Day 18: Sundance to Rapid City

Today's 105 mile ride ranks right up there with the best of the trip.  The first 30 miles was easy pedaling as we gradually descended on Highway 14 paralleling I-90 - during which we crossed into South Dakota. We then worked our way around the western side of Spearfish before starting the spectacular 21 mile climb up Spearfish Canyon on HIghway 14a.  I pedaled alone up the moderate grade (3-5%)  with the Belle Fourche River (a bubbling stream at this point) along side me and the beautiful canyon walls on either side. I stopped at Bridal Vail Falls and had someone take a picture of me.

During the ascent up the canyon I thought a lot about my mother.  She went to college in Spearfish to get her teaching credentials during the height of the depression at what today is called Black Hills State University. She talked fondly of Spearfish and my guess is that those two years were some of the happiest of her life.  I'm sure she traveled through this beautiful canyon many times.  I enjoyed having her along for this ride.

After lunch at the General Store in Cheyenne Crossing we had a tough 2.5 mile climb with grades up to 8% - I might have eaten a little less for lunch had I known what lay ahead.  We had several other challenging climbs as we made our way through Lead.  And then came Nemo Road - what a treat! For 33 miles we followed this rolling secondary road towards Rapid City - with the last 15 miles being all downhill. Coming into the city we followed a series of very nice bike paths along Rapid Creek to within a few blocks of the hotel.

Of course, all good things must come to an end.  Arriving at the historic (that means "old") Alex Johnson Hotel in downtown Rapid City was quite a shock. I've traveled enough to immediately recognize a poorly managed hotel - and this one ranks near the top of the badly managed list.  My experience has been almost uniformly bad.  It appears that just about every member of the hotel staff has been trained (or maybe they just come that way) to be unfriendly and/or inefficient.  My recommendation - don't even think about staying here if you come to Rapid City. The only redeeming feature is a giant Starbucks located just off of the lobby. 

I haven't had time to look around the downtown but will do so during tomorrow's very welcome rest day.

Steve