brother kept me going and now I could hardly believe I was here.
Ricky and I walked around the lake at dark and I could not tell how beautiful the area was under the cover of night but I had never seen so many stars in my life. There were so many I could hardly find the Big Dipper and I'm sure you could paint a million pictures with a connect the dots only God could construct.
After sharing pictures with each other we headed to sleep, eager for the next few days together in a slice of paradise.
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile
No comments:
Post a Comment